MouseWatcher

class MouseWatcher

Bases: DataNode, MouseWatcherBase

This TFormer maintains a list of rectangular regions on the screen that are considered special mouse regions; typically these will be click buttons. When the mouse passes in or out of one of these regions, or when a button is clicked while the mouse is in one of these regions, an event is thrown.

Mouse events may also be suppressed from the rest of the datagraph in these special regions.

This class can also implement a software mouse pointer by automatically generating a transform to apply to a piece of geometry placed under the 2-d scene graph. It will move the geometry around according to the mouse’s known position.

Finally, this class can keep a record of the mouse trail. This is useful if you want to know, not just where the mouse is, but the exact sequence of movements it took to get there. This information is mainly useful for gesture-recognition code. To use trail logging, you need to enable the generation of pointer events in the GraphicsWindowInputDevice and set the trail log duration in the MouseWatcher. Otherwise, the trail log will be empty.

Inheritance diagram

Inheritance diagram of MouseWatcher

explicit MouseWatcher(std::string const &name = "")
bool add_group(MouseWatcherGroup *group)

Adds the indicated group of regions to the set of regions the MouseWatcher will monitor each frame.

Since the MouseWatcher itself inherits from MouseWatcherBase, this operation is normally not necessary–you can simply add the Regions you care about one at a time. Adding a complete group is useful when you may want to explicitly remove the regions as a group later.

Returns true if the group was successfully added, or false if it was already on the list.

void clear_display_region(void)

Removes the display region constraint from the MouseWatcher, and restores it to the default behavior of watching the whole window.

void clear_geometry(void)

Stops the use of the software cursor set up via set_geometry().

void clear_inactivity_timeout(void)

Removes the inactivity timeout and restores the MouseWatcher to its default behavior of allowing a key to be held indefinitely.

void clear_trail_log(void)

Clears the mouse trail log. This does not prevent further accumulation of the log given future events.

void clear_trail_node(void)

If you have previously fetched the trail node using get_trail_node, then the MouseWatcher is continually updating the trail node every frame. Using clear_trail_node causes the MouseWatcher to forget the trail node and stop updating it.

std::string const &get_button_down_pattern(void) const

Returns the string that indicates how event names are generated when a button is depressed. See set_button_down_pattern().

std::string const &get_button_repeat_pattern(void) const

Returns the string that indicates how event names are names are generated when a button is continuously held and generates keyrepeat “down” events. See set_button_repeat_pattern().

std::string const &get_button_up_pattern(void) const

Returns the string that indicates how event names are generated when a button is released. See set_button_down_pattern().

static TypeHandle get_class_type(void)
DisplayRegion *get_display_region(void) const

Returns the display region the MouseWatcher is constrained to by set_display_region(), or NULL if it is not constrained.

std::string const &get_enter_pattern(void) const

Returns the string that indicates how event names are generated when the mouse enters a region. This is different from within_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.

EventHandler *get_extra_handler(void) const

As an optimization for the C++ Gui, an extra handler can be registered with a mouseWatcher so that events can be dealt with much sooner.

LVecBase4 const &get_frame(void) const

Returns the frame of the MouseWatcher. See set_frame().

PandaNode *get_geometry(void) const

Returns the node that has been set as the software mouse pointer, or NULL if no node has been set. See has_geometry() and set_geometry().

MouseWatcherGroup *get_group(int n) const

Returns the nth group added to the MouseWatcher via add_group().

double get_inactivity_timeout(void) const

Returns the inactivity timeout that has been set. It is an error to call this if has_inactivity_timeout() returns false.

std::string const &get_inactivity_timeout_event(void) const

Returns the event string that will be generated when the inactivity timeout counter expires. See set_inactivity_timeout().

std::string const &get_leave_pattern(void) const

Returns the string that indicates how event names are generated when the mouse leaves a region. This is different from without_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.

ModifierButtons get_modifier_buttons(void) const

Returns the set of buttons that are being monitored as modifier buttons, as well as their current state.

LPoint2 get_mouse(void) const

It is only valid to call this if has_mouse() returns true. If so, this returns the current position of the mouse within the window.

PN_stdfloat get_mouse_x(void) const

It is only valid to call this if has_mouse() returns true. If so, this returns the current X position of the mouse within the window.

