Bug 33932

Summary:	[rulers] Text editors should have a line selection margin
Product:	[Eclipse Project] Platform	Reporter:	Bob Foster <bob>
Component:	Text	Assignee:	Platform-Text-Inbox <platform-text-inbox>
Status:	ASSIGNED ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	enhancement
Priority:	P5	CC:	david_williams
Version:	2.1
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	All
Whiteboard:

Description Bob Foster

2003-03-05 18:53:05 EST

Selecting entire lines in Eclipse editors can be a problematic source of off-
by-one errors, especially when tabs are represented by spaces. To make line 
and line range selections easier, the editors should implement a line 
selection margin similiar to that used by MS Word and WordPad on Windows, and 
by numerous other text editors.

In the typical implementation, a three or more pixel left margin is set aside 
for line selection. In that margin, the cursor changes to a reverse arrow, 
indicating that normal selection is not available. A click in the margin 
selects the entire line to the right of the mouse position; click and drag 
selects multiple lines.

Comment 1 Tom Hofmann

2003-04-14 07:20:23 EDT

The requested functionality is available thru the line number display.

Comment 2 Tobias Widmer

2003-07-25 11:00:42 EDT

Although this functionality is already available through the line number 
ruler, I completely agree with Bob that the cursor should change to a reverse 
arrow or give the user a hint by other means.

Comment 3 Bob Foster

2003-07-25 13:04:49 EDT

Tom, what does that mean? The user has to display line numbers to get the
desired functionality? Or if not, isn't the line number ruler rather wide for
this purpose alone? Seems like the selection "ruler" should be a separate feature.

Comment 4 Dani Megert

2005-09-16 05:12:23 EDT

There are currently no plans to add this, however we plan to add an extension
point (hopefully for 3.2) which would allow clients to add vertical rulers to
text editors.

Comment 5 Dani Megert

2007-06-22 09:59:15 EDT

Get rid of deprecated state.

Comment 6 Eclipse Webmaster

2019-09-06 15:31:42 EDT

This bug hasn't had any activity in quite some time. Maybe the problem got resolved, was a duplicate of something else, or became less pressing for some reason - or maybe it's still relevant but just hasn't been looked at yet.

If you have further information on the current state of the bug, please add it. The information can be, for example, that the problem still occurs, that you still want the feature, that more information is needed, or that the bug is (for whatever reason) no longer relevant.