Jethro List: Ctrl + A

This post  is part of my Jethro List.  You can read more about the list on the Jethro List page.

Can I make another suggestion?  Some of the text boxes in App Designer don’t work like regular Windows controls.  Namely, they don’t support things like Control-A to select the entire text in the box.  This is slightly frustrating and also makes App Designer feel antiquated.

One of those places is the File Layout Field Properties dialog.  If you go to the “Field Name” text box, you can press Ctrl+A to select the entire field name easier.  That makes it easy to either copy the name or type a new name in it’s place.

File Layout Field Name

 

If you go to the Field Description box in the lower right hand corner, you will find that Ctrl+A doesn’t work.  You have to either use the mouse or hit Home, Shift + Ctrl + End.

File Layout Field Description

 

On a rabbit trail, the file layout UI could use some attention.  A feature that I would like for Flat Files is the ability to sort by the Start Position.  If you come behind someone who wasn’t as organized and didn’t put the fields in order, it can be annoying.  Also, file layouts seem to have issues with caching.  I have had many a time that I changed a file layout and saved only to reopen it and find my changes missing.

The Application Engine UI has a similar problem.  The descriptions for the sections, steps, and actions all don’t allow the use of Ctrl + A.

App Engine description fields

In conclusion, I think it would be helpful if Oracle could update the App Designer UI to match the standard features that we have come to expect in Windows applications.  I can live with it this way and can get my job done, but it sure would be nice to have a nicer feel to development.

 

4 thoughts on “Jethro List: Ctrl + A

  1. You say, “… and also makes App Designer feel antiquated”. Oh, man – that is one of a million things that makes it feel antiquated. This thing hasn’t had a look-and-feel update since PeopleSoft was a windows application, circa 7.5.

  2. I think the Ctrl+A select all doesn’t work in long edit fields like comments, etc. I always forget and try it anyway. Then I say, “oh yeah,” and use the ctrl+home, shift+ctrl+end combination.

    1. @Jim, That’s a good point. It probably is all of the long edit fields. I wonder if they could just update their C++ GUI library version and it would fix all of those issues.

      I am curious to play with the App Designer for tools 8.54. I wonder if it has the same problems.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.