List View context-menu anomaly

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ErikJon
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:24 pm

List View context-menu anomaly

Post by ErikJon »

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I thought that I was going crazy when I experienced what I saw. Try this and see if the same thing happens to you:

1. I created a new verse list, but did not assign it any name, nor did I save it yet.
2. I went to Bibleview, copied one verse and, using the context menu, selected "Add ____ to current verse list..."
3. Verse List appeared, with the new verse added.
4. I did this a second time with two new, contiguous verses.
5. Verse List appeared, with the new verses added.
5. I decided to remove one of the first verses from List View, and keep the rest.
6. I right clicked the verse, expecting to find "delete verse" as one of the options in the context menu. Instead ALL OF THE CONTEXT MENU ITEMS WERE GONE except for one; namely, "close this view."
7. I left-clicked each verse again, thinking that it might activate the context menu, that I had perhaps selected only the window frame itself, for example, but this did not help.
8. I thought, for a moment, that perhaps the option of deleting one verse had never existed in the first place. I read over the HTML Help file, and so on, trying to find an explanation, but found none.
9. I went back to the Bibleview, and clicked around, here and there, and did other things, and came back to my List View. Now, suddenly the context menu was back to normal, with all the original menu items present, including "delete".
10. Just to be safe, I went back and repeated the sequence, to make sure that it was consistent, before reporting it to you, and I got the same behavior as described above.

Consequently, my suggestion is that you enable the List View context menu from the very beginning, rather than require the user to click around first, or to save his list with a name, first, or whatever it is that I did to make the context menu come back to life.
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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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JG
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Re: List View context-menu anomaly

Post by JG »

You need to be sure to right click over some text and not the white-space otherwise the program does not register that the pointer is on a verse so you only get the 'close' menu.
Jon
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Word 6 Bible Software
OS for testing; Windows 10
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ErikJon
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:24 pm

Re: List View context-menu anomaly

Post by ErikJon »

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Good analysis, Dr. Jon. I never would have thought of that one.

O.K., so, even though you have discovered the secret, and even though I will personally remember that, from now on, changing the subject a bit, I think it might be good to "kill two birds with one stone" by resolving the issue for other users who may easily experience the same problem, who may never go through the trouble of posting a question on the forum

In my case, it is a force of habit, not to click directly on the words themselves, as, in any other part of the program, this tends to open up linked dictionary windows or pop-up windows. Consequently, I am sure that other users will have the same tendency. This is especially true because List view verses have entire "phrases" hotlinked for some reason (perhaps to coincide with their original-language equivalents in dictionary windows), in such a way that, by merely hovering over them, these phrases change color, implying that something further will occur if the user should happen to click directly on them, although I don't yet know what it is that would occur, as I have not been using original-language tools much, nor List View either, for that matter)

And even if clicking directly on the text within a Listview verse does not open any linked windows, with all due respect, it still seems a bit silly (if you will excuse me for saying so), for the user to have to know "not to click in the gray space" in order to delete the verse around which a "selection box" is already clearly displayed, or in order to simply have a normally-functioning context menu. (Imagine if all the formatting tools disappeared from the Bookview toolbar, simply because the user did not click directly on a word of text)

Moreover, such a delicate precaution of clicking directly, is not required when working with ordinary Bible text in Bibleview, and in fact, to the contrary, Costas has set things up so that one can "copy verses" even by clicking in the blank space, and without even selecting the entire text of any one verse, but only a portion thereof. Consequently, the List View behavior is inconsistent and, in a sense, counter-intuitive.

In my case, having used the program regularly for about three years now, I think, I spent about fifteen minutes reading through the help file and other things, trying to figure out why in the world my context menu was so incomplete, and why the "delete" option was unavailable. Just imagine how a new user might react. I spent another ten minutes composing a help-message on the forum, which I never uploaded because I eventually discovered that something I did was making the full context-menu to reappear, although I did not know what it was until reading your post today. (I assumed that it was by "saving" the list or something)

In fact, it would have been easier to deduce the source of the problem if no context menu had appeared at all, rather than to have a menu displayed with only one menu item in it; Otherwise I would have said to myself, "Where is the context menu? What am I doing wrong so that no context menu at all should appear?" Instead, by being presented with a context menu of only one item, (rather than a full menu with items grayed out) it seems to IMPLY that this one-item menu is the standard context menu always to be expected when working in ListView, and that the "delete" option does not exist in the first place. (Of course, experienced Listview users would know otherwise, having already become familiar with the context menu and having deleted verses successfully in times past by accidentally clicking correctly on words rather than on the "verse;" while newer Listview users would blame the program for not havig a more complete context menu, experienced listview users would know that something was wrong. Moreover, as it stands currently, referring to the "help file" is of no use, as it presents no explanation of this strange anomaly.

Consequently, I think it would be simpler for the user, if Costas would simply do two things:

(1) First, to temporarily include an explanatory statement in the "help file," in the chapter on "list view," and in bold red type that would say: "Note: even if the verse is selected, the full right-click context menu will not be displayed unless you click directly onto the text itself, rather than into blank spaces within the verse."

(Although a much more complete explanation (but nonetheless, perhaps a more embarassing) would be this: "Note: even if the verse is selected, you will not be able to delete any verse, move any verse, view the corresponding Bible text, offset the passage, change the translation for the selected verse, change the translation for all verses in the list, nor sort the list in any way, unless you click directly onto the text itself, rather than into blank spaces within the verse."

By including either version into the help file, the user will, at least be able to find an explanation without having to go online to the forum, post a question, and wait for an answer; most of the users who take the time to search the "help file" will eventually discover the answer there, especially if it appears in red.

(2) An even better alternative is to enable the full context menu to appear regardless of where the user clicks, but perhaps with all items grayed out except the ones that remain functional (and hopefully "delete" will be one of the functional).
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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: List View context-menu anomaly

Post by csterg »

fixed in b1468.
ErikJon
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:24 pm

Re: List View context-menu anomaly

Post by ErikJon »

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Mission accomplished!
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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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