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Author Topic: Preselecting tracks upon switching tabs  (Read 519 times)

wheel54

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Preselecting tracks upon switching tabs
« on: October 26, 2022, 04:49:40 pm »

So when I navigate from one tab to the next and back - like from a smart playlist to a different one and then back to the first - often when I move between tabs it'll load the tab with a track selected for some reason - then I can't see the number of tracks and total length etc since it is displaying the highlight track length etc in the bottom right now.

Even if I unselect it (I couldn't find a way to do this without scrolling to the very bottom and clicking in the tiny bit of dead space after the final item) and get the view I want with nothing selected, when I leave the tab and return a different track will be selected now.  Quite bizarre and I don't think it's useful at all.

So can you have tabs be at the beginning state when selected (instead of a song highlighted), and is there a simple way to deselect everything?
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HPBEME

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Re: Preselecting tracks upon switching tabs
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2022, 06:44:51 pm »

This seems to be the default behavior for MC, that is, to select the first item in each view when you navigate between tabs.  I should note there are a handful of view setups where it does not behave this way, but they are most definitely the exception.

I agree it is very annoying, but it's been that way for as long as I have used the program (16+ years). My guess is if they changed the behavior now, a whole contingent of MC users would freak out, because for some reason having MC preselect the first item is somehow useful to their workflow ;D.

But who knows… Maybe with your raising this issue here, the JRiver boys will be inspired to reassess this default behavior.  Crossing my fingers.
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blgentry

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Re: Preselecting tracks upon switching tabs
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2022, 06:53:51 pm »

This is an interesting question:  How to deselect all?  I thought I knew the answer, but then tried it and... I didn't, but now I know the answer.

You may or may not know that control-a does select all.  The sister command, shift-control-a is what I thought did a deselect.  But it doesn't!  Shift-control-a INVERTS the selection.  That's not terribly useful for me, but I can see why you would want it. 

So how do you deselect all?  It's not a menu item.  It's not a keyboard shortcut (according to the docs).  Impossible?  Well.. almost.  I found the MCC command for deselect all (MCC 21015).  Then mapped it to a custom keyboard shortcut using the Resource.xml file.  Here's the relevant part from my file:

Code: [Select]
    <!-- Deselect all -->
    <Entry Key="Ctrl;Shift;a" Command="21015" />

Now the shift-control-a (which is not useful to me as invert selection) does deselect all!

If you don't want to go through the (moderate) hassle of setting up the Resource.xml file and putting this in it, I have a different sequence of keys that will work for you:

1.  control-a :  This will select all
2.  shift-control-a. : Now that all is selected, the "invert selection" key will select none.

Effectively this is a deselect all.  It's just two different keyboard shortcuts to get there.

I prefer my way, but then again it's "my way."  lol

Have fun.

Brian.
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HPBEME

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Re: Preselecting tracks upon switching tabs
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2022, 07:07:50 pm »

Well look at you go! Very clever, and not too difficult at all to set up... Thanks Brian!  That said, it would still be better IMO if MC's default behavior was to not pre-select anything upon switching tabs.

To be clear though, if a user manually selects an item (or multiple items), navigates away from said tab and then back again, those manually selected items should of course remain selected. It becomes annoying when everything has been deselected, or you create a new tab, and when you navigate to the tab an item is already pre-selected for you, like it or not.

Regardless, your suggestion does provide an option for "deselecting all" until JRiver removes this scurrilous default behavior  :D
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wheel54

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Re: Preselecting tracks upon switching tabs
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2022, 07:50:51 pm »

The deselect binding will work for me, thank you.  I agree it shouldn't be automatically selecting the first track - make this an option if someone is oddly attached to it, nothing in MacOS or Windows performs this way.

I have own MC since back in the single digits, and upgraded various times throughout it's life, so I hear you about some people may have it worked in their workflow, but I vastly prefer the summary information over that of the first track by default.  Especially if that summary is for a smart playlist that varies each time it is loaded.
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