Style: Select Grouped Controls

[Thomas McGrath III]

Dar,

I think of groups now as 'sharable' groups of controls. Now in creating 
groups, I never have "Select Grouped Controls" on. I like to 'go' to a 
group and only see the group and arrange things and build the group. 
However, in placing the group next to or near other objects you can't 
do this i.e. you need to see non group controls and group controls to 
align them closely, visually. In that case I turn SGC on and arrange as 
appropriate.

Secondly, once alignment and such is done and I am getting deeper into 
the inner workings of my project I DON'T want to move any elements in 
the group but DO want to select maybe one of them and change the script 
of it or a property of it and so SGC on makes sense to me because it 
saves a couple of steps in switching modes when all I want to do is 
lock the text in that field or add a tooltip etc. This could be done 
via the application browser BUT my project is usually over top of the 
AB and so I'd rather just grab the object directly and make the change 
I need.

When I have a lot of controls and some are hidden or overlapping etc. 
Then I grab the AB and bring it to front and select the control in the 
AB directly so I know there is no mistake. But I usually go back to my 
project to double check it was the right one.

"Measure twice, Cut once"

Lastly, Once a group has been 'painstakingly' aligned and arranged I 
usually lock the loc of each item in the group so I don't accidentally 
move them during the rest of the creation process. I am also starting 
to learn the keyboard shortcuts for pulling up the script or Property 
Inspector. But due to a couple of bugs I don't yet trust the keyboard 
equivalents.

FWIW

Tom

On Feb 17, 2004, at 3:48 PM, Dar Scott wrote:

>
> On Monday, February 16, 2004, at 12:30 PM, Dar Scott wrote:
>
>> I am more than just curious; this might affect how I deliver custom 
>> controls.  It is certainly not my intent to start any religious wars. 
>>  We seem to have different ways of getting things done; I'd like to 
>> learn from that of others.
>>
>> I wonder how folks use "Select Grouped Controls".
>
> I think we are seeing a wide range of usage.
>
> For me, I usually think of a group as an atomic single special control 
> or sometimes as a background (whether set so or not).  Usually, it is 
> the first.  I think that is why I leave select grouped controls off.  
> To me, the group has become a single control.  Once I make a group I 
> don't want to think about the innards.  This is part of my approach to 
> keeping things simple.
>
> I'd like to understand the motivation for leaving it on.  Are groups 
> for you essentially for sharing controls among cards in multiple 
> placement?  Are groups a way to insert scripts into the message path.  
> That is, why use groups?
>
> Dar Scott
>
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Thomas J. McGrath III
SCS
1000 Killarney Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
412-885-8541