Hi Pascal,

> Would also be great if while the command is active, input data are preserve, so
> you can switch between a variable distance set or 2 distances without loosing
> any input data. So it prevent loosing set by miss clicking on 'use 2 distance'.

Things like this tend to add to the complexity of implementing it... Once things get interdependent modes that are switched on or off with remembered states it tends to add up to a fair amount of code to make that all happen. Then the real problem is that it is often a place where there can be bugs because of it being a bit difficult to test every single mode switch combination. So that's one reason why I have a tendency to shy away from things like that.


> For the moment it's not working that way. If I 'use 2 distances', the second value
> will be reset if I disable and reactivate the option.
> (but they are probably reason for that).

The only reason is that it would take extra work and therefore extra code in order to make that happen. Extra code = more possibility for bugs.


> I have to say I don't like that much when options in the ui vanish, especially when the ui is
> dynamically resized.
> For example if you switch 'use 2 distances' on and off, the toggle button is moving up and down.
> Have you ever considering to use a 'gray out' mechanism, when all the options are in place in the
> UI, but only available under certain condition ?

There isn't much space in the UI to hold command options, so I tend to lean towards hiding things when there is something like a checkbox that is clicked to enable or disable the condition where it's used.

But I do use 'gray out' in some other situations, like in the View > Image command buttons for Remove/Align/Hide/Properties are grayed out until you add in an image.

So that's possible, but I tend to try to use hiding instead when it is feasible.


> Here for example a quick test of how the input command will look like :

The negative aspect of that is that now someone who never uses the 2 distances option is now presented with more stuff on the screen that doesn't have any relevance to what they're trying to do at that moment. You might think "ok, so what?" :) but it all adds up. More stuff on screen = more clutter, more clutter = more visual overload, more visual overload = more difficult to find what they need right then.

This focus on trying to reduce screen clutter is kind of a general overall philosophy with MoI - I'm always looking for opportunities to reduce what's showing on screen and one big general strategy for that is to try and hide stuff by default and only show it when it's relevant or activated for some special and not often used situation...

- Michael