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SkySafari selection problems and requests

Great software, thanks. I'd like to request a couple of changes / additions to SkySafari 6 Pro for macOS ...

I am finding that selection of objects does not work well. Perhaps the first time it works: I can click and the crosshairs appear on the selected object, however after that the selection just does not work. Right-clicking does, but the selection remains on the previous object!

1) can you please improve object selection, so selecting a new object removes crosshairs from the previous and adds them to the current selection

2) can you please add an Edit menu option to deselect - sometimes I just want to not have anything selected (for example, when Mars is selected and its path is on screen - can clutter the display)

3) can you please improve selection near galaxies with round/oval shapes on them - I am finding that selecting any object inside the bounds of such a galaxy shape is ignored, and the galaxy is always selected - how about selecting the galaxy the first time, but then a repeated selection in the same area moves to the next nearest star etc.

Thank you,
Bryn

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20 comments

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    Bryn,

    1. I have never heard of people having problems selecting objects.  What Mac do you have and is it retina or not?  Are you selecting with  mouse or trackpad?

    2. Sorry, you always have to have a selected object.  The code assumes that at a very deep level.

    3. It should work such that the initial tap will select the galaxy (or cluster).  A second tap inside the outline will select something inside it.

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    Hi Bill,

    Thanks for looking into this ...

    1)  I have a 27" iMac 2560 x 1440.  The select problem is easily reproduced and I captured a quicktime video of it.  Will post if I can.

    2)  Your software is unique in this respect, but it would be no problem if #1 gets resolved!  PS:  let's just call "deselect" actually "select the sun" as usual - so provide the ability, but zero change to your code - just default back to how the software starts in the first place!

    3)  That also does not work.  Maybe the problem is related to #1 since it has to do with selecting.

    Thanks,
    Bryn

     

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    I can not upload a video!!  It is only 7MB - can I email it to you somehow?  It quite nicely shows the problem in #1.

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    Please send to bill@simcur.com.

    However, I suspect the video will not help too much.  It must be something unusual about your setup because I've gotten no reports of anything like this.  Please think if you have you mouse or trackpad set up in some non standard way.  You might try playing with the settings (at least temporarily) to see if you can figure it out.

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    Will do Bill.  I can not think of anything unusual with my settings though!

    Two things:  I emailed you the video.  Also, select does work one out of ten or twenty tries.  So it is not 100% failure, but rather random and frequent failure.

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    All I can think of is that we have an amount of motion allowed between the mouse down and the mouse up.  If the motion is less than this amount, we treat it as a click (and we select something).  If the motion is greater than the amount, then we treat it as a drag.

    Do you have particularly shaky hands buy any chance?

    You might also check you mouse scaling and see if you have it turned way up.  I suppose that could do this also.

    If you are very careful to not move the mouse/trackpad between the down and the up, does selection work better?

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    I know what you are asking, but no I am not shaky!  I am not dragging.  The video I sent should show examples.  I tried again just now and was able to select three things out of an attempt at about 25.  I have no strange mouse settings, no accessibility settings, etc.  All other programs are working fine, just SkySafari.

     

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    Okay - you are on to something ... as a test I lifted my mouse off the table each time I clicked, so there was no chance of it registering movement ...

    It worked.  I can select nearly each time.

    There may be minuscule mouse movements causing this problem.  There are no adjustments for this in Settings, or in SkySafari, and honest, my hands are steady!  So is there any way you can filter these of provide some kind of threshold to workaround this??  I have never seen this problem in any other program I use anywhere, so perhaps it is something special you are doing?

    Thanks,
    Bryn

     

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    I haven't received the video yet.  Look at your mouse settings and see if you have the "tracking speed" turned up for the mouse.  If so, try it at a lower setting (as an experiment) to see if that helps.  As I said, I don't have other reports of this so I'm unclear why you are having issues.

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    Hi Bill - I replied to one of the forum emails - if you could email me another address to use I will resend later today.  In the video you should be able to see that there is not much mouse movement, any more so than when I select things in other programs.  I am hoping you can provide a SkySafari preference for this.

