Bug: snapping to lines

[KD952]

Hello!

I just upgraded to build 385

Bild_2024-03-02_092057518.png

Snapping to mid-point no longer works with lines on build 385.

Here are my settings:

Bild_2024-03-02_091727822.png

As you can see in the following gif snapping to mid-point no longer works for lines.
Still works for polygon lines.

clip0010-ezgif.com-video-to-gif-converter.gif

Kind regards,
Daniel

[David.P]

Wow, as if snapping alone wouldn't be a totally awesome feature for an PDF Editor, it is even configurable! I didn't know that.

When the devs take a look into this bug as reported by Daniel, maybe a tiny audible feedback could be added to the snapping feature?

That would make snapping even more intuitive. I have been using a similar feature (programmed in AutoHotKey) for years in PowerPoint, which is my main drawing program, and it makes drawing stuff all day long so much faster and less tiring.

Actually, I have made that feature active system-wide in the meantime. It makes a tiny "click" sound every time the mouse cursor changes, i.e. when you hover or pass over things with your mouse:

Code: Select all

SetTimer, CursorClick, 11 ; run every 11 milliseconds

CursorClick:
	CursorNow := A_Cursor ; determine the current cursor
	If (CursorNow != "IBeam") and (CursorNow != "Arrow") and  (CursorNow != CursorPrevious) ; determine if the cursor has changed (except if the cursor is =IBeam or =Arrow)
		{
		;~ ToolTip, CursorClick %CursorPrevious% %CursorNow% ; shows what the current cursor is, for debugging
        SoundPlay, C:\Windows\Media\MenuPopup.wav  ; play a tiny click sound
		}
	CursorPrevious := CursorNow
Return

The MenuPopup.wav file is attached, just put this into your C:\Windows\Media folder to try.

Thanks for considering!

Best regards
David

MenuPopup.wav.zip

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello KD952, David.P,

@KD952 - thanks for your report!
I've managed to reproduce the issue and have created the ticket for our devs so that they can get this resolved:
#6800: Editor 385: Snapping to midpoint works only for some annotations

@David P - I will make sure that the dev team also sees and considers your comments, but I can't make promises for such a sound being added from our side!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[KD952]

Hello Stefan!

Could you expand the ticket to include the following problem:

"Snapping position indicators no longer show up for area tool, perimeter tool and polygon line tool when pressing shift key"

area_tool.gif

Kind regards,
Daniel

[Jordan - PDF XChange]

Hello KD952,

Pressing Shift key does have a different function when used with those two tools - to draw the line in increments of 15 degree for more precision. And if the perimeter/area tool start from outside the figure ( when including other shapes or more complex areas) ,there are cases that you will not be able to select the snap point.

Holding the key to show snap position and then to have to relies it in order to link your line does not sound very functional.

The snap point do show when you hover over it and holding shift for the first helps if the snap point is the first used by the tool. I did check several builds back, but I was not able to find one where the Shift key had that function.

[KD952]

Hello Jordan!

The area tool, perimeter tool and polygon line tool did lose this functionality recently. Cannot say which build.

For comparison line tool still works as intended.
Snapping position indicators show up while holding shift key.

line_tool + shift key.gif

Kind regards,
Daniel.

[KD952]

Maybe a better wording would be:

"Snapping position indicators disappear while pressing shift key" (for area tool, perimeter tool and polygon line tool)

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, KD952

Thank you for the excellent explanation, I have successfully reproduced the issue, and created a ticket showcasing it. As per usual, this is an internal ticket, but you can ask any member of the support team for updates in the future:

RT#6852: Bug: Poly-Tools - snap icon not shown when shift is held.

Kind regards,

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello,

A quick followup here, this ticket has been rejected, not because it is not a bug, but because the issue at hand is not the lack of snap point icons, that is actually by design. When shift is held, snapping to other objects should not happen at all, because it is not possible to reliably do so.

Kind regards,

[KD952]

Hello Daniel!

I have to strongly disagree with the developers on this point.

Snapping while shift is held has reliably worked for many many years.
At least going back to Version 8 probably Version 7 too.

I had to roll back to a previous version to record the following videos:

1. Measuring areas is faster and less prone to error when using shift + snapping because you don't have to make sure that you catch the end points. You just have to catch the next line.

01.gif

2. Measuring areas with cut outs is only accurately possible when using shift + snapping because you can make sure to not mark areas more than once.

02.gif

3. Measuring sloppy drawn technical drawings is much easier when using shift + snapping because you can close the gaps where lines are not intersecting.

