Currently, the vertical space of "Quick Properties" is not being fully used. On my display for example, about half or more of the Quick Properties area at the bottom is unused, depending on the model object that is selected. It would be more useful if each tab of an item's regular properties window were a collapsible option in the Quick Properties window, and if Quick Properties defaulted to expand all of the properties sections that could fit in the available vertical space, with "memory" of the expanded/collapsed sections based on usage (more on that below). This would improve the speed that property changes can be performed.
For example, if I have a model where a plane is protected, and I want to move or resize it, I currently have to do the following steps:
- Right-click on the plane
- Select "Properties"
- Click the General tab
- Uncheck the "Protected" flag
- Click OK
If the Quick Properties had all of the General properties included for planes, the five steps above would be simplified to one step: uncheck the "Protected" flag on Quick Properties. I may also need to collapse another properties section or scroll to get to the General properties section, but there are some potential ways to manage this efficiently. The top of the Quick Properties section could have three distinct, selectable view modes:
- Auto-expand all properties sections. This would be for power users who want to have every option at their fingertips). This would require more scrolling to get to the desired property to change, but is still likely to be fewer clicks than the example above;
- Auto-collapse all properties sections. This would be for beginner users, and/or those who prefer a cleaner user interface. This would involve an additional click to expand the General section, but would still be fewer clicks than the example above;
- Managed, so that FlexSim auto-expands and collapses the sections to fit the available vertical space, with "memory" based on usage. This would keep track of which sections the user expanded or collapsed for a given object type, and maintain that for when other objects of the same type are selected. Using the example above, if I had a few planes to un-protect and move, I would only have to expand the General section in Quick Properties once at most. This provides a speed benefit when repetitive actions are being performed, while maintaining simplicity by allowing other sections to be collapsed as desired.
Some mock-ups of this concept are shown in a comment below. Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for considering this request.
