Extensible input handling in the subArctic toolkit

ABSTRACT

The subArctic user interface toolkit has extensibility as one of its central goals. It seeks not only to supply a powerful library of reusable interactive objects, but also make it easy to create new, unusual, and highly customized interactions tailored to the needs of particular interfaces or task domains. A central part of this extensibility is the input model used by the toolkit. The subArctic input model provides standard reusable components that implement many typical input handling patterns for the programmer, allows inputs to be handled in very flexible ways, and allows the details of how inputs are handled to be modified to meet custom needs. This paper will consider the structure and operation of the subArctic input handling mechanism. It will demonstrate the flexibility of the system through a series of examples, illustrating techniques that it enables - many of which would be very difficult to implement in most toolkits.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: User interfaces

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures

  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

Keywords:
GUI toolkits, event handling, interaction techniques