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  3. There are times when I wonder what MS developers are smoking...

There are times when I wonder what MS developers are smoking...

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  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

    There's been a niggle with VS for me for a while: I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste, but they are close together and occasionally I get a Copy when I wanted a Paste. Normally I just sigh, and go back to copy it again - but it annoys me a little when I'm on a blank line with nothing selected, and the Paste operation copies the blank line to the clipboard. Why? Why do that? Well, it's deliberate: there's an option to specifically do that.

    Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> General ... "Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection"

    And for whatever reason the default state is "Yes, copy a damn blank line to the clipboard when there is no selection". Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

    Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

    S Offline
    S Offline
    Simon ORiordan from UK
    wrote on last edited by
    #24

    Why? Retentive code reviews.

    1 Reply Last reply
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    • O Oleg A Lukin

      Did you ever try Ctrl+Shift+V after that? Twice ;)

      Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies. T.Jefferson

      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriff
      wrote on last edited by
      #25

      Nope, never heard of that one! :sigh: There are times, Microsoft...and inventing a cure for a problem you cause without actually curing the problem...

      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

      O 1 Reply Last reply
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      • C Corneliu Tusnea

        Ctrl+C works in "most" error message boxes. It copies the complete contents + title + buttons as text. I love it. You don't need to "select" anything except to have the message box focused. Sample: --------------------------- Microsoft Visual Studio --------------------------- Cannot move 'RandomFile.Debug.config'. The destination folder is the same as the source folder. --------------------------- OK ---------------------------

        G Offline
        G Offline
        grralph1
        wrote on last edited by
        #26

        You have hit the nail on the head. This is the reason why copying non-selected makes you shoot blanks, but it lets you copy the un-selectable. Sort of nice. I am a bit pissed off about this as I didn't know about this until your post. So Thanks Corneliu. There is always a reason.

        "Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read." Frank Zappa 1980

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        • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

          There's been a niggle with VS for me for a while: I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste, but they are close together and occasionally I get a Copy when I wanted a Paste. Normally I just sigh, and go back to copy it again - but it annoys me a little when I'm on a blank line with nothing selected, and the Paste operation copies the blank line to the clipboard. Why? Why do that? Well, it's deliberate: there's an option to specifically do that.

          Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> General ... "Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection"

          And for whatever reason the default state is "Yes, copy a damn blank line to the clipboard when there is no selection". Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

          Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

          M Offline
          M Offline
          MikeTheFid
          wrote on last edited by
          #27

          I know well the annoyance when I too miss the "v" key and press the "c" key instead. Indeed, WTF were they thinking!?! I started using BRIEF (Basic Reconfigurable Interactive Editing Facility) in the late 80's and it's keyboard shortcuts have stuck with me ever since. Cut-Copy-Paste are such fundamental operations they demand a single key all their own; none of this rubbish multi-finger pinky-x, pinky-c, and pink-v! Insert ==> Edit|Paste Keypad + ==> Edit|Copy Keypad - ==> Edit|Cut Simple, intuitive, and since I do far more copying than cutting, they used the enlarged "+" key on the numeric keypad to give your finger an ample target. Brief was (is) a brilliant editor and it's ideas have stood the test of time IMNSHO.

          Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright

          OriginalGriffO E 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • M MikeTheFid

            I know well the annoyance when I too miss the "v" key and press the "c" key instead. Indeed, WTF were they thinking!?! I started using BRIEF (Basic Reconfigurable Interactive Editing Facility) in the late 80's and it's keyboard shortcuts have stuck with me ever since. Cut-Copy-Paste are such fundamental operations they demand a single key all their own; none of this rubbish multi-finger pinky-x, pinky-c, and pink-v! Insert ==> Edit|Paste Keypad + ==> Edit|Copy Keypad - ==> Edit|Cut Simple, intuitive, and since I do far more copying than cutting, they used the enlarged "+" key on the numeric keypad to give your finger an ample target. Brief was (is) a brilliant editor and it's ideas have stood the test of time IMNSHO.

            Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright

            OriginalGriffO Offline
            OriginalGriffO Offline
            OriginalGriff
            wrote on last edited by
            #28

            And it had multiple source "windows", and mouse support, and... I loved it to death - for the first time, you could look at several parts of your code at the same time (Microsoft, are you listening?) I think I still have the original disks and manual in the spare room - but they'll be on 360K floppies (possibly 720, I can't remember) and I don't have anything to read them any more!

            Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

            "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
            "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

            D M 2 Replies Last reply
            0
            • G greldak

              They were the ones shown on the menus in Win 3.1

              N Offline
              N Offline
              newton saber
              wrote on last edited by
              #29

              greldak wrote:

              They were the ones shown on the menus in Win 3.1

              You're right. That's how I learned them and I've never forgotten them. They work in places the other hotkeys don't.

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • D DJ van Wyk

                That's the old school way of doing it. I can remember it from the DOS / Word Perfect / Quatro Pro days. Funny thing is, nobody ever considered copy/pasting an empty line back then. We did things more efficiently by using the huge [Enter] key on the keyboard.