    The Mac Settings do not affect mouse jitter or whatever is causing this.  I turned the speed all the way down (and looked for other options) and it made no difference.  The only thing that works for me is lifting the mouse right off the table!  Not my favorite workaround for this!

    Thanks again,
    Bryn

     

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    Please send to bill@simcur.com

    It is unlikely I will provide a setting for the amount of jitter allowed.  We really need to figure out why you are having this problem but not others.  Do you have a different mouse you could try to see if the problem still happens?

  • 0
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    Keiron Smith

    Hi Bryn, 

    1. What mouse are you using - make/model? 
    2. How is it connected - is it bluetooth, USB, etc? 
    3. Do you have any other mouse available to test with as a comparison?

    Thanks!

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    Hi Bill - I use the default "magic mouse" that came with the iMac.  I can test two things for you:  1) another wired usb optical mouse, and 2) I have another older iMac where I can install and test the software.

    I replied by email with a DropBox link to the video - if you did not get that then I can email the video to the address you sent separately.  It would be late tonight though.

    Thanks again for your support on this,
    Bryn

     

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    Hi Keiron (sorry, missed that it was your response last time!)

    I have tested a lot of things, and I think it comes down to timing ... I guess I am pretty fast with a mouse, and used to clicking and getting results quickly.  I can't explain this otherwise ...

    If I use another mouse, or my other iMac, no difference.  But if I simply click and hold still for a quarter of a second after clicking, holding still without moving, and without my mouse mat, then the selection seems to work.  I'd like to have some kind of fix for this, but I doubt you will accommodate a single person's idiosynchrasy!  I can only say that there is no other program on my Mac or any other computer where my clicking makes any difference.  Except SkySafari!

    If you can simply drop the delay down (since it really should not matter that much how long the click is before the mouse movement) that would be great - or provide some option to control this.  But if you choose to do nothing I will understand.  I will just hold still after clicking.

    Bryn

     

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    PS:  the video of this happening is in Request #43441

    Also, could you please see my comments in another ticket about adding a "deselect" feature that simply selects the Sun?  I think that is a good compromise for the people who would like this ability, and the developers who need something selected all the time.  Could you please comment?  Thanks.

     

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    How would you invoke the Deselect feature?  On Mac it could just be a menu option.  However, on iOS screen real estate is tight and I can't have another button,

    We have lived for 8 years with out deselect.  I'm not sure selecting the Sun is a good compromise.  I can give it some thought though.

    I will try to look at you video.

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    Hi Bill - no deselect on iOS, just Mac.  I have features like planet path enabled so unless I deselect or go and select something else, I get a red line and dates across the screen, so it would be nice for something like that case to have a quick Command-D or something.

    I think we should drop the other request about the mouse unless you think you could open up the delay that you are doing to detect drag etc.  So no need to watch the video unless you want to see this in action!  I am getting myself a new mouse pad to see if that helps, and will slow down on the clicking.  I'd still love to know if there is something you could do, but at least now I know how to get select working.

    Thanks again for the support,
    Bryn

     

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    I forgot to answer the "how" to deselect ... I would expect three ways would make sense:

    1)  Edit menu -> Deselect

    2)  Bindkey like Command-d

    3)  My favorite:  just click somewhere there isn't an object ... so nothing to select, deselect!

    Thanks again,
    Bryn

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    This is unlikely to happen anytime soon.  As I mentioned in my first response, the code assumes there is always a selected object.  There would literally be hundreds (maybe thousands) of places we would have to change the code to allow this.  It may happen someday, but it won't be soon.

  • 0
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    Bryn Owen

    No that's okay ...
    The request now is simply to select the Sun when you click in the background somewhere where there is nothing to select (black sky.)  ie: deselect is really what you would refer to as the default selection on startup.  No menu entry, no bindkey, no change to your code to accommodate no selection.  Simply select the Sun when nothing else is reasonable.  Sound like a better solution?

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