"Select All" missing from Edit menu

[blackketter]

KiCad 5.1.2-1, macOS

"Select All" (and its key shortcut, command-a) is missing from KiCad.

It's a standard item in the Edit menu on (almost) all macOS applications, like Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete. It's particularly useful when editing a text field, like a label.

[Michael Kavanagh (michaelkavanagh)]

Please copy the full version information from About KiCad -> Copy Version Info.

[blackketter (ppt-dean)]

Application: kicad
Version: (5.1.2-1)-1, release build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.4
    libcurl/7.54.0 LibreSSL/2.6.5 zlib/1.2.11 nghttp2/1.24.1
Platform: Mac OS X (Darwin 18.7.0 x86_64), 64 bit, Little endian, wxMac
Build Info:
    wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (UTF-8,STL containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.69.0
    OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
    Curl: 7.54.0
    Compiler: Clang 9.0.0 with C++ ABI 1002

Build settings:
    USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=ON
    USE_WX_OVERLAY=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
    BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
    KICAD_SPICE=ON

[eelik (eelik)]

Context menus over texts are different on different platforms, but I wouldn't have guessed that such an item would be missing. On Windows it seems to work. See the attached screenshot. Ctrl+a works too.

Application: Eeschema
Version: (5.99.0-51-g4c9e4c947), release build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.4
    libcurl/7.61.1 OpenSSL/1.1.1 (WinSSL) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.6 libidn2/2.0.5 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.1.1) nghttp2/1.34.0
Platform: Windows 8 (build 9200), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
    wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.68.0
    OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
    Curl: 7.61.1
    Compiler: GCC 8.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
    KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
    BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
    KICAD_SPICE=ON

[blackketter (ppt-dean)]

To be clear, I was reporting Select All missing from the Edit menu on the menubar, but it's also missing from contextual menu on the Mac.

[Ian McInerney (imcinerney)]

The edit menu on the menubar contains the items for working on the PCB in general. A "select all" placed into that menu would select all items on the board rather than the text in the field.

As for it not being in the right-click menu, I believe that is being handled by OSX rather than us. That menu is generated by OSX for the field, and we have no control over what is in it. It is further complicated by the fact it is actually a combobox rather than a simple text control.

It looks like the keyboard shortcut for select all will be included in the 3.1 branch of wxWidgets, so we will hopefully get it in v6.

[blackketter (ppt-dean)]

Thanks, Ian, but there's a little confusion here. What you describe isn't how the Edit menu works in macOS. The Cut/Copy/Paste/Delete/Select All menu items affect the item that currently has focus (i.e. where the cursor is).

For the example I gave, if you select text in a dialog box (in this case the text in Label Properties) you can use the Edit menu (or key equivalents) to Cut, Copy and Paste that text correctly now.

What's missing from the Edit menu is Select All (and command-A). Additionally, the Delete item from the Edit menu should also work on this text. It's currently disabled.

I was wrong to complain about Select All missing from the context menu. It generally doesn't appear there in standard Mac apps.

In any case, I'm glad to hear that the keyboard shortcut for Select All will come for free in V6. Hopefully the whole Edit menu also behave like a traditional Mac application.

I appreciate your attention to this stuff. I'm a long time Mac user (1984!) but new KiCad user and am so glad for it to be available on the Mac. These little details really help usability and make KiCad more welcoming to people like me. Thanks!

[KiCad Janitor (kicad-janitor)]

KiCad bug tracker has moved to Gitlab. This report is now available here: https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/2497