Why is pan and zoom the way it is?

[ppageLBFTR]

Hi, I'm new I know, and "THIS QUESTION HAS BEEN ASKED BEFORE" is gonna be the default answer, but I just can't do it any more.  I hate it.  

1. Part of the undo stack?!?!? REALLY?!

What justification does Autocad give for hating their users so much? I have a friend who does 3d modeling and I mentioned this stupidity and he said "... ...oh yeah I'd hate that" 

Ok fine, they hate us and refuse to change even though no users like this.  How about this then:

2. Why does panning or zooming change the save state of a file? 

I usually save things when I'm done making changes, but, thanks to panning and zooming marking the file as dirty, every file always looks unsaved so I've had to change my workflow.  
Autocad just crashed on me and I don't even know which files had changes in them.  I'm going to have to spend the next hour redoing my work from this morning cause I don't know which changes I'd made.   

why... 

[Kevin_BlakelyYGM85]

I actually find value in zoom/pan marking the file as dirty.

I often position the view at a specific location in the DWG so I can revisit it later for coordination or discussion with a coworker. In that sense, the view becomes part of the working state of the file

[cadffm]

everytime the same question, forces the same answers

1. Sure

    think about multiple viewports in modelspace

    think about one or multiple viewports in one or more paperspaces

2. Because the view of all viewports and drawing spaces are part of the whole drawing (file),

    if you change a view, you doesn't change the model, but the file (and if inside layout viewports, the drawing layout)

(BTW: A lot of long time users would vote for OPTIONAL variables to controle it)

[CodeDing]

@ppageLBFTR ,

I can't tell you how many times I have entered a Viewport that I thought was locked and it was not, then zoomed/panned and it messed up the scale/view of the viewport. Luckily I was able to UNDO. I would be willing to be that this same action/feature has happened to 100% of AutoCAD users that have ever needed to create/print a Viewport.

Best,

~DD

[ppageLBFTR]

This is a design flaw of how viewports work, not a feature.  In my limited experience, setting up a viewport as to scale and position is an action that is done one time in a workflow.  Happy to be corrected if there is some reason why viewports need to act exactly like model-space. 

I would fix by having a "setup the viewport" mode that is it's own action and remove the need to "lock" a viewport at all (as they would always be locked) 

[ppageLBFTR]

How about this: a button that, when clicked, saves the current location of the screen (current tab, current zoom, current pan) as "where to open this file from now on" and, if you don't click that button, it always opens in the modelspace at the loction that the "zoom to extents" puts you? 
I agree that having an "open here" location is sometimes useful, but majority of the time it isn't for me.  Do you find the inverse? 

[Kevin_BlakelyYGM85]

I'd say half of the time I am concerned of the location at the time of exit.
A button? No thank you. A variable/setting would cause no harm.

[pkomatlapalli]

Hello @ppageLBFTR ,

Just checking in—did the responses shared by @Kevin_BlakelyYGM85 , @cadffm , @CodeDing  help clarify your question?

If so, please consider clicking the "Accept Solution" button. Doing so helps others in the community find answers to similar issues.

If your question still needs more attention, feel free to reply here with an update. This way, other members can jump in with further suggestions or guidance to help you move forward.

All the best,

Pavan Kumar | Community Manager

[ppageLBFTR]

They didn't solve anything.  They just said, "Sometimes people might want it to be wrong" I provided some pretty good UX solutions, but Kevin contradicted himself and the others just defended the bad decisions that have already been made. This should stay open and relevant. 

[jreidKVSUZ]

To all,

I have not ever heard zoom & pan making a file "dirty". or 1. Part of the undo stack?!?!? REALLY?!

But I had a good laugh at zooming through a Viewport and not realizing till much later your "in the viewport". I tell my Newbs I look at it like you just put your head through your window and now your lost in space. If your lucky, you can try ZOOM P many times over. You might get back to the viewports true set scale.

But easy fix on that. Make a button or lisp file that Locks all Viewports. Zoom all you want if needed. The hit the button to Unlock the Viewport.

You also can go into the Viewport, type -VIEW, S, 1. Zoom all you want through the VP. When your done, type -VIEW, R, 1. It autozooms back to the set VP scale and type PS. All done.

I have a LISP file with this so I type SW, then 1 to set. Then WW, 1 to get back to my saved view:

(defun c:SW ()
(command "VIEW" "S")
(princ))

(defun c:WW ()
(command "VIEW" "R")
(princ))

Never a dirty zoom or pan, just a user error. But this can help clean it up.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, JRR!

[Kevin_BlakelyYGM85]

Not sure how I contradicted myself.
I don't need your UX solution to redefine my workflow/GUI.
And because people don't agree with you does not make them wrong.

[Kevin_BlakelyYGM85]

"Dirty" is the code developer term for a file that needs to be saved.