Re: Custom Views and Dragging ... [ with attitude ]
Re: Custom Views and Dragging ... [ with attitude ]
- Subject: Re: Custom Views and Dragging ... [ with attitude ]
- From: J Nozzi <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 22:35:01 -0400
<ANGRY RANT>
First, let me say I'm a bit annoyed by the responses some people
receive on this list when they ask a valid question. Allan, I'm not
specifically attacking you, but your response wasn't particularly
helpful. See below.
Newbies posting "how do I start XCode" questions notwithstanding,
valid questions should not be met with brain-dead RTFM-like responses -
especially when someone states up-front that he or she DID RTFM and to
please not respond with RTFM ...
What gets me even angrier is when someone asks a valid question and
is met with "What? Why would you want to do this? Why? MY GOD, WHY?!"
Never mind why! Unless the person is clearly heading down the wrong
path, answer the question or leave the reply button alone. Just because
someone's doing something differently doesn't mean you'd never want to
do it. Apple frequently walks right through their own guidelines to
achieve the next 'wow' interface. Unless what a person proposes is
completely unworkable or totally preposterous, give them the benefit of
doubt and try to answer the question ... or leave it alone.
Finally, I end this rant with the following point: If people
understood the documentation, there would be no need for books and
discussion forums, now would there? This is a forum for questions, so
please drop the superior attitude and answer them the best you can or
point them to better resources.
</ANGRY RANT>
<PUBLIC APOLOGY>
My sincere apologies to those of you who consistently take the time
to help even the most brain-dead of us when we're way off course. You
are the reason this mailing list is a valuable resource. I don't claim
to be perfect - just ask my other half - but I know I'm not the only
one who gets annoyed by unhelpful responses. Sorry to bother you with
THIS. ;-) I *know* I'm going to catch flack for this, but if I have to
be the jerk to state it, so be it.
</PUBLIC APOLOGY>
On Apr 21, 2004, at 8:33 PM, Allan Odgaard wrote:
See
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/DrawViews/
index.html
As I specifically stated in my original post, I have read this
several times over. I'm clearly missing a concept or two. I admit it's
probably quite immediately obvious to 90% of those who've read it, but
it's just not clicking. I'll restate: Would you know of any *other*
resources that further explain this?
- How to *properly* make a custom NSView subclass draggable ONLY
within the bounds of a superview (I'm using NSContainsRect([superView
bounds], rect) as a hit test).
- How to drag and drop a custom view between two different
superviews (okay, this one is probably well-explained, I just don't
get it).
Huh??? When do you need to do these things? and why? Normally the user
drags around a simple image, it could depict some custom view, but it
is not the actual view you drag around.
Think of iMovie. First, you'd want to drag a custom view (they call
it a 'slide') representing a clip to the timeline track. While dragging
to position a clip within the track, it stays within the track (doesn't
move vertically) until the pointer is well away from the track, then it
becomes a 'slide' again. It doesn't make sense to allow it to be
positioned on top of the scrubber or the viewer ... That is the most
clear-cut example of when and why you'd need to do these things. I
don't want to do exactly this, but iMovie does combine all these
individual behaviors in one app - an Apple app at that.
As to your answer about dragging, I suppose that's exactly what I'd
need to do to accomplish the effect referenced in the second question
above. When reading the documentation, I for some reason thought that
was just 'one way' of doing it, but thought you'd actually physically
move the custom view. Perhaps that is an incorrect assumption and I
thank you for pointing out that obvious mistake on my part. Seriously.
;-)
Actually using iMovie and playing with it, I can see that the
original view remains in the clip palette until it's dropped on the
timeline, then it is 'moved'. But now what about the
confining-to-the-timeline question? The method I'm using (the
NSContainsRect() hit test thing) doesn't seem right.
Again, I'd REALLY appreciate someone directing me to further reading
on all this. At *least* a different perspective. I can't stress enough
how things can be hard to grasp for some people until it's explained a
little differently ...
Regards,
- J
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.