                My plan is to live forever ... so far so good

                N Offline
                N Offline
                newton saber
                wrote on last edited by
                #30

                DJ van Wyk wrote:

                old school way of doing it

                best way... :D

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                  And it had multiple source "windows", and mouse support, and... I loved it to death - for the first time, you could look at several parts of your code at the same time (Microsoft, are you listening?) I think I still have the original disks and manual in the spare room - but they'll be on 360K floppies (possibly 720, I can't remember) and I don't have anything to read them any more!

                  Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                  D Offline
                  D Offline
                  DJ van Wyk
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #31

                  OriginalGriff wrote:

                  (Microsoft, are you listening?)

                  No

                  My plan is to live forever ... so far so good

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • M MikeTheFid

                    I know well the annoyance when I too miss the "v" key and press the "c" key instead. Indeed, WTF were they thinking!?! I started using BRIEF (Basic Reconfigurable Interactive Editing Facility) in the late 80's and it's keyboard shortcuts have stuck with me ever since. Cut-Copy-Paste are such fundamental operations they demand a single key all their own; none of this rubbish multi-finger pinky-x, pinky-c, and pink-v! Insert ==> Edit|Paste Keypad + ==> Edit|Copy Keypad - ==> Edit|Cut Simple, intuitive, and since I do far more copying than cutting, they used the enlarged "+" key on the numeric keypad to give your finger an ample target. Brief was (is) a brilliant editor and it's ideas have stood the test of time IMNSHO.

                    Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright

                    E Offline
                    E Offline
                    englebart
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #32

                    I loved B.R.I.E.F. It was made my Underware Software (seriously). The thing I really miss about the old editors was that they could edit HUGE files that would not fit into all available memory. I needed that just yesterday! Notepad refused to load a 1.9gig text file on a 64bit OS with 4gigs of free memory! BRIEF had a great macro language as well. I wrote a macro to provide popup context menus for the different C structs <-> DB mappings we used on a series of projects. It was like intellisense 0.1. Somewhere along the way, they converted the macro language from a LISP-like prefix syntax to more of a C syntax. Then the IDEs started coming out and eclipsed* the single purpose editors... *bad pun

                    P 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                      And it had multiple source "windows", and mouse support, and... I loved it to death - for the first time, you could look at several parts of your code at the same time (Microsoft, are you listening?) I think I still have the original disks and manual in the spare room - but they'll be on 360K floppies (possibly 720, I can't remember) and I don't have anything to read them any more!

                      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                      M Offline
                      M Offline
                      MikeTheFid
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #33

                      http://www.briefeditor.com/download.htm[^] Free.

                      Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright

                      OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • M MikeTheFid

                        http://www.briefeditor.com/download.htm[^] Free.

                        Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright

                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriff
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #34

                        Get thee behind me, Satan! I've got too used to Intellisense, and I'm trying not to install too much old stuff - I still have QuickC for DOS installed, and had to force myself not to install Ami Pro '97 on this PC (because it was a much, much better work processor than Word is, even now...) Nooooo.....I won't do it....I won't....I'll just download it in case I need it later, honest....

                        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                        "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                        "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • E englebart

                          I loved B.R.I.E.F. It was made my Underware Software (seriously). The thing I really miss about the old editors was that they could edit HUGE files that would not fit into all available memory. I needed that just yesterday! Notepad refused to load a 1.9gig text file on a 64bit OS with 4gigs of free memory! BRIEF had a great macro language as well. I wrote a macro to provide popup context menus for the different C structs <-> DB mappings we used on a series of projects. It was like intellisense 0.1. Somewhere along the way, they converted the macro language from a LISP-like prefix syntax to more of a C syntax. Then the IDEs started coming out and eclipsed* the single purpose editors... *bad pun

                          P Offline
                          P Offline
                          Private Dobbs
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #35

                          TextPad ... :doh:

                          E 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                            There's been a niggle with VS for me for a while: I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste, but they are close together and occasionally I get a Copy when I wanted a Paste. Normally I just sigh, and go back to copy it again - but it annoys me a little when I'm on a blank line with nothing selected, and the Paste operation copies the blank line to the clipboard. Why? Why do that? Well, it's deliberate: there's an option to specifically do that.

                            Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> General ... "Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection"

                            And for whatever reason the default state is "Yes, copy a damn blank line to the clipboard when there is no selection". Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

                            Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                            C Offline
                            C Offline
                            ClockMeister
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #36

                            LOL, you're right! I just turned it off. I've always wondered about that one, been bitten several times. Thanks for the tip!

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                              There's been a niggle with VS for me for a while: I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste, but they are close together and occasionally I get a Copy when I wanted a Paste. Normally I just sigh, and go back to copy it again - but it annoys me a little when I'm on a blank line with nothing selected, and the Paste operation copies the blank line to the clipboard. Why? Why do that? Well, it's deliberate: there's an option to specifically do that.

