Allow interactive placement of curved labels

[DelazJ]

Given a label set to follow a curve line, if you use the "move label" tool to move it, it becomes straight.

Tested with 3.10.0
Was already reported at #15680 but closed with 2.18 EOL

[andreasneumann]

@DelazJ This never worked in the past. I think it would be a feature request, not a bug.

The bug is that, the "move label" tool is enabled for curved labels. It should be disabled if the placement method is set to "curved" or "parallel"

[DelazJ]

Ah OK @andreasneumann Thanks for the information.

[andreasneumann]

It is one of the many UI glitches we have in QGIS. Things are enabled while there is no functionality behind it in combination with certain settings.

I agree it would be nice being able to interactively move a label along a line, like you can do in Adobe Illustrator. But the implementation of this new functionality is non-trivial and a lot of work. Definitely a feature request. Way beyond a simple bug fix.

But the bug here is, that the functionality should be disabled in such a case.

[nyalldawson]

I disagree that it should be disabled -- I've used this in the past to add labels with callouts to features where the curved label doesn't fit nicely.

Even if we add support for placed curved labels, we'd also need a method to reproduce the current functionality of making anchored text in an otherwise curved layer straight...

[haubourg]

Agreed with Nyall, I don't see why we could'nt move a curved label.

[andreasneumann]

To me it is either: we can move a curved label along the line (like in Illustrator / Inkscape) and it stays curved (that what I would expect, coming from a graphics designer world) or I would disable moving of a label.

A curved line, that suddenly morphs into a straight label as soon as I move it is a contradiction and would certainly trigger additional bug reports (why is my curved label suddenly straight)?

If we want the functionality that you suggest, Nyall, I wouldn't call the tool "move label" but something like "detach label from curve". That should be a separate tool in my opinion.

[nyalldawson]

That sounds fine Andreas, just so long as I don't lose that ability!

[pjshelton]

#20563 is a feature request for this functionality.

[nyalldawson]

This is a feature request, not a bug

[SrNetoChan]

Isn't this done already? Move button together with the anchoring settings on curved labels allow to move the label along the line. I find it hard to control, but maybe I am missing something.