luke@mnetor.UUCP (05/08/87)
Does anyone out there know how to alter the position of the Mac's cursor
from within an application program? I know that modifying the cursor
position variables in low memory works but this is cheating. The location
of these variables isn't officially published and therefore can change from
one release to the next. Is it possible to provide my own mouse driver?
--
Luke G. Matthys
UUCP: {decvax|allegra|ihnp4|linus|utcsri}!utzoo!mnetor!luke
BELL: (416) 475-8980 ext. 332dgold@apple.UUCP (05/11/87)
In article <4104@mnetor.UUCP> luke@mnetor.UUCP (Luke Matthys) writes: >Does anyone out there know how to alter the position of the Mac's cursor >from within an application program? I know that modifying the cursor >position variables in low memory works but this is cheating. The location >of these variables isn't officially published and therefore can change from >one release to the next. Is it possible to provide my own mouse driver? There's no official way to do this, because we don't want people doing it. The fact that only the user gets to change the position of the mouse cursor is one of the basic tenets of our human interface guidelines. Testing shows that if the cursor jumps around of its own volition, users lose the feeling that a direct manipulation interface gives them, of being in control of the computer rather than vice versa. So if you do do this, you risk that it won't work on future machines. -- David Goldsmith Apple Computer, Inc. MacApp Group AppleLink: GOLDSMITH1 UUCP: {nsc,dual,sun,voder,ucbvax!mtxinu}!apple!dgold CSNET: dgold@apple.CSNET, dgold%apple@CSNET-RELAY BIX: dgoldsmith
roger@felix.UUCP (Roger Webster) (05/12/87)
I agree that, in general, not moving the mouse around under program control is "a good thing." However, one of my major annoyances lately, using large screens (19 inches or larger), is the time and effort required to traverse lots of pixels with the mouse. For example, when I thumb to near the end of a document in a window where the lower right-hand corner of the window is near the lower right-hand corner of the screen, and the next thing I want to do is access a "File" pull-down (for which there is no Command-Key equivalent), I end up drawing lots of little circles in the air before the mouse gets where I want it. Perhaps a way to "jump" back to an old location would be nice, or something. My point is that while never automatically moving the mouse was fine on a 512 by 342 display, it's not such a great thing necessarily on larger screens. Roger Webster