Inconsistent processing with the SelectUnderMouse processing

[RGSMike]

I have experienced some inconsistent processing related to the SelectUnderMouse processing.

You can see this with the What's New TeeChart demo. Go to All Features / Components / Chart Editor / Embedded.

1. When dialog is initiated, it is positioned on the Series node in the tree. The panel shows the Series information. If you then click on the chart (anywhere will do), the Panel is cleared. The reason for this is that the processing will only update the Panel if the "Chart" node or one of its offspring is selected. The SelectUnderMouse processing should be able to position the Panel to the Chart information correctly and display it accordingly.

2. The panel assignment from the SelectUnderMouse (when displaying Chart information) is correct, but the Tree is not updated. For example, select "Chart" in the display. Then in the chart, select the title "Title". The panel then displays the Title information, but the "Chart" node is still selected in the tree. One would expect the tree display to be synchronized with the panel display.

3. The SelectUnderMouse does not work if the "General" node is selected under chart. Select the General node under Chart. The general information is displayed. Now select the title "Title " in the chart. The panel is cleared. No mouse selections in the chart will display information while the General node is selected.

4. In order to display info from under the mouse, the proper node (or its parent) must be selected. For example, to select right axis information from the chart, the "Axis" node or the "Chart" node must be selected in the tree.

5. When you have the Axis node open and one selected (such as Right Axis), you can select the other Axies in the chart and the panel information is changed. However, there is no indication that the modification point has changed in the panel or the tree. You can see this by selecting the Right Axis in the tree display. Notice that on the minimum tab you see the value 0 after "Auto". Now select the bottom axis in the chart. You will see this value change to 757.5 but nothing else has changed. The Tree display is still positioned at the Right Axis node, but the panel is on the Bottom axis. This will lead to a lot of confusion and frustration.

6. Selecting on the series in the chart does not select the series. On a fresh "Embedded" display, the "Series" node is selected on entry. If you select the series data on the chart, nothing happens. Further, if you then select the "Series1" node in the tree, and then the "Chart" node in the tree, you will now get a "Control 'TabSeries' has no parent window" error if you select the series in the chart.

7. "Control 'SubPage' has no parent window" error in the processing. This is an intermittant error. You can see this error by starting with a fresh Embedded display. Do the following, select the "Chart" node in the tree and then select the title "Title" in the chart. The display panel will change. Then select the "Data" node in the tree and then select the "Title" in the chart again. You will now get the error.

I believe that the SelectUnderMouse processing is very important to a good design environment and all activities should be coordinated in order to enhance the user experience. Chart design can be complicated enough, but the SelectUnderMouse processing can really make it easier and more intuitive.

[Yeray]

Hello RGSMike,
First of all we'd like to thank you for your accurate report.
We could reproduce the problems here and added them to our wish-list to be enhanced for future releases.

[RGSMike]

Thanks. I realize that with development schedules you cannot do everything.

However, until you get to it, I will have to deal with it as this was going to be my primary interface to the charts. Point and change is the most intuitive. There are three ways that I currently see to deal with this. The first is to replace the processing with my own. While I have considered this as an alternative, it would be a lot of work, and I too have development schedules. The second is to document the behaviour to my users and tell them it is an "as is" interface. This is not a very attractive alternative to any of us. The final one is to omit the "Point and Change" processing.

Do you have any suggestions as to how I might proceed regarding this? I realize that anything you do with this will not be in version 7, but rather version 8 or later. Any information you can provide me would help me in deciding how to proceed. If you don't have any suggestions, that would be okay as well.

Thanks for the info.

[Narcís]

Hi RGSMike,

You are right, it's most unlikely that this will be implemented in v7 as we expect that our new release will be v8. We can't give you a date of when this will be fixed for now.

The easiest and working alternative I can think of for now is not using chart editor in tree mode which already works.