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From: beard@ux1.lbl.gov (Patrick C Beard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: moving mouse pointer under program control
Message-ID: <1858@helios.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 7 Feb 89 17:27:56 GMT
References: <17871@gatech.edu> <6443@hoptoad.uucp>
Sender: usenet@helios.ee.lbl.gov
Reply-To: beard@ux1.lbl.gov (Patrick C Beard)
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley
Lines: 40

In article <6443@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:
>In article <17871@gatech.edu> robinson@pravda (Stephen M. Robinson) writes:
>>We are using THINK (LightSpeed) C 3 and need to do the following:
>>
>>   click on a Rect region, hide the cursor, move the mouse point
>>   to another Rect (window) and show the cursor again (based upon
>>   contents of the first Rect region)
>
>Don't.  In the Mac metaphor this is the equivalent of grabbing the
>user's finger and jerking it around.  The mouse is not to be moved
>under software control except for helping the disabled.  If you need to
>indicate something else as a result of a click, then use a rolling
>outline like MacPaint selections, a flashing hilite, or some other
>technique that doesn't violate the guidelines.
>
>I have spoken with people who used mouse-moving software on other
>computers and the results were *always* confusing and misleading, even
>to wizards.  I know how to do this, but I'm not going to tell you, and
>there are good reasons Apple doesn't document it either.
>-- 
>Tim Maroney, Consultant, Eclectic Software, sun!hoptoad!tim

Then, pray tell, how would one go about writing a mouse driver?  If some
new hardware device is to be used to move the mouse, then software is
going to be needed to move the pointer.  I think your attitude about 
withholding information about something so fundamental is ridiculous.
People should have the freedom to write software (for their own use) that
behaves according to their specification.  Commercial software MUST follow
the guidelines as set down by Apple, to be accepted by the Mac community.

Anyone with access to MPW has all the information needed to move the mouse
via software control.  Just look in SysEqu.a for anything having to do
with the Mouse.  If you need more information, I have a routine that I
call SetMouse (as opposed to GetMouse) that does exactly what you want.

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
 \   Patrick Beard                 "Badges?                       \
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