Renaming objects causes shortcuts to be invoked instead. (Designer)

[jerwin]

I'm doing some technical drawing, and it suits me to label certain curves with the names of parts they represent. 

Thus,. I might have a curve that should be labeled "Fig 11". 

Unfortunately, the act of labeling a curve can result it being labeled as "F", the selection of the fill tool, and an opacity of 11 percent.

Not what I want. Is there a preference change I can make that can better interpret my typing style/keyboard?

 

(MacOS 10.14)

 

[GarryP]

I don’t get this on Windows.
Exactly how are you “labelling” things?
The normal way to name a layer is to click on the name – to the right of the layer thumbnail in the Layers Panel – and type the name you want.
Is this what you are doing, or something else?
For instance, are you creating a text layer to add a label?

[markw]

That's very strange. Like GarryP, I'm not seeing that behavior either.

[jerwin]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

The normal way to name a layer is to click on the name – to the right of the layer thumbnail in the Layers Panel – and type the name you want.
Is this what you are doing, or something else?

I'm double clicking the name. It's intermittent.

 

[R C-R]

42 minutes ago, jerwin said:

I'm double clicking the name. It's intermittent.

As long as the name text field in the Layers panel is highlighted or the text cursor is visible in it, it should accept any normal text character you type except ones like Return, Tab, or Enter that exit text entry mode in that field.

If this is intermittent for you, is it possible you have sometimes accidentally typed one of those characters or clicked outside the text field?

[GarryP]

It’s possible to double-click outside the layer name – just above or below the text, or to the left of the checkbox – without opening the name for editing. When this happens the name isn’t editable and the normal shortcut keys will be in effect.
When the issue you’re having comes up have you noticed if the layer name is editable?

[jerwin]

My double click speed (In System preferences) was set to be somewhat low. I've increased the speed towards a middle value. I'm getting slightly better results. 

Here's the sequence of events:

user double clicks on element name

element name becomes editable. 

user types "F"

element name reverts to label ("F") in blink of the eye

user/keyboard buffer types "ig space 17", which sets the fill to 17 percent.

 

[markw]

Thank you for the steps jerkin but I still can’t reproduce it.

“element name reverts to label ("F") in blink of the eye”
After typing F the name field remains active and waiting for me to type another character. It will only close if I leave it by click anywhere outside of it or by hitting the Return key.

“user/keyboard buffer types "ig space 17", “
Sorry, but I don’t understand this line. Can you clarify it?

[Dan C]

Hi jerwin

Thanks for your report - this has been reported previously and is currently logged with our developers.

This issue arises when double clicking to change the Layer name. Renaming only takes one click, so with an unselected Layer object double clicking causes it to get selected and then begin the rename, then the second click cancels the first click which causes the behaviour you've described.

I'll bump this dev report with your thread now - please not this issue affects Mac only and not Windows.

I hope this helps!
 

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Dan C said:

This issue arises when double clicking to change the Layer name. Renaming only takes one click, so with an unselected Layer object double clicking causes it to get selected and then begin the rename, then the second click cancels the first click which causes the behaviour you've described.

I'll bump this dev report with your thread now - please not this issue affects Mac only and not Windows.

This does not happen on my iMac: if I click on an unselected layer object in the Layers panel, it just selects (highlights) it. It takes a second click on the name field to enter text entry mode & at that time I can enter as many characters as I want. It also does not matter if the layer already has a name & I am trying to rename it or if it has no name other than the layer type in parentheses.

So is this maybe an issue only for certain macOS versions or something like that?

[Dan C]

Apologies, in all honesty I copied this verbatim from the report and did not check this behaviour. I'll inform our QA team this recipe is not correct and have them provide further testing across OS versions & update the report as required.

[markw]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

So is this maybe an issue only for certain macOS versions or something like that?

Well that's definitely something to be considered R C-R. Having said that, I'm on the same OS as the original poster and I still can not reproduce this problem.

[wvanderzee]

I have the same issue. It's really frustrating. I'm on a Mac, dont' know if Windows has the same issue.

What happens is:

1. I want to rename a layer.

2. Double click the layer name, so I can edit the text.

3. When I start typing, the layer loose it's focus. So, I'm not editing the text anymore. I have to double click it again to continue renaming.

It won't happen when I enter text very very slowly.

 

[walt.farrell]

44 minutes ago, wvanderzee said:

Double click the layer name, so I can edit the text.

Double-clicking should not be necessary. Does the issue occur if you simply single-click on the layer name?

If not, that is your workaround until Serif figures out what is happening to some users.

[wvanderzee]

Quote

Double-clicking should not be necessary.

Single-click doesn't work for me. When single-clicking the layer, the layer name isn't editable.

I have to double click the layer name to edit it.

I'm on a Mac, maybe that's the difference. As fas as I know, this works the same in other applications that uses layers.

[markw]

If the layer is already selected,  ie highlighted, it only takes one click in the text box for me to activate it.
If a layer is not already selected, ie not highlighted, then it takes two clicks to activate the text box. With the first of these two clicks being used just to select, ie highlight,  the layer.

[R C-R]

30 minutes ago, markw said:

If the layer is already selected,  ie highlighted, it only takes one click in the text box for me to activate it.
If a layer is not already selected, ie not highlighted, then it takes two clicks to activate the text box. With the first of these two clicks being used just to select, ie highlight,  the layer.

That is exactly how it works for me as well.

[wvanderzee]

Ah, I see now.

Just not used to it I guess.

One thing though, the text isn't instantly selected. So with the second click, it takes almost like a second to activate.

Thx for the help!