Send the Stack to the Center of the screen.

[stam]

From the current dictionary entry for screenrect

Adding the effective adjective to either form returns the area of the
screen the application has to itself. In particular, if the keyboard is
activated, it take into account if the keyboard is taking up space on
the screen. (Android and iOS only)

Kind regards
Bernd

Thanks Bernd (I had already seen this) - but how does that apply to screenRect - it's not an application
If it is mean to reduce the available space on the screen with for example keyboards showing up, how is this different from working screenRect?
Keyboards is really a mobile thing, so does the effective keyword specifically have value for mobile?

S.

[bn]

Hi Stam,

as far as I understand this:

on mobile the keyboard pops up in certain situations and the deveoper might want to move things around in that situation. Hence it is for mobile since this does not happen on desktop
Working screenrect is the permanently available area of the screen.
Effective allows you to only move around those elements that interfere with the keyboard without changing the stack size etc on mobile.

Kind regards
Bernd

[richmond62]

As far as I understand things (guided by such jolly things as what tends to happen on my Android phone when I pull up the on-screen keyboard), the app window needs to shrink in such a way that the keyboard does NOT overlap it.

I assume (possibly dangerous) that on both iOS and Android that the virtual keyboards are 'seen' by LiveCode as screen 'furniture' (so their dimensions do not have to be directly addressed) and effective will do the 'heavy lifting' in terms of calculating what uncluttered screen space is available for your app.

[richmond62]

The ONLY thing that fusses me is how an LC stack or standalone is going to work out 'by itself' when someone summons another bit of screen furniture.

[jacque]

The ONLY thing that fusses me is how an LC stack or standalone is going to work out 'by itself' when someone summons another bit of screen furniture.

LC sends a keyboardActivated message so you can adjust the stack.

[richmond62]

Presumably keyBoardActivated is mobile-platform-only.

It could be very useful on desktops as they all sport virtual keyboards.

[stam]

Presumably keyBoardActivated is mobile-platform-only.

It could be very useful on desktops as they all sport virtual keyboards.

But do they fill an entire portion of the screen like on mobile?

[richmond62]

But do they fill an entire portion of the screen like on mobile?
Top

Not 'an entire portion', but enough to block out a fair chunk of a standalone's window:
-

[jacque]

It could be very useful on desktops as they all sport virtual keyboards.

I didn't know that, how would I see that on my Mac?

[richmond62]

-
MacOS 12

[stam]

It could be very useful on desktops as they all sport virtual keyboards.

I didn't know that, how would I see that on my Mac?

Font/Language menu -> show keyboard viewer

But my point was that since none of the desktop systems have massive keyboards that occlude part of the screen, the kayBoardActivated message and the effective working screenRect aren't of any value on desktop...

[jacque]

I forgot about that, it hasn't been in my menu for years. The last time I looked at it, it was only for character info, I wasn't aware you can actually type with it. Or maybe I'm thinking of something else. I wonder if it's for adaptive hardware, since otherwise the usual keyboard should be more convenient.

[richmond62]

I wonder if it's for adaptive hardware, since otherwise the usual keyboard should be more convenient.

It can prove extremely useful.

Here's a use-instance as an example.

I want to type a letter to my friend in Bulgarian, but my physical keyboard is a 'standard' English-language QWERTY keyboard, so I don't have a clue where I might find the letter 'Я'.

By having the virtual keyboard up in front of me, on my monitor, I can either click on the 'Я' on the virtual keyboard, or I know which key to press on my physical keyboard to get a 'Я'.

The ONLY snag is that when one has the virtual keyboard open with a non-Latin keyboard layout it is well-nigh impossible to take screenshots.
-

[stam]

The ONLY snag is that when one has the virtual keyboard open with a non-Latin keyboard layout it is well-nigh impossible to take screenshots.

Easy workaround: use Preview.app -> File menu -> take screenshot (with usual options to capture screen, rect or window)

[richmond62]

Easy workaround:

Thank you very much for such a useful tip.

I actually did the thing with CMD + SHIFT + 5 and the 10 second timer.