Modeling - Drawlist Browser (Done in OSDM 2005)

[pkehoe]

It would be nice if there were 3 different indicators in
the drawlist browser: On, Off, Partially On. Right now
if you have an assembly, the indicator shows On if
all parts are drawn in the viewport and it shows
off if any member of the assembly is not drawn.
In the case where parts of the assembly are drawn,
but not all, it would be nice if the indicator was
different-maybe a half-filled square instead of a
check mark.

[Michael Kahle]

What should happen to a half switched off toogle when pressed?
Should it go completly on or off first?

[gmatelich]

I guess that would depend on whether the assembly were half empty or half full . . .

Actually, I agree this is would be very useful. When the assembly is partially displayed it would show a gray check; fully display, a black check; empty, unchecked.

If you clicked on a gray check, you would most likely expect to have the whole assembly turned on. This is what happens now with a partially displayed assembly.

[pkehoe]

Turning the whole assembly on makes sense. But here is a
radical thought: do nothing. Force the user to decide by
picking the assembly and then Add or Remove. Either that,
or bring up a dialog asking them to chose Add or Remove.

[Andreas]

I would propose following use model. It is taken from the meeting browser of Personal Collaboration where such a behaviour has been already realized. An owner is checked in black when all its children are checked, too. An owner is checked grey ("indeterminate") when at least one of its children is checked in black. A click on an indeterminately checked owner switches off the owner and all its children. A click on a not checked owner checks the owner and all its children, that is, all the children become visible.

By the way, another area where this is implemented can be found in the Windows property dialog. Select at least two files - one should be read-only and one should be writable. Open the property dialog. The read-only toggle is checked in grey color. A click on this toggle takes away the read-only flag from all selected files.

Regards Andreas

[Markus]

We discussed this topic last week in a small group and most likely we will implement the 3-state toggle in the Structure Browser for 12.0.
Since we could not give a satisfying answer to the question whether a click on a grey check mark makes all children appear or disappear, we will provide a switch in the browser Options menu. Currently we feel the default should be Show all children .

Markus

[gmatelich]

Originally posted by Markus
Options menu. Currently we feel the default should be Show all children .

Markus

I believe this reflects the current operation. The only difference will be that there's a gray check where previously there was an empty box when the assembly is only partially displayed.

[John Scheffel]

I have changed the title of this Enhancement Request to indicate that it has been added to Modeling v13. Thanks to Michael Kahle for pointing this out.