Ragtime crashes when dragging grouped object to the inventory

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for your reply and answer. You are correct, I can remember on one occasion I received the error message you described. But on the other, Ragtime crashed without the error message.

You are correct when you say that from the moment you add content to the container, it becomes visible in the inventory. In my case, I have a text1 and a text2 object in the inventory. But besides these two objects, there is also a rectangle which is used in the background for shading.

What did I want to accomplish? I place the group inside the inventory. Whenever I need that group, I drag it from the inventory to the layout. But in my case, despite being grouped, I have a separate text1 and text2 in my inventory. If I drag text1 or text2, I get just that, not the greyed background rectangle for the shadow.

Maybe my thinking is flawed I do not know. But what I intend is to create a layout named assets. On this layout, I place regularly used objects like the one described above on that layout. Whenever I need, I copy from the assets layout and paste it into the document. I can draw the "Note" group in Affinity Designer, make an asset and import it each time I need it. However, in this way, I will lose the text grid which registers my text. The group I created in RagTime will perfectly align with the grid, which is a better solution in my opinion.

I still have a lot to learn for sure. Thank you so much for your explanation which helps me understand Ragtime.

Have a nice day and all the best.

Kind regards,

Chris

Hello Chris

Make a drawing containing the two rectangles. By definition the drawing comprises all objects added to the drawing, including e.g. the two rectangles with their texts, backgrounds and other properties. You can drag the drawing from the inventory and drop/place it on any layout. But don't forget: The drawing may not contain any formulas which may have different results depending on the placement of the drawing (e.g. a reference to the page number)! Wherever the drawing is placed within the same document, the contents of the drawing are 100% identical (the object may, however, be scaled differently). – When used in a stationary document (.rtt), in the rtd-documents based on that stationary, the contents may vary from document to document.

If you want to have the contents variable within the same document, you cannot drag/drop the same drawing from the inventory to different places in the layout. Make a duplicate of the drawing in the inventory* and drag/drop the duplicate. Of course, you have at the same time duplicated the contents fo the drawing. Hence you have created a copy of the text. As a consequence you may modify the text in the duplicate of your drawing without modifying the text of drawing 1.

* to duplicate an object in the inventory, grab the object, drag it a little up- or downwards and press the ctrl-key before dropping it.

Kind regards, Tom

Hi Tom,

Wow... perfect! Exactly what I needed. You are indeed very good with Ragtime and experienced.

You are a very friendly and helpful member of this community.

I thank you so much and I do appreciate your support.

Wish you a great day and all the best.

Kind regards,

Chris

Hello Tom, Hello Chris

OK ; but what I don't understand is the text of the error message : why "PDF" ? Is that not a little weird ?

Best regards,

jacques

Bonjour Jacques

While the error message under Windows makes sense, the one under macOS is indeed weird and even confusing.

Cordialement, Thomas