Custom style is applied as standard style (but shouldn't)

[David.P]

Hello Forum and Tracker Support Team,

I have created a custom rectangle comment style called "movable highlight", and added a button in the toolbar for this style:

image.png

However, as soon as I click on the button, the style is applied as the default style for comment rectangles.

Expected behavior: I'd like to create a single comment rectangle with this style, but not have the style set as new default for all rectangles.

What am I doing wrong?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, David.P

I don't think you are doing anything "wrong" it just remember the last used colour. So you want to be able to have a different highlight selected, use this one once, then have the tool revert to the previously used one?

Sorry, I am not 100% clear on the use case. It sounds like you want to set a default highlighter, be able to use your custom one, but have the Editor not "remember" that use and still use that "default" without switching to it. Is that right?


Kind regards,
Paul - Tracker Supp

[rakunavi]

Hello David.P and Paul,

The same word is used in different ways...

• The use of the term "default" in the menus and manuals related to comment style may be a source of confusion for users. In the current implementation of the app, there is no configurable "default style" for comment style (except for text styles). There is only "Current Style". As Paul pointed out, the most recently used comment style is reflected in the command icons for each comment tool on the comment tab (IDs beginning with "cmd.tool.annot.").
  
  For example, the right-click menu when selecting each comment and the Format tab of the Comment Tool have the following menus.
  
  
  • figure1.png
  • Product Manuals » PDF-XChange Editor V10 » Tabs Guide » Comment Tab » Typewriter Tool
    https://help.pdf-xchange.com/pdfxe ... ol_ed.html
    
    
    • Click Make Current Properties Default to set the properties of the selected comment as the default properties for subsequent comments.
  Looking at the floppy disk icon and the description alone, it is tempting to think that a "default" setting exists and can be "saved" separately from the "Current Style". However, "default" here only means that it is reflected in the "Current Style".
  
  On the other hand, the "Reset" command icon on the comment style palette toolbar also includes "default" in its description.
  
  
  • figure2.png
  • Product Manuals » PDF-XChange Editor V10 » Tabs Guide » Comment Tab » Manage Comments » Comment Styles Palette
    https://help.pdf-xchange.com/pdfxe ... te_ed.html
    
    
    • Click Reset to reset the selected style to its default values.
  However, unlike the previous example, "default" here does not mean "Current Style" and the default values cannot be changed.

Multiple phrases are used to say the same thing...

• What I said above can also be rephrased that multiple phrases are assigned in menus and manuals, even though ultimately their meaning is the same.
  
  
  • "Current Style" (Comment Styles Palette)
  • "Default" / "the default properties"（Context menu, Manual)
  • "Active Style"（Manual）
  If multiple phrases are used unnecessarily, users are more likely to misinterpret each as having a different meaning.

There seems to be room for improvement in the use of terminology in applications and manuals.
Sorry if my comments are off the mark.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

The trouble here is that there are effectively 4 states for styles.
1. The "system default" which the editor ships with, and which is restored when you use the "reset settings" function we offer.
2. The "Personal modified default" which you can use to set you desired custom style as the "go to" when you click on a given tool, or activate it via a hotkey.
3. The "current active" style, which can be modified on the fly without impacting the personal default.
4. The "Saved Styles" which you can quickly swap to from within the style palette, or even place on the toolbar and assign hotkeys to.

So.. using the term "current" would be a bit of a misnomer, as it would seem to indicate you are making changes to option 3, when really you are making changes to option 2. Meanwhile, option 1 cannot be changed at all, so calling it the "default" may be a misnomer, in effect it is the "origin" or "base" (aka, "system/app default") settings for the tool, while the "default" is what the tool will default to on a daily use case, for users who do not reset the UI every night.

I cannot promise that we will see changes on this, but I will see what can be done.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hello Daniel,

Thank you for the clarification. I hope this will help David.P to understand better.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[David.P]

Sorry for the late reply. Will come back to this asap

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[David.P]

Thanks @all the feedback so far!

I still can't figure this out.

I have had different line styles in my toolbar for a long time:

image.png

There, I can simply click on the respective button in the toolbar, and then draw a line in the desired format, for example hairline, arrow, connector, or default line.

The buttons are all independent of each other and also do not affect the standard line format when pressed.

I'd like to achieve the same thing with two different rectangles (see original posting above), or now with two different ovals:

image(1).png

For this I created the style "Oval Highlighter" like shown above, and put it on a button in the toolbar:

image(2).png

Unlike the different line styles above, however, the default style for "Oval Tool" changes to the custom style of "Oval Highlighter" as soon as I click on the "Oval Highlighter" button. The two styles and buttons then become identical which looks like this:

image(3).png

What am I doing wrong? Or how should I proceed, so that the two buttons for "Oval Highlighter" (Custom Style) and for "Oval Tool" (Standard Style) remain independent of each other, just like above with the buttons for the different line styles?

Best regards
David

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello David.P,

The Oval tool you have on the left is a complex tool (with a drop down selector that allows you to switch to another style) - and it would point to the currently active style.
Please add a separate "Default" style oval as a new button on it's own - and then when you switch between those two, the one with the dropdown will update/switch accordingly to show you the current active option.

E.g. - I added Blue and Red styles for the cloud tool - and when I click one of the other separate styles - the cloud selector changes accordingly.:

image.png

or:

image(1).png

My styles are on the right, the Cloud tool that updates is on the left.

So if you do not want to see the cloud tool, and are happy with only having the styles you need - you can remove it from that toolbar by customizing it further!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Hello Stefan,

this, of course, explains a lot. Now I also remember that I faced the same problem some years ago (with the different line styles) and then managed to solve it in the same way, only forgot how I did it...

Thus, instead of the default "complex" Oval Tool, I created another custom tool with the desired properties, put that on the toolbar, and this way it works fine, of course:

image.png

I just can't seem to see that those "complex" tools have a dropdown in the toolbar? (unlike e.g. the Snapshots tool in the screenshot below):

image(1).png

The little triangle on the bottom right inside those buttons just seems to be some kind of flag indicating that it's a "complex" tool that follow its own current default style (line color, fill color) even in the toolbar (or so I believe).

Anyway, problem solved!

Thanks very much
Best regards
David

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[David.P]

Hello all,

I’m posting this basically only as a reminder for myself, and for others who are interested in how to add a custom style to the toolbar, as I’ve recently had trouble remembering how to do this.

For some reason, custom styles (or at least some custom styles) don't appear in the Customize Toolbars dialog and so can't be added to the toolbar from there.

However, it seems that all custom styles can be found by entering their name in the Quick Launch search box, as shown in the screenshot:

how to add anything quickly to the toolbar.png

We can then simply drag the found style onto the toolbar with the mouse, and a corresponding button will be added:

image.png

Cheers
David

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, David.P

We also have a KB article about this. As for which can be seen, only newly created custom styles can be added to the toolbars, the default styles, whether customized or not, are unavailable.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... nge-Editor

Kind regards,