new illustration. I imported a PNG file to serve as reference for illustration. placed on own layer, locked it.

created new layer where I'll begin my drawing, but when I press the space bar in order to mouse/pan, I am presented with an "Add Layer" dialogue box!

If I create a completely new document with only Inkscape-created shapes and things, put those on a layer, lock that, make a new layer, then pressing the spacebar also presents me with "Add Layer."

anyone else have this wierd problem? if so, what's the fix?

I'm using Inkscape 0.47 on a Mac Pro with Snow Leopard, 10.6.3 v1.1 as the OS.

edit: and I do have the preference checked so that right-mouse + space will pan, but I don't even get to the mouse; just hitting the space bar in the scenario describes brings up the Add Layer box.

thank you!

icat

Please test:

• Does it happen with the layer dialog closed?
• Does it happen if you move the focus back to the canvas first (click on empty space or select an object)?
• Does changing the X11 preferences to 'click-though inactive windows' improve the situation?

It is a known issue that the focus for keyboard input (e.g. for other keyboard shortcuts) is not returned to the canvas/main window when using e.g. the layers dialog (selecting a layer, adding/deleting one etc.) - instead <Space> will just trigger the active button in the layer dialog (the 'Add layer' if that was you last action). Changing 'X11 preferences > Windows > [x] Click-Through inactive Windows' for me [1] improves the situation but does not solve the focus issue with docked dialogs (I can provide links to bug reports if needed).

Pressing <esc> (twice) also defocuses the (layers) dialog but you have to watch out that you don't lose the current layer selection and suddenly start drawing new objects onto the <root> layer (not recommended).

[1] using Inkscape 0.47 and development builds on OS X 10.5.8 Leopard with X11/Xquartz 2.4.0

Not on a mac, but it sounds like you are using the Docked Layer Menu (Shift+Ctrl+L), if you are using the Docked Menu, you have to hit ESCape or Click your mouse on the Canvas (sometimes twice) in order to get OUT of the Dock Menu.. The title background of the Docked Menu (top of the menu) will change colors I am on a WIN machines and the Docked Menus go from Dark Grey to Light Grey. Dark Grey for when you are in the menu, Light Grey when you are out of the menu..

IMHO, I stay away from using the Docked Layer Menu as much as possible, the Main Menu Bar >Layer and the Layer Selector in the Status Bar (bottom bar) work much faster.

hope this helps..

vwanweb wrote:Not on a mac, but it sounds like you are using the Docked Layer Menu (Shift+Ctrl+L), if you are using the Docked Menu, you have to hit ESCape or Click your mouse on the Canvas (sometimes twice) in order to get OUT of the Dock Menu.. The title background of the Docked Menu (top of the menu) will change colors I am on a WIN machines and the Docked Menus go from Dark Grey to Light Grey. Dark Grey for when you are in the menu, Light Grey when you are out of the menu..

IMHO, I stay away from using the Docked Layer Menu as much as possible, the Main Menu Bar >Layer and the Layer Selector in the Status Bar (bottom bar) work much faster.

hope this helps..

you are right..that did make the behavior stop....I changed the palette prefs so that they do not dock..thanks for your help!

also, thank you for the tip that the menu + status bar layers tools are much faster..InkScape works great but I can always use more speed!

icat