A quirk of Xtherion that still gets me from time to time is that the behaviour of point data entry seems to be differ to the behaviour when entering lines or areas, at least within Windows OS.

Typically, I decide that, for example, I want to draw some lines of type rock-border, so my sequence will be;

1. Ctrl+L  (enter insert line mode and ‘lines’ menu area on right is activated)
2. Select ‘rock-border from the Lines type dropdown listbox and press enter
3. If there are any other options I will enter them now, such as –clip off for example
4. Left-click a sequence where I want the rock-border to appear, then tick the reverse and close tick-boxes if necessary
5. Select each line-point node and smooth it using the drag handles
6. Repeat for other nearby rock-borders

Steps 1 to 5 apply for all line types I think.  Steps 1 to 4 apply similarly for allocating areas to previously defined lines.

There are other sequences that can be used, but this seems fairly efficient if tracing a scanned sketch, and fits one of the ways my mind likes to work.

Entering POINTS in this sequence, however, results in an undesirable side effect at step 2.  The ‘points’ menu area on the right is NOT activated (unless of course the previous action resulted in a point being selected)

So, if the points menu IS NOT active, you must left-click the point position, THEN select the type of point and it’s options/properties; OK, but it does not follow the consistent sequence above.

Alternatively if the points menu IS active and you follow the steps above, the result is that the previously selected point type and properties will be LOST and changed to the type and properties that you enter in steps 2 and 3.

This inconsistency slowed my learning to use Xtherion considerably (to a beginner it appeared to rarely work the same way each time) and even now results in unexpected map contents from time to time.

Is there ‘design’ behind this behaviour and I am just not using it as intended?

Or is there a bug in that activating insert point mode does not activate the ‘points’ menu area and deselect the previously edited point?

This behaviour has been present in all releases since I first used Therion just over a year ago.

Bruce