Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Document functions are, for instance, adding
or removing one page to the composed document,
undoing the last action, saving or loading a docu-
ment, and so forth. All these actions can be done
using the pen, which offers an alternative to clas-
sical menu and button-based interaction.
Element functions are, for instance, selecting
graphical symbols, moving them to another part
of the document, deleting them, copying, cutting
or pasting them, etc. For that purpose, every ele-
ment of the document has a selection dot, which
is a small red anchor point (which it is possible
to make disappear, as presented in some figures
of this chapter). In order to select an element, the
user just has to circle its selection dot. This way,
it is not necessary to draw a stroke as big as the
element. Several elements can be selected or other
elements can be added to the selection in the same
manner. When an element is selected, the docu-
ment elements associated to it are also selected;
they actually correspond to the elements which
have been drawn in the different contexts it has
created. Once selected, elements can be moved to
another part of the document by pointing to one of
them and moving the pen to the appropriate place.
It is also possible to move an element directly by
pointing at its selection dot and moving the pen
(by drag and drop). Moreover, selected elements
can be copied or cut, and then pasted to another
part of the document. To delete an element, the
user can, for instance, move it outside the edit-
ing window. These mechanisms are illustrated
by Figure 11: on the left, the user draws a stroke
around the selection dot of a filled-note head; in
the middle, the head and its associated elements
(i.e., its stem and its flat) are selected, and the
user moves them with the pen; on the right, he
raises the pen to drop the elements. We would
like to notice that the action of moving elements
in the document requires the exploitation of the
knowledge in the formalism, in order to check if
the arrival position of the element is consistent
with the rules associated to the document. Thus,
the analysis process presented previously is
also exploited for the moving of elements of the
document.
Figure 12. Screenshots of two pen-based composition and editing systems designed thanks to the pre-
sented methodology
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