Apparatus and method for chaining objects in a pointer drag path
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsRichard Dettinger, Daniel Kolz, Shannon Wenzel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for a graphical user interface allow performing operations simply by dragging a first object to touch a second object. The selection of the first object places a corresponding first object in a chain of objects. When the selected first object touches a second object, a corresponding second object is added to the chain of objects. This process may continue for the selection of many objects by merely touching each object with the selected first object, which causes a corresponding object to be added to the chain of objects. The chain of objects may then be processed as an atomic group of operations that may be rolled back if any of the operations in the group fail.
Claims32
An apparatus comprising:
- at least one processor;
- a memory coupled to the at least one processor;
- and
- a pointer drag path chaining mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the pointer drag path chaining mechanism comprising a pointer that allows selecting a first object in a graphical user interface, the selection of the first object causing the pointer drag path mechanism to place a first corresponding object in a chain of objects, wherein the pointer further allows dragging the selected first object to touch a second object, the touching of the second object causing the pointer drag path mechanism to place a second corresponding object in the chain of objects.
A method for a user to perform a function using a graphical user interface, the method comprising the steps of:
- selecting a first object;
- as a result of selecting the first object, placing a first corresponding object in a chain of objects;
- dragging the selected first object to touch a second object;
- and
- as a result of the selected first object touching the second object, placing a second corresponding object in the chain of objects.
A method for using a graphical user interface, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a pointer pickup event in the graphical user interface by selecting a first object in the graphical user interface using the pointer, the pointer pickup event causing a first corresponding object to be stored in a chain of objects;
- dragging the selected first object;
- touching a second object in the graphical user interface with the selected first object while dragging the selected first object, thereby generating a pointer chain event in the graphical user interface that causes a second corresponding object to be stored in the chain of objects.
A program product comprising:
- a pointer drag path chaining mechanism comprising a pointer that allows selecting a first object in a graphical user interface, the selection of the first object causing the pointer drag path chaining mechanism to place a first corresponding object in a chain of objects, wherein the pointer further allows dragging the selected first object to touch a second object, the touching of the second object causing the pointer drag path chaining mechanism to place a second corresponding object in the chain of objects;
- and
- computer-readable signal bearing media bearing the pointer drag path chaining mechanism.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.