Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!bu.edu!dartvax!Eric.J.Baumgartner
From: Eric.J.Baumgartner@dartmouth.edu (Eric J. Baumgartner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: How to tell when really idle?
Message-ID: <1991May5.214456.5228@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>
Date: 5 May 91 21:44:56 GMT
References: <KENW.91Apr22200900@skyler.arc.ab.ca>
Sender: news@dartvax.dartmouth.edu (The News Manager)
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 33

This routine won't always work but unless the user is pounding away in
a text field and never makes a mistake (or fixes mistakes with the
arrow keys) it'll do OK.  If nothing else, it's a starting place for a
better idle checker, because mouse activity tends to be a good test to
"non-idleness".

on idle
  global lastMouseLoc, idleSinceWhen

  put 5*60*60 into idleTicksThreshold -- 5 minute threshold
  if (the mouseLoc <> lastMouseLoc) then
    if (the ticks - idleSinceWhen) > idleTicksThreshold then
      doYourIdleRoutine
    end if
  else
    put the mouseLoc into lastMouseLoc
    put the ticks into idleSinceWhen
  end if

  -- pass idle -- if necessary
end idle

If someone figures out how to deal with keystrokes as well, I'd love to
see it.  * lightbulb suddenly appears over head... BING * Actually,
what might work is in addition to checking that the mouse is in the
same place, check to see if the selectedChunk is the same as it was
before.  If the user is typing merrily along the selectedChunk should
change.  I'll leave that one as an exercise for the reader, who can
then tell me if it works. :-)

Eric Baumgartner
Interactive Media Lab
Dartmouth Medical School