trunk: select tool no longer informs about current selection after tool switch (rev >= 12630)

[su_v]

The select tool no longer displays useful information about the current selection after switching between tools (object count, object type, layer, node count of paths, etc). The user is forced to deselect and then reselect again to learn about object types, node counts, layers etc. This breaks the workflow if the user needs to keep the current selection for further editing.

Steps to reproduce:
1) launch inkscape (default prefs, default new doc)
2) create a couple of different objects
3) select some or all
--> read message in the notification area
4) switch tool (e.g. to Dropper, Gradient or Node tool)
5) switch back to Select tool ('S')

Expected result
After switching back to the select tool, useful information about the current selection is displayed in the notification region of the status bar.

Actual result:
Inkscape simply states "Click to Select and Tranform objects, Drag to select many objects.".

Reproduced with r12660 on Ubuntu 13.04 (inkscape-trunk PPA) and r12662 on OS X 10.7.5.

Based on tests with archived builds,
- not reproduced with revision <= r12629
- reproduced with revision >= 12630
this regression was introduced in
Revision 12630: Reduce tools-switcher code, add description for node and select toos.
<http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/revision/12630>

[su_v (suv-lp)]

@Martin - any chance you could revisit the changes from r12630? IMvHO inkscape lost a useful feature with those changes (I can't imagine being the only user who relies on having the information about the current selection displayed on the notification area any time when the select tool is active).

[Martin Owens (doctormo)]

Sure thing, suv, can you confirm if the message was different for node tools too?

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Haven't noticed missing information with the node tool so far, but will keep an eye on that …

Did notice however that Inkscape lost the ability to detect 3dboxes as 3dboxes - since r12584 it reports them as 'Group of 6 objects':
<http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/revision/12584>

[Martin Owens (doctormo)]

This bug is fixed in r12664, I also fixed the 3d box issue in r12665

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Thanks - both fixes confirmed with r12665.

P.S.: I failed to figure out in which situation the new tool_msg string for the select tool (AFAICT added in r12630) still is used after r12664, so I didn't push the fix for a small typo ( s/Tranfom/Transform/ ) …