forum.datacad.com

1. File open/close/save as dialog boxes - please make them remember size, position, and view! I still, after years of asking for this, have to use the 3rd party utility DlgXRsizer to do this. We like to have the window big so you can see all the columns displayed in details view (so we can check to make sure we're using the latest date file).

2. We have a plain paper plotter now so no more "original then copies" system. We plot multiple collated sets. To do this we batch plot to file one set >with sheets in the correct order<, then close the drawing file and from the batch plot menu plot that file multiple times. Wishes: ability to re-order sheets in the list (in case they were not created in the right order), and ability to ADD the same plot file multiple times without having to navigate the directory tree back to the same place multiple times.

3. Since linetypes are now embedded in the drawing file, you can no longer scroll thru ALL the available line types with the "Q" key... you have to go to the line type menu and this takes more time than a quick scroll thru especially when you can hold down the key and the list moves really fast. And then, when you do select a linetype, it takes on the <original> spacing saved with the linetype, rather than the current spacing. So you have to do >another< step and re-set the spacing!

4. I have brought this up a number of times over the years and I will bring this up again. My number one annoyance and biggest time-waster: mouse clicks not registering! Having used DataCAD for over 15 years I really fly on the keyboard and mouse. Many many times each day I'll mouse click on a menu button and THE BUTTON WILL VISUALLY DEPRESS but the program does not respond by going to the next step or whatever. You have to consciously depress the mouse button for a LOOONGGGEERR period of time to have it register. It's not the amount of time spent on a longer click, but on having to go back and do it AGAIN many times a day.
(And it's not just me... many people I have spoken to experience this).

Thanks for listening to my rant!!

Hello Carl,

All your wish items are really timesavers. And you got my support for all of the 4+ requests.
I am sure Dave & Crew are always hardly searching to improve effectiveness of the designer actions, and will watch closely your improvements.

My suggestion to your next messages: Split each item in its single thread, because you will get more visibility to each subject, and will allow many more people to identify themselves with it, by personal experience.

Thanks,
Miguel

Hi Carl.

csteidel wrote:4. I have brought this up a number of times over the years and I will bring this up again. My number one annoyance and biggest time-waster: mouse clicks not registering! Having used DataCAD for over 15 years I really fly on the keyboard and mouse. Many many times each day I'll mouse click on a menu button and THE BUTTON WILL VISUALLY DEPRESS but the program does not respond by going to the next step or whatever. You have to consciously depress the mouse button for a LOOONGGGEERR period of time to have it register. It's not the amount of time spent on a longer click, but on having to go back and do it AGAIN many times a day.
(And it's not just me... many people I have spoken to experience this).

I feel your pain, and it is pretty much on the top of my list of daily annoyances, but a few years back on the DBUG forum, we had a pretty long discussion on this, and came to a conclusion of what the problem is... You need to slow down, LITERALLY!

It's NOT that you have to hold the DataCad button down longer, it is that you have to stay ON the DataCad button until you release your mouse button. Simple as that! What you (and I) are doing is that we have become so fast at using cad, that when we go over to the menu to click on something, we are then already heading for our next mouse click somewhere else before we stop long enough to let the button pop back up while we are still on it. In other words, we drag the cursor off the side of the DataCad button while it is still depressed, which means that the command will not register. Unfortunately, that just has to do with the way Windows works. Try doing the same thing (intentionally) in any other window program ... or even while clicking on a link in this forum.

Hope this will help at least SOME! I still get ticked off when I do this, but at least I know why it's happening.

Greetings,

To reinforce what Steve has written: the reason (at least as far as I can tell) is that it works this way -- so that you can "change your mind" at the last minute.

If you don't like it, then Microsoft is where your complaint needs to be lodged. Ironically, the folks who have been burned by exiting and pressing No -- could use this to their advantage!

csteidel wrote:1. File open/close/save as dialog boxes - please make them remember size, position, and view!

Yeah, this one would be nice for sure.

csteidel wrote:3. Since linetypes are now embedded in the drawing file, you can no longer scroll thru all the available line types with the "Q" key... you have to go to the line type menu and this takes more time than a quick scroll thru especially when you can hold down the key and the list moves really fast.

Maybe a ini/program prefs option so Q/q scrolls all linetypes. I like it how it is now myself.

csteidel wrote:4. I have brought this up a number of times over the years and I will bring this up again. My number one annoyance and biggest time-waster: mouse clicks not registering!

Like Steve B mentioned, this is a windows issue, and I don't get it so much with the Datacad menu so much as I use quick keys for 80% of commands, and when I have to use the mouse in the menu it's usually for a command I don't use much so I'm a little slower mousing around. But on the Symbol Browser, I click on one symbol, and as I drag my mouse back across the screen towards the drawing area, I release over another symbol, so Datacad picks that one, instead of the one picked on the down click. It's just kinda one of those things there's not much anyone can do to change it with out major programming hassle I believe.

Hi Neil.

Neil Blanchard wrote:...the reason (at least as far as I can tell) is that it works this way -- so that you can "change your mind" at the last minute.

...And I have used that "feature" before!

csteidel wrote:
2. We have a plain paper plotter now so no more "original then copies" system. We plot multiple collated sets. To do this we batch plot to file one set >with sheets in the correct order<, then close the drawing file and from the batch plot menu plot that file multiple times. Wishes: ability to re-order sheets in the list (in case they were not created in the right order), and ability to ADD the same plot file multiple times without having to navigate the directory tree back to the same place multiple times.

I usually batch plot to PDF then I use PDF Meld to order and combine them into one PDF. This only takes a few seconds. I can then review them and print as many copies as I want.

3. Since linetypes are now embedded in the drawing file, you can no longer scroll thru ALL the available line types with the "Q" key... you have to go to the line type menu and this takes more time than a quick scroll thru especially when you can hold down the key and the list moves really fast. And then, when you do select a linetype, it takes on the <original> spacing saved with the linetype, rather than the current spacing. So you have to do >another< step and re-set the spacing!

Try going into your default drawing(s) and loading all of your linetypes into it. Then when you start a new drawing, you should be able to scroll through them all. I haven't tried this, but it seems like it should work.

[

quote="Steve Baldwin"]
I feel your pain, and it is pretty much on the top of my list of daily annoyances, but a few years back on the DBUG forum, we had a pretty long discussion on this, and came to a conclusion of what the problem is... You need to slow down, LITERALLY!

It's NOT that you have to hold the DataCad button down longer, it is that you have to stay ON the DataCad button until you release your mouse button. Simple as that! What you (and I) are doing is that we have become so fast at using cad, that when we go over to the menu to click on something, we are then already heading for our next mouse click somewhere else before we stop long enough to let the button pop back up while we are still on it. In other words, we drag the cursor off the side of the DataCad button while it is still depressed, which means that the command will not register. Unfortunately, that just has to do with the way Windows works. Try doing the same thing (intentionally) in any other window program ... or even while clicking on a link in this forum.

Steve,
I recall the discussion a few years ago... I'm going to have a co-worker observe me while I work and see if he can spot what you describe. It's hard for me to believe that I might be doing this, but I'll see.

Thanks to all for your input! The forum(s) are great!
Carl

Hi Carl.

What I did to test if there seems to be some sort of time requirement for being on the DataCad button is to have your mouse placed such that the arrow on the screen is over one of the DataCad buttons, then WHACK the mouse button as quick as you can (using your free hand, or whatever). You will see that as long as you stay ON the DataCad button when it is released, you can whack it way faster than you are probably doing in your daily work, and it still registers. On the other hand, you can hold down the DataCad button as long as you want, but if you drag it off the side without releasing it first, it will not register.

Try it...