Quickly setting value of selected features in QGIS?

Question

I am manually selecting vector features (points from a Spatialite db) in a QGIS project, and then setting values manually for all the selected features using the Field Calculator button. This takes a lot of clicks, entering a value in the expression box and selecting the correct field (out of dozens) from the 'update existing field' option.

2016-09-26 edit: The point layer is > 100,000 rows, so using the attribute table takes a considerable amount of time.

Is there a quicker way to do this, perhaps a one-line Python command from the Python console?

Answer 1

Two (better) workflows jump to mind. For both, first select the features and then make the layer editable. Then, either:

1. From the "edit" menu select "modify attributes of selected features" (requires 2.16 or above). This will let you quickly modify the attributes of all selected features at once.

2. Open the attribute table. You'll see a bar sitting under the toolbar buttons which allows you to select a destination field and enter a value. Then click the 'update selected' button to the right of this bar.