!Restored: Drag and Drag-a-copy bug

[Anonymous]

Sometimes when the Drag shortcut is used elements Drag-a-copy instead. This bug has been around since Version 9 and was identified in 9. Is this ever going to be fixed as it can cause duplication of elements, sometimes without the knowledge of the operator until several steps have been made and it is to late to go back?

[andrewzarb]

Still don't see it as a bug but I've seen people invoke a drag (ctrl D) then pan (ctrl ') and find they've placed a copy or cancelled their drag a copy. I don't know why they don't use the middle mouse button to pan but that's not the point.

Before placing your dragged item look at the cursor, if you want a a copy make sure it has a plus sign if you don't make sure it doesn't, then click.

[Anonymous]

TomWaltz wrote:
it could be a Mac/PC thing, here's why:

On Apple, you use the Command Key (Apple key) to issue keyboard commands. Pressing control after a CMD-D will made Drag into Drag a Copy.

On a PC, you are pressing the CTRL key to ussie keyboard commands. I bet if you lag just a little bit, holding down control just an instant too long when pressing ctrl-D, Archicad reads that as another press of ctrl and thinks you want to copy....

Glad to hear i am not the only one Laszlo. Tom, this sounds like this might be the cause. I have noticed it often happens when the drag is delayed, ie it is either processing a big group of items to drag or the processor is busy with other things. Maybe while it is "busy" it still thinks the button is being pressed?

Andrew, i see this definately as a bug. I dont know about you but when i drag i want to do it quickly, not hang around to see if the plus sign has appeared or not. In any case it should not do it.

I had some correspondence with graphiosft in version 9 regarding this problem. They were obviously keen to get rid of a problem that effects a very commonly used tool. Basically they could not reproduce it... I hope this can be fixed.

[Anonymous]

Why hit cmd or ctrl D at all? Why not just drag with the cursor?

Hunter.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Hunter wrote:
Why hit cmd or ctrl D at all? Why not just drag with the cursor?

Hunter.

I did just that today.
It drags a copy even when I do it this way.
It looks as though when it starts to do this, no matter how I try to drag, it always does drag-a-copy.
Strange.

[__archiben]

TomWaltz wrote:
Pressing control after a CMD-D will made Drag into Drag a Copy.

really?!

(i think you may be on the right track with the cause of the bug though . . .)

~/archiben

[Anonymous]

For mine to work (drag a copy), I have to hold down D and the command key first, and then hit the option key (in that order only). A double plus sign appears, indicating it will drag a copy.

[TomWaltz]

Hunter wrote:
Why hit cmd or ctrl D at all? Why not just drag with the cursor?

The Pet Palette remembers the last command you used. That may or may not be Drag.

[TomWaltz]

Jill wrote:
For mine to work (drag a copy), I have to hold down D and the command key first, and then hit the option key (in that order only). A double plus sign appears, indicating it will drag a copy.

You can do that or Command-Shift D to get Drag a Copy directly.

If you only hit Option, it should give you a single plus. Command-Option should be double-plus, for Drag Multiple Copies.

[Karl Ottenstein]

TomWaltz wrote:

Hunter wrote:
Why hit cmd or ctrl D at all? Why not just drag with the cursor?

The Pet Palette remembers the last command you used. That may or may not be Drag.

The key is to not use the pet palette. 😉

If you do NOT pre-select what you want to drag, but instead just hover your mouse over it until you see a snap cursor - mercedes, check, magnet, etc - THEN, mouse down (do not release) and drag all in one move - you will always drag. Press Ctrl key (Windows) or Opt key (Mac) then to get the + for a copy.

I've found that when I train, it is nearly impossible for some people to break the habit of pre-selecting what they want to drag. If you pre-select, then a mouse-down will of course bring up the pet palette as Tom describes.

(I also never encountered the accidental copy issue originally in this thread from 2 years ago. And in the 9 days, ctrl-D was my standard way of dragging.)

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

The problem still happens to me. I maintain the argument if the computer slows, ie drag groups of complex objects then archicad cannot process the right command properly. I can prove this on our computers by trying to exaggerating the problem and dragging a very very complex group of objects, pressing the drag shortcut and then it will 50% of the time revert to drag-a-copy. Note it doesn't happen all the time, it seems to be random, but it will happen eventually.

That aside even working on a very simple drag like a single line it can still happen if i quickly pressing the needed shortcuts.

I now rely on constantly checking if a drag-a-copy was selected instead of drag. Its a constant annoyance.

BTW i don't like dragging by pointing instead of the shortcut as it can sometimes deselect instead, better to be sure everytime and use the shortcut which in the end should work anyway.