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Bug 326124

Summary: [block selection] Modifier + drag to perform rectangular selection
Product: [Eclipse Project] Platform Reporter: Timothy Mowlem <tmowlem>
Component: TextAssignee: Platform-Text-Inbox <platform-text-inbox>
Status: ASSIGNED --- QA Contact:
Severity: enhancement    
Priority: P5 CC: daniel_megert, eclipse, misc, reckord, stephen_m_bennett
Version: 3.5   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: All   
Whiteboard:

Description Timothy Mowlem CLA 2010-09-24 04:33:09 EDT 
Build Identifier: 3.7M2a

When the user wants to do rectangular selection they need to click a toolbar button first. They then need to click the same toolbar button to exit rectangular selection mode.

If would be helpful if holding down a modifier key while dragging enabled rectangular selection as this would be quicker for a single selection. TextMate and several other text editors have this feature and it is very handy.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. N/A
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Comment 1 Dani Megert CLA 2010-09-24 04:48:11 EDT 
You can use Alt+Shift+A or assign your own key binding to 'Toggle Block Selection' command.
Comment 2 Nathan Sweet CLA 2016-10-21 10:12:28 EDT 
A hotkey has a similar workflow issue with clicking a toolbar button: turning it on and off add steps that slow down text editing. Compare with Notepad++ (which uses Scintilla) where alt+drag with the mouse or shift+alt+arrow with the keyboard makes it very fast and efficient to make a block selection. The dedicated block selection mode is still useful, but being able to make block selections without entering the mode is also very convenient.

Enabling block selection without entering a dedicated mode is slightly different when pasting. I propose to remember the type of selection when copied (block or normal) then use that same type when pasting.
Comment 3 Stephen Bennett CLA 2017-04-05 13:10:11 EDT 
Similarly SlickEdit has right-click drag for block selection and allows block pasting of content copied by that method (as suggested by Nathan).  This is slightly more optimal from a workflow perspective and existing shift+arrow block-edit mode compatibility would be a bonus.