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Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Spring Sensitive (Mode)

Reference

Description

A control is in spring-sensitive mode if moving or placing the pointer within the control over a cascading choice displays its associated cascaded control. Menus are often spring sensitive.

When to Use

Recommended
Use spring-sensitive mode when you want the user to be able to see the contents of a number of different cascaded controls easily.

Guidelines

Required
When a spring-loaded control becomes spring sensitive, make its parent also spring sensitive if it can be (for example, if it is spring-loaded, a tear-off menu, or a menu bar).

Required
When a control is spring sensitive, have the active cursor track the pointer when it is within the control (for example, as if an implicit focus policy were in force within the control).

Required
If a control may be spring sensitive, but is not currently spring sensitive, then do not have the active cursor track the pointer when it is within the control (for example, as if an explicit focus policy were in force within the control).

Required
When the user presses (but does not click) a mouse button to display a spring-loaded control, make it spring sensitive.

Required
When the user presses the SELECT button on a spring-loaded control, make the control spring sensitive.

Required
When the user presses the SELECT button on a menu, make the menu spring sensitive.

Required
When the user presses the MENU button on a pop-up menu or any descendant menu, make that menu spring sensitive.

Recommended
When the user presses the MENU button on a menu, make the menu spring sensitive.

Required
If a cascaded control is spring sensitive and the user moves or places the pointer to the cascaded choice associated with it, then the cascaded control should remain displayed and spring sensitive.

Required
If a cascaded control is displayed and the user moves or places the pointer on an ancestor spring-sensitive control other than on the cascading choice associated with the cascaded control, then remove the cascaded control.

Required
A spring-sensitive control in a spring-loaded system should remain displayed while the user moves the pointer outside the system with a mouse button pressed.

Required
When the user releases the SELECT button over a noncascading choice in a spring-sensitive control, activate or toggle that choice.

Recommended
When the user releases the MENU button over a noncascading choice in a spring-sensitive menu, activate or toggle that choice.

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see the Cascading (Choice Type), Choice, Input Focus, and Spring-Loaded (Control Type) reference pages.

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