Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!ukc!reading!minster!paulb
From: paulb@minster.york.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2
Subject: Re: Focus cycling
Message-ID: <627646071.19046@minster.york.ac.uk>
Date: 21 Nov 89 10:07:51 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England
Lines: 33

In article 92, osbornk@uther.CS.ORST.EDU (Kasey S. Osborn) writes:

>...
>Okay, fine, to go one of the two directions, I set the focus to the
>bottommost child window.  That takes care of Shift-Tab.
>
>However, when it comes to setting the focus to the window that is
>just below the focus window, I am having difficulty.  Somehow I need
>to make the focus window become the bottommost window.  This is what
>OS/2 does to windows listed in Task List when one hits Alt-Esc.
>
>Setting the focus to the window next to the top causes the focus
>window to be moved second.  This limits you to switching between the
>two topmost windows, so that's out.  Any ideas?  (Proven, please.)
>
I think the problem here is one of interface design, rather than a
programming problem.  There is no way in which you can cycle through the
windows based upon their order on the screen, as you change the order
when you bring a window to the top.  If you think about it there's no
sensible way to handle this.  Imagine a user in this position; he brings
the second window to the top with shift tab, and then goes away for a
day.  When he comes back, he wants to look at the window which is now
second, and (sensibly) presses shift tab again, only to get the THIRD
window.

The way I have coded this, is to impose another order on the windows,
(e.g. the order in which the windows were opened), maintain a separate
list in this order, and cause shift tab to cycle through this list.  If
you examine the task manager, I think you'll find that this is the
method that it uses.

Paul Butcher.
JANET:paulb@uk.ac.york.minster