Editing actions that act on time selection if active, or on item if there is no time selection

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 27, 2010 15:10:40

Something that would be a huge boost to workflow (and cut the amount of editing keyboard shortcuts in half) would be to have conditional editing actions.

The only 3 actions I can think of are these:

"Copy selected area of selected items if time selection active, if not, copy item"

"Cut selected area of selected items if time selection active, if not, cut item(s)"

"Split items at time selection if time selection active, if not, split at edit cursor"

This would allow the user to just have one shortcut for all copying, one for cutting, and one for splitting. It will definitely help any Pro Tools users make the switch.

I know a lot of people probably use their time selection as something totally independent of their edit cursor, but of course these are just added actions that wouldn't interfere with anyone else's workflow anyways. It would be very close to giving us the "area selection" behaviour everyone has been asking for for a long time!

Anyways, I imagine these would probably be very easy to implement since all the actions already exist and it's just a matter of checking for an active time selection, hopefully you agree that there is some value to this idea and have a chance to give it a shot! Cheers Tim.

Original issue: http://code.google.com/p/sws-extension/issues/detail?id=90

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 27, 2010 08:17:33

One more action actually!

"Remove selected area of selected items if time selection active, if not, remove item"

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 27, 2010 08:19:32

Make that, "remove item/tracks/env points (depending on focus)" instead of just remove item sorry, trying to replace the backspace key here!

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 27, 2010 10:43:41

Hey Adam, thanks again for the donation. I will definitely get these actions in there for you in the next couple days, they're a great idea!

Tim

Status: Accepted
Owner: swstim
Labels: -Priority-Medium Priority-High

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 27, 2010 15:14:58

Cool! Great news! I've waited for so long for these actions. Thanks Tim.

I'd like to ask about something. Do you think it is possible to make these actions focus dependent? I mean, could they work for tracks and env points too or that's not possible via extensions?

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 27, 2010 15:24:05

Yes, for sure, they can be focus dependent so they're also work on envelope points.

I'll try to make them as versatile as possible.

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 28, 2010 01:52:19

OK in v1.6.2 #10 r83 added: SWS: Copy items/tracks/env, obeying time sel SWS: Cut items/tracks/env, obeying time sel SWS: Remove items/tracks/env, obeying time sel SWS: Split items at time sel (if exists), else at cursor

Let me know if these work as expected for you! You'll have to remap to Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X, Delete, and S; respectively.

Tim

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 28, 2010 01:56:02

Status: Fixed

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 05:14:02

Works like a charm! Thanks so much Tim!

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 06:51:23

Thanks Tim, that was fast! Though I can't make them work here. If I have an item starting at 2.1.00 to 5.1.00 and I draw a time selection from 3.1.00 to 4.1.00, when I paste it somewhere else I get the full item, not just the selected area.

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 06:58:11

Not experiencing that here, paste is pasting the selected area for me?

[Jeff0S]

From mario.kr...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:02:43

Confirmed working here, as Adam said.

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:04:29

Hmmmm... Ok, I found my problem. If you run the actions from the 'Action List' it doesn't work (I was running them from it). They work if you assign them to a key. Thanks Adam.

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:12:35

One question. If I want to copy/cut/paste an item that's not in the time selection, it doesn't work. I mean, I just replaced all my shortcuts Ctrl+c, Ctrl+x and Del but I'd like to be able to copy/cut/delete items anywhere. Am I missing something?

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:17:15

If you remove your time selection it should do, I normally change "escape" to only remove the time selection and not loop as well.

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:17:25

Copy/cut/delete of regular items will only work if there is no time selection. So you need to clear the time selection first (ESC). I have most of my custom actions set up to remove the time selection after they run, so I rarely have an active time selection anyways (ie paste will paste, then clear the time selection) but I agree it is a bit of a pain.

What I propose is the ability to clear the time selection automatically anytime you left click in the arrange window, the same way that you could clear a selection in a text editor just by clicking elsewhere or starting a new selection.

See this FR I just posted... http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=54890

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:20:43

It's not that intuitive imo. I keep my time selection and loop points linked all time so this would be counterproductive for my workflow because I wouldn't like to lose my loop points because I need to copy an item that's not part of the time selection.

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:31:28

Well like I said in the FR it wouldn't be for everyone. Why not just unlink your time and loop points? There's not really anyway for Reaper to just "know" that you want to copy a full item instead of what's in the time selection if you have an active time selection other than to use separate key commands for each action. The only way to get the behavior you want is to have an area selection feature that is in addition to the current time selection ability, which I believe is something that is far out of Tim's realm of control unfortunately.

Anyways yeah to reiterate, these actions act merely as a simple "if" toggle between the 2 actions that already exist in Reaper, ie...

If there is a time selection active, run action "copy selected area of selected items"

If there is no time selection active, run action "copy selected items"

Hopefully this will clear up why it won't copy a selected item outside of the time selection. Sorry that this doesn't help you as much you hoped man! :/ It's a huge help for me personally because I come from Pro Tools, where my item selection and time selection were always linked (selecting an item set my time selection to that item) and I never have time selections set up that I want to refer back to while doing other edits, so losing the time selection means nothing to me.

