Feature Request: Carriage Return Opens Book

[chaley]

Damn. I just ran with the new commit and I *can't* remove the new shortcut. If it stays like this then I will do the tweak to get rid of it.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by chaley

Damn. I just ran with the new commit and I *can't* remove the new shortcut. If it stays like this then I will do the tweak to get rid of it.

Yes as the commit message states, it is not a normal shortcut so you cannot configure it.

And I agree, there are no consistent standards for the usage of Enter or pretty much for anything at all in the UI world. But since Enter does nothing currently (and cannot be uused as a normal shortcut), having it launch the viewer instead is relatively harmless.

[chaley]

I pushed code for the tweak. The choices are

 'viewer': open the book in the viewer,
 'down_arrow': perform a down arrow,
 'edit_metadata': open the edit metadata (single) dialog,
 'do_nothing': makes the key do nothing.

The default is 'viewer' to be consistent with your change. (EDIT: NB: I would prefer the default to be 'do_nothing'.)

I tested it on windows 10 in both the grid and list views.

[BetterRed]

• Will my keyboard settings still work ?
  
  
  
• I often press Enter inadvertently after exiting cell edit mode - i.e. I press it twice - nothing happens. Will this still be the case or will a viewer open?

BR

[chaley]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

• Will my keyboard settings still work ?

Attachment 160078

Yes, with the exception that ENTER will open a viewer.

• I often press Enter inadvertently after exiting cell edit mode - i.e. I press it twice - nothing happens. Will this still be the case or will a viewer open?

BR

By default, with these changes a viewer will open. Assuming that Kovid accepts my tweak changes or implements something like them then you will need to change the tweak to avoid it.

Your "behavior" is one reason that I would prefer the default behavior is to do nothing, which is what calibre does today. I have similar cases where I hit return by accident (or by muscle memory). Opening a viewer is a large price to pay for the mistake. On the other hand, as long as we can turn it off then we pay the price only once or twice.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by chaley

Your "behavior" is one reason that I would prefer the default behavior is to do nothing, which is what calibre does today. I have similar cases where I hit return by accident (or by muscle memory). Opening a viewer is a large price to pay for the mistake. On the other hand, as long as we can turn it off then we pay the price only once or twice.

I hope your tweak is accepted. Because I don't want at all that a Enter opens a viewer, for me it is not a harmless change either.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

I hope your tweak is accepted. Because I don't want at all that a Enter opens a viewer, for me it is not a harmless change either.

I am 100% sure that Kovid will either accept what I submitted or build something that is better. Either way works for me.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by chaley

I am 100% sure that Kovid will either accept what I submitted or build something that is better. Either way works for me.

Me too, I don't want to end with lot of viewers open (I'm a bit clumsy with the keyboard )

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by chaley

Yes, with the exception that ENTER will open a viewer.
By default, with these changes a viewer will open. Assuming that Kovid accepts my tweak changes or implements something like them then you will need to change the tweak to avoid it.

Your "behavior" is one reason that I would prefer the default behavior is to do nothing, which is what calibre does today. I have similar cases where I hit return by accident (or by muscle memory). Opening a viewer is a large price to pay for the mistake. On the other hand, as long as we can turn it off then we pay the price only once or twice.

@chaley - Thanks for the heads up.

IMO any changes to keyboard or mouse click behaviour, should try to avoid changing current behaviours. And, if there's any tweaking to be done, it should be done by the users who want the change, not the users who happy with the status quo.

One reasons I use View format, is that it makes easy for me to select (via the keyboard) something other than the OS default program to open a format file.

Some of my default programs are video editors, which are often busy for long periods. I rarely edit the videos stored a calibre library, I normally do it before they are added to the library, or I copy them into a editing project folder and work on them there.

BR

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

...IMO any changes to keyboard or mouse click behaviour, should try to avoid changing current behaviours. And, if there's any tweaking to be done, it should be done by the users who want the change, not the users who happy with the status quo...

I agree heartedly. In fact I think the whole concept should be scrapped - I do enough typing in the wrong place when running multiple applications on multiple screens without the danger of a misplaced ENTER screwing things up.

