[Bug 90069] Re: "Shift+click" _de-selects_ files in KDE "Open file" -dialog and Konqueror

Tue Mar 13 14:45:30 UTC 2007

My original examples contain a mistake. Instead of that, I would prefer
the following:

"Shift+click" always requires (at least) two clicks to define the range.
If the first item clicked on gets unselected, so does the entire range.
And if the first item clicked on gets selected, this is similarly done
for the entire range indicated by the last click. Releasing "shift"
should confirm the selection. (Selections outside the range should not
be affected.)

The tricky part in implementing this is, if we have a range with both
selected and unselected files, over which we operate. If "shift" is kept
pressed for the duration of the process, no matter how many times we
click, only the range between the _first_ and the _last_ click should be
selected.

Ideally, this would mean that the pre-existing selections should be
remembered. So, to illustrate: if we accidentally first select a larger
area than intended (but don't release "shift"), we can alter the
selection to contain a smaller area, and the selections outside this
area should be reverted back to what they were before our "shift+click"
procedure.

** Summary changed:

- "Shift+click" _de-selects_ files in KDE "Open file" -dialog and Konqueror
+ "Shift+click" _de-selects_ files in KDE "Open file" -dialog and Konqueror without the user's intent

** Description changed:

  Binary package hint: kdebase

  Using Kubuntu Dapper, with KDE 3.5.5, and with "single click to
  execute".

  In the KDE file open dialog (used by e.g. OpenOffice and Kate, among
  others), and somehow also Konqueror, "Shift+click" works in a very
  strange way. Files get _removed from the selection_ under various
  conditions, which, in my opinion, should not occur while using
  "Shift+click". In other words, "expanding" the selection does not work
  as expected.

  Expected behaviour:
  - Click = Select.
  - Ctrl+click = Add file to selected.
  - Shift+click = Broaden the selection to contain the newly clicked file _and_ the files in-between this and last selection. This _should not remove any previous selections_.
+ 
+ EDIT: Expected behaviour with "Shift+click"  (and the following
+ examples) could be better defined, I will try to see (later) if I can
+ edit the description to better fit this. For the moment, please see my
+ comment from 2007-03-13 14:45:30 UTC.

  I will give an example of expected "Shift+click" behaviour, where we
  have two or more files / groups of files selected, and _unselected files
  between these_. In the example, "x" denotes a selected file, "X" denotes
  the one we (Shift/Ctrl+)clicked on last, and numbers denote unselected
  files. "Y" denotes the file we "Shift+click" immediately after "X", and
  which becomes our new "last clicked file".

  We have a selection like this: xxxxx123456xxxxxX789xxxx.

  So, if we now "Shift+click" on "3", we expect the files between and
  including "X" and "3" to be selected.

  So we will have: xxxxx12Yxxxxxxxxx789xxxx.

  What actually happens, is different.

  In the "Open file" -dialog (N.B. This is also how Konqueror's "Icon view" and "Multicolumn view" behave!):
  - We can "Click" or "Ctrl+click" as we like, and this works as expected.
  - When we "Shift+click", only the files between "X" and "Y" are selected, and _selection is removed_ from other files!
  - We can continue our "Shift+click" travels in the dialog, and always _only_ the files between our two last "Shift+clicks" will be selected, and the rest are _de-selected_.
  - In sum, instead of "expanding" the selection with "Shift+click", the selection "travels" along.
  (N.B. These are also selected in a rectangular manner, see http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59228, but that is a different issue. This report is about files being removed from selection while "Shift" has been pressed.)

  In Konqueror (detailed file list view, list view, tree view, text view):
  - We can't directly "Click" on a file, because that would execute it. Well, we can, mostly, which gets the file selected anyway, besides opening it in e.g. Kate.
  - We can also click _beside_ the file, or "Ctrl+click" on the file to select it.
  - We now have selected a file, let's call it file "A".
  - If we now "Shift+click" below this file, it appears to work as designed.
  - However, if after this we "Shift+click" _above_ file "A", we see that the selection is changed to contain the files from "A" upwards, including file "A", and the selection from "A" downwards is again _removed_.
  - You can also demonstrate this behaviour by "Ctrl+clicking" on a number of distinct files, with unselected files in between, and after that start "Shift+clicking" above and below these files. You will see that files will get removed from the selection as you proceed.
  - Again, instead of "expanding" the selection with "Shift+click", the selection "travels".

-- 
"Shift+click" _de-selects_ files in KDE "Open file" -dialog and Konqueror without the user's intent
https://launchpad.net/bugs/90069