DoMore editor

[Garyhlucas]

Why can't I cut or copy a contact or other object from one rung to another? Am I missing something?

[franji1]

Sadly, no, but it is definitely on our TODO list.  You can only copy/cut/paste rungs and code-blocks for now.

[Garyhlucas]

Man that is like right at the top of my list! I do that in every piece of software I use. It's painful, like you cut off one of my fingers!

[ATU]

I'll bet the cutting/copying is probably simple, its that pasting business that is tricky

[BobO]

Single instruction cut and paste isn't horribly bad, but not trivial or we would have already done it. It'll happen. It's been discussed at great length, and is the simplest of the four primary editor upgrades that we want to do over the next few versions.

Historically, it really wasn't too big an issue. Individual instructions were very simple, usually with only a single parameter, and the value of a single instruction wasn't so great. As of Do-more, instructions became far more complex, and the value of single instruction greatly increased. In short...we know, and we're sorry.

[franji1]

I can do it (single instruction cut/copy/paste) - it should not be too hard - the infrastructure for inter-project pasting is already done - that's the hard part.

[Controls Guy]

Historically, it really wasn't too big an issue. Individual instructions were very simple, usually with only a single parameter, and the value of a single instruction wasn't so great.

I hear you, and I can see why it's even more helpful in Do-More than in DL-Classic, but in brands that have it like AB, dragging even simple boolean addresses is my default way of building a rung.  It's a huge time saver (bearing in mind that's in part because AB's addresses are often much longer than DL or Do-More).  Dragging filled-out boxes even more so.

[plcnut]

dragging even simple boolean addresses is my default way of building a rung.  It's a huge time saver

You're a mouser?!?!
I hate even touching my mouse. I like my IDE to be only what I have to see, and then it's all done with keyboard shortcuts and typing (and I don't even know how to type.... properly anyway...).
CTRL+C, CTRL+V, SHFT+[Arrow key] to select, and I can get about anywhere. Copy/paste especially for boxes would/will be really nice though!

[BobO]

I never touch the mouse either. Auto-complete is far faster if you have a modicum of typing skills.

My priority would be single instruction cut/paste and true undo/redo...and then sub-rung cut/paste and drag/drop. And we will get there...honestly. It's just a very target rich environment now and we have finite resources.

[Garyhlucas]

While I am complaining about the editor.  Your startup screen puts the list of files used in a short column, then a second short column to the right.  So I have to grab the vertical bar, and drag it way over to the right to see my latest file version.  A simple vertical column with scroll bar would be a lot easier.

To your credit you haven't once told me that something stupid was actually a feature, or that a bug has been around for three years, and you aren't going to fix it because it generates calls for your paid tech support!

Thanks guys,

[BobO]

While I am complaining about the editor.  Your startup screen puts the list of files used in a short column, then a second short column to the right.  So I have to grab the vertical bar, and drag it way over to the right to see my latest file version.  A simple vertical column with scroll bar would be a lot easier.

To your credit you haven't once told me that something stupid was actually a feature, or that a bug has been around for three years, and you aren't going to fix it because it generates calls for your paid tech support!

Thanks guys,

As strange as it may be, we actually do value feedback, and try real hard to answer/fix issues/etc quickly and meaningfully.

I had to grin when another poster said that we fix our issues faster than AB can ignore him....

[deep6ixed]

While I am complaining about the editor.  Your startup screen puts the list of files used in a short column, then a second short column to the right.  So I have to grab the vertical bar, and drag it way over to the right to see my latest file version.  A simple vertical column with scroll bar would be a lot easier.

To your credit you haven't once told me that something stupid was actually a feature, or that a bug has been around for three years, and you aren't going to fix it because it generates calls for your paid tech support!

Thanks guys,

As strange as it may be, we actually do value feedback, and try real hard to answer/fix issues/etc quickly and meaningfully.

I had to grin when another poster said that we fix our issues faster than AB can ignore him....

Actually had a conversation with an engineer about AD/Host vs AB.  Basically he was super pro AB and was talking about how he could contact his supplier and get parts within a few days if he needed and that he had the paid tech support option, on and on...

I countered with I can order the parts myself, have them in 48 hours (standard, not expedited) and that if I needed support, I didn't have to pay to talk to tech support, I could go right to the people who built the thing for free and if it was a real bug or issue, that it would be fixed in an upcoming update or they would help fix it.

He got quiet. 

[Controls Guy]

You're a mouser?!?!

In general, no.  For example, I don't like instruction palettes where you can drag a NO contact down and place it in your rung.

Now, I try to leverage whatever a given brand editor does well and avoid what it doesn't.  Like DirectSoft and DMD, RSLogix has both keyboard and mouse editing capabilities, and for me, rung entry in RSL tends to have three phases.

(1) Enter addressless monics to build the rung structure, say "BST XIC NXB XIC BND XIO OTE".  RSL lets you enter monics with no addresses and builds the rung structure and leave you to fill in the addresses.  This is a three-wire motor circuit.  The DS/DMD equivalent would be "STR OR ANDN OUT", if I remember my DS monics correctly.  Now, I do that for two reasons: AB doesn't let me draw lines and branches with Ctrl-arrow keys like DS does, and AB addresses tend to be lengthier and more complicated with more punctuation (think P3K), so for the moment I'll avoid typing the ones I can.  I'm not typing "Local:7:I.Data.8" if I can get out of it.

(2) If your program is organized, consecutive rungs tend to use a lot of the same and nearby addresses.  So the next step is to drag addresses needed for the new rung from adjacent rungs already entered if there are exact or even close matches.  Close does count (are we going to have to change that old saying?), because AB's display format often makes it easy to change just part of the address, a bit in a word, say, which is still easier than typing the entire address from scratch.

(3) Finally, if there are still any missing or incomplete addresses, I type them in full or edit them to the correct address.

Takes a long time to describe, but it's actually the quickest AB-compatible rung entry method I've found.  Though as you can see, a big part of the reason I think address dragging is such a big time saver is that AB addresses are way more time-consuming to type from scratch than C544 or V1200.

[Garyhlucas]

Today I needed to add a contact to about 100 existing rungs.  Right clicking, picking Insert/Column/After every time gets old fast.  When in edit mode I think there should be at least one short piece of wire between every contact that will accept a new contact, without the above keystrokes being needed.  This along with copy/paste of an existing contact would save me tons of time.

[Garyhlucas]

I frequently sort the tag list to find stuff and to see that my descriptions are consistent.  IT would be really nice that when you click the sort button and already selected a field, that the selected field will still be in view when the sort is done. That saves a ton of time when using htis process.  I maintain a parts database with 12,000 parts and it works this way which is great for ensuring other users properly describe new parts.