Mouse Operation

Common operations that work on and within windows by using a pointer device are presented in this section.

Pointer Devices

There are different kinds of pointer devices such as a mouse or a stylus, but common to all is that they appear to the application as the mouse, which has at least one (left) button that is now denoted as the button and that is used for actions such as clicking. The actual operation of clicking depends on the pointer device in use and may be performed by pressing and releasing the button, by tapping with the stylus on the display, or by other means. Other buttons and perhaps a mouse wheel may further be available and can be used for particular operations.

General Operation

Working with the mouse in general may be regarded as follows: Just moving the mouse around without pressing any button does nothing. Pressing the button at a location grabs the item underneath it if possible and is indicated by setting the cursor or selection bar to that location. Then, while holding the button down, moving around drags (takes along) the grabbed item if possible, or otherwise the cursor or selection bar tries to follow the mouse. Releasing the button finishes the operation and may initiate an action on the current item, depending on the context and on whether releasing the button happens on the item itself or not. For example, the action that is associated to a menu item will be invoked only if the mouse button is released on top of that item.

A single click is performed by just pressing and releasing the button at the same location. In contrast, double clicking is more complex: It is performed by pressing, releasing and pressing again the button within a predefined period of time (about 1/3 second). Furthermore, the location of the second button press may be different from the first. This special case of two different locations is used to provide some means to replace a missing right button: It usually invokes a context dependent pop-up menu the same way as the right button would do, but with the cursor or selection bar still being positioned at the first location. A normal double click is meant to consist of two clicks at the same location within a short time.

Performing Actions

The following list describes how certain actions may be performed by the help of the mouse:

Activate window

Click on the window frame.

Close window and discard any changes

Perform a single click within the upper right corner of the window frame where usually the symbol [X] is shown.

Destroy window unconditionally

Perform a double click within the upper left corner of the window frame where usually the window shortcut, e.g. F2, is shown.

Set cursor or selection bar (if dragging is possible)

Click at the desired position within the window.

Set cursor or selection bar (if dragging is not possible)

Press the button at the desired position within the window and release it somewhere outside.

Drag content (if possible)

Press the button at a location within the window, hold the button down and move to the desired position, finally release the button.

Activate element or item (if dragging is possible)

Double click at the same location on the desired element or item.

Activate element or item (if dragging is not possible)

Click at the desired element or item.

Move window

Press the button somewhere within the window frame, hold the button down and move the window to the desired location, finally release the button.

Push window behind all others

Click with the right button on the window frame.

Invoke a context dependent pop-up menu (if available)

Within the window, press the right button or double click at two different locations.

Invoke the Main Menu

Press the button on the root window, hold the button down and go to the desired item of the menu, finally release the button.

Invoke the Windows Menu

Click with the right button on the root window.

Extended Actions

Certain convenient actions can be performed with the mouse if it provides additionally a wheel, which acts as a middle button at the same time. Common to all these actions is that they are internally transformed to key events instead of performing regular mouse operations and can therefore be used in all situations where those keys are recognized.

The extended actions are:

Release middle button

Same as pressing the Return key (cr).

Rotate wheel up

Same as pressing the Up cursor key.

Rotate wheel down

Same as pressing the Down cursor key.