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MacDraft stuck in an endless loop

grumpy-mike
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 10:45:07 GMT

Just checking out MacDraft PE 7.0 and I have come across a serious error. It gets stuck in endless loop showing the dialogue box "Formatting error please supply a valid value" when changing the angle of a line by a small amount. No matter what you press "Discard change" or "OK" the box disappears and immediately appears again. At this stage all your work is lost as you have to do a force quit to regain control. Other minor niggles are:- the use of 3 key shortcuts for ungroup and duplicate without moving the object. My hands find three key shortcuts painful. Also the offset applied to an object on duplication is now different to before and can not be negated by simply using two cursor key presses. It would be great if you could define your own shortcuts. Most of the other features I like.

aaron_lamb
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 11:55:18 GMT

Hi grumpy-mike :) The formatting error has been reported and fixed. We will have a fixed version for customers very soon. The issue was adding characters that werent numbers or a dot. For example, if you changed a single digit and tried to submit the size with the degree symbol still visible the error occurs, also if you add any text the error occurs. We have resolved this. As for keyboard shortcuts, cmd+shift+'key' is a standard shortcut format but I understand if it feels cumbersome to you. There are of course menu items and tools you can click instead of the shortcuts if you would prefer. The duplicate with offset seems to be offsetting it by a single pixel. If you want to duplicate an object with NO offset the shortcut is CMD+SHIFT+D to do so. Glad to hear you like the other features :)

grumpy-mike
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:37:41 GMT

Thanks for the quick response. Yes if I don't include the degree symbol it will not hang up. > @aaron_lamb > There are of course menu items and tools you can click instead of the shortcuts if you would prefer. I can't seem to find a menu item for duplicate without offset, can you tell me where that one is please. > @aaron_lamb > The duplicate with offset seems to be offsetting it by a single pixel. I get it that the offset is 0.22mm and the cursor keys shift things by what ever is defined in the grid size. It is not easy to get back to the original position by moving the cursor keys like it was with the previous versions of MacDraft which would work regardless of the grid settings.

aaron_lamb
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 10:52:28 GMT

Hi grumpy-mike, the menu item is Edit > Duplication > Duplicate without offset. We are looking into the offset issue, for now I suggest using duplicate without offset OR once duplicated, use smart snap to align it to the original object.

grumpy-mike
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 16:35:49 GMT

> @aaron_lamb > the menu item is Edit > Duplication > Duplicate without offset. I do not seem to have a Duplication entry in the Edit Menu. When I try and post a screen dump of the Edit menu I get an error message saying:- Oops, an error. Please copy the post to clipboard, reload and try again. Sorry – we will fix this! [Screenshot](//muut.com/u/microspot/s1/:microspot:43bL:screenshot.jpg.jpg) ] Trying with a jpeg version.

grumpy-mike
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 08:57:59 GMT

Yes the jpeg version worked. I have also noticed that using the Command - Shift - d for duplicating object in same place dosn't actually work and just produces the "donk" sound from the Mac which signifies a fail.

aaron_lamb
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 10:34:22 GMT

Are you running MacDraft PE? If so the advanced duplication tools (this includes duplicate without offset cmd shift D) is a Pro only feature.

grumpy-mike
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 10:49:01 GMT

> @aaron_lamb > Are you running MacDraft PE? Yes the first line of the first post was > @grumpy-mike > Just checking out MacDraft PE 7.0 You might want to upgrade your documentation to point this out.

aaron_lamb
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 11:28:29 GMT

Sorry I missed that. We sent 7 out to the pre order customers and are in the process of updating the site for the official release now so I ask the web team to show a complete list of Pro vs PE differences. Thanks again!

blue265
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 20:47:25 GMT

I too agree with the the three key shortcuts, adding the 'send to back and bring to front' to that complaint. Having to completely relearn those shortcuts is very unfriendly.

grumpy-mike
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 05:00:34 GMT

The other thing I have noticed that is really annoying is the way that you create something like a rectangle, and it comes up selected, then with all the previous versions you could move it with the cursor keys straight off. Now you have to click off the object to deselect it and then select it again before you can move it. This seems to apply to all object manipulations like resize and rotate.

aaron_lamb
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 13:46:32 GMT

I have just tested this and it doesnt seem to be an issue. Are you drawing the rectangle and then editing its position, size or rotation THEN trying to move it with the arrow keys? If so, its possible your cursor is still live in the text field despite the rectangle's handles being active. Could you double check this for me as its the only thing I can think could be causing it at the moment. @blue265 we agree that having to learn new keyboard shortcuts isnt ideal but unfortunately to incorporate system text (which im sure you will agree is a vast improvement in MacDraft 7) we had to bring across the system shortcuts, one of which is CMD + B for bold, the best thing we could think to do was use the same send backward, send to back, send forward, send to front keyboard commands that other CAD softwares such as adobe use so there is still consistency for some customers.

grumpy-mike
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 12:56:05 GMT

Draw a rectangle, change its size. Then any cursor key will fail to move it. Click on the main window, still no cursor movement possible, and a drag starts a new rectangle. The only way to move it is to click on the select tool deselecting the rectangle tool. This is not how version 6 behaved, which is why I find this new behavior very jarring.