Bug 158414 - A shape with 100% transparency (or no fill and no border) can't be easily selected with the mouse in Calc
Summary: A shape with 100% transparency (or no fill and no border) can't be easily sel...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.6.3.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Selection
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2023-11-28 10:11 UTC by David García
Modified: 2023-12-05 12:47 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Video showing the shape is gone (5.41 MB, video/mp4)
2023-11-28 10:12 UTC, David García
Details
The Calc document I used on my video (15.36 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet)
2023-11-28 10:13 UTC, David García
Details

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Description David García 2023-11-28 10:11:25 UTC
Description:
As I needed to change the colour of part of my chart wall and I couldn't find another way, I inserted a shape on top to cover the desired area. I tried with different transparency percentages until I realized that, if I set it to 100%, the shape wasn't accessible any more: not only was it invisible, but I couldn't click on it any more to change its settings.

In my attached video, I've included a second example to show that this also happens if you insert the shape on an empty sheet.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. In Calc, I insert a shape (in my case, a rectangle).
2. I remove the line of the rectangle.
3. I set the area transparency to 100%.

Actual Results:
The shape seems to be missing.

Expected Results:
Although the shape should certainly be invisible, it should still be there and it should be accessed with the mouse.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
Version: 7.6.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 29d686fea9f6705b262d369fede658f824154cc0
CPU threads: 16; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 22631; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: es-ES (es_ES); UI: en-GB
Calc: CL threaded
Comment 1 David García 2023-11-28 10:12:00 UTC
Created attachment 191074 [details]
Video showing the shape is gone
Comment 2 David García 2023-11-28 10:13:35 UTC
Created attachment 191075 [details]
The Calc document I used on my video
Comment 3 m_a_riosv 2023-11-28 10:45:55 UTC
E.g., if you insert a text in the shape even with the shape 100% transparent you can click on the text to select.
With nothing visible, looks fine for me, that it can't be selected. Which can be needed in some situation, like using macros to show/hide shapes.
In any case, it is always possible to select through the navigator.
Comment 4 David García 2023-11-28 11:54:28 UTC
(In reply to m.a.riosv from comment #3)
> E.g., if you insert a text in the shape even with the shape 100% transparent
> you can click on the text to select.
> With nothing visible, looks fine for me, that it can't be selected. Which
> can be needed in some situation, like using macros to show/hide shapes.
> In any case, it is always possible to select through the navigator.

Thanks for your reply:

1. I didn't think about the navigator: the rectangle is, in fact, there.

2. The navigator, however, is a tool for advanced users, and I still think it makes sense for the shape to be accessible with the mouse, especially right after setting the transparency to 100%. Otherwise, you are working on a shape, you change one setting, you change another, and suddenly the shape isn't there any more.
Comment 5 m_a_riosv 2023-11-28 12:01:33 UTC
About the navigator, for me it is a basic tool, easily accessible.

OTOH how the user know where the object is, if it is not visible?
Comment 6 David García 2023-11-28 12:42:38 UTC
I'll put a different example. Let's say that the background of a cell (where you've typed a number) is white, and you decide to set the text colour to white too. Should the text be gone or should it still be there, even if it's invisible? If you know there's a number in cell C5, the number should remain in cell C5 and you should be able to click on it.

I know a number in a cell isn't the same as a shape, but for me there's a similar reasoning. You're working on your shape, trying different levels of transparency and, at some point, you set it to 100%. You know the location of your shape, because you're currently working on it, and yet it's not clickable any more.
Comment 7 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-11-29 14:24:51 UTC
This is the same for a shape with no border and no fill.
MS Office (I tested online) draws a dashed outline when hovering over the object's border, whereas LO Calc has no indication that the cursor is above the border.
At least, Writer and Impress have the cursor change when hovering over the invisible border: from caret to pointer in Writer, from pointer to hand in Impress.

In Calc, the object can still be selected, but the user would have to entirely guess where exactly the border is, or use the Navigator.

My suggestion would be:
- Calc: change cursor when hovering over border, like in other modules
- all modules: (add option to) draw a temporary dashed outlines to denote the object size

Version: 24.2.0.0.alpha1+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 5589659829f8a1cef8ca1c8a468732105bbe231b
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 8 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-11-29 14:26:40 UTC
(In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #7)
> MS Office (I tested online) draws a dashed outline when hovering over the
> object's border
This is true for Powerpoint. In Excel, only the cursor changes.
Comment 9 LeroyG 2023-11-30 21:29:38 UTC
As another workaround: use the Select tool in the Drawing toolbar, and drag around the shape.
Comment 10 LeroyG 2023-11-30 21:31:56 UTC
A third workaround: Select a visible shape, and press Tab.
Comment 11 LeroyG 2023-11-30 21:36:21 UTC
It could be useful to think of some situation/s in which the proposed behavior would collide with the expected response of a click: i.e., to select a cell, or a visible shape just below/behind (?) the invisible one.
Comment 12 David García 2023-12-01 00:33:36 UTC
The second workaround didn't work for me, but the third one did.
Comment 13 Heiko Tietze 2023-12-01 13:39:23 UTC
(In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #7)
> - Calc: change cursor when hovering over border, like in other modules
> - all modules: (add option to) draw a temporary dashed outlines to denote
> the object size
Sounds good to me. But I don't see a reason why 100% transparent objects should not be clickable (in fact a gradient from a very high value like 99% to 100% is still clickable).

Armin, any insights?
Comment 14 Heiko Tietze 2023-12-05 12:47:51 UTC
Let's treat this as a bug. I don't get why 100% transparency should be handled differently, and if needed Stephane had a good idea.