REALBasic: TDG, 2nd Edition

Chapter 20.  Mouse and Cursor

The mouse is one of the two chief conduits of communication from the user to your application. (The other is the keyboard; see Chapter 19.) The user moves and clicks the mouse; this chapter summarizes the ways in which your application can learn that this has happened. Your application can also respond to the user’s positioning of the mouse by popping up balloon help captions that guide the user through the interface; so this chapter also discusses balloon help. In addition, your application can, in a sense, communicate through the mouse back to the user, by changing the appearance of the cursor (the onscreen representation of the mouse); this chapter discusses the cursor as well.

Mouse Communication

This section lists all the ways in which your application is notified automatically, through an event, that the user has performed a significant action involving the mouse. Such actions may be divided into two headings: the user has moved the mouse, and the user has clicked the mouse button.

Mouse Movement

Here are all the ways in which your application might be notified that the user has moved the mouse. The user may move the mouse:

• Into a visible window’s content region. The window is sent a MouseEnter event (see Chapter 9).

• Within a visible window’s content region. The window is sent a MouseMove event (see Chapter 9).

• Out of a visible window’s content region. The window is sent a MouseExit event (see Chapter 9).

• Into the content region of a visible RectControl. ...