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 07:36:41

Unlinking my time selection and loop points is not an option for me, I've been working like this for 4 years now, I'm just used to it as you're used to PT's behavior. Maybe Tim could make it work somehow :)

Anyways, these actions are great and I'm thankful, even if they don't work totally as I expected. I'll keep my fingers crossed for some Tim's magic!

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 28, 2010 11:13:55

OK guys, I've made a little change to these based on Mercado_Negro's feedback:

For the new copy/cut/remove actions, it only runs the "selected area" version if there's selected items inside of the time selection. :)

Adam, make sure this doesn't break what you wanted them to do (I don't think it will.)

Another note: You can't run these from the actions list, they only work bound to a key. Why? Well, you'll also note that the built in actions with "depending on focus" also don't work from the actions list, because the focus is on the actions list, not the arrange window.

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 28, 2010 11:17:56

Btw the above changes are in v1.6.2 #11. Also there's:

SWS: Unselect all items/tracks/env points (depending on focus) and SWS: Unselect all items/tracks/env points

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 11:29:54

Yup still does everything I need it to do on this end Tim, thanks again man!

[Jeff0S]

From mario.kr...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 11:31:38

"SWS: Unselect all items/tracks/env points (depending on focus)"

STELLAR!!! Finally!

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 11:35:12

Actually on second look, the split command is broken now? Instead of splitting at the time selection it is removing the selected area?

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 11:35:22

Adam, Tim, Thank you very much for pushing this and make it happen. I waited for a looooong time and now it's real :) it's definitely a speed booster for editing tasks!

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 11:47:01

Yeah so the split command seems to be a bit broken, it will still split a selected item if there is no time selection active, but with and time selection AND items selected IN the time selection, it just removes the selected area. With a time selection and NO selected items, and with the edit cursor placed in another selected item OUTSIDE the time selection, it just does nothing at all.

If you could take a look and set it up so it does the following...

1. Split selected items at time selection if time selection active AND time selection contains selected items
2. Split selected item at edit cursor if there is no time selection active
3. Split selected item at edit cursor if there is a time selection active but time selection DOES NOT contain any part of the selected item

...that would be perfect I think!

[Jeff0S]

From mercadon...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 12:03:10

Yes, that would be perfect for me :)

Confirmed. It is broken in build #11.

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 28, 2010 12:11:22

Sorry about the broken split action, typo on my end. It's fixed in v1.6.2 #12.

Note that split also works if nothing is selected, so the logic is:

If time selection active: a) If selected items in time selection, split them at the time selection points b) If selected items NOT in time selection, split them at the edit cursor c) If no selected items, split everything at time selection points

Otherwise, if no time selection: a) If selected items, split them at the cursor b) If no selected items, split them all at the cursor

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 12:12:41

Perfect that's even better! Awesome job on these actions Tim, really appreciated!

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 12:18:31

Sorry Tim maybe I jumped the gun on the download but it's still broken here in build 12.

[Jeff0S]

From mario.kr...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 12:21:44

Works as Tim said over here in #12.

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on March 28, 2010 12:24:40

Very slight bug fixed in #13 (if an left edge of a selected item touched the time selection it would still behave as if the item was actually in the time sel)

Maybe that's what you were seeing Adam?

Either way, time to get some more coffee!

[Jeff0S]

From adam.wat...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 12:28:43

Working for me now so whatever I was experiencing is sorted! Thanks Tim.

[Jeff0S]

From mario.kr...@gmail.com on March 28, 2010 12:35:25

I should say that Tim is genuinely as crazy as JCS. Splendid code hacking!

[Jeff0S]

From mario.kr...@gmail.com on March 30, 2010 05:59:39

BTW, Tim, a nitpick here. Could you rename the action "SWS: Split items at time sel (if exists), else at cursor" to fully:

"SWS: Split items at time selection (if exists), else at EDIT cursor", because it doesn't split at mouse cursor, which could be implied since the type of cursor is not explicitly named.

Also, can you add a new condition: if the edit cursor is:

1. at the start or "the end" of the project (that is, when you press Home or End)
2. not touching any item

then split at MOUSE cursor? All within the same action? Please? Pretty please? :)

[Jeff0S]

From jeffos...@gmail.com on April 01, 2010 04:58:20

Damn!! The SWS' tracker is now clogged with endless discussions!! MERCADO!! WHERE'S THE DISCUSSION THREAD !? ha ha !! ;)

[Jeff0S]

From mario.kr...@gmail.com on April 12, 2010 14:34:49

I gotta jump/bump in again just to ask what do Jeffos and/or Tim think of my nitpick two posts above? :D

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on April 12, 2010 16:30:44

Opening this backup to make action:

SWS: Split items at time sel, edit cursor, or mouse cursor

It'll work as such:

1) If there's a time selection with selected items inside, split those items at the time selection

2) or, if there's selected items under the edit cursor, split there

3) or, if there's no selected items under the cursor, but there are items, split everything under the cursor

4) lastly, if there's no items under the cursor, split at the mouse cursor.

(Mario, #4 by default includes cursor at beginning or end of proj)

Status: Accepted

[Jeff0S]

From mario.kr...@gmail.com on April 12, 2010 16:47:41

Kick ass! :)

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on September 22, 2010 19:28:15

v1.8.0 #2, Added "SWS: Split items at time sel, edit cursor, or mouse cursor"

Status: Fixed