The display editor alignment options were initially relative to the first selected widget.
Select a widget, add other widgets to the selection, and when you then align left/right/center, all widgets would be aligned to the left/right/center of the first selected widget.
In kasemir/org.csstudio.display.builder#509 (later imported to phoebus as #579), that behavior was changed.
Now left/right/center aligns all selected widget to the left/right/center of the combined widget outline.
The original behavior is more straight forward for precision alignment.
Select a widget that's already in the desired location, then select others and align them to the left/right/center of the first one.
Example:
Create a rectangle, place it as desired.
Create a Label, set text.
Select rectangle, then label, "Align center" and the text will be in the center of the rectangle.
Downside of the original behavior: Nobody knows how to select one widget, then add others to the selection. Need to hold control, command, alt or shift? Much easier to rubber band around all the widgets of interest and align to the outline. But now it's harder to truly align things.
Example:
Create a rectangle, place it as desired.
Create a Label, set text.
Rubberband-select rectangle and label
"Align center" and BOTH widgets will move to the center of their combined outline, so rectangle is no longer where you wanted it.
Options:
Keep as is. Alignment is slightly useless, but I never use it anyway?
Restore original alignment relative to first selected widget, and nobody will remember how to use that?
Remove alignment options to simplify user interface?
The display editor alignment options were initially relative to the first selected widget.
Select a widget, add other widgets to the selection, and when you then align left/right/center, all widgets would be aligned to the left/right/center of the first selected widget.
In kasemir/org.csstudio.display.builder#509 (later imported to phoebus as #579), that behavior was changed.
Now left/right/center aligns all selected widget to the left/right/center of the combined widget outline.
The original behavior is more straight forward for precision alignment.
Select a widget that's already in the desired location, then select others and align them to the left/right/center of the first one.
Example:
Create a rectangle, place it as desired.
Create a Label, set text.
Select rectangle, then label, "Align center" and the text will be in the center of the rectangle.
Downside of the original behavior: Nobody knows how to select one widget, then add others to the selection. Need to hold control, command, alt or shift? Much easier to rubber band around all the widgets of interest and align to the outline. But now it's harder to truly align things.
Example:
Create a rectangle, place it as desired.
Create a Label, set text.
Rubberband-select rectangle and label
"Align center" and BOTH widgets will move to the center of their combined outline, so rectangle is no longer where you wanted it.
Options:
Keep as is. Alignment is slightly useless, but I never use it anyway?
Restore original alignment relative to first selected widget, and nobody will remember how to use that?
Remove alignment options to simplify user interface?