[QGIS-Developer] QGIS 3 vertex editor problems

[Andreas Neumann-4]

Hi,

In QGIS 3 the node editing on canvas was quite improved (thanks Martin
and the sponsors!), however, the vertex editor that allowed to edit
individual nodes in a list of exact coordinates suffered a lot.

See https://issues.qgis.org/issues/17243

Could a developer, during feature freeze, give the vertex editor some
attention and fix the open issues?

I know that one can also use the advanced digitizin panel to edit
vertices - but to be honest, this panel is so confusing to me - and
probably to 90 % of the users out there as well - so I think the
separate vertex editor panel still makes sense.

For 3.2 I would even suggest to add new features to the vertex editor
panel, to allow adding new features or add/delete individual coordinates
of existing features, e.g. add new points at a given position, or delete
one or more nodes.

And of course, expose and allow editing z and m values.

@Martin: would you have time fixing the vertex editor during the bug
fixing period, or should I ask another dev?

Thanks,

Andreas

_______________________________________________
QGIS-Developer mailing list
[hidden email]
List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer

[Martin Dobias]

Hi Andreas

On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 10:00 AM, Andreas Neumann <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> In QGIS 3 the node editing on canvas was quite improved (thanks Martin and
> the sponsors!), however, the vertex editor that allowed to edit individual
> nodes in a list of exact coordinates suffered a lot.
>
> See https://issues.qgis.org/issues/17243
>
> Could a developer, during feature freeze, give the vertex editor some
> attention and fix the open issues?

Yeah I would happy to look into it. The issue is that as soon as node
tool was freed from the requirement of dealing with just one feature
at a time, there is not necessarily 1:1 relationship between what is
active in node tool and the vertex editor. This made me think whether
it would not be more useful to have a separation between node tool and
the vertex editor table. E.g. the vertex editor could be a standalone
dock widget with its own map tool to pick active feature. This could
probably solve all the issues listed in the bug above. I am not sure
what are the common use cases of the vertex editor - do people
commonly use numeric input of vertex coordinates together with visual
editing or are they barely used at the same time? Maybe Andreas if you
could describe your use case for vertex editor, that would help me
understand the workflow.


> I know that one can also use the advanced digitizin panel to edit vertices -
> but to be honest, this panel is so confusing to me - and probably to 90 % of
> the users out there as well - so I think the separate vertex editor panel
> still makes sense.

It is a bit difficult to grasp at first, but it is quite powerful -
maybe some tutorial videos would help to get people on board...


> For 3.2 I would even suggest to add new features to the vertex editor panel,
> to allow adding new features or add/delete individual coordinates of
> existing features, e.g. add new points at a given position, or delete one or
> more nodes.

I think this would go well together with my proposal above to make the
vertex editor independent from the node tool.


> And of course, expose and allow editing z and m values.

Editing of Z/M values should be already supported - or am I wrong?


> @Martin: would you have time fixing the vertex editor during the bug fixing
> period, or should I ask another dev?

Yeah I can handle that - of course first we need an agreement how the
vertex editor should behave...

Cheers
Martin
_______________________________________________
QGIS-Developer mailing list
[hidden email]
List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer

[Régis Haubourg]

Hi, 

Agreed with Martin, the ergonomics changed because now we can't anymore assume all the vertices are in the same feature. 

Not being able to sub select a node without loosing previous selection is indeed a pain. Martin is there any solution to keep a node selection, and be able to subselect nodes from the map?

The use case I know is more typing z / m values easily than entering XY.

 X/Y typing is not so difficult using the advanced editor panel (just type "x" then paste the X, "y" then paste) . It requires less mouse clicks for sure than the node editor panel. 

We maybe could add the z and m SpinBox with z and m shortcuts too there.  

Régis

2017-10-05 11:01 GMT+02:00 Martin Dobias <[hidden email]>:

Hi Andreas

On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 10:00 AM, Andreas Neumann <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> In QGIS 3 the node editing on canvas was quite improved (thanks Martin and
> the sponsors!), however, the vertex editor that allowed to edit individual
> nodes in a list of exact coordinates suffered a lot.
>
> See https://issues.qgis.org/issues/17243
>
> Could a developer, during feature freeze, give the vertex editor some
> attention and fix the open issues?

Yeah I would happy to look into it. The issue is that as soon as node
tool was freed from the requirement of dealing with just one feature
at a time, there is not necessarily 1:1 relationship between what is
active in node tool and the vertex editor. This made me think whether
it would not be more useful to have a separation between node tool and
the vertex editor table. E.g. the vertex editor could be a standalone
dock widget with its own map tool to pick active feature. This could
probably solve all the issues listed in the bug above. I am not sure
what are the common use cases of the vertex editor - do people
commonly use numeric input of vertex coordinates together with visual
editing or are they barely used at the same time? Maybe Andreas if you
could describe your use case for vertex editor, that would help me
understand the workflow.


> I know that one can also use the advanced digitizin panel to edit vertices -
> but to be honest, this panel is so confusing to me - and probably to 90 % of
> the users out there as well - so I think the separate vertex editor panel
> still makes sense.

It is a bit difficult to grasp at first, but it is quite powerful -
maybe some tutorial videos would help to get people on board...


> For 3.2 I would even suggest to add new features to the vertex editor panel,
> to allow adding new features or add/delete individual coordinates of
> existing features, e.g. add new points at a given position, or delete one or
> more nodes.

I think this would go well together with my proposal above to make the
vertex editor independent from the node tool.


> And of course, expose and allow editing z and m values.

Editing of Z/M values should be already supported - or am I wrong?


> @Martin: would you have time fixing the vertex editor during the bug fixing
> period, or should I ask another dev?

Yeah I can handle that - of course first we need an agreement how the
vertex editor should behave...

Cheers
Martin

_______________________________________________
QGIS-Developer mailing list
[hidden email]
List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer

_______________________________________________
QGIS-Developer mailing list
[hidden email]
List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer

[Giovanni Manghi]

Hi Martin,


>> And of course, expose and allow editing z and m values.
>
> Editing of Z/M values should be already supported - or am I wrong?

yes, but is broken in 2.18 (changing the value does not stick, works
in 2.14 and master) and broken is as well moving nodes/features of
postgis 3d lines and polygons.

The problem of editing z values in master is the following:

when selecting a vertex the vertex editor panel does not open
automatically and when you open it manually the focus is not on the
select vertex (as it happens in 2.14 and 2.18).

cheers!

-- G --
_______________________________________________
QGIS-Developer mailing list
[hidden email]
List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer