Align and Distribute: selection/action behaviour logic

[LaPolice]

RoboFont 4.5 (build 2410282152)
Python 3.12.1
MacOS 12.7.6 (Darwin 21.6.0)
Processor i386 (x86_64)

With two shapes, if one shape is selected the “Align Left” button doesn't do anything, wereas if no shape is selected the action of aligning them is triggered.
It might be handy not to have to select the shapes but on the other hand, one would expect the user to select what to align. I've tested that behaviour in Adobe Illustrator, in both cases no action is triggered.
Just noticed that the documentation announces “These try to be smart about doing stuff only to what you have selected.”

[typesupply]

The selection behavior happens here:

popuptools/source/code/popUpTools/alignDistribute.py

Line 681 in 13fc514

def getSelection(glyph):

The logic is basically:

1. If all points in a contour are selected, the user wants to align/distribute the contour as a whole instead of individual points.
2. If not all points in a contour are selected, the user wants to align/distribute the points individually.
3. If nothing is selected, consider all of the contours selected and use behavior 1.

1 and 2 can be mixed together. For example, you can select a whole contour and a single point in another contour and then align the contour and the point. 3 is exclusive.