Allow pressing E to confirm number input fields, by dropping support for scientific notation

[Wiwiweb]

What?

As of 2.0, if you try to confirm a number input field (such as logistic requests count) by pressing e, it will type an e in the field instead. This is because Factorio now supports scientific notation (e.g. 4e3 = 4000)

I would like to drop this support to return to the original behavior.

Why?

In my future Factorio playtime, I'm going to confirm textfields ten of thousands of times, and I'm going to use numbers above 1000 only hundreds of times.

The convenience of quickly confirming appears much more valuable than the convenience of saving keypresses for numbers above 1000.

It appears so unintuitive to people that it has been reported as a bug multiple times:
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=116616
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=117523
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=117057
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=116339

One last thing to note is that "E to confirm" is so engrained in Factorio UI, that hovering over the confirm button of number fields still says "Press E to confirm".

Screenshot from 2024-10-22 15-02-21~2.png (12.71 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

[Makka77]

1 million hours muscle memory broken, and it means having to look at the keyboard to left hand enter. Breaks the flow for little to no gain.
+1

[vadcx]

In Office spreadsheets there's the =A1*42 syntax to enable formula interpretation. That's a good compromise imo. I don't think many folks enter formulas / suffixes on the regular.

[kiwidrew]

At the very least, it would be nice if "E" as the first keypress would close the window, because a valid number in scientific notation will never begin with an "e".

[Genhis]

It's not only about scientific notation, the field also supports functions. We had similar internal discussion when this option was implemented. This behavior makes things consistent because if you are able to type text to such fields because of k/M/G prefixes and such, confirm key shouldn't take priority if it's a valid input.

Rseding added a hidden setting "use-formulas-in-number-input-fields" in 2.0.12 which reverts to 1.1 behavior if you really don't want to try to get used to this.

[computeraddict]

It's not only about scientific notation, the field also supports functions. We had similar internal discussion when this option was implemented. This behavior makes things consistent because if you are able to type text to such fields because of k/M/G prefixes and such, confirm key shouldn't take priority if it's a valid input.

Rseding added a hidden setting "use-formulas-in-number-input-fields" in 2.0.12 which reverts to 1.1 behavior if you really don't want to try to get used to this.

Even if you let there be a confirm combination like ctrl+e or tab to unfocus the text field then press e so good old mouse hand doesn't have to get involved and left hand doesn't have to go find an enter key, it'd be nice.

[Wiwiweb]

It's not only about scientific notation, the field also supports functions.

https://lua-api.factorio.com/latest/con ... ssion.html
abs, log2, sign, max, min.
By chance, no function uses the letter E!
There's also "The property where the expression is used may provide variables.", but I don't think that applies in-game as a player, it seems to be only when defining prototypes as a modder. Let me know if wrong.

Rseding added a hidden setting "use-formulas-in-number-input-fields" in 2.0.12 which reverts to 1.1 behavior if you really don't want to try to get used to this.

Appreciated!

[vadcx]

By chance, no function uses the letter E!

... by pressing e, it will type an e in the field instead. This is because Factorio now supports scientific notation (e.g. 4e3 = 4000)

--------
I will just repeat what I said above: use the equal sign = to begin entering a formula: =3.14159*1337%

EDIT: I just tested. They turned it into a text field, therefore any letters are valid inputs now. No real-time checks like a red outline if the current input is not a valid formula. All that happens when you press the button (mouse-click, CTRL+E, or out of input focus "E")

[sticklord]

Hello.

Love that you now can use formulas in the textbox but now i "E" means some kind of number i guess so you can't exit out of it without pushing the button (when you hover the button it still says confirm(e) ).

Earlier you could press the sequence "1000e" and you would apply 1000 to the box. Would it be possible to bring this back and apply the value when you press a key, perhaps tab?

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged into an older thread with the same suggestion.

[IsaacOscar]

There's also "The property where the expression is used may provide variables.", but I don't think that applies in-game as a player, it seems to be only when defining prototypes as a modder. Let me know if wrong.

You can have a blueprint parameter define a variable "e" and then use it in formulas for subsequent paramaters.

[IsaacOscar]

I think an alt-e or something would be good for all text fields, not just numbers.

[Noah235]

What is the fastest way to confirm without using the mouse now? I found pressing escape twice, followed by e works, but there might be better options. This applies to writing text in a display panel as well (I use them for notes sometimes).

[Tooster]

The simplest way is to just use Enter... I don't see a need to go back to E as confirm. The only drawback is that enter is on the right of the keyboard, while E was right next to WASD. Tab would be nice to change focus, then space for confirmation, just like in the web browser. Would allow for even better keyboard only navigation.

[BlueTemplar]

Except in some cases where you are next to a vehicle...

----

There doesn't seem to be a dire need in Factorio for this specific notation,
especially not when it also supports Engineering (!) notation
(also other letters perhaps could be used for it, if it's good enough for FORTRAN and Matlab ??).

So this use for 'e' could be dropped...

... or can it ? :

There's also "The property where the expression is used may provide variables.", but I don't think that applies in-game as a player, it seems to be only when defining prototypes as a modder. Let me know if wrong.

You can have a blueprint parameter define a variable "e" and then use it in formulas for subsequent paramaters.

How bad is the situation for this ? I guess forbidding 'e', an extremely common vowel (and 'd' isn't that much better), to be used in variables, while even for a niche (?) use, would be quite infuriating to the players that stumbled on it ?

[its a me]

another solution would be to have scientific notation be with a capital E and have the confirm key be with a lowercase e

[Tooster]

Any "solution" proposing some weird hacks for letter E or removing the (objectively superior) functionality og inputs accepting formulas/variables etc miss the crucial insight: E is just a bad key for the Accept action. It was good befory, but requirements changed, so it is no longer a viable option. The only advantage it has is being close to to WSAD. Sadly muscle memory and habits must be adjusted.

[IsaacOscar]

Any "solution" proposing some weird hacks for letter E or removing the (objectively superior) functionality og inputs accepting formulas/variables etc miss the crucial insight: E is just a bad key for the Accept action. It was good befory, but requirements changed, so it is no longer a viable option. The only advantage it has is being close to to WSAD. Sadly muscle memory and habits must be adjusted.

Yes! I would be very confused if I tried to type e into an input field and the window closed!

[BlueTemplar]

Well, it's not just any input field, it's specifically the number ones.

[...]
Even if you let there be a confirm combination like ctrl+e or tab to unfocus the text field then press e so good old mouse hand doesn't have to get involved and left hand doesn't have to go find an enter key, it'd be nice.

Sadly, Tab is now used for Remote View.

Still, <modifier_key>+'e' might be the least bad option here ??

(Including Shift+'e' for the scientific notation instead, like its a me suggested, though this leaves issues for formulas ??)