Navigation 2.5.1

[Mike Alexander]

--On May 19, 2013 11:05:39 PM +0200 Geert Janssens 
<janssens-geert at telenet.be> wrote:

> I have a question regarding activating a cell: is there a reason you
> only activate it in the  specific cases you mention ? I mean can't a
> cell be activated when entered, regardless of  which method is used
> to enter it ? I'm particularly thinking about the arrow keys.
> Arrow-Up or  Arrow-Down change transactions, but don't activate the
> cell they enter.
>
> I will also note that enter (numeric keypad) and return (main
> keyboard) behave the same way:  the disactivate a cell, or move from
> a disactivated cell to the next row. This is also different  from the
> old register (at least for numeric cells).
>
> In the old register this difference was deliberate: when a formula is
> entered in a numeric field,  enter calculated the value of the
> formula, replacing the formula with the value. Return would  do the
> same but also move to the next transaction in one step. Not having
> this difference  means that there will be additional keys to hit in
> pure data entry. On the other hand, I believe  the subtle difference
> between the two keys has confused many newcomers.
>
> So while I'm a heavy keyboard user and hence prefer the old
> behaviour, your way may be  more friendly to new users. I mention
> this explicitly so it can be discussed.
>
> In general in my mind there should be as little resistance as
> possible to edit cells. When it's  entered (regardless of how this
> happened) it should immediatly be ready to accept input.
>
> I should have no friction either when I want to leave a cell (other
> than perhaps the dialog that  warns you have changed a protected
> transaction). So when I hit an arrow down after entering  a formula,
> I'd expect to land in the cell right below it to start entering new
> data.
>
> Also that is currently not like this: in the new register code, when
> I edit a cell and then hit the  down arrow, the cell is disactivated.
> I have to hit the arrow key again to actually move down.
>
> I think the analogy is with excell/calc. Cells in there are always
> immediatly ready for input and  can always be moved out with one
> single keystroke.

I agree completely with this.  I want to ba able to easily enter 
transactions using only the keyboard.  Moving back and forth between 
the mouse and the keyboard really slows things down and is very 
annoying.  For example, I've noticed that after I enter a transaction 
and accept it, the blank transaction is highlighted, but isn't 
editable.  Page up and page down seem to do nothing very interesting 
and I can't find any key stroke that makes the blank transaction 
editable.  I have to use the mouse to make it editable.  I presume this 
is a bug.

I've also noticed that the new register is much slower than the old one 
entering and deleting transactions.  It takes about 8 seconds between 
accepting a transaction and when the the transaction is actually 
entered and GnuCash is ready for something else.  I'm not sure what the 
problem is, but it's annoying.

         Mike