Managing Text Pane Size

Hi Folks,

I’ve been having trouble with the size of the text pane. I will be working (in map view, though I not sure about other views) with the map and text panes nicely sized so that I can see the map (text pane at 25 or 30% of the screen), then I click on a different note or hit Cmd-5, and the text pane will jump to half of the screen or more. I would like the text pane to stay the same size! Not only that, but I would like to set the text pane to always be around 25% of the screen. I have tried setting TextPaneRatio default value to .25, but that never seems to stick.

Unfortunately, I am having a hard time reproducing this behavior when testing it; it just seems to happen by surprise, and I’m not sure what triggers it. It does happen with notes that had previously been properly sized, so I don’t think it is a situation where I have overridden the default.

My questions, then, are: Does anyone else have this problem? Is TextPaneRatio the variable I should be working with? Is this a bug or something I am not understanding or doing wrong?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks!

Kent

I’ve not played with this feature a lot but I think there are two factors at play here: pane split (stored as $TextPaneRatio) and text pane size (stored as $TextPaneWidth). The former is applied as set but if the latter has a value it over-rides the former.

However, testing just now I’m not sure if they are being used - or what event(s) trigger a value change for them. The attributes are definitely still there in the default System attributes.

I’d suggest asking this directly of support.

Both $TextPaneRatio and $TextPaneWidth are obsolete in Tinderbox 7.3; I believe neither has any effect.

The text pane width is now controlled by the tab; different tabs may have different splitter positions.

Moving the splitter, or resizing the window while holding down the command key, will change the splitter position.

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Thanks for clarifying. It really did not seem like either variable was having an effect.

I think I still am having some weird behavior with the panes, so I will see if I can document it.

Following up on this… here is what I am seeing:

⌘5 displays the text pane (righthand pane with key attributes and notes) at 50% of window.

I then use mouse to move the splitter to have it be 25%

Then if I press ⌘6 and follow that with ⌘5, when the textpane reappears it goes back to 50%.

Not sure if I am misunderstanding what is meant by textpane and splitter or if maybe I broke something.

The ⌘4/⌘5/⌘6 are simply toggles for all one pane, all the other or 50% of each. But, via a different mechanism (no shortcut but a modifier key)…

These methods alter the current tab’s view/text split ration. ⌘5 simply resets a 50%:50% pane split of the pane.

So, to set a custom splitter bar ratio for the current tab, click on the splitter bar dividing the two panes and drag to set the desired ratio.

To resize a window whilst retaining the current pane split ratio, drag the window border.

To resize a window whilst retaining the current text pane width, Cmd+drag the window border.

At least, that’s what I’m seeing

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⌘-5 will always make the text pane 50% of the window; that’s what it does.

There’s no command for “collapse the text pane, but remember where it formerly was.” That might be a handy feature.

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“5” as in 50% – it all makes sense now. interesting how I developed my own private mental model that it was show and hide. yes, I think that show and hide could be useful, especially when screen size is at a premium. I find that when I have a lot of notes I alternate between wanting to see as much of the map as possible and then needing to see the text pane. thanks for clarifying!

Mea culpa - I’d actually documented the Cmd+drag option (added in v7.0.2) the wrong way about in aTbRef. I’ve now corrected that in the relevant places and clarified the article about using the splitter pane with regard to retaining custom split ratios (i.e. Cmd+4/5/6 doesn’t retain such settings). Hopefully this will help subsequent readers.