Paste Position

[marcelloh]

It would be nice if a Paste (in a diagram) is done from the cursor position.

[Thomas Mercer-Hursh]

I suspect that the problem here ... common to a great many products, is that there isn't really any mechanism for positioning the cursor in open space.  Yes, I know it is possible to detect the current mouse position, but that would have its own issues ... like what to do when it is not in the panel where the paste should go.

[marcelloh]

I doesn't matter if this is a problem for a programmer, it just looks not so pretty (I say this very nice, but I mean otherwise.)

If I select a couple of swim lanes in my BPM-diagram, with content inside, and copy/paste this, the past buffer should have exactly the same content as I put in there. And also in the same order, the same mutual distances as the original, and preferably all this at the cursor position.
Now it's none of the above.  :-/

I expect from a copy/paste action exactly the same as it does within one text editor to another.
(Copy paste is not a 2008 invention!)

[«Midnight»]

I sympathize with you to an extent, but I'm not too sure how much time I'd want Sparx to divert to this.

EA - any UML tool - is not a text editor. I would not ask for the same feature set.

The point is really whether the semantic construct is faithfully rendered in the copy. As long as that is taken care of things are going well. From the visual point of view [oops] the primary goal is for the result to be workable and reasonably clear.

After all, there's no real guarantee that the target diagram will accommodate a faithful rendering. Having Sparx write software to handle, or even detect, the compatibility level of the target would draw very considerable resources away from the UML focus of EA, with only limited prospects for improving the product.

Just another 0.02 CAD, whatever that's worth these days.

David

[Thelonius]

Having Sparx write software to handle, or even detect, the compatibility level of the target would draw very considerable resources away from the UML focus of EA, with only limited prospects for improving the product.

Are you kidding? The Sparx guys are rolling in cash! They can afford to hire developers to wash their cars!

[marcelloh]

It's not up to us to decide to build something, or not.
(and if you think, they are filthy rich, do the PRICE x NrOfCustomers math, you would know that it's not true.)

[KP]

Are you kidding? The Sparx guys are rolling in cash! They can afford to hire developers to wash their cars!

Even if that were true, the current water restrictions in these parts mean it's illegal to wash your car... :-/

[«Midnight»]

Then whose cars are you allowed to wash?

[marcelloh]

As a workaround, you could take a shower, whilst standing on top of your car.

[Eve]

If you select 'Paste Object(s) as Link' from the context menu on the diagram it will work from relative to the right click location.

[marcelloh]

Unfortunately: Not true.....
This diagram already contains an instance of the element you're trying to paste. If I try this to another diagram: it's by far not the left or rightclick position of the mouse cursor where EA puts the stuff.

When I do: Paste as new; it sometimes works, but sometimes it puts multiple swim lanes on top of each other instead of below each other.
(And also not on cursor position!)

If EA 'accidentally' put the pasted drawing on top of another one, no big deal because it's all selected, so I can reposition it myself (if not squashed together). Sometimes there it goes wrong to since it moves unselected stuff as well.

Does anyone test these days?  :-?

[Eve]

What build of EA are you using marcelloh?

I'm sure it was quite some time ago that the functionality I described was introduced but it certainly works for me in the current build.  I use it on a nearly daily basis.

[marcelloh]

The latest 7.1 (832), but perhaps this 'behaviour' only happens when doing BPM diagrams.

I work with the product on a daily basis as well, and sometimes I'm surprised about things, but the nice thing is, then I have something else to talk about.