Suggestions + Bug reports concerning "Define Module Sets"

Ideas and suggestions about new features
ErikJon
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:24 pm

Suggestions + Bug reports concerning "Define Module Sets"

Post by ErikJon »

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I have enjoyed using your program, and the “Define Module Sets” is a very useful feature indeed.

I have been jotting down some of the problems that I have had with it, and ideas for improvement, during the past two years, and today I would like to share them finally. I hope that you don't mind my placing them here together for the sake of convenience. Forgive me if any of these observations have already been made by other users.

For the sake of reference please note that all my remarks concern only the “Create custom set” tab, revealing two panes: one to the left (the “available modules” pane) and one to the right (the “custom set” pane). The suggestions are presented first, and the "bugs" appear after that.

Suggestion: allow automatic alphabetization of modules

I find myself alphabetizing (“sorting”) the modules very often, if not always. The sad part is that, among the fifty different folders and subfolders that I have, I must alphabetize each one individually. This consumes lots of time. I suggest that, to the right side of the right pane, under the “Templates” and “Rename folder” buttons, etc., that you place a little checkbox option, that says “alphabetize modules automatically”.

Suggestion: allow automatic alphabetization of folders and subfolders

Instead of right-clicking “sort children” and “sort siblings” fifty times, I would rather have the OPTION of alphabetizing all of them automatically without any clicks. In the two years that I have used your program, I have never had need of sorting by any other means, but I recently thought it would be useful to have the option of canonical order.

Suggestion: allow one-click alphabetization of an entire folder, all its modules and subfolders.

If you don't want to allow automatic alphabetization, for whatever the reason, you should at least allow a one-click option, so that the user does not have to alphabetize manually all 792 installed modules in 50 folders and subfolders.

Suggestion: allow sorting of folders or subfolders in canonical order

The user would have to subscribe to certain guidelines for it to work, but it could be nice if all folders in any one given set or subset (i.e., subfolders) would sort automatically in this way.

Suggestion: allow automatic collapsing of folders

My second-greatest frustration, when sorting through 792 modules that I have installed, is that every folder and subfolder automatically expands, every time I open the “Define Module Sets” dialog box. I have to scroll through very, very long lists and subfolders, just to find what I want, and then close everything again, and then scroll back again to place the module into a new location. I think that this dialog box should open in “collapsed” form by default, or at least allow the user the option of choosing.

Suggestion: better yet, allow spring-loaded folders (i.e., remain collapsed until selected, then re-collapse when left)

But I must say, whenever I want to drop such a module into a subfolder of a subfolder, I do like the fact that it springs open without having to release the mouse. The problem is that it does not spring BACK, and so I always have to close manually twenty or thirty subfolders, every time I move things to them.

Mac OSX 10.4 used to have this handy feature called “spring-loaded folders.” One could drag anything to a folder, and it would automatically open temporarily, and take the user however deeply he wanted to go into the subfolders, allow him to drop the item there, and then, upon releasing the mouse button, all the folders would close back again automatically, allowing the entire operation to be carried out with one hand, without ever releasing the mouse itself. That would be a simply wonderful alternative for the process of moving modules around within the right-pane of the “Define Module Sets” dialog box.

Suggestion: allow the option of keeping folders collapsed, even when modules are dropped into them.

Most of the time, the only reason that I need to see a folder open, when dropping a module into it, is to alphabetize the content. If TW can begin alphabetizing automatically, I will not need the extra clutter of having the folders to pop open on me, every time I simply drop something in. This can be very frustrating when the folder contains 200 items and many subfolders that also open automatically. UPDATE: THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED IN VERSION 5 - THANK YOU

Suggestion: allow collapsing/expanding functionality to the right-click context menu.

For example, if I click on one folder at the root level, that has fifteen subfolders, and I want to expand all of those, but not any of the other root-level folders, I could right-click the one root-level folder in question, select a menu item such as “expand entire content of this folder” and achieve that purpose. By the same token, it could work in reverse: “collapse entire content of this folder/subfolder”.

I suppose that this functionality could also be applied to alphabetization (e.g., upon selecting a folder, the context menu could offer: “alphabetize all modules AND subfolders within this folder only”

Suggestion: allow “custom set pane” to scroll by only dragging to the top or bottom edge of the pane.

