BBPE - MKI User Interface

The MKI - Mouse/Keyboard Interface - is a by-product of the Block Building Programming Project. This Interface is crucial for fast and comfortable design of BB charts. It has a few unique features.

The interface integrates three sources of commands: the keyboard, mouse and files. Commands from the keyboard can be mixed with commands from the mouse. There is only one simple restriction when mixing the two: each command should be completed with the same device as it was started with. The acceptable commands are listed in the menus displayed on the first three lines of the screen.

Sequences of commands can be stored in files and replayed later - this feature is used for demonstrations. The commands from a demo-file can be interlaced with the commands from the keyboard, but not from the mouse. The demonstration is sequenced by the commands from the selected demo-file. The progress of the demonstration can be controlled by the keyboard commands - they are displayed in the menu on the bottom line of the screen.

The BBPE demos are incrementally commented animations. Each animation step is explained by a brief comment displayed in a special pane just above the bottom line of the screen.

The interface is based on menus. Each menu is a short help text which reminds the user of a certain group of commands. The title of a menu is the commands' group name. The rest of the menu consists of a list of items. Each menu item contains:

a command name - to express the meaning of the command,
a key command - how to enter the command from the keyboard,
a mouse command - how to enter the command by the mouse.

A keyboard command is expressed by the name of the key, a combination of the keys or by the key letter which is capitalized in the command name.

A mouse command is expressed by a pair of the symbols which show what button(s) should be pressed and how:

click = one rapid press and release of a mouse button,
double-click = two clicks in a rapid succession,
drag = holding a button down while moving the mouse.

Only the two basic buttons are read, regardless of the used mouse/pointing device. It takes approximately 1/4 of a second, from the very beginning of a button press, to recognize a mouse command. The following mouse commands are recognized:

releasing of both buttons,
left click, right click, simultaneous click,
left double-click, right double-click,
left drag, right drag.

All mouse commands, including the drag commands, may or may not have their keyboard counterparts, and vice versa. The mouse commands can be dynamically reassigned to their keyboard counterparts.

There is one common cursor controlled by the cursor keys and mouse. The cursor is a non-blinking rectangle which swaps the foreground color and the background color at the position where it is located.

There are two sorts of menus: selection menus and command menus. The BBPE menus are line oriented, there is no pull down menu.

The selection menus can be fixed or variable. The fixed menus are always present on the screen and their contents never vary - they are located on the first line of the screen. The variable menus can change, nest and unnest - they are located on the second line of the screen.

The command menus show the current list of commands which are accepted at the position pointed to by the cursor - they are located on the third line of the screen. A command from the current command menu can be entered either from the keyboard or by the mouse. The command menus are (almost) always present context menus.

There are three methods for selecting an item from a selection menu:

By command - After locating the cursor on a selection item, the item is immediately highlighted, and the command menu shows the commands usable for selection. A pointed to menu item can be selected either by a key command or by a mouse command.
By direct selection - Any selection menu item can be selected directly by marked key(s). The direct selection has the same effect as pointing to the item with the cursor and using the "execute" key command.
By shortcut selection - This method simplifies the selection of frequently used items. It has the same effect as going to the menu containing the desired item, entering the direct selection, and returning to the original menu.

Selections by command depend on the cursor position, and can be done by the keyboard or by the mouse. The direct and shortcut selections are independent of the cursor position, and can be done by the keyboard only. All the three methods can be combined.

More about the MKI user interface can be seen in the following BBPE presentations:

INTRFACE, EXCEPTNS, FILES, TINYEDIT and optionally CONFIG.

They explain exception handling, files selection, string editing and BBPE customization. The list of .BBP presentations is in the BBPE Express Guide.

Note:
Any part or motif, which is unique to the BB Programming, its Environment or its Interface, may not be used in any other software product without the prior written consent of the author. If you have an interest in BBP or MKI, please contact us by e-mail.