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Author Topic: Expression Irritation  (Read 1377 times)

Mike48

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Expression Irritation
« on: November 15, 2012, 07:25:28 pm »

I have been using MC expressions to edit tags. I have a lot of classical music, and I expect to do a lot of this.

The expressions are quite useful. One thing, though, is a persistent irritation. Expressions in this context take effect without an affirmative actions by the user; i.e., without hitting <Enter>.

  • If I have an expression partly written and then I switch to another window to consult the documentation, the partial expression is executed, resulting in an error.
  • If another program grabs focus while I'm entering an expression, the partial expression is executed, resulting in an error.

In either case, not only do wrong values result (thank goodness for Ctrl-Z), but I have to re-write and re-enter the entire expression, because what I started to enter is lost. There doesn't seem to be any way to recall and edit previously entered expressions.

This seems SO wrong. Am I missing something? It would be great to revise the way this works, and require a carriage return before changing values.
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MrC

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Re: Expression Irritation
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2012, 08:22:53 pm »

I agree, the auto enter of Enter should not occur on context switching.

A workaround I've employed is to write the expression first in an expression column until the expression is working correctly, and then copy / paste the expression after an = char in a tag field.
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Mike48

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Re: Expression Irritation
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2012, 09:46:54 pm »

I agree, the auto enter of Enter should not occur on context switching.

A workaround I've employed is to write the expression first in an expression column until the expression is working correctly, and then copy / paste the expression after an = char in a tag field.

Thanks! I hadn't know about Expression Columns, and now I do. They are a good solution in many cases.

I have also tried writing the expression in an external editor, then pasting it in to the tag field. It's a toss-up which requires more clicking around. It would be great to have a command line that could be used to edit and enter such things, step by step, as in many interpreted languages.

My current fix required using counter(), which is a problem in expression columns!
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InflatableMouse

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Re: Expression Irritation
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2012, 02:37:27 am »

It would be great to have a command line that could be used to edit and enter such things, step by step, as in many interpreted languages.

A bash-like text based console to MC! With TAB command and parameter completion. I can see myself playing with that  :P  ;D
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