Enable text selection on specific metadata on dataset page

[xuang7]

Feature Summary

Currently, text on the dataset page cannot be selected or copied, including key metadata such as the dataset name, file path, and description. Users may need to copy this information for sharing or reference purposes.

Proposed Solution or Design

The root cause is the global * { user-select: none; } rule in styles.scss that disables text selection across the entire platform. The fix is to override this rule for specific metadata fields on the dataset page.

Impact / Priority

(P2)Medium – useful enhancement

Affected Area

No response

[mengw15]

A general question: why did we choose to apply user-select: none globally in the first place? What was the reason behind that decision? Would it be possible to allow text selection globally instead? I noticed that text is also not selectable on other pages, such as Workflow and Compute. Should we make this behavior consistent across the platform?

[xuang7]

One possible reason for this rule could be to prevent accidental text selection during drag-and-drop interactions on the workflow canvas, to enhance the user experience. However, this also affects display-only pages like the dataset page where text selection should be allowed.

[chenlica]

Can you find the PR that introduced this feature and try to understand the reason?

[xuang7]

This global rule was introduced in #3898 , with the intention of making text non-selectable by default across the platform while allowing specific components to override that behavior when needed. @aglinxinyuan may be able to clarify the original purpose in more detail. Thanks!

[aglinxinyuan]

This global rule was introduced in #3898 , with the intention of making text non-selectable by default across the platform while allowing specific components to override that behavior when needed. @aglinxinyuan may be able to clarify the original purpose in more detail. Thanks!

@xuang7 is correct that the global rule prevent accidental text selection during drag-and-drop interactions on the workflow canvas. The rule was there since very early version of Texera. The PR mentioned was just moving the rule to the global file. We should keep this rule and decide which page is selectable.

[mengw15]

In this case, should we allow text selection across all dataset level panels to keep the behavior consistent? For example, panels like Datasets, Workflow, Compute, also panels under Admin and Hub. If there are no other considerations, I would suggest enabling text selection for all pages at this level.

[aglinxinyuan]

In this case, should we allow text selection across all dataset level panels to keep the behavior consistent? For example, panels like Datasets, Workflow, Compute, also panels under Admin and Hub.

We can check what the other drag-and-drop system does.

[mengw15]

We can check what the other drag-and-drop system does.

I took a quick look at other systems. On the drag-and-drop canvas, components are generally not selectable, and some button text is also not selectable. However, on other pages, most text remains selectable. Within the canvas page, panels similar to property panel also allow text selection and copying.

Maybe we should consider making text selectable by default globally, and then explicitly disabling selection only in places where it would interfere with interactions.

Or we could first allow text selection across all panels at the dataset-page level first, to keep the behavior consistent there.

[chenlica]

I suggest by default we enable "selectable" as it's the norm. For some pages, we can disable it.