[Xastir] Mouse actions vs modes

[James Ewen]

> Careful there... You're looking at left click only?  There's also
> left-drag.

I understand the difference. The left mouse button is indeed used, but the 
left click function while in the map area of the screen doesn't do a lot. 
Specifically when in CAD draw mode, why not use left click to SetCADPoint? 
The middle mouse button could be used to close the polygon.

In all other modes, middle click is ZoomOut. You could SetCADPoint with the 
left click and leave the ZoomToArea and ZoomOut functions where they are in 
the other modes. Which, of course leads me to another option. Draw-CAD mode 
could disappear if SetCADPoint was assigned to left click in Normal mode.

I haven't been around Xastir since the big bang, so I'm looking at things 
that many of you have seen evolve. I don't know the history behind the 
decisions. I'm simply wondering aloud about why things happen the way they 
do.

I find it to be extra work to have to change modes, to change the action of 
one button. In the *nix world, are modifier keys not used? In the Windows 
world, you could probably access the Draw-CAD items by CTRL-click, and 
perhaps the Measure items by SHIFT-click.

It's much faster for an experienced user to simply press CTRL and click 
rather than having to enable a menu item, and then click.

Also, is it a Cygwin artifact, or do you have to hold down the right mouse 
button and drag through the menu? Can the menu be set to stay with simply a 
right click?

> Come up with a better scheme and we might change it!  I don't think
> a great deal of thought went into the whole scheme of things.  It
> was built a piece at a time and things patched in to open mouse
> operations for the mode.

That's one of the main strengths and weaknesses of an open source 
multi-author project. Many things get done, but the overall scheme of things 
can be a bit disjointed.

I'm simply stating what I see from my perspective. Xastir is still my #1 
APRS client... Auuggghhhhh! I've been assimilated!

BTW, Xastir is touted as being multiplatform... all the *nix platforms, and 
Mac OSX... etc. I thought to myself "Okay, Windows is too far removed to be 
able to use the same source code". However, I ran into a video client that 
is open source, and compilable across *nix, Mac OSX, and Windows. 
www.videolan.org/vlc/

Can anyone explain to a dummy how that works? If it can be done for that 
program, would it be possible to create Xastir source code that could 
compile into a Windows native client?

Those poor Windows dependent saps really need to have access to the great 
features available in Xastir. Sometimes you can't drag the customer to you, 
sometimes you have to demean yourself and go to the customer.

James
VE6SRV