This chapter describes the component activation model, which determines how to act upon previously selected elements.
Once users select an object, they can perform an action on it by using the components available in the application, or by using one of the selection actions described in Selection. Using components to perform actions on a selection is called activation.
Components are used to send information to the underlying application. For example, a Text component is used to send complicated information to the application, but most components (for example, PushButtons) are simply used to start an application process. In fact, even a complicated component like Text may need to tell the application that the user is finished entering information.
Components that start some application process are used following the activation model, which this chapter divides into the following areas: