Soft grouping buttons

[psychro]

Okay so I drag a button onto the page and match (2 Groups (Soft Group) on 2 layers).

I now drag and right click to produce a copy.

Repeat drag-right click to produce five identical buttons.

Arrange into neat line using drag or nudge.

Now I shift left click to select all the buttons. I apply soft group and move all buttons into position (10 groups (Soft Groups) on 2 layers).

Remove soft group (10 groups on 2 layers).

Click on each button and the mouseover/mouseoff layers have also ungrouped (1 group on layer Mouseoff).

Question
How do I re-apply 'soft grouping' for each of the buttons over the two mouse state layers?

[cursor]

Now I shift left click to select all the buttons. I apply soft group and move all buttons into position (10 groups (Soft Groups) on 2 layers).

Remove soft group (10 groups on 2 layers).

Why did you remove this all encompassing soft group?

Soft groups cannot be nested. As soon as you soft grouped all buttons together, you lost the individual buttons' soft groups. If you want to reapply individual assignments, simply lasso a pair of groups that define a button (make sure that both layers are visable and selectable, in the Layer Gallery), then [/b]Arrange > Apply Soft Group[/b]. Do the same for each of your buttons.

[psychro]

I soft grouped all the buttons together to move them as one unit and to copy paste in place as a soft group to some (not all) other pages.

I realise that once they are all softgrouped, in order for the buttons to work they have to be un-softgrouped. Trouble is, when I do this I cannot softgroup individual buttons back to their orginal 2 layer softgrouping.

If I use the lasso then it also picks up the background 'rectangle' so I end up with 3 groups on 2 layers ... not the original state.

[psychro]

I think I've cracked it.

I just need to move the button's two layers off the page to the working area, align, lasso and re softgroup. Seems to work okay.

Trouble is that it defeats the object of softgrouping the buttons in the first place!

[cursor]

Note that soft-grouping is not required to enable the multiple states of a button. It is, however, a convenient way to group items across multiple layers (as you've indicated). And, it can be a great way to ensure that the text value on those multiple layers stay the same.

You can do what you need by either of the following three methods:

1. Leave your series of singly soft-grouped buttons as they are. There is no real need to globally soft-group them. Lasso select all buttons, then do a Copy (ctrl+c). Move different page where you want a copy of the buttons (make sure that the corner brackets highlight the the target page as the currrent/active page), then do an Edit > Paste in Place (ctrl+shift+v). Follow the same proceedure for any additional pages.
2. Group select all buttons, then Arrange > Apply Soft Group (ctrl+alt+g). With the soft group still selected (or single click to re-select), do a Copy (ctrl+c). Move different page where you want a copy of the buttons (make sure that the corner brackets highlight the the target page as the currrent/active page), then do an Edit > Paste in Place (ctrl+shift+v). Follow the same proceedure for any additional pages.
3. Using either of the two soft grouping methods above, name the buttons using the repeating: name feature (or Arrange > Repeat on all pages). Then remove buttons (or groups of them) from any pages you please.

[psychro]

Thanks for that Cursor.

I'll stick to your No1 routine .. mutilple select, copy, paste in place.

Your No 2 routine is okay as long as I dont then un-softgroup the whole group of butttons in which case I would then also lose the individual button 'soft grouping' which disables the button function.

[cursor]

Actually, soft-grouping isn't required at all in order for a button or a set of buttons to work. To soft group items simply makes it easier to handle them ... and it makes it simpler to edit like-text values on multiple layers.

The attached simple example shows two equally functional buttons: Option 1 is soft grouped, while Option 2 is not.