Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

[suzivegemite]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Thanks for explaining it Teri.
I admit I was caught out a couple of times by the lack of a 'cancel' button. This was when I first started using Reunion 10, I now try to ensure I don't exit so I can choose 'undo' and so far so good. I've only been using Reunion for a bit over a year, I think I used Reunion 9 for a couple of months, so the changes haven't had the same effect as someone who's been using it for eons.
I love that I can interact with other windows while editing and I love being able to edit multiple people without having to press done and go back to the family view all the time. I'd like to be able to have more things open (eg person notes and their events view) so it's safe to say I'm a fan of non modal windows and I never knew it.

Now I realise I can't have a 'cancel' button and non modal windows.

If I had to choose I'd stick with non modal windows.

Thanks again
S

[TeriPettit]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

I do think that any application that makes significant use of non-modal windows should support multiple Undo with a fairly deep Undo stack, so that you can just Cmd-Z backwards to the state that you want. Even if you have to hit Undo 10 times, it is better than having to rely on keeping backups.

[bmohr]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

I do think that any application that makes significant use of non-modal windows should support multiple Undo with a fairly deep Undo stack, so that you can just Cmd-Z backwards to the state that you want. Even if you have to hit Undo 10 times, it is better than having to rely on keeping backups.

Agreed. I think this is the perfect the way to solve this issue by moving forward, rather than going back. Given rich, deep undo support, a future version of Reunion could almost perfectly recreate the function of the old "Cancel" button by coalescing changes in a given edit view and offering a "Revert changes to [John Doe]" menu item (or equivalent) in addition to the regular Undo/Redo items.

[Reiner L. Sauer]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Hello Teri,

I do think that any application that makes significant use of non-modal windows should support multiple Undo with a fairly deep Undo stack, so that you can just Cmd-Z backwards to the state that you want. Even if you have to hit Undo 10 times, it is better than having to rely on keeping backups.

Absolutely, there should be a fairly deep Undo stack so that we can just Cmd-Z backwards.
Thanks for your detailed explanation and for providing a solution as well.
Regards
Reiner

[theKiwi]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Absolutely, there should be a fairly deep Undo stack so that we can just Cmd-Z backwards.

Some applications allow the user to set the size of the Undo stack while others like TextWrangler that I use a LOT have unlimited undo/redo.

This certainly would be a welcome addition, at least within the screen on which the "OK" button is clicked.

Using Multiple undos to be able to undo say the last 100 things you did, like adding children, or matching and merging would cause more problems than the lack of the cancel button.

Roger

[ttl]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Using Multiple undos to be able to undo say the last 100 things you did, like adding children, or matching and merging would cause more problems than the lack of the cancel button.

Count me among those who have bemoaned the loss of the Cancel button. You bring up a good point... I despise Undo implementations that do not make it clear what the undo command is doing. It would be critical for an undo in Reunion to be detailed in describing each of its actions.

[Bob White]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Count me among those who have bemoaned the loss of the Cancel button. You bring up a good point... I despise Undo implementations that do not make it clear what the undo command is doing. It would be critical for an undo in Reunion to be detailed in describing each of its actions.

Does this translate to something like you want the implementation (if that happened) to be something like a popup that displays what your last x number of do's were so that you know that and everything newer will be undone? That would be a nice addition.

BTW, I do not bemoan the loss of the Cancel button. If a person is careful with their data entry, there is little use for a Cancel button... PLUS .... If one later discovers an input error, one can always edit any data. For these two reasons, I am of the opinion that this discussion is somewhat pointless. But it is nice to know there are many different thoughts on the subject.

[ttl]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Does this translate to something like you want the implementation (if that happened) to be something like a popup that displays what your last x number of do's were so that you know that and everything newer will be undone? That would be a nice addition.

I could envision a list of some sort (popup menu or perhaps like Photoshop's History panel), with descriptive actions (Undo John Doe Change Birthdate, Undo John Doe Change Death Date, Undo John Doe Add Person, Undo Jane Smith Change Notes, Undo Add Source 235).

BTW, I do not bemoan the loss of the Cancel button. If a person is careful with their data entry, there is little use for a Cancel button... PLUS .... If one later discovers an input error, one can always edit any data. For these two reasons, I am of the opinion that this discussion is somewhat pointless. But it is nice to know there are many different thoughts on the subject.

Fair enough... one can make the point that previous implementations of the edit person panel (with a Cancel button) simply made it less painful to be careless. Where it usually came in handy for me is that sometimes the easiest (only?) path to looking at a data element (person specific source details, for instance) is through the edit person panel (a separate issue worth discussion), and an inadvertent keystroke or two can obliterate existing data that can take a fair amount of research of sources to restore. That's why I bemoan the loss. But I'm definitely more careful now and have less need of it.

[Barnbarroch]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

BTW, I do not bemoan the loss of the Cancel button. If a person is careful with their data entry, there is little use for a Cancel button... PLUS .... If one later discovers an input error, one can always edit any data.

Unlike you, Bob, I feel strongly that my computer should make it easy for me to get the right result even if I am a careless idiot!

Regards,
Jamie.

[Bob White]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Unlike you, Bob, I feel strongly that my computer should make it easy for me to get the right result even if I am a careless idiot!

Regards,
Jamie.

That's where our source points are diametrically opposed. Like a hammer or saw or washing machine, I see a computer as a tool that is only as good as the person guiding its use. I have no expectations of it saving me from my own carelessness. On the other hand, like most other tools, I do expect it to make life easier and possibly more efficient.

[Reiner L. Sauer]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Hi Bob,

That's where our source points are diametrically opposed. Like a hammer or saw or washing machine, I see a computer as a tool that is only as good as the person guiding its use. I have no expectations of it saving me from my own carelessness. On the other hand, like most other tools, I do expect it to make life easier and possibly more efficient.

Are you sure? You sound like a Windows enthusiast.
There are many reasons why I would want the Mac and Reunion to warn me of my own carelessness.

Regards
Reiner

[Bob White]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Hi Bob,...Are you sure? You sound like a Windows enthusiast. There are many reasons why I would want the Mac and Reunion to warn me of my own carelessness.

Regards Reiner

Please do not accuse me of that. I drive a VW Tiguan with the license plates 4VR MAC. Oh, by the way, I own or have owned about 15 Macs starting in 1991.

Otherwise, I am glad that you have an opinion. Life would get boring if everyone thought alike.

[marthawsv]

Re: Please bring back the "Cancel" Button!

Today I began entering information about a person's father. Then I realized that he was already in my database, so what I wanted to do was drag him to the father position. I needed the cancel button. Instead I had to choose "Done" and then open the clipboard and then drag the newly created guy to the clipboard and then go back to the person and find his father in the list and then I could drag him to the father position.
Please bring back the "Cancel" button!
Martha in California