Re: Right-click in NSTextView selects adjacent word?
Re: Right-click in NSTextView selects adjacent word?
- Subject: Re: Right-click in NSTextView selects adjacent word?
- From: Glen Simmons <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 17:38:32 -0500
On 12 Apr, 2005, at 4:35 PM, Douglas Davidson wrote:
On Apr 12, 2005, at 1:58 PM, Glen Simmons wrote:
Why does right-clicking in an NSTextView select the word at or next to
the click point and how do I make it stop? How are you supposed to
copy and paste via the contextual menu if you can't paste without
replacing a word?? Is this behavior supposed to be helpful in some
way? Why wouldn't they assume that if I wanted the word selected I
would just select it? To see this behavior in action, launch TextEdit
and try to copy a word and paste it into the middle of another via the
contextual menu. Can't do it.
It does so because most of the contextual menu items are designed to
operate on words or larger selections in the text. Conceptually, the
contextual menu is designed to operate on the item clicked on, where
the notion of item depends on the context; and the default item in the
context of a text view is a word. However, if you click on or near an
existing selection--even an zero-length one--then that selection will
be what is operated on. So to paste without replacing, you can click
once to create an insertion point, then control- or right-click on
that insertion point.
And this works for you? It doesn't work for me. I just tried it in Mail
as I was typing this. I double-clicked "doesn't" in the previous
sentence to select it, right-clicked and chose Copy, then clicked
between the o and r in "work" and right-clicked again. The word "work"
was selected and choosing Paste replaced the word. I understand that
things like Cut, Copy and Spelling only operate on words or larger
selections, but why force that selection? Aren't you making choices for
the user, something that a certain other operating system does, and
that I tend to loathe? If there is no selection, disable the items that
require a selection.
Alternatively, you can drag and drop, use cmd-V, etc., etc.
I'm well aware of all of the ways to copy and paste. I'm not a new user
who needs to be taught how to copy and paste, I'm a developer who's
been using Macs for almost 2 decades, and I'm looking for a solution to
make pasting with the contextual menu usable. Shall I assume, from your
lack of a solution to my question of how to change this, that there is
no easy solution?
Glen Simmons
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