Subject: Re: Cursor as its own entity and display elements relations
From: Martin Sevior (msevior@mccubbin.ph.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Sun May 14 2000 - 07:05:34 CDT
On Sat, 13 May 2000, Mike Nordell wrote:
> I've made some progress regarding the "cursor is its own entity that
> knows where it is, and how it should go .eg. 'up' ", but progress is a
> little slow right now. It's ... "interesting" to have to work in "a few"
> different coordinate systems at once (currently PT_DocPosition, display
> x/y and fp_Line+fp_Run+run offset, but I think PT_BlockOffset and line +
> display x will be needed). Which brings me to the question.
>
HI Mike,
I'm very glad you are doing this. I've many hours trying to sort
out all the problems with sizing and placing the cursor based on the
current algorithm, which frankly sucks. Even after all that work the
cursor size and position does not always reflect the current input state.
I also decided that the cursor should size and position itself based on
where it is in the text rather than where it is on the screen.
I'm very glad that you are working on this! It would be great to get this
to the "Just Working" state. It is very disconcerting to press the
"Superscript" button and see nothing happen.
> Do we, or do we plan, to support text that flows around "frames" (e.g. a
> picture in the middle of the text). Currenlty everything regarding layout
> (display) is AFAIK based on the strictly linear relationship
> page->column->line->run, where an inserted e.g. picture gets placed on
> its own fp_Line. If this is the rock-hard (display) relationship, I think
> the class I'm working on will fit nicely. If not...
To my knowledge we do not currently support text flowing around pictures
or frames. I would really like this feature because I could put my letter
head in abiword. I believe that what we do now is just as you say. The
picture gets inserted into its own (potentially) very high fp_Line. No
other text can be placed below this. I guess there is no chance to
implement sub-frames for text or pitcure before version 1.0 - but once
again it is an important feature. Without it, I can't put my letter head
into Abiword.
>
> The metaphor I use for cursor/insert-point position right now is
> internally based on that it knows what fp_Line it's on, it knows what
> fp_Run in that line its on, and it is to know what "character" offset in
> that fp_Run it's on. "StickyX" is of course based on screen x-coord. It
> might be that it should also know what column it's currently in, but
> that's probably a later issue.
>
That seems reasonable. Good luck. I look forward to having the cursor size
and position itself instantly to change in input styles.
Cheers
Martin
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