Re: Copy-Paste between filemanager and document editor

[Johan Hanson <johan obsession se>]

Liam Quin wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Aug 21, 2000 at 08:00:51PM -0600, Dylan Griffiths wrote:
> > > What Microsoft did right there, and most users ignore, is make the drag-icon
> > > different based on the default operation.
>
> This came from the open look ui specification, and before that I suspect
> the Xerox Star.

Xerox Star did not have dragging.
It had <Click icon> + <Keypress> + <Click target>

> Unfortunately, by the time you are dragging, if you are moving, it's
> too late to change your mind.  This destroy the principle of safe
> experimentation.
> 
> The Sun implementation had a STOP key you could press to abort a drag
> once you'd started it, but most people simply let go wherever they happen
> to be.

I remember AmigaOS aborted drags if your pressed the second mouse button
while holding down the first.
I believe it also aborted button presses this way.
Actually, the right mouse button was hardwired to the menu system
and the menu system took over, effectively aborting the drag
 - but it worked! It was consistent behaviour.

I have a wacky idea for dragging. What about dragging out a piece of
string/yarn/cable from the source to the icon when you are moving it.
When you drop the icon, the string would not disappear instantly.
If you would have moved or copied a file it would retract at the rate of
progress of the operation. A move would have an icon only at the target
while a copy would have icons at both the source and at the target.
If you would have created a link, the string would pulsate towards the
direction of the source for a while and then fade away.

The point would be that both source and destination would be visible.
You would see the source and target for a while after the operation
had been completed.

The idea is not new, it is from NextStep which used it for visualizing
drag'n drop-programming in its "Interface Builder" - the grandfather
of all "visual" development environments.
It used a horizonal and a vertical line between the source and the mouse
- like dragging an open selection box.

Too bad it is so difficult to implement non-rectangular lines across
half the screen under X. XORing is easy if you can have synchronous
control, but that would be difficult.

/ Johan
 -- johan@tiq.com -- http://www.obsession.se/johan/ --