I would like there to be a Step Backward through logfile functionality with a keyboard shortcut, specifically the [PgUp] button. The [PgDn] button currently works to Step Forward through logfile. I’m sure many PBEM players use that frequently.
However to Step Backward through logfile there is no keyboard shortcut that exists. One has to instead grab the mouse and click the Undo last move icon near the upper left of Vassal interface. There is no Undo last move keyboard shortcut either. So I believe it makes sense that the otherwise unused [PgUp] button would Step Backward through logfile.
What you ask for is already possible, it’s just that the shortcut for “Step Backward” has to be configured in the module. It is a bit weird that there’s no default “Step Backward” (ie Undo) key, whereas, as you’ve noticed there is a default “Step Forward” key. Maybe the Vassal dev team would consider a request to force a default for Undo, if one isn’t set.
In the editor, the component to look at is Global Options. Here are the default settings:
Thanks for the reply. I feel strongly that this should be a default behavior in Vassal and that PgUp is the- or at least one- logical keyboard shortcut button for Step Backward through logfile, especially in relation to PgDn button being used for Step Forward through logfile.
It’s not exactly practical for a user who might be playing in many different games to start editing every single module for every different game they are playing just to enable this kind of basic keyboard focused functionality. So I hope the Vassal team will take this into consideration in an upcoming release if it’s feasible.
I have a differing viewpoint: the action is “Undo”, not “Step Backward” (and it is more flexible than simply stepping backward through a logfile), so I think it makes more sense to use the key that is a de-facto standard for Undo, Ctrl-Z (and that’s what I assigned Undo to in the modules I work on).
My other concern is someone could easily hit PgUp in circumstances other than when stepping through a logfile (such as while playing a “live” game, and trying to move the window view), and an accidental Undo could be very annoying.
I’ve implemented both (using an Action Button to convert PgUp to Ctrl+Z) in two or three modules, without complaint so far. This might be because it’s a rare circumstance for those particular modules, however.
I figure that if PgDn is ok, PgUp ought to be as well, though I can see the point that the effect of a mistaken UnDo is worse than “Step Forward”.
Is there any reason that the Step Backward through logfile functionality HAS to be done with the existing Undo function like the way it is now? Perhaps Step Backwards through logfile functionality could be separated out from Undo functionality and assigned a PgUp keyboard shortcut and strictly used that way, while the more general and widely used Undo function gets assigned CTRL-Z or another keyboard shortcut.
There is no Step Backward through a log file functionality. That capability does not exist in Vassal V3. There is only Undo. What you are mistakenly taking to be the Step Backward functionality is just Undo, undoing the last command performed.
Yes, definitely, when we have independent Step Backwards functionality in V4.
