Can the angle be selected when entering the Cardinal dialog box?

[sjmills]

When the Cardinal dialog box appears, it contains a default value “0”. If the user then types a number, it appears after the “0”. If the user wants to type “270”, they will be prevented from once they’ve typed “27”, because the field will contain “027”, which is the max characters.

Can the default value be an empty string “” or can the default “0” be selected so the user can overwrite it with what they type?

[poetinger]

What about click on the left side of the zero, to insert 27 before 0?

[sjmills]

That might be a workaround, but as a Mac user, I’m used to having fields fully selected when entering a dialog box like that so the user is not required to take any action other than typing the value they want, or it being empty, or it being smart enough to allow me to type “270” after the default “0” and knowing that “0270” is a valid value (it’s already smart enough to know that “090” or “05” are valid values). So maybe just increase the max characters to 4 if the game engine doesn’t allow you to select the default “0” in its fields.

[poetinger]

It functions like that on windows, where you click a field and it selects the whole contents. Its no so much an OS thing, but a design choice. I was more asking if the current functionality is click location dependent, as I could not test it right away.

I think design wise, it would indeed be more appropriate to select the contents when clicked. So the user can type exactly the number they desire.

[sjmills]

But having to click to select is no better than having to type delete first to get rid of the “0”. Both are extra steps the user shouldn’t have to take. Allowing more than 3 digits would solve this, and doing a simple “enteredValue mod 360” takes care of values over 360 (assuming lua has a mod operator).

[poetinger]

But having to click to select is no better than having to type delete first to get rid of the “0”. Both are extra steps the user shouldn’t have to take. Allowing more than 3 digits would solve this, and doing a simple “enteredValue mod 360” takes care of values over 360 (assuming lua has a mod operator).

Typing when something is selected will replace the selected text (I think this is standard everywhere), you don't need to delete it first. But relying on modulators for a direction could result in some strange behavior. Say I fat finger 3599, now it will enter 350 instead of 359 that I wanted. Normally, it wouldn't accept more input after it reaches the 3rd digit.

Parse don't validate.

[sjmills]

Yes, I know how typing over a selection works. But it turns out the strange Farming Simulator fields don’t allow you to select text, from what I can see in any base game field. It only offers an insertion point.

Correcting typos is not a job for software, it’s a job for users to notice their mistakes except live with the consequences. Making software easier for the user to use is our (engineers’) job.

[poetinger]

I see, haven't used FS19 in a few years. I thought were selectable.

Sounds like a good first issue for somebody 😉 Why not fork it, fix it and open a PR if you think your solution will work?

[stijnwop]

No, can't be selected.