In other words, If I have 792 modules installed into fifty folders, and I want to move one from the topmost folder down to the bottom-most folder, APPARENTLY I cannot simply grab it and drag it to the bottom edge of the screen, and wait for the window to scroll downward; apparently I must click the scroll bar again and again, and then drag the item little by little, until I finally reach the bottom. (The frustration is compounded by the fact that all fifty folders expand automatically, against my will.)

Suggestion: allow TW to identify undesired duplicate module references within the “custom set”

Sometimes I have duplicates simply because I am unaware that they are present. if TW could identify them for me, and call them to my attention, it would be a great help.

Better yet (unrelated to this subject) it would be wonderful if TWcould somehow identify duplicate modules installed in the program itself. Sometimes one author creates a module, and another author creates the same module, with slightly different formatting, and gives it a unique name; one of them may call it “Jones – Dictionary of the Bible.dct.twm” while another calls it “DoB-Jones.dct.twm” or something. I am sure that it would be too much to ask TW to identify a duplicate in such a case, since there would be slight differences, but perhaps it could at least look for clues, such as repetition of the author's name or key words in the complete title)

Suggestion: extend the “filter” functionality to the “custom set pane”

If the user has 792 modules installed, and he only wants to see where certain ones are located, it would be nice if somehow TW would highlight them, at least. UPDATE: THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED IN VERSION 5 - THANK YOU

Suggestion: allow the user to print or save a list in hierarchical format of an entire module set.

Sometimes I need to look briefly at certain things in my custom set, without having to open the “define custom set” dialog, and go through the trouble of expanding and collapsing folders, just to find a few items. If TW could print/export/save a list in hierarchical format, it would be handy just to have such a list on the desktop (and useful as a back-up diagram to use in case of data loss. I have spent more than fifteen hours arranging my custom module set, and would hate to lose it someday. Recently my config.ini file got corrupted in my back-up copy, and I lost lots of work that way)

Suggestion: Allow hard file management from the “define module sets” dialog box—not just custom-set arrangement.

I don't know about you, but this very USEFUL screen is where I do most of my file management. I find myself frustrated, however, being so limited as to what I can modify, having to go back and forth from this screen to the main TW screen, just to re-name a file or to check some small issue about it, or even to delete a duplicate that I have discovered in the “define module sets” dialog box. I would like to delete the duplicates immediately before I forget which ones they are. If I have to close this window and go delete the files in the main TW window, my frustration is compounded when I come back to the “define module sets” screen, by the fact that all my folders are expanded again, including the forty-five folders that I had just closed manually.

Suggestion: Allow modules to be selected simultaneously at different levels in the “custom set pane”

If I have subfolders in module sets, TW will not let me CTRL+select items from folders AND items from subfolders at the same time. Perhaps this is an OS issue?

Suggestion: reveal and highlight in the “custom set pane” any module selected in the “available modules pane”

If this is feasible and easy to implement, this would also be a nice visual way to find instantly where certain modules are already located in the custom set. Folders containing the item would automatically expand, in order to reveal the item, and all duplicates would be revealed simultaneously. Likewise, if a “filter” feature were available not in the “available modules pane” but also in the “custom set” pane, by merely typing in the key word of any module, all the related modules could be highlighted at once, to the right, in the “custom set” pane.

Suggestion: allow the “custom set” pane to zoom with a mouse wheel movement.

This would make it easier to read sometimes, or else make it easier to get a better view of the structure from a distance.

Bug report: oftentimes newly-installed modules do not appear in any custom set nor in the current layout.

On more than fifty occasions, I have installed new modules, only to find that they do not appear in any custom set nor in any menu, including the currently-open layout. I must rather find them manually by using the “filter” within “define module sets” Sorry, but I do not have any example handy at the moment.

Bug report: module copying within the “custom set pane” produces anomalous behavior UPDATE: THIS WAS MOSTLY CORRECTED IN VERSION 5 - THANK YOU

(This happened one year ago, with the previous version, so I don't remember the details more precisely) In the "custom set" side of the window, I sometimes want to have the same module in several different locations. Instead of dragging from the left pane, I have tried merely CTRL+dragging within the right pane, any one module that is already in the custom set, to another location in the same right pane. I am greeted with the "plus" sign on the module, to show me that it is being duplicated. I repeat the process for another few locations, and now I have seven copies of the same module in the right pane, all in different folders or subfolders. Days later, I realize that one of these copies was unnecessary. I open "define module sets" again, select the undersired copy and click the "delete" button. To my great surprise, TW deletes all the other six copies as well!

