Hide cursor, yes, no, depends... HELP!

[richmond62]

I just 'hosed' my cursors by putting this is in a button:

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on mouseUp
set the cursor to empty
end mouseUp

note the word 'empty' rather than the word 'none'.

This prove to have rather more consequences than I expected as, to QUIT LiveCode I had to perform a 'force quit' (send a KILL signal).

What IS interesting is that this did not work:

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on openStack
   set the cursor to empty
end openStack

this did:

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on openStack
   set the cursor to empty
   set the lockCursor to true
end openStack

it ALSO worked in the cardScript.

What interests me is why, in those scripts one had to set the lockCursor, but that was not necessary in the button.

[FourthWorld]

So if you have "on openStack" in the card script (of card 1) then it won't go up to the stack script unless you pass it. Right?

I'm not sure I understand the question. Any handler that handles a message would need to pass it for others further in in the message queue to handle it.

Indeed. It wasn't really a question, just me being extremely cautious when stating facts now, given my failure in that area earlier in the thread... So, just in case this would be a day when I get everything wrong, I put a question mark after things I say here... Right?

A questioning approach is often useful in a life prioritizing increased awareness.

But the mundanity of software often requires less of our monkish journey:

The sequence in which the engine initiates open* messages follows container order, out to in, reflecting the sequence of their unpacking.

The path of a given message follows (generally speaking*) visual order, frontmost to backmost.

* frontScipts, backScripts, libraries, behaviors, "call", "via", "send", and "dispatch" are exceptions, where the usefulness of being able to tailor the message path for specific needs outweighs the abstraction those options introduce.

[dunbarx]

Richard.

"via"?

Craig

[dunbarx]

Richmond.

note the word 'empty' rather than the word 'none'.

Not surprising, since "none" is not in the LC vocabulary.

Craig

[dunbarx]

Richmond.

Oops. "none" is indeed an option for cursors, even though it has no separate entry in the dictionary. It is a built-in cursor style. I was thrown because I:

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set the cursor to "none"
--instead of
set the cursor to none

Craig

[dunbarx]

I rarely use cursor styles. What is the cursor, "help"? This does nothing:

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set the cursor to help

Craig

[richmond62]

You: 'help' is a crock of @#$%.
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[dunbarx]

Richmond.

Crocks notwithstanding, all the buttons in your stack change the cursor to one of the built-in styles, except for "help", which does nothing. I assume that the "arrow" button actually works, though we do not see it because the arrow is already the "current" cursor.

Of course, they all revert to arrow when leaving their buttons, since only setting the defaultCursor forces the "current" cursor to stick.

Is that what you did not mean?

Craig

[richmond62]

I assume that the "arrow" button actually works

It does "over here" because I have my default cursor set to red with a white border, with

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set the cursor to arrow

my cursor reverts to the 'standard' MacOS arrow (i.e. a black one).

Is that what you did not mean?

Wow! Gnomic.

What I meant is that 'help' produces no obvious change whatsoever.

[dunbarx]

Richmond.

What I meant is that 'help' produces no obvious change whatsoever.

Aha. So my post

What is the cursor, "help"? This does nothing:

is the same as

'You: help' is a crock of @#$%.

Glad we agree. To anyone else, though, what is (was?) the story behind the "help" cursor style?

Craig

[FourthWorld]

To anyone else, though, what is (was?) the story behind the "help" cursor style?

It was intended to support an early form of contextual help.

There was a period in the early days of GUI PCs when at least a few software publishers included a "Help mode", which you could invoke with a menu selection or keystroke and the cursor would turn into a stylized question mark, until an element in the window is clicked. Then it would present a Help window with instructions on how to use that element.

[dunbarx]

@Richard.

Thanks.

[dunbarx]

All.

I had thought we fixed the "hide the cursor" problem using the defaultCursor. Recall this property allows the chosen cursor style to stick once that cursor leaves the control where it was set. But you cannot hide the cursor by setting the defaultCursor to none (I never actually tested it.):

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on mouseUp
   set the defaultCursor to none
end mouseUp

"None" leaves the arrow cursor.

So how does one hide one's cursor? There are only two styles (hand or arrow) where one can actually hide the cursor, and it is a two-step process:

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on mouseUp
   set the defaultCursor to hand  --or arrow
   set the  cursor to none
end mouseUp

None of the other styles work with the above handler; the chosen style sticks, but is not hidden. So if one wants to hide the cursor, one must use the handler above. Seems excessive. Anyone else have a method to hide the cursor?

I have not tried an image.

Craig

[FourthWorld]

See the lockCursor global property.

[richmond62]

a "Help mode"

Well, then, that is certainly a fossilisation . . .

Possibly one could bung a '?' icon into the IDE so that on setting the cursor to help there would be a vaguely meaningful icon which could then be put to use . . .
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