Improved focus control

[cj-neti]

Currently, the focus context can be changed in the following ways:
• To items: select and move to previous\next item, select items under edit cursor on selected tracks etc.
• To tracks: Track: Go to previous/next track.
• To envelopes: Select previous/next track/take envelope (depending on focus) etc.
So it follows that the focus cannot be changed without changing the selection. You can't work on items, jump to a track and return to the same items. I think I understand why this is the case, and why there is deliberately no action that simply switches the focus context. It would probably be odd if selected items aren't in any of the selected track. It could certainly be confusing.

So I propose to create an action that switches between tracks and items and behaves like this:
1 If switches from items to tracks: Switches focus to tracks, selecting those tracks that contain the selected items. If no track is selected, selects the last touched track.
2 If switches from tracks to items: Switches focus to items, filtering out those items contained in the selected tracks. If no items are selected or no one remain after filtering, items contained int the selected tracks under the cursor are selected.
3 If switches from envelope or other type of focus: Returns the focus to its original state, e.g. from envelope back to underlying track or item or from crossfade to its items.

The second action would cycle the focus between child objects, either physically (from track or item to the last touched envelope or the first visible one) or logically (only internally for OSARA parameter dialog, items would still be selected):
• Option 1: To envelope - The last touched envelope belonging to the track or item is selected.
• Options 2 and 3: To fade in, To fade out - Would indicate that the OSARA parameter dialog will edit the fade in/out parameters for the selected items (Length, shape, curve).
• Option 4: To crossfade - This would indicate that the OSARA parameter dialog will edit the crossfade parameters for the selected items (shape, curve, centered length. This option would only be available if the selected items overlap.

The third action would cycle between the effects of the selected track or item and the effect would be indicated for editing in the OSARA parameters dialog. Thus, the effect would not have to be selected again and again before entering the dialog. Of course, the selected effect would be synchronized with the last touched one while this action would be used.

The question is how to visually communicate the internal focus for fades and crossfades to make it obvious what state the user is in.