Proposal for new 'Edit | Paste Path' option
Recently the Copy and Paste procedures have been improved radically https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/170185 , so that the system clipboard is now used. This is a major advancement in communication with non-Inkscape apps, the possibilities are endless ...
So I would like to make a proposal for a new kind of Paste procedure to see if there is any interest. This would be a paste option to transfer wireframe data into Inkscape to edit existing wireframe information, while keeping the Fill and Stroke information intact. It could perhaps be called 'Edit | Paste Path'. The properties would be :
1. paste using absolute coordinates, not relative to mouse. 2. transfer only 'path' node info, and within the path node transfer only the 'd' attribute, and the 'transform' attribute, not the 'style' attribute. 3. if the path id already exists, then overwrite it, but only 'd' and 'transform', not 'style'.
This paste option would be distinct from 'Paste in Place' because it allows for editing of existing data, and it would be essentially complementary to 'Paste Style', which transfers the 'style' attribute, but not the 'd' or 'transform' attributes. It would be very similar, but more general, than the 'Paste Size | Paste Width/Height' options because it would transfer the entire wireframe path.
This option would be essentially identical in scope to the proposal in https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/179560 , except that this would be much more user-friendly than what was proposed there.
As you may have guessed, I have an ulterior motive, which is my project BezierDraw : http://www.vaxxine.com/apenner/ . I want to copy and paste wireframe data from BezierDraw into Inkscape, then edit the Fill and Stroke properties in Inkscape, and then further modify the wireframe data by editing it in BezierDraw and pasting it once again into Inkscape ...
Hence my motivation, any interest in this ? Alvin Penner
On Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 12:50 PM, Alvin Penner <penner@...1856...> wrote:
- paste using absolute coordinates, not relative to mouse.
- transfer only 'path' node info, and within the path node transfer only
the 'd' attribute, and the 'transform' attribute, not the 'style' attribute.
No, for a typical user there's no separate "transform". Any command that treats path data separately from transform will give unexplainably weird results for such a user. It's a very specialized functionality.
- if the path id already exists, then overwrite it, but only 'd' and
'transform', not 'style'.
That is very specialized too. Users don't care and don't know about ids. For them, this command will just act weird and unpredictable.
So, I don't think it's a good idea overall. However, there's another command that needs to be implemented and that will give you, more or less, the functionality you need. It's copy/pasting nodes: in Node tool, pressing ctrl+c with some nodes selected, these nodes must be copied to some special storage; and when you press ctrl+v with some nodes selected, these nodes must be replaced with pasted nodes, correspondingly moved and probably rotated to fit the path in the new place. If you're replacing all nodes of an object, no such move/rotation is necessary. Then, pasting path data from another application would be done like this: select target object, switch to node tool, select all nodes and press ctrl+v.
reply to: So, I don't think it's a good idea overall. However, there's another command that needs to be implemented and that will give you, more or less, the functionality you need. It's copy/pasting nodes: in Node tool, pressing ctrl+c with some nodes selected, these nodes must be copied to some special storage; and when you press ctrl+v with some nodes selected, these nodes must be replaced with pasted nodes, correspondingly moved and probably rotated to fit the path in the new place.
two comments:
1. does the node copy/pasting currently exist or is it planned for the future? I just tried it and couldn't seem to get it to work, I just got a new object, not an edited version of an existing object.
2. I may not have expressed the original idea very well, so I'll try again:
Currently the existing 'Edit | Paste Style' procedure will overwrite or edit the existing 'style' attribute of a path node, while leaving the 'd' attribute and the 'transform' attribute unaffected. What I was proposing was the precise complement of this procedure, namely an 'Edit | Paste Path' procedure which would overwrite or edit the existing 'd' attribute and the 'transform' attribute of a path node, while leaving the 'style' attribute unaffected.
On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 7:31 PM, Alvin Penner <penner@...1856...> wrote:
- does the node copy/pasting currently exist or is it planned for the
future? I just tried it and couldn't seem to get it to work, I just got a new object, not an edited version of an existing object.
Like I said, it's a long-standing feature request. It's not implemented yet.
Currently the existing 'Edit | Paste Style' procedure will overwrite or edit the existing 'style' attribute of a path node, while leaving the 'd' attribute and the 'transform' attribute unaffected. What I was proposing was the precise complement of this procedure, namely an 'Edit | Paste Path' procedure which would overwrite or edit the existing 'd' attribute and the 'transform' attribute of a path node, while leaving the 'style' attribute unaffected.
I'm not sure it's worth a command of its own, because it can be done with the current commands. Namely, if you have an object in which you want to replace path but not style, you just paste the entire object, and copy/paste style from the existing object to the pasted one. A bit longer, but now you have an object with the path from clipboard and style from the existing object which you can then delete.
The copy/paste of nodes, however, would be a new functionality, which you cannot currently achieve by other means. Plus, it will provide you with an even easier way to do what you need: copy/paste path between entire objects.
bulia byak wrote:
Like I said, it's a long-standing feature request. It's not implemented yet.
interesting..., does it have a launchpad bug number so I can track it?
On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 9:36 PM, Alvin Penner <penner@...1856...> wrote:
interesting..., does it have a launchpad bug number so I can track it?
Here's the one I can find quickly:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/172010
but I think we had more, I just can't find them now. Or maybe it was a page on our Wiki.
bulia byak wrote:
Here's the one I can find quickly:
thanks, I'll subscribe to it...
Alvin
participants (2)
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Alvin Penner -
bulia byak