Detecting Mouse Out

Travisism

Hello,

Using the TouchEvent, I can detect when a user is hovering over something, but not hovering out. In another post ( http://forum.starling-framework.org/topic/mouse-events ) you mention the use of this:

// enable this code to see when you're hovering over the object
touch = event.getTouch(this, TouchPhase.HOVER);
alpha = touch ? 0.8 : 1.0;

However this does not work. It detects when its being hovered, but not when your mouse stops hovering it. It will change the alpha if you click on it, but that's not what I need. My specific code that I want:

var hoverTouch:Touch = e.getTouch(this, TouchPhase.HOVER);
Mouse.cursor = hoverTouch ? MouseCursor.BUTTON : MouseCursor.ARROW;

What I need is for buttons to show the standard MouseCursor.BUTTON cursor, rather than an arrow for everything. Otherwise, users get confused as to if something is clickable or not.. especially on dynamic, non standard interfaces.

So is there some other way to detect when a user stops hovering on a button? I really can't build a UI with no change in cursor when hovering on buttons.

Thanks!

Travisism

To make this post more clear, an example is:

var button:Button = Button(texture, "blah");

button.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH, onTouch);

private function onTouch(e:TouchEvent):void
{
    trace(e.getTouch(this, TouchPhase.HOVER) ? "Yay" : "Nay");
}

This will only trace "Yay". I will never receive the "Nay".

Daniel

This is how it will work:

private function onTouch(e:TouchEvent):void
{
    trace(e.getTouch(e.target as DisplayObject, TouchPhase.HOVER) ? "Yay" : "Nay");
}

(Note the different first argument of "getTouch".)

The reason is the following: when the hovering mouse leaves the bounds of an object, a touch event is dispatched one last time on that object (which is the button, thus "event.target as DisplayObject" or simply "button"), but without a corresponding touch object.

Thus, "e.getTouch(button, TouchPhase.HOVER" will return null, and "Nay" will be printed.

I hope that helps!

Travisism

Ah goodness I feel dumb haha. Thanks! You rock as always. Can't wait to get this game done, I think I'll be writing a starling tutorial on the things I learned that I feel the basic intro to starling tutorials/book don't go into.

Thanks again!

kod

On the side note however, Daniel, it wouldn't hurt to implement the standard set of events, the typical Mouse event collection, as not everyone here develops solely for mobile platforms and Mouse events are sort of a ... must. And these workarounds are a bit of a bummer really aren't they ? 😉

Daniel

I totally agree with you -- the "HOVER" phase was more an afterthought on the touch events I had implemented in Sparrow, and detecting a "mouse out" is really much more complicated than it should be. I'm thinking about alternatives! Maybe the classic Mouse events will come back some day *g*.

Daniel

OK, I've updated the functionality concerning the mouse -- I hope it's a start! =)

When you update to the latest GitHub version, buttons and sprites have a the new property "useHandCursor", which works just like in Flash. Hovering over a button will transform the cursor into a hand.

This is enabled by default on the button class and disabled on the Sprite class.

Furthermore, if you want to handle a classic "mouse out" event manually, there's now a new method in the TouchEvent class: "interactsWith(target:DisplayObject)".

When it returns true, the mouse cursor is either hovering over or touching the target. When it's false, the mouse has just been moved away from the object (hovering), or the button pressed over the object has just been released.

That should make it much simpler to create custom mouse logic.
The demo SWF on the Starling homepage already shows you the new hand cursor over buttons.

I'd be happy about any feedback on that feature!

Travisism

Daniel you rock! I'll give these all a try when I get in to the office tomorrow! I'll report back once everything is implemented.

Travisism

Sweet! Works great.

Interestingly though, I have it set so when I click a button, it removes the current scene and adds the next one, and in the next one I'm receiving a blank TouchEvent -- After being added to stage, I have this next scene add an event listener for TouchEvent.TOUCH and in the handler it was showing no touches in e.getTouches(this).

Don't know if this related or not though. I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks again!

kod

Hey Daniel ! Thanks for listening to community, we appreciate that man! While I haven't yet tried out the new stuff, I will eventually. Just wanted to say thanks!

kod

I just tried the new approach and I must say it works a treat, definitely a big improvement! Highly appreciated Daniel, thanks!

Daniel

Thanks for the great feedback, guys! I'm happy to hear that my efforts are appreciated! 🙂