make show/hide labels an checkbox

[qgib]

Author Name: T L (T L)
Original Redmine Issue: 17051

Redmine category:gui

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While labeling a layer in its Properties dialogbox, the choices made (e.g. in the "Show Label for this layer" page) is lost if one chooses "No Labels" dropdown list. When the user wants to turn on the label, he/she has to make the labeling choices again.

Can the "Labels" tab be better organized so that whether to show (or hide the label) is just a checkbox that one can turn on and off without losing information?

Thanks in advance.

[qgib]

Author Name: Harrissou Santanna (@DelazJ)

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Indeed it's a very bad user experience to lose configurations this way.

Can the "Labels" tab be better organized so that whether to show (or hide the label) is just a checkbox that one can turn on and off

It was the case few versions ago (see screenshot at http://docs.qgis.org/2.14/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_vector/vector_properties.html#text-menu) so I guess there might be a good reason for the change.
Maybe, solution can be:

• while the "no labels" is chosen, "previous" labeling parameters can still be kept in the dialog instead of being cleared;
• Or add a "show label" checkbox item when you right-click the layer (and if a previous labeling has been set;
• Or enable the "show/hide labels (and diagrams)" button from the Labels toolbar to work even though there's no data-defined placement for the labels.

Meanwhile a workaround can be to create 2 different styles for the layer and switch back and forth using the layer's contextual dialog.