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Editing Bug: Trace Selected Feature Behavior

I'd like to report a bug but don't have organizational permissions.

When using the trace tool to reshape polygons, after some unknown amount of time or particular workflow, the tool stops tracing unselected features.

If you can only trace the selected feature, you cannot reshape your polygon - it will only trace what you are trying to reshape.

I can only reproduce the bug by continuing to use the tool until it happens. I'm unaware if there is any specific situation that causes it.

Workaround:
Change the state of the "Trace selected features only" checkbox (check it if unchecked, uncheck it if checked), clear your selection, then use the tool again.

It doesn't matter what the state of the checkbox is when you do this. Changing its checked state will change the tool's behavior.

EDIT: I will attempt to capture a video of this happening next time it happens. I spoke with 4 others in my organization and they have seen the same behavior.

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As far as I can tell, the CTRL key alone does nothing for me until such a time as the trace tool is ONLY tracing the selected feature. CTRL Shift combinations don't seem to do anything either.

I do have CTRL-A, S, R, and T as accelerators. Using any of those accelerators cause the tool to switch to trace-selected-only. To switch it off, I have to drop a vertex, hit CTRL, then drop another vertex and resume tracing again. That's the best solution I have found for me. Dropping extra vertices is prone to mouse shift errors though so it's not ideal

Scott_Harris

@PeteJordan So it sounds like the workaround is working for you, in which case, we can (mostly) safely say you are experiencing a newly identified bug. We are still investigating on our end. If I learn anything new, I'll post here for you and @m3 or anyone else who sees it.

PeteJordan

@Scott_Harris I just tried this (in my example having <CTRL-R> assinged to Reshapeand <ALT-R> for Trace, using your suggestion and I am getting the same result that the trace still now selectes the editing polygon and not the one I want to trace to.

However, if I instead just press <SHIFT> and release and then <CTRL> and release it then selects the correct tracing feature...

Scott_Harris

@m3 The next time this happens to you, please try the following:

While the Trace construction tool is active, hold CTRL key, then while still holding CTRL key, press and release the SHIFT key, then release the CTRL key

If that works, then I will have a clearer picture of the behavior, and my hope is that we can resolve it at a future release.

PeteJordan

@Scott_Harris : This issue I just found out is still a problem with using the <CTRL> for accelerators (my case <CTRL-R> for Reshape in ArcGIS Pro 3.0.3...

PeteJordan

Hey @Scott_Harris,

Ahhh, got me again with my extensive use of mutiple accelerators and guess what? My Reshape (esri_editing_ReshapeCommand) is set to <CTRL-R>, Trace (esri_editing_ReshapeCommand) set to <Alt-R> and this is the problem.

Tried it without using my accelerators and yes, it now works and I don't have to close down ArcGIS Pro each time I want to do a trace polygon at all.

So I assume this is on the bug list correct for a future fix when those accelerators all get that possible overhaul in an upcoming version then?

I'm glad @m3 already had this asked as I was about to fill out another bug report (until I saw this thread) and his video is much better than my images...

Scott_Harris

@m3 Thanks for following up with the additional details. In the next release of ArcGIS Pro the software will allow more options for keyboard customization. I wonder if this will help, so I'll be testing out your scenario to see if I uncover anything.

In the latest versions, I have had more success using the CTRL key to toggle this behavior. It still doesn't seem to work with just tapping CTRL (like I may have to hit it twice or deselect my item), but I no longer need to go into the settings to toggle the checkbox.

One more bit of information. The Trace selected features only checkbox may only have this bug using the reshape tool. I noticed it works as expected and immediately when using the split tool.

Here's another very awkward video of me fumbling through the trace selected features options. Here you can see it doing the opposite behavior. I have a trackball mouse I'm not used to so that's the reason for the jerky movements. What's happening outside the video is that I'm using the trace reshape tool and the deselect tool.

The start shows it tracing selected when the box is unchecked

The end shows it tracing unselected features when the box is checked.

3.0.0

It was the same behavior on the last version I used but I do not know how far back it goes.
It's hard to tell you how to reproduce it because I've been using the align edge, align features, merge, reshape with and without trace tools for about 2 hours before it happened. When merging, I will use the CTRL key not in the attribute table, but in the map to deselect.

Scott_Harris

@m3 Thanks for the video. Yeah that's definitely unexpected. Which version of Pro?

Well here's a video of the trace tool not tracing a non-selected feature when the "Trace selected features only" box is not checked.

I was able to change the behavior by hitting the CTRL key but it required I unselect the polygon first.

LOL, sorry for the "triple negative"

Scott_Harris

@m3 So far, I can't reproduce this behavior, but in researching it, I found there was as bug that was fixed in 2.8 related to 'Trace only selected features': [BUG-000136504 The 'Trace selected features only' check box option for the Trace tool is automatically checked.]

It involved hitting the CTRL key to select multiple features in the Attribute Table, which inadvertently switched on 'Trace selected features only' when you revisited the map. Like I mentioned, this was fixed in 2.8 - so if you are using 2.8 and above, and you see this behavior, please provide reproducible steps to me or Esri Technical Support so a bug can be logged and tracked by other customers who contact Support.

Thanks!

-Scott

Yes, we did speak. I will try the CTRL key and report back. I'm wondering if this could be related to remote desktop sessions key mapping as we are all working remotely.

We had a large project where we were only tracing particular layers. We discovered this problem during that project.

Thank you for the tips!

Scott_Harris

@m3 I think I spoke to you at the UC about this behavior. I wonder if the CTRL key is related to this issue since CTRL is the shortcut to toggle between tracing selected and tracing all (if trace selected is ON).

Thanks for reporting it with all the details. We will test this out. If a bug is logged, I'll be sure to close the loop here.

FYI - another way to limit what features can be traced is to toggle snapping on or off for a particular layer in List By Snapping (Contents pane). Only snappable layers can be traced. TIP: In List by snapping, a quick way to toggle snapping for a particular layer is to right click on it and choose > "Make this the only snappable layer"

Thanks,

Scott

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