close icon editor with escape (esc) key

[soupy]

The icon editor cannot be closed with the 'esc' key. This throws off my programming "groove" because it is inconsistent with the behavior of the old icon editor and almost every other dialog in labview that has a cancel button.

Some previous discussion about this is here, http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Close-icon-editor-with-enter-key/idi-p/997401

AristosQueue explained the reason for the mising 'esc' key response:

Curiously, these two keys (escape and enter) were linked to the buttons until after the second beta of LV2009 when usability feedback convinced us to remove them. Too many people used escape to cancel the current drag operation or to clear the current selection and they were accidentally quitting the icon editor and losing their work. With the enter key, they would hit it when they didn't need to, thinking it did something, and thus committing their work.

Instead of arguing against user habits, I'd like to base this on the consistent binding of the 'esc' key to the cancel button in the labview environment. My golden rule has always been "consisteny is key" as leads to a intuitive user-friendly user interface. Below is a list of places where it is/isn't bound. It is pretty obvious which the consistent use case is...

Dialogs, with a cancel button, that are closed with escape key:

• pre-2009 icon editor
• every file/folder open/save dialog
• File
• new...
• save for previous version...
• Page setup
• print
• VI properties
• Edit
• VI revision history..
• Runtime menu
• Find and replace
• search results
• View
• Quick drop
• Breakpoint manager
• Probe watch window
• Error List
• .NET assemblies in memory
• Operate
• connect to a remote panel...
• debug application or shared library
• Tools
• compare VIs
• merge VIs/llbs
• convert build script
• and many more that no one uses very often....

Dialogs, with a cancel button, that are not closed with the escape key:

• New icon editor
• File
• create project

Note that these lists are only good for dialogs with a 'cancel' button. Dialogs lacking this button are assumed designed to have different behavior.

[Darin.K]

It seems that NI is taking the easy way out, using the key binding to handle escape. It seems reasonable to me to have multiple uses, cancel the current operation (drag or draw) or cancel the edit if nothing is in progress. Also, a silent close which loses work is very bad mojo in my book, a cancel operation with changes made is worth an Are You Sure? dialog IMO. I'll see where this idea heads.  If it is all or nothing (current behavior versus this idea as stated) then I prefer the status quo since I cancel drags with escape much more often than I cancel the editor. 

[fabric]

+1 for Darin's refinements. "Are you sure?" would do the trick...

[soupy]

ugh. confirmation dialogs. the whole point of using the esc key is that it saves time. if we add a confirmation dialog, you might as well just leave it as-is and force the user to purposefully press the ok/cancel button. it won't be so bad if there is a "don't ask me again" option for us developers who know how to properly use a keyboard 

[RavensFan]

"option for us developers who know how to properly use a keyboard"  You've never accidentally hit a key such as Escape when reaching for another key?

The icon editor is not just another dialog, it is an editing enviroment.  How would you like it if after typing a long e-mail, or a document in word, you hit escape and all your work just disappears because Escape equals Cancel.  I don't.  The old behavior was annoying.

"The whole point of using the esc key is that it saves time".  It doesn't save time if you are forced to redo your work in the event of accidentally hitting Escape.  To me, a dialog box asking "Are you sure" does not cost you much in time (one additional button press), then the amount of time it saves you if you lose work.

Honestly, how often are you in the icon editor that you feel you need to hit the Escape key to back out in 1 button press?  Whenever I'm in the Icon editor, it is because I want to make changes to the icon that I want to make sure are saved before I exit.

"Boo" to this idea.  I can't believe 1 person has kudoed it.

[Darin.K]

What has you constantly opening the IE, making a change and then wanting to quickly escape?

[soupy]

i'm doing a bit of icon updating right now. i regurlarly go into one IE, copy something, close the IE, and go into another IE and paste. this whole process is pretty boring and tedius. the esc key shortcut would help me get back a few precious seconds of my life (which have been mostly consumed writing this idea ).

for those wishing to cancel drag-drop operations via esc, you still have the option of completing the operation and then presing ctrl+z (undo). It's what i did with the old editor.

my biggest issue here is that it deviates from what is consistent with other dialogs. I'm curious as to what AQ has to say about this one.

<banter>

One time, long ago i hit the wrog key. i vowed to never let it happen again....no, seriously, who accidentally hits the esc key? how long are your fingers? i polled the office here and no one has ever had this problem. i think you're making things up.

if esc closed email message (it does), word, excel, etc., i'd probably stop hitting it after losing my work a couple of times. I trained myself to avoid using the ctrl+drag "space-making" feature and it wasn't that big of a deal.

</banter>

[JackDunaway]

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@soupy wrote:

This throws off my programming "groove"

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Yeah, I'm kinda with you here. To *really* keep in the groove, I'd like a CTRL+S followed by a CTRL+W -- or just a straight-up CTRL+W. Note that CTRL+W already closes this window  but does not persist your hard work 

[RavensFan]

Escape is a normal keystroke in a lot of editing environments.  In Excel, start entering something in a cell and want to stop, Hit escape.  It backs out without causing all of Excel to close.  In Autocad, start a command and need to back out to the comman prompt, hit escape a few times, and it backs out to the command prompt and I can go on and start a different command.  It doesn't force AutoCAD to close without saving changes.

I guess you never use a program where you ever use Escape.  While you may have trained yourself to never use it, the escape key is ingrained in my muscle memory for a lot of applications.

You keep calling the Icon editor a dialog, and at its heart it may very well be.  But in reality, the icon editor is not as simple as a dialog, it is a much more advanced editing environment and should behave more like a real application such as Excel and Autocad and not like a simple OK/Cancel dialog.

[MaryH]

R&D already implemented this idea and backed it out because it created problems for users that exceeded the consistency arguments of usability.

[soupy]

if this is going to be declined, you should also decline this one: http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Close-icon-editor-with-enter-key/idi-p/997401

Jack:

Awesome! i've already acquired the ctrl+s, ctrl+w reflex, it's odd that i haven't tried it on this dialog before...anyways, it works great and now i'm totally happy. Thanks for being helpful.