2.6 Bug Space bar does not cycle through units anymore.

[jsarles-code]

Reproduction Steps

1.After launching 2.6, I started up pacific 1940 2nd edition. In 2.5 by hitting the space bar Triple A would start cycling through my available units to move, it doesn't appear to be doing this anymore. I know"." also works, but space bar was helpful in a lot of ways to speed up time spent on moves.
2.
3.

Attach a Save Game

Engine Version

Engine Version: 2.6

Is there anything else we should know?

[jsarles-code]

To clarify, you can still use the spacebar to cycle through the units but now it requires you to specifically click on a unit and then you can start skipping them. It's a subtle nuance but it's annoying.

[DanVanAtta]

'spacebar' was problematic because whenever a button was 'activated, spacebar would activate that button rather than doing the 'unit skip'. I think you can observe this by clicking the 'next' button and then pressing spacebar will repeat.

Use '>' and '<' to go through units.

[jsarles-code]

Interesting, ok that so makes sense. I don't truly understand why that is problematic but I can understand that might have caused other issues?
I personally have been a huge fan of the spacebar, it's a much bigger area to hit on a keyboard and I think it allows me to play the game so much faster.

If we put that issue aside I have a separate issue, let me know if you would like me to create a separate issue.

so I've discovered that the space bar doesn't start skipping units until you have manually hit the skip button.
This seems like an issue right? If I start using the < and > buttons as you described , I can start cycling through units. This works well. But as soon as I as run into a unit I want to skip the user needs to physically click the on screen skip button. Once the user has clicked the "skip button" (checkmark button) on screen , only then can the user use the spacebar to skip units. This would be okay unless the user breaks this cycle.
If I repeat the steps as I've described and then I move a unit then the user loses the ability to use the spacebar to skip through units. I have to physically click on the on screen skip button and only then can I once again use the spacebar to skip.

I think this is a separate issue because even if the user cycles through their units using the < > buttons they have lost the ability to use the spacebar to skip units unless they click the screen first.
Here's the process in steps

2.5 Engine Version
Hit space bar to cycle to the next unit
Move the unit or hit space bar to skip or "s" to sleep

2.6 Engine Version
use < or > to cycle to the next units.
At this point the user must either physically move the unit or click the on screen skip button.
If the user clicks the on screen skip button (checkmark)
the user can then start using the space bar to skip the next unit that comes up

but if the user needs to move their next units, they can move them and then
cycle to the next units using the < > buttons
after this they must once again click the on screen skip button to skip their units.
The user can use the space bar repeatedly to skip through units, but if they need to move a unit that means they need to hit the onscreen button before they can once again take advantage of the space bar to skip units.

I've also created a separate issue about the sleep button missing or being deprecated? #9786

I think using the <> buttons to cycle through units to cycle makes sense.

Let me know if anything is unclear or in-precise here.
Thanks

[DanVanAtta]

so I've discovered that the space bar doesn't start skipping units until you have manually hit the skip button.
This seems like an issue right? If I start using the < and > buttons as you described , I can start cycling through units. This works well. But as soon as I as run into a unit I want to skip the user needs to physically click the on screen skip button. Once the user has clicked the "skip button" (checkmark button) on screen , only then can the user use the spacebar to skip units. This would be okay unless the user breaks this cycle.

This is the problem with space bar. By default, the space bar will activate the last activated button. Then, if there is no such button, the space bar event is actually sent to our code and we can then process it as a 'skip unit event'. This why using space bar is not super ideal, but it can be unclear which button is being activated when pressing it.

I have to physically click on the on screen skip button and only then can I once again use the spacebar to skip.

Having to physically click the screen should be a problem for any of the hotkeys. I'm interested if that is not the case. This needing to click the screen is actually a major problem in multiplayer as the code in various unknown places loses screen focus, which makes hot keys feel buggy as they do not work without that magic click-on-screeen

[DanVanAtta]

Given that we have removed space bar as the 'skip unit' button, does this resolve the concerns raised in this issue? What would a fix to this issue look like? I don't think it's readily possible to use the space-bar as a hotkey in a deterministic way.

[jsarles-code]

So I guess my issue was only a personal preference. I really liked the speed at which you could cycle through units with the space bar. I feel like some functionality is being lost from the default setup here. But I understand you are saying it's causing issues elsewhere . User issues probably are more important than ease of use and if people such as myself want ease of use there are probably ways to use the hot keys to fix it.

…

On Sun, Mar 27, 2022, 3:46 PM Dan Van Atta ***@***.***> wrote: Given that we have removed space bar as the 'skip unit' button, does this resolve the concerns raised in this issue? What would a fix to this issue look like? I don't think it's readily possible to use the space-bar as a hotkey in a deterministic way. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#9785 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ANYVR4ALUECQQZ7JCQMQDY3VCDQNLANCNFSM5ICZRMHA> . You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[DanVanAtta]

Being able to skip with '>' and '<' is the same right, though with a less convenient key? Is there a bigger difference here that I'm not understanding? @jsarles-code

[jsarles-code]

Sorry yes, I was using a word incorrectly. What I meant to say is that a user used to be able to hit the space bar and it would select a unit and if you hit space bar again it would check off that unit, which meant that you could use the space bar to cycle through units and quickly check them off if they didn't need to move during that phase. Now I am not sure how to get the same effect with the hot keys. My initial issue with the change is that it used to be possible to use the hot keys to quickly scan and check off all the units the player has on the board. This allowed the user to scan every piece, quickly move them or check them off, and go to the next available unit. After the change happened I was no longer able to quickly cycle through the countries available units, check them off, move to the next unit. I guess I am just uninformed on how to properly use the hotkeys. I can understand that one button doing multiple things is maybe not ideal.

…

On Wed, Mar 30, 2022 at 6:09 PM Dan Van Atta ***@***.***> wrote: Being able to skip with '>' and '<' is the same right, though with a less convenient key? Is there a bigger difference here that I'm not understanding? @jsarles-code <https://github.com/jsarles-code> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#9785 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ANYVR4FGYM4Z52RJXHPPTE3VCT3KVANCNFSM5ICZRMHA> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>