Left and Right ALT keys are not mapped the same? (1.1.084 Win 11)



  • Hi,
    I am not sure if this is some odd setting I have in Windows, or if I have set something in VectorStyler that would cause this. Hopefully someone can school me...

    First I created two overlapping shapes and selected both:

    • When holding down the Right ALT and click on one of the composite shapes, the result is an uneditable shape.

    • When holding down the Left ALT and click on one of the composite shapes, the result is an editable composite shape.

    This is not expected behaviour. Again, please let me know I have something set on my end that would cause this... Some Modifier Keys preference I have overlooked?

    With a shape selected:

    • holding down the Right ALT and dragging the shape will copy the shape.
    • holding down the Left ALT and dragging the shape will copy the shape.

    The ALT keys having the same function is how it should work.

    Thanks!



  • @Victor-Vector I̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶o̶r̶r̶e̶c̶t̶l̶y̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶o̶s̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶o̶b̶j̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶
    s̶h̶a̶p̶e̶s̶ ̶(̶O̶b̶j̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶u̶ ̶>̶ ̶C̶o̶m̶p̶o̶s̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶>̶ ̶C̶o̶m̶b̶i̶n̶e̶d̶/̶I̶n̶t̶e̶r̶s̶e̶c̶t̶/̶U̶n̶i̶o̶n̶/̶e̶t̶c̶)̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶
    A̶l̶t̶-̶c̶l̶i̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶(̶o̶r̶ ̶A̶l̶t̶-̶d̶r̶a̶g̶g̶i̶n̶g̶?̶)̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶/̶T̶r̶a̶n̶s̶f̶o̶r̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶l̶ ̶(̶s̶h̶o̶r̶t̶c̶u̶t̶:̶ ̶V̶)̶?̶
    A̶l̶s̶o̶:̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶m̶o̶d̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶e̶x̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶n̶e̶l̶ ̶—̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶t̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶
    i̶s̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶v̶e̶?̶
    (̶I̶f̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶i̶c̶u̶l̶t̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶r̶t̶ ̶v̶i̶d̶e̶o̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶R̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶i̶t̶)̶.̶

    I understand now what you mean, please ignore.



  • @Victor-Vector

    i wonder where you get that right Alt-Key ?

    My Keyboard have only a Left Alt-Key
    and a right ALT GR-Key so this is in my eyes
    a ALT+CTRL-Key

    and as Composite Shapes works only
    with the Left (really) ALT-Key the right one
    could only create a normal Boolean



  • @Victor-Vector Both Option (Alt) keys work the same on the Mac when creating a composite shape.
    No Windows machine to test.



  • @Subpath Yes, my windows keyboard has two ALT keys that are identical in labelling. I have seen Mac keyboards with the AltGr distinction for non-US keyboards. In the US , the ALT keys are labelled identically and are treated as the same. Windows interprets CTRL+ALT as AltGr for the US keyboard.

    I checked my settings in Windows and they are set as follows:
    Windows display language = English (United States)
    Country or region = United States
    Regional format = English (United States)

    So no settings causing the keyboard to be seen as a non-us keyboard.

    @b77 Thanks for checking that on the Mac. I am still not ruling out my own configuration error, and maybe someone has encountered this before. If not, I hope it can be fixed.



  • @Victor-Vector

    ... Yes, my windows keyboard has two ALT keys ...

    Ok, then i learn something new 🙂

    It's then maybe a thing between US and international keyboards layout.

    Since i am German, i use a German keyboard layout and the right ALT GR key
    is used here to display various German special characters.

    E.g. for the "@" sign ( ALT GR + q) or the "€" sign ( ALT GR + e).

    The ALT GR Key could seen as a reduced Version of ALT+STRG ( CTRL )
    you need only one key instead of two.


  • administrators

    @Victor-Vector Looks like a bug on Windows, will be fixed ASAP.


  • administrators

    @Victor-Vector I checked this and currently the Right-Alt key is blocked as there were some issues reported earlier with it.
    I think it is also used for some special character input with some keyboard layouts.
    I will find a solution for this problem.



  • @VectorStyler I appreciate you looking into this and I hope you can get it working. Thank you!


  • administrators

    @Victor-Vector said in Left and Right ALT keys are not mapped the same? (1.1.084 Win 11):

    I appreciate you looking into this and I hope you can get it working. Thank you!

    it is easy to get it working (just flip a flag) but the problem is that it caused some issues as a keyboard modifier while using the mouse.



  • @VectorStyler I'm not that familiar with Windows, so maybe it's not a good or doable idea… but:

    If Victor is left-handed, maybe a setting to switch this for left-handed users (disable the left Alt and
    enable the right Alt) could be something useful.



  • @b77 Haha, you nailed it. I am left handed and the right ALT is my "primary" ALT, because I got into an early habit of using my mouse in the left hand.

    Any accommodations are appreciated, but I have spent a lifetime adapting 😁



  • As I wrote before, the ALT GR key is used at the German keyboard
    for certain special characters. The most important is the @ character
    for email addresses.

    Instead of the ALT GR key on the right side, I can always use the ALT+STRG (CTRL) keys
    on the left side instead. Since the ALT GR key only puts these two keys together in one.

    By the way, I don't know any shortcut in VS where I need the ALT GR key.
    If then only sometimes in texts for special characters (where it could be replaced
    by ALT+STRG (CTRL) ).

    Here a Wikipedia article about international keyboard layouts.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltGr_key



  • A couple more pieces of data:
    Other commands are not left or right ALT specific.
    For example to "Create a Copy of the Dragged Object", I can hold down either ALT key and drag, and it will copy the shape.
    I noticed that in Preferences > Modifier Keys > Create a Copy of the Dragged Object is set to ALT by default and
    Preferences > Modifier Keys > Create Composite Shape with Boolean Operation is set to ALT by default.



  • @VectorStyler
    I tested this in 1.1.086 and it seems to work!
    Thank you for fixing this issue 😊



  • I am experiencing a regression and I think it may be related to this change.
    To create a diacritical mark I currently have to hold AltGR and press the letter twice.I have noticed that pressing this key while entering text, changes the tool to Transform Tool, as it does when I press Ctrl.


  • administrators

    @encart Yes, this is a regression.