Smart selection is frustrating

[Adrian Maire]

There is some kind of smart selection which make me crazy while working:

Scenario:
1) Zoom out a picture so any small (around 10 or less pixels) is over a bigger object.
2) Click the small object (it is selected)
3) without moving the mouse, press and then start dragging.

- Expected: The small object is moved
- Result: The small object is un-selected and the big below object is moved.

Scenario 2:
1) Zoom out a picture so any small (around 10 or less pixels) is over a bigger object.
2) Press on the small object and start moving

- Expected: The small object is selected and moved
- Result: The below object is selected and moved.

Other relevant parameters.
Grab sensitivity is set to 0.
As a work-around, ALT can be pressed, but IMO, should not be necessary to press a key for that. Also, usually I had to press CTRL for axis moving, and SHIFT to temporally disable grid influence, so my left hand start to become crazy having to press 3+ key for a simple move.

I understand that pressing for move could produce a new selection, but IMO, if the press is clearly inside a current selection, should maintain this, and at least select the right object (not the below one).

For more information, I made a capture: See attachment.

I am currently using Inkscape 0.91 Windows version

Kind regards,
Adrian Maire

[Mc (mc...)]

I cannot reproduce (see video)

Are there any special things in your file ? filters, blend modes, etc, that could affect selection areas ?

[Adrian Maire (escain)]

A better example, with the provided svg.

[Adrian Maire (escain)]

I also uninstalled everything and reinstalled. No change.

Using regular windows 7 64bits.

[Mc (mc...)]

Mmmh... weird. I managed to reproduce when grab sensitivity is set to 0, but not when it's 4 (default)

[LucaDC (lucadc)]

If I remember well there was a discussion somewhere in another bug where it came out that the process is this:
 - you have some objects selected that you want to drag;
 - you press the left mouse button somewhere inside the selection (nothing happens): the click position is saved;
 - you drag the mouse with the button pressed so the cursor moves;
 - when the mouse cursor exits the sensitivity area around the saved position, the grab is activated but:
   + the new mouse position (the first outside sensitivity) is used to select what to grab so it's like a new click is done in that position.

Maybe my understanding is wrong but every time I experience this problem it's because I'm in a hurry and quickly move the mouse when grabbing and the solution is reselecting, reclicking and moving more slowly the mouse.
The computer speed is also influencing the critical movement speed threshold.

IMHO this should be fixed so the first point is used for starting grabbing.

<offtopic>
The problem is sensibly worse for text objects because I'm used to considering the bounding box as the whole text object and not only the bounding box of letters. So usually I have to start the mouse movement being careful to move it to have the first point outside the sensitivity area still inside the bounding box of a letter.
The idea not to use the global bounding box for text objects is not entirely bad as there could be some tall letters that make it extend a lot but I think that the grabbing area should be increased by a margin as already happens, for example, with rectangles: you can click slightly outside the rectangle and still select and grab it while you can't with a text object.
Also, characters as underscore ('_') or dot ('.') should be treated like space because their extension is too small (try with "A__o ...": you can grab the spaces but not over '_' and '.' and this is weird).
</offtopic>

[LucaDC (lucadc)]

To see what I mean:
 - draw a very big filled rectangle;
 - draw a very small filled rectangle (with a different color) over the first;
 - now having both deselected, move the mouse over the small one;
 - left click without moving the mouse;
  -take a breath;
 - do the fastest mouse movement you can!
You probably end with the big rectangle grabbed.
Slowly redo the same thing and you'll always get the small one.

[Adrian Maire (escain)]

I can grab the big one even veeeery slowly.

[Mc (mc...)]

to investigate/test when i get some time: replacing line 575 with line 578 in src/ui/tools/select-tool.cpp

[LucaDC (lucadc)]

You have to consider also the "Click/drag threshold" parameter: if it's larger than the small object, the drag starts outside it so the "second point" is always taken on the underlying big object.
In this way the "second point" bug can be amplified.

[Adrian Maire (escain)]

@LucaDC: Seem that the threshold has something to do as you comment: I tried to set 0 and the issue seem to disappear. Also, setting the maximum (20), the behaviour is quite obvious.

IMHO, the threshold should not change the point of click:

1) I press at 50x50
2) Move the cursor to 50x54 (threshold limit) -> Nothing happens as inside the threshold.
3) Move the cursor to 50x55 (1 after threshold limit) -> apply the move, but from 50x50, not from 50x55.

So the threshold has no influence on the click/select behaviour, only on considering whenever the object has been moved or just pressed.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

I have this experience all the time. If I'm about to move something, I have to make sure to click and drag from the start, rather than click wait for a moment, then click and drag. It always selects the object behind.

This behavior is relatively new. I don't remember which version, but I do remember it started happening when I upgraded. Probably would be one of the 0.48.x or 0.91

I haven't tried this yet, but I wonder if changing the grab sensitivity would help? (Inkscape Preferences > Input/Output > Input Devices)

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Likely the same issue as already tracked in
* Bug #1066474 “drag object deadzone changes which object is dragged”
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1066474

(could be the bug mentioned by LucaDC in comment #7)

[grey tomorrow (gtomorrow)]

Closing because INVALID: Duplicate issue.

Please see https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/2120

If you feel this issue has been injustly closed, please feel free to open a new issue at http://inkscape.org/report . Thank you.

Closed by: https://gitlab.com/greytomorrow