🎉 Node-RED 3.0.0-beta.2 released

I personally don't want to have to check anything

No strong opinion here. I don't see myself using the junction node over the existing NoOp node anyway.

I can't get the drag combination to work (even the new one in beta 2) on my Chomebook as I can't seem to use ALT in any dragging action, so it is just easier to drag over a NoOp block (for me).

Neat feature, just not a "problem" I needed to be solved. Others obviously have more passion around this, though.

So from feedback on slicing wires & slicing junctions...

  • Alt is problematic in some systems
  • Junction should appear on Left Hand palette (so can be dragged onto wire)

And one suggestion from me would be...

  • Implement "Add Junctions to Selected Wires" from action menu
    (side benefit - should also aid touch screen users)

Alternative solutions...

  • Right-click drag draws the cutting line then pops up a context menu on mouse button release, asking what you would like to do (delete wires, insert junctions, future...)
    • NOTE: I think right click drag on FireFox should be ok since there are no modifier keys in this suggestion)
  • A mouse mode (e.g. normal/select, slicing, slice-in-junctions) presented from a context menu?
  • A toolbar button for selecting mouse mode (e.g. normal/select, slicing, slice-in-junctions)?

I'm just throwing things out there to stir minds and gather opinion (not even certain we will change this up) - feel free to weigh in - perhaps there is a magic bullet?

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What NoOp node?

There are quite a few of them on the flow library. All pretty much identical, all named slightly differently, all doing exactly the same task. A new one gets published every couple of months.

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I think if the junction can be made to slot into the left hand palette then everyone can use it in 3.0

Then the fancy wire cutting stuff can be tried/tested out and introduced in a point release if its still required/wanted?

That is not the plan. Junctions are not nodes.

You can add them via the quick-add dialog (ctrl-click on the workspace).

There will be an action for inserting a junction into a wire (so can be added via keyboard shortcut).

We will get the mouse actions right to support the slicing mode. It might not be for everyone, but it will be the quickest way of doing it.

3 Likes

For some reason, using ctrl-click never makes it into my long term memory! But it is an acceptable method of getting at junctions so I'm personally sorted :slight_smile:

Speaking as a user but not an expert:

Hmm. If it looks like a node and it quacks like a
node...

You can add them via the quick-add dialog

There is a quick add dialog. I dare say it's useful if you know what it's for and why it just popped up. It just irritates and confuses me though.

The Action menu (is that the right word?) is even more confusing but at least it doesn't popup in the middle of the screen when you aren't expecting it.

There have been many styles of user interface: the keyboard shortcut, the sodding paperclip, the unspeakable ribbon, the context sensitive right click menu. The last one is the most satisfactory for me, though I think MS are "enhancing" it in W11 by adding a ribbon.
If I want to select multiple words, files, shortcuts, contacts, [wires in NR] etc I can usually ctrl click to select then and right click to choose what to do with them.

I think the NR editor disables the right click to bring up the browser's default menu, at least: to inspect the editor code/ CSS I have to right click in the fragment of white space above the palette.
What's the thinking behind this behaviour?

We will be adding our own right-click context menu in the near future.

6 Likes

If you need a lot of junctions in a flow you can always export a block of them to a library,
and then import the library to the flow where you need them and drag them into place.

That would be a complete failure of our UX if that proved to be the only way to work with them effectively. But that takes far more clicks than the current:

  • ctrl-click to open quick add dialog
  • click on the Junction item in the list
  • done

If you ctrl-click on a wire, it will even splice the Junction into the wire for you - no need to do any dragging.

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I missed that one!!!!

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I'm glad it's not just me! :slight_smile:

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The ctrl-click isn't self-explanatory, so I don't think about it when I'm working with the Flow Editor every now and then.

You could place the junction node left above or below the node palette so that it is visually separate from the rest of the nodes, but can be inserted the same way.

I suppose it's like all new additions, it's strange to use at first, but I'm starting to use it more & more, and it's a great time saver in building flows.

I like that idea, because combining keyboard shortcuts + mouse button + drag is a pain on a touchpad.
I'm sure that you have said "right click" for a good reason, but 'left click' & drag would be easier to do, because when touchpad users do a right click & drag, their left hand has to perform the right click, which gets in the way of the right hand doing the drag.

Yeah, because otherwise we could not differentiate from drawing a selection box and drawing a slice line.

This is exactly the reason I (tried to) summarised the subject - see if there is a good middle ground.

Couldn't they be combined, with 'select' being a context menu option?

So you'd rather do a complex finger dance on your keyboard that you need to look up the combination each time you use it... only so that you don't have to click on an option... intuitive! :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Please keep in mind that the users that do not stay on top of the latest modifications cannot use something that cannot be found easily. I personally would like to see it on the left palette. You may say that these "junctions" are part of the wire and do not belong in the palette menu. Uh, its a break point item. You can mimic behavior with a slew of nodes that you configure for it. Function, Switch, Change, etc. So that is just a preference. If they are allowed to be in the palette, what does it hurt? Or create another group which this may be the only type...

The CTRL-click menu disagrees with you. :wink:
(I'm just teasing - I understand what you were saying)

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