03.gif

Kind regards,
Daniel

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, KD952

Thank you very much for bringing this back up, I have forwarded your feedback to the Dev team to have the hopefully reconsider this. I cannot make any promises, but there have in the past been some cases where rejected tickets are revived.

Kind regards,

[KD952]

Hello Daniel!

Any news?

Kind regards.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, KD952

I am afraid that I do not have anything to share yet. I cannot make any promises of what may happen at this point, we just need to be patient and when they have time to review, we may hear back.

Kind regards,

[bmartin]

Hello everyone,

Is it possible to change the colour of the snapping too, please ?

It's currently blue in my version.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, bmartin

At the moment changing the color of the snapping tool is not possible, but I will bring it up with the dev team.

Kind regards,

[Ak2828]

Please change this back! its driving me nuts. snapping with shift is all i do

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Ak2828,

There are already tickets for this topic - and they would be worked on as soon as possible. For the time being I can not many any more specific commitment!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[KD952]

Hello Stefan!

So Ticket Nr. RT#6852 was revived?

Kind regards,
Daniel

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello KD952,

No - ticket #6852 is still rejected. However lately we've had quite a few new users that after their initial post start posting unwanted advertising messages. AK's message is a bit too short for me to be 100% certain which category they would fall into, hence my vague reply back!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Ak2828]

Hi Stefan,

Im sorry if my message was too vague. I want to add to this comment:

Maybe a better wording would be:

"Snapping position indicators disappear while pressing shift key" (for area tool, perimeter tool and polygon line tool)

I make a lot of use of comments and snapping to objects is an absolute must for me in order to draw straight lines. Since a recent update i cant snap to objects/comments when pressing down the shift key, so now im not sure if the line im drawing is straight, because im not holding down shift in order to be able to snap. Im not sure what has changed, but disabling snapping while holding down shift is not an improvement.

[Ak2828]

Hello KD952,

No - ticket #6852 is still rejected. However lately we've had quite a few new users that after their initial post start posting unwanted advertising messages. AK's message is a bit too short for me to be 100% certain which category they would fall into, hence my vague reply back!

Kind regards,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

Im sorry if my message was too vague. I want to add to this comment:

Maybe a better wording would be:

"Snapping position indicators disappear while pressing shift key" (for area tool, perimeter tool and polygon line tool)

I make a lot of use of comments and snapping to objects is an absolute must for me in order to draw straight lines. Since a recent update i cant snap to objects/comments when pressing down the shift key, so now im not sure if the line im drawing is straight, because im not holding down shift in order to be able to snap. Im not sure what has changed, but disabling snapping while holding down shift is not an improvement.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Ak2828,

Welcome back to the topic!
Thanks for those additional comments!

I will have those discussed internally with our dev team and we will come back to this topic if my colleagues have any further information!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Ak2828]

Hello Ak2828,

Welcome back to the topic!
Thanks for those additional comments!

I will have those discussed internally with our dev team and we will come back to this topic if my colleagues have any further information!

Kind regards,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

thats great! I have to say your customer support is as good as your product. good work

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[Sinaptik]

Hi folks,

I would be happy issues reported could be adressed !
Additionally (and I do not know if it was working as I would like in the past) but I would be happy to be able to snap to guide perpendicularly as explained in this post:
viewtopic.php?t=43841

Thank you !

[PHK]

Not having this capability diminishes the utility of Guidelines without any apparent benefit.

Please restore.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello PHK and all,

The comments from our devs in the ticket are that before it was snapping when it should not have been - e.g. you do not see a snap icon, and then when shift was pressed - it would snap.
The issue is that when Shift is being held that means we are angle snapping (0, 45, 90, etc. degrees) and in this mode, we cannot properly snap points.

I will once again check with the dev team on whether this is something that can be re-evaluated and worked on.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[KD952]

Hello Stefan!

I concede that snapping did not work at angles. But here in construction 99% of the time I just want to snap to a line that is perpendicular to another line. I do not and did not care that it did not work on angles.

You can still test the capabilities that were lost with the line tool.

-> with the line tool you can still snap to lines even when shift is held.
-> you can also snap to guides perpendicularly just like Sinaptik wants.

God forbid the devs now also deactivate the Snapping position indicators for the line tool.

Kind regards,
Daniel

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, KD952

the devs agree there is room for improvement here, so they agreed to go over it. There is an associated ticket, RT#7108: Feature Request :: Editor :: Snapping to line improvements

We will do what we can to improve this.

[KD952]

Hooray!

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

[kveab]

Any updates on this?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello kveab,

Welcome to our forums,
I've just updated the ticket and requested an update from our dev team. As soon as we hear back we will post here as well!

Kind regards,
Stefan