PN_stdfloat get_mouse_y(void) const

It is only valid to call this if has_mouse() returns true. If so, this returns the current Y position of the mouse within the window.

int get_num_groups(void) const

Returns the number of separate groups added to the MouseWatcher via add_group().

MouseWatcherRegion *get_over_region(void) const
MouseWatcherRegion *get_over_region(PN_stdfloat x, PN_stdfloat y) const
MouseWatcherRegion *get_over_region(LPoint2 const &pos) const

Returns the smallest region the mouse is currently over, or NULL if it is over no region.

Returns the smallest region the indicated point is over, or NULL if it is over no region.

Returns the preferred region the mouse is over. In the case of overlapping regions, the region with the largest sort order is preferred; if two regions have the same sort order, then the smaller region is preferred.

ConstPointerTo<PointerEventList> get_trail_log(void) const

Obtain the mouse trail log. This is a PointerEventList. Does not make a copy, therefore, this PointerEventList will be updated each time process_events gets called.

To use trail logging, you need to enable the generation of pointer events in the GraphicsWindowInputDevice and set the trail log duration in the MouseWatcher. Otherwise, the trail log will be empty.

PointerTo<GeomNode> get_trail_node(void)

Returns a GeomNode that represents the mouse trail. The intent is that you should reparent this GeomNode to Render2D, and then forget about it. The MouseWatcher will continually update the trail node. There is only one trail node, it does not create a new one each time you call get_trail_node.

This is not a particularly beautiful way to render a mouse trail. It is intended more for debugging purposes than for finished applications. Even so, It is suggested that you might want to apply a line thickness and antialias mode to the line — doing so makes it look a lot better.

std::string const &get_within_pattern(void) const

Returns the string that indicates how event names are generated when the mouse wanders over a region. This is different from enter_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.

std::string const &get_without_pattern(void) const

Returns the string that indicates how event names are generated when the mouse wanders out of a region. This is different from leave_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.

bool has_display_region(void) const

Returns true if the MouseWatcher has been constrained to a particular region of the screen via set_display_region(), or false otherwise. If this returns true, get_display_region() may be used to return the particular region.

bool has_geometry(void) const

Returns true if a software mouse pointer has been setup via set_geometry(), or false otherwise. See set_geometry().

bool has_inactivity_timeout(void) const

Returns true if an inactivity timeout has been set, false otherwise.

bool has_mouse(void) const

Returns true if the mouse is anywhere within the window, false otherwise. Also see is_mouse_open().

bool is_button_down(ButtonHandle button) const

Returns true if the indicated button is currently being held down, false otherwise.

bool is_mouse_open(void) const

Returns true if the mouse is within the window and not over some particular MouseWatcherRegion that is marked to suppress mouse events; that is, that the mouse is in open space within the window.

bool is_over_region(void) const
bool is_over_region(PN_stdfloat x, PN_stdfloat y) const
bool is_over_region(LPoint2 const &pos) const

Returns true if the mouse is over any rectangular region, false otherwise.

bool is_raw_button_down(ButtonHandle button) const

Similar to is_button_down(), but uses the raw button handle as reported by the raw- prefixed events, and is not subject to the inactivity timer.

New in version 1.11.0.

void note_activity(void)

Can be used in conjunction with the inactivity timeout to inform the MouseWatcher that the user has just performed some action which proves he/she is present. It may be necessary to call this for external events, such as joystick action, that the MouseWatcher might otherwise not know about. This will reset the current inactivity timer. When the inactivity timer reaches the length of time specified by set_inactivity_timeout(), with no keyboard or mouse activity and no calls to note_activity(), then any buttons held will be automatically released.

std::size_t num_trail_recent(void) const

This counter indicates how many events were added to the trail log this frame. The trail log is updated once per frame, during the process_events operation.

bool remove_group(MouseWatcherGroup *group)

Removes the indicated group from the set of extra groups associated with the MouseWatcher. Returns true if successful, or false if the group was already removed or was never added via add_group().

bool remove_region(MouseWatcherRegion *region)

Removes the indicated region from the group. Returns true if it was successfully removed, or false if it wasn’t there in the first place.

bool replace_group(MouseWatcherGroup *old_group, MouseWatcherGroup *new_group)

Atomically removes old_group from the MouseWatcher, and replaces it with new_group. Presumably old_group and new_group might have some regions in common; these are handled properly.

