Is it possible to "show" a mouse cursor in Android ?

[Wing]

When running the Android on netbook (such as EeePC), there is no
touch screen, so it would be better to have a "mouse cursor". Is there
any plan for that ?

[Jean-Baptiste Queru]

I'm not aware of any such plans from the Google side. If nobody else
chimes in saying that they're working on it, this is the right place
to discuss your design.

JBQ

--
Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru
Android Engineer, Google.

[FranckLefevre]

Hi Wing,

FYI it is possible to use a touch screen with a x86 port of Android
indeed.

Here's an interesting example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chSyS5uZaO8

Android is specifically designed to be used from a touch screen and
that's an excellent approach IMHO because one should not consider that
a "touch based user experience" is compatible with the "mouse based
user experience". Event when the mouse is frequently used to emulate
the touch, the reverse induces a poor usage of the touch. Try to use a
legacy desktop system with a touchScreen to feel what I mean. :-(
I suppose that this is the reason why the Android team decided to
consider mouse moves like cursor moves, making the mouse unusable to
emulate the touch.


Regards.


Franck

On Feb 10, 2:18 pm, Jean-Baptiste Queru <j...@android.com> wrote:
> I'm not aware of any such plans from the Google side. If nobody else
> chimes in saying that they're working on it, this is the right place
> to discuss your design.
>
> JBQ
>

[johnny]

I tried myself to use the touch to simulate the mouse. It's not good.
But I don't understand what you mean by:

"I suppose that this is the reason why the Android team decided to
consider mouse moves like cursor moves, making the mouse unusable to
emulate the touch. "

IMHO, it should be acceptable to use the mouse to simulate the touch.
Look at the emulator of Android, it uses the mouse to simulate the
touch. For a real device, I think the question is how to show the
cursor of the mouse, so that when user clicking the mouse, he knows
where he clicks.

Regards,
Johnny

[Jerry]

Dear Johnny,

Agree.
We are porting Android onto netbook. It maybe with 7"~10.1" non-touch
scheen, so support cursor point of mouse should be MUST, How to show
the cursor point of the mouse, let use know where he clicks after he
clicking the mouse is very critical on netbook.

Let's exchange experence later.

Regards,
Jerry

On 2月11日, 上午9時55分, johnny <johnny...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I tried myself to use the touch to simulate themouse. It's not good.

> But I don't understand what you mean by:
>
> "I suppose that this is the reason why theAndroidteam decided to

> considermousemoves likecursormoves, making themouseunusable to
> emulate the touch. "
>
> IMHO, it should be acceptable to use themouseto simulate the touch.
> Look at the emulator ofAndroid, it uses themouseto simulate the
> touch. For a real device, I think the question is how toshowthecursorof themouse, so that when user clicking themouse, he knows

> where he clicks.
>
> Regards,
> Johnny
>
> On Feb 10, 9:42 pm, FranckLefevre <flas...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi Wing,
>

> > FYI it ispossibleto use a touch screen with a x86 port ofAndroid

> > indeed.
>
> > Here's an interesting example :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chSyS5uZaO8
>

> >Androidis specifically designed to be used from a touch screen and

> > that's an excellent approach IMHO because one should not consider that
> > a "touch based user experience" is compatible with the "mousebased

> > user experience". Event when themouseis frequently used to emulate

> > the touch, the reverse induces a poor usage of the touch. Try to use a
> > legacy desktop system with a touchScreen to feel what I mean. :-(
> > I suppose that this is the reason why theAndroidteam decided to

> > considermousemoves likecursormoves, making themouseunusable to

> > emulate the touch.
>
> > Regards.
>
> > Franck
>
> > On Feb 10, 2:18 pm, Jean-Baptiste Queru <j...@android.com> wrote:
>
> > > I'm not aware of any such plans from the Google side. If nobody else
> > > chimes in saying that they're working on it, this is the right place
> > > to discuss your design.
>
> > > JBQ
>
> > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 5:11 AM, Wing <winghui...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

> > > > When running theAndroidon netbook (such as EeePC), there is no
> > > > touch screen, so it would be better to have a "mousecursor". Is there

> > > > any plan for that ?
>
> > > --
> > > Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru

> > >AndroidEngineer, Google.- 隱藏被引用文字 -
>
> - 顯示被引用文字 -

[mvniekerk]

Just a mind burp, but here goes:

1) Make an extra "mouse surface" for SurfaceFlinger and force
SurfaceFlinger to render that surface above all other surfaces.
2) The inputevent server must catch the movement of the mouse, and a
server (with access to this SurfaceFlinger surface and high priority)
must draw the cursor on the right place
3) All clicks, drag-click must be interpreted as a touch event and re-
fed into the inputevent server or to a pseudo touch driver in the
kernel (that will refeed that to the input server)

And thats that. Nr 1 will be the duzi though...

[Dianne Hackborn]

Actually #1 is fairly simple -- do this in the window manager, where it can create a surface it knows is above all others, and move it based on the input event stream going through it.

That said, the Android UI is really not designed to be controlled with a mouse-like mechanism, as is easy to use when using the emulator with a mouse.

--
Dianne Hackborn
Android framework engineer
hac...@android.com

Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to provide private support.  All such questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and answer them.

[anil singh]

It seems to be easy. But for mouse movement we have to render all the layer on screen frequently, Which will overhead the Surface flinger as well as another layer.

--

Anil