Besides, despite the OP's claims that users do not understand, I don't recall any significant number of requests for clarification on how to view books in these forums (I cannot recall any). If the OP was to be believed it would seem to me these forums would be full of people asking how to open a book. So is it not a problem and the only problem around being how to turn it into a problem?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by chaley

I will think about it, but TBH I will probably simply delete the new shortcut. I don't want RETURN to do anything on the book list if not editing a cell.

As for "standards": my experience is that RETURN does different things in different places. For example, in excel it advances a row. In acrobat it advances a page. In some applications it opens a "details" view. In zillions of applications it "pushes" the default button. It is only in a file manager that it opens the underlying file. I don't see why a file manager's behavior should trump (for example) excel's, given that the user is seeing a spreadsheet of metadata. Opening the book would be close to the last thing I expect ENTER to do.

All that was why was I careful to say, "do the default action". To me the fact that pressing enter did nothing was wrong. I am used to scrolling through lists with the arrow keys and pressing enter to act on the selected item. When I started using calibre, I expected that hitting enter would open the book in the viewer. Maybe that meant I saw calibre as a fancy file manager. But, if it had opened either the metadata editor or book info, I probably wouldn't have thought anything was wrong.

In any case, thanks to you and Kovid for the update.

[chaley]

The (modified) changes I submitted are now in the official source. Kovid accepted 3 of the possibilities: 'open_viewer', 'edit_metadata', and 'do_nothing', removed 'down_arrow', and added 'edit_cell'.

The tweak documentation is:

#: Control behavior of the book list
# You can control the behavior of double clicks and pressing enter on the books list.
# Choices: open_viewer, do_nothing,
# edit_cell, edit_metadata. Selecting anything other than open_viewer has the
# side effect of disabling editing a field using a single click.
# Default: open_viewer.
# Example: doubleclick_on_library_view = 'do_nothing'
# You can also control whether the book list scrolls horizontal per column or
# per pixel. Default is per column.

The defaults are

doubleclick_on_library_view = 'open_viewer'
enter_key_behavior = 'open_viewer'
horizontal_scrolling_per_column = True

[Terisa de morgan]

Thank your very much, I'll check them with the new calibre release.

[BetterRed]

Will F2 continue to function as 'open current cell for editing', and will Tab/BackTab continue to function as 'end current cell edit, and open next/previous cell for edit'.

It's not clear to me why F2 works as it does, its not a regular shortcut, nor as far as I can determine, a tweak of any kind. But I'd hate for it (and Tab/Backtab) to stop working as they do now. I've tweaked other programs to be consistent with calibre's use of F2.

It's probably too late and maybe not possible anyway, but in IMO the upgrade should set the 'enter_key_behaviour' to current value of 'doubleclick_on_library_view' - for me that's 'do_nothing'.

BR

[chaley]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Will F2 continue to function as 'open current cell for editing', and will Tab/BackTab continue to function as 'end current cell edit, and open next/previous cell for edit'.

I see nothing in the changes that should affect these keys, and they still do that for me.

It's not clear to me why F2 works as it does, its not a regular shortcut, nor as far as I can determine, a tweak of any kind. But I'd hate for it (and Tab/Backtab) to stop working as they do now. I've tweaked other programs to be consistent with calibre's use of F2.

Probably because F2 is the "platform edit key" in Windows for edit. Qt deals with that key directly. Same for the other keys.

It's probably too late and maybe not possible anyway, but in IMO the upgrade should set the 'enter_key_behaviour' to current value of 'doubleclick_on_library_view' - for me that's 'do_nothing'.

BR

That battle has been lost. The default is "open_viewer". Personally I would prefer do_nothing so that calibre's behavior does not change. Second choice would be edit_metadata, followed by edit_cell. My last choice is open_viewer.

FWIW: making the default value of tweak A be the current value of tweak B probably would never happen. The structure for such a thing is not currently built into the tweak system.

FWIW**2: edit_metadata works both with single and multiple. If you select multiple lines then hit enter, edit bulk starts. If you select one line (the default), edit single starts.