[updates] 20 for 3.2alpha

danielv at netvision.net.il danielv at netvision.net.il
Sat Dec 8 22:05:32 UTC 2001


I think in recent MS, Ctrl-ESC is a synonym for the Windows key for
Window-key-less keyboards. 
ESC-ESC seems ok to me, and works on the latest version of the ENH.

Daniel

Scott Wallace <scott.wallace at squeakland.org> wrote:
> I agree with Doug that the reasonable solution here is to have both: 
> to have esc bring up the local context menu, as per Daniel, *and* to 
> have a variant -- control-esc is what I propose -- that always 
> directly brings up the world menu.
> 
> Daniel's update plus one other are now in the internal 3.2a update 
> stream that now do that.  If anyone knows a reason why using the 
> control-esc combination is a bad idea on some platform, please let me 
> know right away so I can rescind this before it escapes captivity.
> 
>    -- Scott
> 
> 
> PS:  It is also rather tempting to extend this mechanism beyond 
> windows, to the community of morphs generally.  Supposing that when 
> nobody has the keyboard focus but the cursor is over some morph, the 
> hitting of esc would bring up the halo menu for that morph, ready for 
> your further keyboard directives, thus providing a one-touch way to 
> start directly conversing with any object you can place the cursor 
> over.  Hmm.
> 
> 
> At 6:41 PM -0500 12/7/01, Doug Way wrote:
> >Dan Ingalls wrote:
> >>
> >>  4585MenuFromKeyboard-di-sw -- Dan Ingalls and Scott Wallace -- 2 
> >>December 2001
> >>  This changeSet introduces keyboard control of menus in morphic.
> >>  First of all, there is now the ability to move the selection up 
> >>and down using arrow keys in any menu, and to confirm with CR or 
> >>cancel with ESC, and to pass control into a sub-menu with right- or 
> >>left- arrow (and to return back with ESC).
> >>  That's not all.  If you type in a menu, it builds a pattern 
> >>string, which appears at the bottom of the menu.  Whenever the 
> >>pattern is not empty, only items that match are presented.  If only 
> >>one item matches the pattern (or in any menu with only one item), 
> >>the option is given to confirm with CR or cancel with ESC.
> >>  But wait, there's more...  In most contexts, hitting ESC now 
> >>brings up the world menu, (and, of course, hitting ESC again will 
> >>make it go away again).  This enables all sorts of TECO-like 
> >>incantations such as
> >>          '<ESC>d q<CR>' which would, of course, invoke 'save and quit', or
> >>          '<ESC>he<CR>spa<CR>' to show the amount of free space.
> >>  [A free bottle of Ripple will be awarded to the first Squeaker to 
> >>successfully perform majorShrink on a computer with no pointing 
> >>device].
> >>  Finally, two cosmetic tweaks are also included:
> >>          1.  The selection in a menu is now shown slightly darker 
> >>than before, and
> >>          2.  Menus indicate keyboard focus with a thin green border 
> >>(useful with arrow control).
> >
> >Cool stuff!
> >
> >We're almost all the way to supporting keyboard-only operation of 
> >the UI. (at least the traditional SystemWindow/menu portion of the 
> >UI)
> >
> >Not that I'd willingly give up using the mouse, but it'd be nice to 
> >be able to support mouseless operation.
> >
> >About the only other things we'd need would be to be able to bring 
> >different windows to the fore with the keyboard (someone wrote a 
> >goodie to do this long ago), and to be able to switch keyboard focus 
> >between different panes within a SystemWindow.  Perhaps ctrl-tab or 
> >ctrl-arrow or similar could do this pane switching.
> >
> >(Although I guess we'd also need a stronger form of sticky keyboard 
> >focus to support this, similar to what Steve Swerling submitted.)
> >
> >Also, I tend to agree with Daniel Vainsencher that it would be more 
> >useful for the ESC key to bring up the local list/editor pop-up menu 
> >inside a list/text morph, rather than the World menu.  Maybe 
> >Shift-ESC or something else could bring up a World menu everywhere.
> >
> >- Doug Way
> >   dway at riskmetrics.com




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