Collected usability requests
Requirements
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I searched through the issues if the issue already exists
Requests
This is a collection of feature requests found while using Labplot in a professional setting. @asemke asked me to first put in a collection ticket, but I'll happily split off into individual tickets for topics that need further discussion. Most of the topics listed here are "click savers", leading to an easier time using Labplot, without strictly adding "new things".
"Manipulate data - Drop" should prompt to drop the whole line
Selecting a column, choosing "Manipulate Data" and executing the "Drop" dialog works well for single values, but I often gotta hunt for lines missing that column to delete the whole row later. Having the option to delete the whole row where the condition was met, instead of just the single field, could be a big timesaver.
Column statistics
The current Column statistic dialog is already super powerful, but it could be even more beneficial if we allowed:
- Multiple column statistics in one window (Highlight multiple columns before executing the statistics field already creates multiple tabs, but it could optionally show them side by side)
- Export the statistics just like finished plots (Often the statistics view has all you need to present your data, but you can only screenshot it right now)
- We could also just treat the generated statistics window as another Worksheet, so you can change the plots somewhat before exporting. This workflow would often be faster than creating a whole new worksheet, as often you just need a high level view of what the column looks like, and share that with your colleagues.
Allow calculations with Datetime values
Functions using Datetime fields are currently disallowed, as Datetime is not numerical. Allowing to calculate deltas between timestamps for example would be beneficial.
New "Lag" and "Lead" functions
This function would grab the value of a different column, but X lines prior or afterwards. This is often important for sequential data where you want to have a function calculate the difference from one row to the next for example.
"Lag(X, 1)" for example would grab the value of column X, 1 line prior.
Jump to data point
Clicking a data point in a plot could:
- Highlight/select the row of that datapoint in the spreadsheet
- Allow jumping to said row
Highlight selected rows in plot
As the counterpart to the previous request, if rows are selected in the spreadsheet, we could highlight those values in plot. Other software sometimes does this by desaturating all datapoints that aren't selected, as long as at least one datapoint is selected.
Apply context menu option to multiple lines at once
If I have multiple lines in a single plot, and I want to apply the same analysis etc. to all of them, I need to do so one line at a time. Highlighting multiple applicaple lines and right clicking could still show the "Analysis" option, applying the same operation to all selected lines. The same applies to the "Visible" option for example, so it's not limited to just Analysis
Single line selected:
Multiple lines selected: