Selection problems

[jonnor]

On branch the-graph

1. It is very tedious to make single-node selections, which is what I want to do most of the time
2. The icons for node selections are very confusing. I often delete my nodes when I try to get single selection, thinking the Ø means "clear". And the V action is in no way opposite of Ø, and I don't really understand when I would want to use it.

Opinion:

• Single node selection should be default. Multiple selection is a secondary interaction, and can on the desktop be available by using a modifier+click. Box-select and/or lasso-select are also very useful selection tools.
• When multiple nodes are selected, operations like move should operate on all of the objects in selection
• Destructive operations like node deletion must be undoable

[bergie]

Undo is covered by #23

The tickmark icon for clearing a selection is coming from Android's Action Bars, as is how selecting items in general. So it should behave very similarly as, say, selecting messages in the GMail app.

[bergie]

To make things clearer, deletion is now using a trashcan icon everywhere

[bergie]

Single node selection should be default

Probably a point where we might want to diverge based on the pointer event type (touch vs. click). There is a separate tracking issue at flowhub/the-graph#53

When multiple nodes are selected, operations like move should operate on all of the objects in selection

Actually, I'd use NoFlo's grouping support for this. If you want to move multiple nodes as a unit, just make them a group (see flowhub/the-graph#43):

• https://github.com/noflo/noflo/blob/master/src/lib/Graph.coffee#L62
• https://github.com/the-grid/the-graph/blob/master/the-graph-group/the-graph-group.html

Created an issue for this one at flowhub/the-graph#59

[forresto]

"Make them a group" should be as fast as drawing a selection box, then dragging the box.

Then to make that temporary group stick would be another action. (⌘-G)

[WilliamRClark]

How does group selection / creation currently work? Shift click is usually more standard on multiple platforms. Keep in mind the OSX command key isn't going to work on Windows. The equivalent control-G will usually open menus in Chrome and other browsers.