If old_group is not already present, simply adds new_group and returns false. Otherwise, removes old_group and adds new_group, and then returns true.

void set_button_down_pattern(std::string const &pattern)

Sets the pattern string that indicates how the event names are generated when a button is depressed. This is a string that may contain any of the following:

%r - the name of the region the mouse is over %b - the name of the button pressed.

The event name will be based on the in_pattern string specified here, with all occurrences of the above strings replaced with the corresponding values.

void set_button_repeat_pattern(std::string const &pattern)

Sets the pattern string that indicates how the event names are generated when a button is continuously held and generates keyrepeat “down” events. This is a string that may contain any of the following:

%r - the name of the region the mouse is over %b - the name of the button pressed.

The event name will be based on the in_pattern string specified here, with all occurrences of the above strings replaced with the corresponding values.

void set_button_up_pattern(std::string const &pattern)

Sets the pattern string that indicates how the event names are generated when a button is released. See set_button_down_pattern().

void set_display_region(DisplayRegion *dr)

Constrains the MouseWatcher to watching the mouse within a particular indicated region of the screen. DataNodes parented under the MouseWatcher will observe the mouse and keyboard events only when the mouse is within the indicated region, and the observed range will be from -1 .. 1 across the region.

Do not delete the DisplayRegion while it is owned by the MouseWatcher.

void set_enter_pattern(std::string const &pattern)

Sets the pattern string that indicates how the event names are generated when the mouse enters a region. This is different from within_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.

void set_extra_handler(EventHandler *eh)

As an optimization for the C++ Gui, an extra handler can be registered with a mouseWatcher so that events can be dealt with much sooner.

void set_frame(PN_stdfloat left, PN_stdfloat right, PN_stdfloat bottom, PN_stdfloat top)
void set_frame(LVecBase4 const &frame)

Sets the frame of the MouseWatcher. See the next flavor of this method for a more verbose explanation.

Sets the frame of the MouseWatcher. This determines the coordinate space in which the MouseWatcherRegions should be expected to live. Normally, this is left at -1, 1, -1, 1, which is the default setting, and matches the mouse coordinate range.

Whatever values you specify here indicate the shape of the full screen, and the MouseWatcherRegions will be given in coordinate space matching it. For instance, if you specify (0, 1, 0, 1), then a MouseWatcherRegion with the frame (0, 1, 0, .5) will cover the lower half of the screen.

void set_geometry(PandaNode *node)

Sets the node that will be transformed each frame by the mouse’s coordinates. It will also be hidden when the mouse goes outside the window. This can be used to implement a software mouse pointer for when a hardware (or system) mouse pointer is unavailable.

void set_inactivity_timeout(double timeout)

Sets an inactivity timeout on the mouse activity. When this timeout (in seconds) is exceeded with no keyboard or mouse activity, all currently-held buttons are automatically released. This is intended to help protect against people who inadvertently (or intentionally) leave a keyboard key stuck down and then wander away from the keyboard.

Also, when this timeout expires, the event specified by set_inactivity_timeout_event() will be generated.

void set_inactivity_timeout_event(std::string const &event)

Specifies the event string that will be generated when the inactivity timeout counter expires. See set_inactivity_timeout().

void set_leave_pattern(std::string const &pattern)

Sets the pattern string that indicates how the event names are generated when the mouse leaves a region. This is different from without_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.

void set_modifier_buttons(ModifierButtons const &mods)

Sets the buttons that should be monitored as modifier buttons for generating events to the MouseWatcherRegions.

void set_trail_log_duration(double duration)

If the duration is nonzero, causes the MouseWatcher to log the mouse’s trail. Events older than the specified duration are discarded. If the duration is zero, logging is disabled.

void set_within_pattern(std::string const &pattern)

Sets the pattern string that indicates how the event names are generated when the mouse wanders over a region. This is different from enter_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.

void set_without_pattern(std::string const &pattern)

Sets the pattern string that indicates how the event names are generated when the mouse wanders out of a region. This is different from leave_pattern, in that a mouse is only “entered” in the topmost region at a given time, while it might be “within” multiple nested regions.