On one occasion I moved an entire set of alphabetized modules from one subfolder to another folder (I don't remember if it was at the same level), and to my surprise, TW put all of the modules into reverse alphabetical order.

Several times, when I duplicate a subfolder, CTRL+DRAG to another location within the same window, the contents of the subfolder is often duplicated or cuadruplicated, and sometimes up to fifty copies of the same module title suddenly appear in the "custom set," all in the same folder. (Sorry, no more details available, as this was one year ago.)

The anomalies were so problematic to me that I have been afraid to copy anything from within the "custom set" pane. Nowadays I simply drag copies from the "available modules" side, to the "custom set side," so as not to take any more chances.

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Last edited by ErikJon on Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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I'm an Independent Baptist running TheWord portable v 5.0.0.1481 from an external 500GB hard drive with over 1,900 modules installed and loaded in my current module set. I'm using 32-bit Vista Ultimate SP1 with a 2.7gHz processor and 4GB RAM.
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csterg
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Re: Suggestions + Bug reports concerning "Define Module Sets

Post by csterg »

I noted down all suggestions and will consider to see what can be done.

For the last bug i made a fix in b1399 (first time i was able to reproduce it, although it has been reported before, but your description was very good and i was able to find a pattern that made sense, thank you!)
Costas
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Doctordavet
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Re: Suggestions + Bug reports concerning "Define Module Sets

Post by Doctordavet »

There are some great suggestions here. Thanks so much!
Dave
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http://www.DoctorDaveT.com
ErikJon
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:24 pm

Re: Suggestions + Bug reports concerning "Define Module Sets

Post by ErikJon »

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I am glad to have been of service.
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I'm an Independent Baptist running TheWord portable v 5.0.0.1481 from an external 500GB hard drive with over 1,900 modules installed and loaded in my current module set. I'm using 32-bit Vista Ultimate SP1 with a 2.7gHz processor and 4GB RAM.
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ErikJon
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:24 pm

Re: Suggestions + Bug reports concerning "Define Module Sets

Post by ErikJon »

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Today, two years after the original post here, I have looked over this list of suggestions that I made, and have concluded that some of them were too unrealistic, and perhaps difficult to implement.

A few of them, however, continue to seem potentially very useful, as I have continued to need them during these two years of using the program daily. Essentially, I am still convinced that the module-set-organizing process would be so much easier if TheWord included automatic sorting, expanding and collapsing of nodes, within the "Define Module Sets" window.

Yesterday I prepared a screenshot of what it could look like, which may help everyone to visualize more clearly what exactly I was proposing.
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Last edited by ErikJon on Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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I'm an Independent Baptist running TheWord portable v 5.0.0.1481 from an external 500GB hard drive with over 1,900 modules installed and loaded in my current module set. I'm using 32-bit Vista Ultimate SP1 with a 2.7gHz processor and 4GB RAM.
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ErikJon
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:24 pm

Re: Suggestions + Bug reports concerning "Define Module Sets

Post by ErikJon »

Update concerning module copying within the “custom set pane”

We all owe a big "thank you" to Costas for implementing several of these old suggestions during the past two years. Small change sin the background do not get noticed too easily, but I would like to mention that I am well aware of the changes, and the program has been so much better, ever since.

I noticed, for example, that the module copying anomaly has been repaired to a large degree. Previously, nodes would pop open at every level, whenever a module was dragged into it or copied into it. Now, that part is working fine. There were also strange things happening whenever copying (not moving), but most of those have vanished.

Today I have noticed that I still get occasional duplication when drag-copying one node to another location in the tree, from a low-level subnode to a main-level root node. This is when the node being copied contains several modules. In the destination node I sometimes find two copies instead of one, and in the parent folder of the original node that was to be copied, my original node sometimes disappears (i.e., moves to the new destination instead of simply being copied there). It is not the end of the world, but it has happened several times, so I thought that it would be worth mentioning.
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I'm an Independent Baptist running TheWord portable v 5.0.0.1481 from an external 500GB hard drive with over 1,900 modules installed and loaded in my current module set. I'm using 32-bit Vista Ultimate SP1 with a 2.7gHz processor and 4GB RAM.
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