Cool VL Viewer forum

View unanswered posts | View active topics It is currently 2024-03-29 02:32:11



Reply to topic  [ 8 posts ] 
I want a multiline input window! 
Author Message

Joined: 2009-03-25 14:44:29
Posts: 3
Reply with quote
I'm in the habit of typing very fast and lines which are normally either very very short, or at least paragraph scale. Current single-line input window is a major impediment to that, because editing a paragraph in it is a huge pain.

Can we have a multiline input window? Pretty please? :)


2009-04-02 10:09:25
Profile WWW

Joined: 2009-03-18 09:32:02
Posts: 246
Reply with quote
and how would that work?
pressing enter would not send your text to chat / IM but start a new line, i assume...
and what do you press to actually send that text you've been typing?
alt-enter - switches to fullscreen
shift-enter - whispers
ctrl-enter - shouts

so there's only "click on the say button" left... which would be slower than typing, so nothing gained.


2009-04-02 11:20:42
Profile YIM WWW

Joined: 2009-03-25 14:44:29
Posts: 3
Reply with quote
No, pressing enter would send it. I don't want to type multiple paragraphs - I want to type one. But I want to see it all while I'm doing that and I want up and down arrows work for quicker navigation.


2009-04-02 11:58:20
Profile WWW

Joined: 2009-10-03 13:47:03
Posts: 16
Reply with quote
I just saw this. I've been pondering asking for this for over a year. This is the single most useful thing for any quality writing there can be. One crummy line is horrid for trying to not reuse the same adjectives in a paragraph. Besides a decent little multiline editor, could it be free-floating like GTK widgets can be? That way it could be separated from from small real estate of the SL window and moved onto the larger desktop. If not feasible due to differing windowing systems, at least having a multiline input window inside the SL window would be more than acceptable.


2010-03-27 15:54:03
Profile

Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
Posts: 5523
Reply with quote
I might consider implementing this, but how is the question...

I thought about making the chat input line auto-expand each time you hit the right end of the line, but then it would mean having the input line colliding or overlapping with floaters open at the bottom of the screen, possibly hiding the chat history, or even HUDs attached at the bottom of the screen... Beside, the UI is not exactly designed to be resized dynamically and this would involve a lot of code changes to implement it properly...

A better solution might be to auto-open a secondary floater with a multiline input field when the cursor hits the right end of the chat (or IM) input line, and to automatically copy all the text in that auxiliary floater and auto-focus it so that you can keep typing in it without interruption (and get everything mirrored into the corresponding chat/IM input line as well)...

Not impossible to do, but it is for now not on my priority list... I must first "brandify" the viewer before April the 30th (date at which the TPV compliance will become mandatory), and will probably implement realtime spell checking before the multiline inputs...


2010-03-28 00:27:06
Profile WWW

Joined: 2009-10-03 13:47:03
Posts: 16
Reply with quote
Opening a second floater is the preferred option so we can see the whole paragraph as written before typing. I'd see this to be more important than spell checking since a spell checker can't tell the difference between two, to and two but a human can if they can see the work. Hopefully it's fairly trivial to do that way. Just a little mini editor ala notecard. Even using an outside app piped into the program would suffice if all platforms can save to a pipe.


2010-03-30 12:13:16
Profile

Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
Posts: 5523
Reply with quote
It took time to make its way up my prioritized "ToDo" list, but it found its way in today's release.

Here's the corresponding announcement's item explaining how it works:

"Added a Text Input floater for the chat and IM input lines: you can now configure the viewer (in "Preferences" -> "Cool features" -> "User Interface") to auto-open a text input floater automatically whenever the chat or IM input lines get so full that they must be scrolled left. A small ">" button was also added on the right of the input lines to manually open the text input floater. The advantage of the latter is that it is a multi-line input field that you can resize at will so to fit the size of your text (two sets of position and size are remembered: one for the chat input and one for the IM input), as well as navigate in the text easily with the cursor movement keys (Left and Right, of course, but also Up and Down). Note that since the text of the input lines is automatically copied to the text input floater when it is open and since the latter is auto-focused as well, you don't risk to loose characters while the floater auto-opens (you can keep typing and everything will be fine). By pressing ENTER (or closing it manually with the "X" button), the text input floater is closed and the text is copied back into the corresponding (chat or IM) input line. This is of course a feature designed for "para-RPers" who always pester about too small a chat input line."


2012-05-24 12:26:46
Profile WWW

Joined: 2012-05-16 03:25:46
Posts: 7
Reply with quote
This is tremendously useful. Thanks very much! (And thanks for the recent Spell Check addition too.)


2012-05-24 22:49:19
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic   [ 8 posts ] 

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 29 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
Designed by ST Software.