                              Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> General ... "Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection"

                              And for whatever reason the default state is "Yes, copy a damn blank line to the clipboard when there is no selection". Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

                              Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                              H Offline
                              H Offline
                              Harrison Pratt
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #37

                              To empty the clipboard.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                There's been a niggle with VS for me for a while: I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste, but they are close together and occasionally I get a Copy when I wanted a Paste. Normally I just sigh, and go back to copy it again - but it annoys me a little when I'm on a blank line with nothing selected, and the Paste operation copies the blank line to the clipboard. Why? Why do that? Well, it's deliberate: there's an option to specifically do that.

                                Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> General ... "Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection"

                                And for whatever reason the default state is "Yes, copy a damn blank line to the clipboard when there is no selection". Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

                                Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                                F Offline
                                F Offline
                                Freak30
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #38

                                VS 6.0 had the much more useful option: Enable copy without selection. One of the first things I did after each installation was switching off this option. This way I was protected from almost all accidental copying. I was quite mad when I discovered they changed the option to only apply to empty lines in later versions. :mad: I don't even bother to change the setting nowadays, because most of the time when I want to paste, the cursor is on a non-empty line making the option worthless to me.

                                The good thing about pessimism is, that you are always either right or pleasently surprised.

                                U 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                  There's been a niggle with VS for me for a while: I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste, but they are close together and occasionally I get a Copy when I wanted a Paste. Normally I just sigh, and go back to copy it again - but it annoys me a little when I'm on a blank line with nothing selected, and the Paste operation copies the blank line to the clipboard. Why? Why do that? Well, it's deliberate: there's an option to specifically do that.

                                  Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> General ... "Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection"

                                  And for whatever reason the default state is "Yes, copy a damn blank line to the clipboard when there is no selection". Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

                                  Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                                  G Offline
                                  G Offline
                                  gggustafson
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #39

                                  +5 Thanks, I missed that. And yes, Why, Micrpsoft? Why?

                                  Gus Gustafson

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • M Marc Clifton

                                    Even more bizarre is that someone had the foresight to make that behavior configurable. Marc

                                    Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!

                                    K Offline
                                    K Offline
                                    kdmote
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #40

                                    What's bizarre is why y'all are making such a deal of it. It's a FEATURE. You put your cursor on any line (w/out selecting anything) and Ctrl-C copies the whole line. That's useful. No mouse necessary. You DO know that VS has unlimited memory on the clipboard, right? If you accidentally copy something when you meant to paste, just Ctrl-Shift-V a couple times and VS will cycle back through your recent clipboard items. Easy workaround to your stated problem. Chill. No smoking necessary.

                                    M 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • K kdmote

                                      What's bizarre is why y'all are making such a deal of it. It's a FEATURE. You put your cursor on any line (w/out selecting anything) and Ctrl-C copies the whole line. That's useful. No mouse necessary. You DO know that VS has unlimited memory on the clipboard, right? If you accidentally copy something when you meant to paste, just Ctrl-Shift-V a couple times and VS will cycle back through your recent clipboard items. Easy workaround to your stated problem. Chill. No smoking necessary.

                                      M Offline
                                      M Offline
                                      Marc Clifton
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #41

                                      kdmote wrote:

                                      just Ctrl-Shift-V a couple times and VS will cycle back through your recent clipboard items.

                                      Huh, no I didn't know that! Caveman Marc

                                      Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                        There's been a niggle with VS for me for a while: I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste, but they are close together and occasionally I get a Copy when I wanted a Paste. Normally I just sigh, and go back to copy it again - but it annoys me a little when I'm on a blank line with nothing selected, and the Paste operation copies the blank line to the clipboard. Why? Why do that? Well, it's deliberate: there's an option to specifically do that.

                                        Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> General ... "Apply Cut or Copy commands to blank lines when there is no selection"

                                        And for whatever reason the default state is "Yes, copy a damn blank line to the clipboard when there is no selection". Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

                                        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                                        P Offline
                                        P Offline
                                        patbob
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #42

                                        OriginalGriff wrote:

                                        Why, Microsoft? Why? :doh:

                                        I've been observing that for decades. I've concluded that its part of a secret Programmer Works Initiative campaign they're running. They make poor design choices and poor choices of defaults simply to keep more of us employed. Its working. Thanks Microsoft. This is a joke. This is only a joke. Had this been a serious posting... :)

                                        We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                          IIRC, copy only ever did anything at all if there was a selection - and most apps work that way even today. The whole idea of copy working on non-selected data is bad, I think - but I wish it worked in MS error message boxes where you can't select anything anyway! :laugh:

                                          Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                                          T Offline
                                          T Offline
                                          Tony D Great
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #43

                                          Using copy on a line with nothing selected actually copies the whole line including CRLF; pasting that puts the whole line you just blank-copied above the line where your cursor is sitting. SSMS, VS and Sublime all do it and it's pretty nice once you get the hang of it. Feel your pain on the MS error boxes though :wtf:

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