Just FYI, HyperCard 2.2 calls the property that allows selection of
multiple lines in a list box "multipleLines". It doesn't support
selecting multiple lines unless they're consecutive.
The questions:
1) Should MetaCard use the term "multipleLines" for this property
(the HyperCard team seems to have gone out of their way to be
incompatible with the way SuperCard did things, but I suppose this
shouldn't be surprising).
1) Is non-consecutive selection important? (it seems obvious to me that
it is, but then if it is, why didn't the HyperCard team implement it?)
2) Should we support both modes? (i.e. does anyone really need to
enforce consecutive selections? If so, what for?)
3) If so, what should we call the property that distinguishes them?
(MS-Windows calls them consecutive/nonconsecutive. SuperCard calls
them noDisjoint/disjoint. Motif calls it multiple selection/extended
selection in the programmers doc and contiguous/noncontiguous in the
users guide. The Mac interface guidelines are reportedly the same as
the Motif user guide. Your choice?)
While we're on the subject of things that probably don't really
matter, Motif specifies two things that MetaCard doesn't implement
correctly, and I'd like to know if it bugs anyone.
The first is the use of the control key to control multiple
selections. MetaCard uses the Mac standard of shift-click to add a
control to the list of selected items. The Motif spec says that
control-click should do this (shift-click doesn't seem to do anything
unless you're selecting in a list box, in which case it does "extended
selection"). Unfortunately, we'd have to either give up control-drag
to clone an object, rebind it to the alt-click combination, which is
already bound to mwm's window move operation on HP's systems, or use
some other mouse button. What's your recommendation?
The second is the use of button 2 or 3 to do move or adjust. The
Motif spec is pretty confusing in this area (like much of the rest of
it ;-) but seems to specify that you should use button 2 or 3 to drag
things around and/or resize them. MetaCard currently passes these
events to the object even when you have the pointer tool chosen (which
is handy if you want to operate a control without changing tools).
Should MetaCard be changed to work the way Motif apps are supposed to?
If so, what is the correct button to use for which operation? (if you
have an opinion on this issue, please specify at least one other Motif
application that works "right" to support your position ;-)
Thanks for your help,
Scott
-- *********************************************************************** * Scott Raney 303-447-3936 Remember: the better you look, * * raney@metacard.com the more you'll see -- Lidia * ***********************************************************************