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Activation
Description
This reference page only provides a short description of the
various types of activation. Component Activation describes
each type in detail.
- Basic Activation
- The basic activation model mimics real-life button activation
in that pressing on a button activates it. Clicking BSelect
on the button must activate the button. [Select] or
on a button with the focus must
activate the button. [Enter] or
on an activatable Menu entry with the
focus must activate the entry. In explicit mode, clicking
BSelect
on a traversable component should move the focus to it. In activatable
components, it should have no other effect. In collections, it can
change the cursored element or the selection as described in Selection Models.
- Accelerators
- An accelerator is a key or key combination that invokes the
action of some component without the location cursor on the component
when the accelerator is pressed. Accelerators are most commonly used
to activate Menu items without first posting the Menu.
- Mnemonics
- A mnemonic is a single character
that can be associated with any component that contains a text label.
When the location cursor is on a component within a Menu, a MenuBar,
or the same field as a component with a mnemonic, typing the mnemonic
character must move the location cursor to the component and activate
it. If a mnemonic is used for an OptionButton, for a CascadeButton in a MenuBar, or a PushButton that is not in a basic group
(that is, not in a Panel, a Menu, or a MenuBar), pressing
and the mnemonic anywhere in the window or its
Menus must move the cursor to the component with that mnemonic and
must activate it.
- TearOff
Activation
- Some Menus have TearOffButtons
as their first elements. A TearOffButton is like a PushButton with the
special interaction of converting a Menu into a DialogBox; that is,
tearing off the Menu from its CascadeButton. TearOffButtons must
follow the basic activation model. TearOffButtons have a second
activation mechanism. Once a Menu with a TearOffButton is posted,
pressing BTransfer
in the TearOffButton must start a tear-off action. As long as BTransfer
is held, a representation of the Menu must follow the movements of the
pointer. Releasing BTransfer
must end the tear-off action by unposting the Menu system, creating a
new window at the current pointer location with the contents of the
Menu, and in explicit pointer mode give focus to the new window.
- Help Activation
- Pressing
on a component must
invoke any context-sensitive help for the component or its nearest
ancestor with context-sensitive help available. Within DialogBoxes,
context-sensitive help should provide help information on the
DialogBox as a whole.
should invoke the context-sensitive help mode
if it is available.
- Popup Menu Activation
- If the pointer is in an element with an inactive Popup Menu and
the context of the element allows a Popup Menu to be displayed, BMenu Press
must post (activate) the Menu in a spring-loaded manner, and clicking
BMenu
must post (activate) the Menu.
- Default Activation
- In a DialogBox, pressing [Enter] or
(except in Text), or double-clicking BSelect
must activate the default PushButton in the DialogBox. If the
double-click is in a component used for making selections or choices,
such as List or RadioBox, the element under the pointer must be
selected or should be chosen before the default PushButton is
activated.
- Expert Activation
- Some elements, usually PushButtons and ToggleButtons, can have
expert actions associated with them. BSelect Click
2 must activate any expert action for the element.
Expert action should only be available in a Panel, and the expert
action of all the buttons should be similar. The expert action should
include the regular action of the component in a more global manner.
- Cancel Activation
-
is available in most context to
stop the current interaction, including canceling drag and drop
operations, unposting TearOff Menus, canceling DialogBoxes, unposting
Menu systems, and canceling scrolling operations.
Related Information
See Component Activation
for more information about the activation model.