bugGNU Octave - Bugs: bug #40251, all toolkits should have default...

 
 

bug #40251: all toolkits should have default left and right click options

Submitter:  Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Submitted:  Sat 12 Oct 2013 07:00:12 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Plotting Severity:  2 - Minor
Priority:  3 - Low Item Group:  Feature Request
Status:  Confirmed Assigned to:  None
Originator Name:  Open/Closed:  * Open
Release:  * dev Operating System:  * Any
Fixed Release:  None Planned Release:  None
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Sun 11 Dec 2022 02:57:50 AM UTC, comment #8: 

6 year update: 

checking 2D and 3D with plot(humps) and peaks, respectively:

default mouse click/drag action in matlab 2022b:

2d plot - left: pan the window, right: do nothing
3d plot - left: rotate, right: do nothing


Octave 8.0.1 on windows and 9.0.1 on linux/ubuntu:

qt:
2d plot - left: do nothing, right: do nothing
3d plot - left: do nothing, right: do nothing

fltk:
2d plot - left: do nothing, right: window zoom
3d plot - left: do nothing, right: window zoom

gnuplot:
2d plot - left: do nothing, right: window zoom
3d plot - left: rotate, right: rotate


At this point we have relegated gnuplot to the 'it's not maintained and things won't get fixed' pile, so it being different is no longer a real issue unless changing behavior is a trivial fix.

our behavior is not the same as matlab, and others below have expressed that the toolkits should be consistent (right click currently is not) and there should probably be a default action set. I would suggest in line with some below that the best default might be to have 2D left click pan, right click zoom, and 3D left click rotate, right click zoom. That will require changes to defaults in all toolkits.

Retitling and changing this from need info to confirmed.

Nicholas Jankowski <nrjank>
Group Member
Thu 24 Nov 2016 02:27:28 PM UTC, comment #7: 

I think we should exceed expectations here.  I don't find it natural from a UX (user experience) perspective that the left button isn't bound to some action by default.  It seem slow and clumsy that every time a new plot comes up one has to select the action from a menu first.

Rik <rik5>
Group administrator
Thu 24 Nov 2016 12:59:33 PM UTC, comment #6: 

Here is what Matlab (V2014b) does:
(not that we need to copy them)

2D and 3D:
No default action for any left click, scroll, right click mouse action in the figure windows. You need to select an action from the toolbar first, before you can manipulate the plot.

So with our current qt graphics toolkit we are doing the very same (in Octave 4.2.0).

Hartmut <hardy>
Sat 26 Sep 2015 03:27:14 AM UTC, comment #5: 

I just compiled and installed 4.0.0 (Debian Linux host). I am also seeing that the default is to have nothing mapped to any mouse actions. Here is what is intuitive for me:

2D:
Click drag to pan
Scroll to zoom
double click to reset view

3D:
Click drag to rotate
scroll to zoom
double click to reset view

Additionally, the Gnuplot backend used to show the cursor position in the status bar, which is very helpful when reading graphs and plots. This should be part of the new FLTK backend as well.

This is a significant usability issue since a lot of people spend a substantial fraction of their time in Octave working with the plotting tools. I request increasing the severity of this issue.

Anonymous
Sat 07 Feb 2015 05:29:30 PM UTC, comment #4: 

I like having sensible defaults.  It seems weird to me that it comes up with neither mode, pan or rotate, selected.  For 3-D, I think rotate is the natural default.  For 2-D, I would make the default pan.

Maybe need to ask on the Octave-Maintainers list for someone with Matlab to verify what they do for defaults (not that we have to copy them).

Rik <rik5>
Group administrator
Sat 07 Feb 2015 05:09:10 PM UTC, comment #3: 

The behavior for both FLTK and Qt for the upcoming 4.0 release is now to do nothing by default with a left mouse drag, the user has to select either the pan or rotate modes (or zoom mode in Qt) for a mouse drag to do anything.

In FLTK, right mouse drag does a zoom, prints a warning in Qt.

Gnuplot behavior hasn't changed, the default is still to rotate 3D plots when they first appear. If there's nothing that can be done about that, I'm ok with closing this as won't fix, and put the focus on consistency between FLTK and Qt going forward.

Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Group Member
Sat 12 Oct 2013 07:58:40 PM UTC, comment #2: 

For 2-D plots, FLTK pans when a left mouse drag is done. So for FLTK, it does the same thing with 2-D and 3-D plots.

Gnuplot does nothing by default with a left mouse drag on a 2-D plot.

Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Group Member
Sat 12 Oct 2013 07:53:56 PM UTC, comment #1: 

I agree.  And does the behavior change based on whether a 2-D graph, like plot(), is done or a 3-D plot, like surf, is done?

Rik <rik5>
Group administrator
Sat 12 Oct 2013 07:00:12 PM UTC, original submission:  

The initial mouse-drag function when plotting with FLTK is to pan the plot view. The initial mouse-drag function when plotting with gnuplot rotates the plot view. This should probably be consistent between plotting toolkits and consistent with what Matlab does by default (I'm not sure what that is).


octave:1> graphics_toolkit ("fltk");
octave:2> sombrero ();
## Dragging with the mouse pans the plot view
octave:3> close all;
octave:4> graphics_toolkit ("gnuplot");
octave:5> sombrero ();
## Dragging with the mouse rotates the plot view


Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Group Member

 

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    Follow 6 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2022-12-11 nrjank Priority5 - Normal 3 - Low
        StatusNeed Info Confirmed
        SummaryPan vs rotate for 3d plots with FLTK vs Qt vs gnuplot all toolkits should have default left and right click options
    2019-02-26 mtmiller Carbon-CopyRemoved 80942 -
    2015-02-07 mtmiller StatusNone Need Info
        SummaryPan vs rotate for 3d plots with FLTK vs gnuplot Pan vs rotate for 3d plots with FLTK vs Qt vs gnuplot

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