Cannot copy a TCard in the Structure Panel

[PeterPanettone 157]

In the Delphi 10.4 STRUCTURE PANEL, I select a TCard container control (containing several controls) and try to copy it to the clipboard with CTRL+C. It does not work. Even in the EDIT sub-context menu, the Copy item is disabled:

 

 

Restarted the IDE. Tried again and again.

 

Can anyone confirm this further annoying IDE bug?

[Mike Torrettinni 198]

I don't know if this worked for you in the past, but it never did for me. Same as for TPageControl, you have to create a new page/card, and copy/move all controls from old page/card to new one.

I actually use 10.2.3 not 10.4.

Edited August 9, 2020 by Mike Torrettinni

[PeterPanettone 157]

17 minutes ago, Mike Torrettinni said:

I don't know if this worked for you in the past, but it never did for me. Same as for TPageControl, you have to create a new page/card, and copy/move all controls from old page/card to new one.

I actually use 10.2.3 not 10.4.

Thank you for the confirmation. Could there be a WEIRD DIABOLIC PURPOSE of a sick Embarcadero developer mind behind this malfunction? 

[Mike Torrettinni 198]

18 minutes ago, PeterPanettone said:

Could there be a WEIRD DIABOLIC PURPOSE of a sick Embarcadero developer mind behind this malfunction? 

I don't want to imagine anybody sick, weird and diabolic working on Delphi 🙂

[PeterPanettone 157]

6 minutes ago, Mike Torrettinni said:

I don't want to imagine anybody sick, weird and diabolic working on Delphi 🙂

That's the moment when the fear of your own imagination increases the suspense in good horror movies. 

[Cristian Peța 103]

I tried to Copy-Paste. It's working for me in 10.4.0.

[PeterPanettone 157]

7 minutes ago, Cristian Peța said:

I tried to Copy-Paste. It's working for me in 10.4.0.

From your screenshot, you copied a TCardPanel. Not a TCard.

Edited August 10, 2020 by PeterPanettone

[Cristian Peța 103]

You are right, sometimes is working sometimes not. But manual copy from text I think is working always. Switch back to "View as Form" and Paste on an other TCard.

[PeterPanettone 157]

3 minutes ago, Cristian Peța said:

You are right, sometimes is working sometimes not.

Didn't somebody recently say that computers are DETERMINISTIC?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism

 

6 minutes ago, Cristian Peța said:

But manual copy from text I think is working always.

As long as you have only a button on the TCard, this is easy. Try that with MANY controls and sub-containers on the TCard...

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

Basically it is working! It is just that sometimes the Structure View context menu (or the actions behind it) seems not to be properly updated. After opening the context menu from the IDE Designer, the Structure View context menu is working again.

 

Qualifies for a QP entry I think.

[PeterPanettone 157]

8 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

After opening the context menu from the IDE Designer, the Structure View context menu is working again.

You are almost right: After showing the EDIT context menu directly in the Form Designer (right-click on a visual control in the Form Designer) the "Copy" item is enabled. Then showing the EDIT context menu for the same control in the Structure Panel shows the Copy context menu item still enabled but it is not working when clicking on it or when pressing CTRL+C!

 

Therefore, the trick to copy a TCard with all its sub-controls is as following:

 

1. In the Form Designer, if the TCard is not visible because covered by a full-size control (e.g. a TPanel), click that TPanel and press the ESC key until the TCard is focused. (Look in the Object Inspector).

 

2. Then press CTRL+C to copy the TCard together with all its sub-controls to the clipboard.

 

General rule: To copy a complex object structure, don't use the faulty Structure Panel but use the Form Designer!

[PeterPanettone 157]

Alternative solution:

 

1. First select the TCard in the Structure Panel

 

2. Then click on the Form Designer's TAB  to focus the TCard in the Form Designer

 

3. Then press CTRL+C to copy the TCard together with all its sub-controls to the clipboard!

[PeterPanettone 157]

The FUNDAMENTAL BUG here is that with specific controls like TCard (is that a TControl?) the control is synchronized (and therefore focused) in the Object Inspector BUT not in the Form Designer. I suspect that the causal chain does not go directly from the Structure Panel to the Form Designer but in this way: Structure Panel → Object Inspector → Form Designer and that Object Inspector is the real culprit for the chain interruption for containers like TCard.

 

This is a typical bug that occurs when the complexity of the interacting objects surpasses the developer's capabilities in mastering this complexity.

Edited August 10, 2020 by PeterPanettone

[Anders Melander 1782]

1 hour ago, PeterPanettone said:

This is a typical bug that occurs when the complexity of the interacting objects surpasses the developer's capabilities in mastering this complexity. 

Would it be possible for you to restrict your comments to the technical details of the problem?

You know nothing about the circumstances that caused this problem and it's not like it's a showstopper.

[PeterPanettone 157]

12 minutes ago, Anders Melander said:

Would it be possible for you to restrict your comments to the technical details of the problem?

You know nothing about the circumstances that caused this problem and it's not like it's a showstopper.

Please calm down. Everything is OK. You are being loved and we like you.

[vfbb 285]

This problem is old, it is at least 2 or 3 years old.

[PeterPanettone 157]

1 hour ago, vfbb said:

This problem is old, it is at least 2 or 3 years old.

I fear it is MUCH OLDER. Shall we call it PREHISTORIC? 

[PeterPanettone 157]

Eureka: I have found a solution at Stack Overflow:

 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63336038/from-the-ides-structure-panel-how-to-copy-a-tcard-to-the-clipboard/63338826

 

Please vote for it!

[vfbb 285]

4 hours ago, PeterPanettone said:

Eureka: I have found a solution at Stack Overflow:

 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63336038/from-the-ides-structure-panel-how-to-copy-a-tcard-to-the-clipboard/63338826

 

Please vote for it!

Yes. Sorry, I forgot to tell, I do the same. This occur randomly with any control. I believe they didn't fix it because it doesn't seem easy to replicate.

[PeterPanettone 157]

1 hour ago, vfbb said:

I believe they didn't fix it because it doesn't seem easy to replicate.

If true, this would confirm my complexity hypothesis. (See above).