Export as...

[Olly Betts]

On Sun, Dec 28, 2014 at 07:32:33PM +0000, HughStL wrote:
> Can someone clarify the logic of the export function,
> please...because it completely confuses me. I'm using v1.2.12
> 
> If I am looking at a plan view of my survey in Aven, it would seem
> logical that when I go to 'export as' that it would assume I want to
> export the plan.  Likewise if I'm viewing an elevation that I would
> want to export an elevation.

Exporting (and also printing) default to the current view, be it
plan, elevation, or a tilted view.

> However, instead one arrives at a dialogue in which one does not
> know whether the greyed out button is the 'view' (plan or elevation)
> that one is in, or whether the live looking button is the view one
> is in.  If a button is an active link, it seems reasonable to assume
> that if you click the (for example) 'Profile' live button that one
> will arrive in the 'Profile export view.  And likewise if the Plan
> is the active live button then clicking it will take one to the Plan
> export view.  And thus it follows that the greyed out button
> actually represents the view that you are in. Yes?

The "Tilt angle" is what determines whether this is a plan (-90),
elevation (0), or something else (any other value).

The "Plan" and "Elevation" buttons are really just shortcuts to set
the tilt to 0 or -90.  If you're on one of them already, that one
will be disabled, so what you say is effectively true for those cases,
but if you change "Tilt angle" to something else, both will be
available.

(If the button for elevation says "Profile" then you probably have your
computer set to US English).

> Using this, what I would consider, reasonable logic, I have tried
> for the last half an hour to produce a plan EPS of a survey - and
> consumately failed, producing instead an elevation each and every
> time.  The fact is, one just doesn't know whether whether one is in
> the plan producing dialogue or the elevation producing dialogue!

I just tested and can't reproduce this with 1.2.16 - I get an EPS of the
plan when in plan view and an EPS of the elevation when in elevation
view.

I'd suggest trying the latest version as there have been an number of
changes to exporting in recent versions.

> Could I suggest a much simpler and less confusing interface?
> Instead of links and labels which confuse function and location, why
> not just have two radio buttons, Plan and Elevation.  The radio
> button is either one or the other, but it will be VERY CLEAR which
> view/dialogue one is in and therefore what the export function is
> going to produce.

This would remove the ability to export a tilted view.  While that's not
the most common case, it has been supported practically forever.

Three radio buttons, with a "Tilted" one with a spin control (the number
entry with the little up and down buttons) might work, though I'm not
sure that's actually clearer than the current UI.

Cheers,
    Olly