Hi Friends,
By accident, I recently discovered that you can select multiple nodes, if the node tool is hovered over a node and you roll the mouse wheel up. Since then, I've found other similar things in the Help menu > Key/Mouse Ref, where you can use Ctrl to modify the selection. With Ctrl, the nodes are selected first on both sides of the highlighted node, and as you roll the wheel up, consecutive nodes along both sides of the path are added to the selection until you stop rolling the wheel. (Rolling the wheel down deselects in the opposite direction.) Without Ctrl, the same thing selects the closest nodes, not necessarily in order along the path.

That's nice if I can approximate the middle of the string of nodes that I want to select, and place the mouse over the area. But I often have quite serpentine paths. It's hard to guess an approx middle, and dragging a selection box is out of the question (because of the serpentine nature). It would help me if I could place the mouse over a node, and then select consecutive nodes on one side of the highlighted node or the other. So currently, we can select on both sides at the same time, but I would like to be able to select only on one side or the other.

I've posted this here, because I'm pretty sure there no way to select consecutive nodes on only one side of the highlighted node. But there's a chance it might not be working properly because I don't use a traditional mouse. With my touchpad mouse, I can slide a finger along the left edge of the mouse, which usually functions like the traditional mouse wheel. So that's my first question. Is this how it's supposed to work - selecting on both sides of the highlighted node? If it is, I suspect that a new feature/wishlist "bug report" probably already exists for what I want.

And 2nd question -- if such a feature has not already been requested, does anyone else think it would be worthwhile?

Ok, I found this bug, which seems related (under its title, paraphrased 'new selection methods'). https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/904914

Should I add a comment there, requesting "one way consecutive node selection" or whatever terminology would be appropriate? Or should I start a new report?

Thanks for your help

So glad to hear that I`m not the only one wishing for that feature. Now I`ll stop looking for a missing command or shortcut ,) since I`ve tried to achieve that kind of selection in so many different ways.

*edit

And after I gave it yet another try... if you follow path, hovering with the mouse over the nodes in a desired direction, while smoothly rotating the mouse wheel "up" step by step, nodes will be added to the selection in a desired manner.

One more thing, while holding the mouse at the end of the selection (over the last selected node) - rotating the m.wheel in the oposit direction ("down") will deselect nodes starting from the other end of the selection toward the current position of the mouse.

Also, it seems that Ctrl is not needed for achieving this.

Thanks brynn, cause apparently I needed this small nudge to try one more thing which seems to work.... finally ,)

Thanks Maestral

And after I gave it yet another try... if you follow path, hovering with the mouse over the nodes in a desired direction, while smoothly rotating the mouse wheel "up" step by step, nodes will be added to the selection in a desired manner.

No, not for me. No matter how slowly I go, it selects nodes on both sides of the highlighted one. Step by step, it does this:
1 - selects the highlighted node and displays handles of the highlighted node plus the nodes on both sides
2 - selects the next 2 nodes and display handles of the next 2
3 - etc
Sometimes it seems to display the handles of the next node in one direction, before is displays the handles of the next node in the other direction. And sometimes it select iin that order too. But other times, it selects 2 at the same time (step)

I will admit that I can't always discern that Ctrl has any affect. Ctrl is supposed to grow the selection spatially, rather than along the path. But for me it only selects along the path, whether I use Ctrl or not. And I am using a really serpentine path to test, where there are nodes closer to the highlighted one, that are not the next one along the path.

I'll be interested to hear from others who may want to respond, because I do wonder if it's my touchpad mouse that somehow changes the behavior. It doesn't make sense to me that it should, but I guess it could.

Just a short remark...

Have you tried to select only one node, move mouse over the next desired node, and then roll the wheel/scroll up? That`s how it works for me. Then you`ll need to move mouse over the next node - wheel up - and again, and again...

I tend to skip some steps in my explanations (unintentionally), but I hope this would lead you to the correct selecting.

Ooooh....ok yes, that does work. But I don't think it's intended to work that way. I think that's just a consequence of moving the mouse. Plus for my own preference, if I have to move the mouse to do it, I might as well be holding Shift and select them one at a time.

I think it would be much more useful to have the mouse wheel select consecutive nodes only on one side of a node or another, rather than both sides. Or maybe holding Shift + Ctrl + mouse wheel could be used for this?

I've tried many, many times now, and I simply cannot get the "spatial" selection to work (without Ctrl). It works the same way whether I use Ctrl or not. Is that supposed to work, or is this another case where instructions are written for features that don't yet exist? Or is it something about the touchpad mouse?

brynn wrote:Without Ctrl, the same thing selects the closest nodes, not necessarily in order along the path.

Try this.

Create a random line, making sure several nodes are created.
Select the node tool.
Drag some of the nodes away from the path leaving others where they are.
Place the over one end of the line and roll the mouse wheel.
If you can imagine a circle growing from the tool's tip outward, you'll see how the nodes are being selected.

Drag some nodes very distant from the main cluster. Then try it again. The furthest node is selected last.

Thanks BobSongs
Actually I do understand what it's supposed to do. Let me see if I can make a series of screenshots.....or some way to show it. I guess I should learn how to make a webpage video one of these days. I'll be back shortly

Edit
Ok, this is the serpentine path that I've been testing and experimenting with (SVG below). You can't see the mouse pointer, because for some reason, the Prnt Scrn key on my computer, doesn't pick it up. But you can see that it's highlighted red. Plus I put the pink circle around it, and labeled it "G". I just did 4 screenshots, showing the basic progression, step by step, for 3 steps. But it proceeds in exactly the same way, no matter how many "steps":

1 - highlight the node by placing mouse pointer over it
2 - (realized I should label the nodes) move mouse "wheel" 1 step -- selects node G, and displays handles of F, G, and H
3 - move mouse "wheel" one more step - selects node F and displays the handles of the node next to F (sorry, I missed labelling it)
4 - move another step - selects node H and displays the handles of the one next to H (missed labelling it too )

So that was without using Ctrl, which should be the spatial selection. What I understand as spatial is that it selects the closes node next, and then the next closest, and so forth, regardless of the sequential order of the nodes. So in other words, in my example, it should have selected G, then B, then either A or F, then D or C, etc.

If I use Ctrl, it happens in the exact same way!





Gotta go, can't keep eyes open, must be bedtime.
Thanks for your help