Need "Add to This Group" option

groups
#1

Hi,

Being able to name grouped widgets and add interactions to them is absolutely awesome! I love not having to create a bunch of dynamic panels just to make a collection of things work as one. That always felt so tedious and clumsy. The fatal flaw, however, is that there is no “Add to This Group” option. I can create nested groups, which is excellent. However, I want to be able to simply add additional widgets to the same group. There is no way to do that right now without ungrouping the original widgets first, and this causes you tolose all of the interactions that you created on the group. Essentially, there is no way to modify a group’s contents without destroying it completely (including all its attached properties). I want to be able to introduce additional pieces to my group while still maintaining the attached properties and interactions.

Add widgets to existing groups
#2

+1 …

#3

I can create nested groups, which is excellent. However, I want to be able to simply add additional widgets to the same group.
Have you tried drag&drop in the outline panel? It seems to work fine here.

#4

Awesome! Nice discovery. So, it does work within the Outline panel. Interactions are preserved when I drag a widget into the group hierarchy. I still think the same thing should be allowed on the canvas as well, however. At least we have one method for non-destructively modifying groups now, albeit not necessarily the most obvious or intuitive.

Thanks klickibunit!

#5

Adding a widget to a group on the canvas would have the advantage that you could add to a group and place the widget in one step. I guess some kind of modifier is required to distinguish between placing a widget right where a group is vs. placing/adding.

I guess adding to group in outline panel is somewhat the same interaction as adding a layer to a group in Photoshop. I guess it’s something quite a few people are familiar with…

#6

Hey folks,

Sorry that this is hard to find! Here’s another way to add a widget to an existing group. First enter editing mode for the group (slow double-click, so you get the grey editing mode). Then drag out a new widget from the widgets pane. The new widget will be in the group. (You don’t have to place it within the current boundaries of the group; if outside, the group will expand/resize to contain the new widget.)

I’d love to hear more about how you’d expect to be able to do this. We can try to expose the function more. We can also try to give some help in the UI the first time you create a group.

Thanks!

#7

… and is there a way to add a widget from the canvas to an existing group without using the outline panel?

#8

Not currently. The Outline pane is the only way to add an existing widget to an existing group right now. I’m sensing you’d prefer to do it in the design area? :slight_smile:

#9

A direct interaction is of course preferred but for me this isn’t a high priority as grouping in the outline panel works fine.

#10

I think the only way you could do it is by selecting the group in question, selecting the widget(s) in question and then right clicking and having an option to ‘Add to Group’

Limitation - What if you selected more than one group?
Possible Solution - You would need some kind of dialog to select which group the widgets would be added to.
Question - In the above case should any other selected (In the design window) group be added to the selected (From proposed dialog box) group?
Further question - Should the adding of groups be destructive (Breaks the group) or preservative (Adds as a group within a group)?
Assumed solution - As per the handling of grouped widgets in V7 and earlier rp files, the adding should be preservative.

Alternatively, you could add a third button to the top toolbar alongside group/ungroup, instead of/as well as the right click option.

These are ways that I can see how it could work. Personally, I feel that the current method of dragging in the outline panel works fine. It’s identical to Adobe Photoshop and I can’t see how anybody with familiarity to that project could miss it.

I think the editing group mode could be a little more obvious - I did get what was happening after a short time, but it certainly wasn’t instant. Maybe if you could put some kind of coloured strip that says ‘Editing group - [[GroupName]]’ along the top of the window, under the top toolbar, which could then have an ‘X’ icon in the right hand corner, which would then take you out of group editing mode. Though the downside to that method would be that it might cover some of the group if that was close enough to the top of the design area.

#11

An alternative to using the outline panel is to cut the widget to the clipboard, isolate the group by double-clicking it and pasting the widget into the group.

#12

The issue with cutting then pasting is that Axure assumes (Somewhat correctly) that the widget is on the same page. As such, using this process it gets cut from (X,Y) and pasted at (X+10,Y+10). You end up making a bit of extra work for yourself because you have to copy, paste, then move.

#13

Thanks for submitting this issue, Danlode. I’ve been wondering how to add widgets to a existing group for several days now … as I repeatedly run into this need.

And I couldn’t agree more with your reply on the solution too. The solution of dragging the new widget into the group via the Outline Page, is not obvious nor is it intuitive. But it works nicely. Sure wish in Axure 9 RP they would just add a Right-mouse click option when you select an existing group and the widget(s) that you’d like to ADD to that group.

Thanks Again!

#14

I, too, would like for there to be a more visible, and discoverable, way to add a widget to a group. It would have saved me quite a bit of time this past week! Unfortunately, I’m just discovering this now, after rebuilding many interactions many times.

#15

Just came across this thread. Very helpful. I’m using Axure 9 Beta at present, and the add widget to group process does not appear to have changed. That suggested right-click would be useful!

closed #16