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Pointers

This chapter discusses the standard pointers available in Mac OS X and provides information on implementing your own pointers. The standard pointers are designed to provide feedback to users. To maintain a consistent user experience, it is important that you use them only for their intended purpose.

Each pointer has a hot spot‚Äîthe portion of the pointer that must be positioned over a screen object before mouse clicks or finger taps have an effect on the object. The hot spot should be intuitive, such as the tip of an arrow pointer or the center point of a crosshair. Screen objects have a hot zone‚Äîthe area that the pointer‚Äôs hot spot must be within in order for clicks to have an effect.

Standard Pointers

Table 12-1 shows the standard pointers and explains when to use each. The ‚ÄúAPI information‚Äù column gives the constants to implement them in Cocoa or Carbon.

**Table 12-1** Standard pointers in Mac OS X
Pointer	Use	API information
	Menu bar, desktop, scroll bar, resize control, title bar, close button, zoom button, minimize button, other controls.	Carbon: `kThemeArrowCursor` Cocoa:`arrowCursor`
	Indicates the user can open a contextual menu for an item. Shown when the user presses the Control key while the pointer is over an object with a contextual menu.	Carbon:`kThemeContextualMenuArrowCursor` Cocoa: Not available
	Indicates the drag destination will have an alias for the original object (the original object will not be moved).	Carbon:`kThemeAliasArrowCursor` Cocoa: Not available
	Indicates that the proxy object being dragged will go away, without deleting the original object, if the mouse button is released. Used only for proxy objects.	Carbon:`kThemePoofCursor` Cocoa:`disappearingItemCursor`
	Indicates that the drag destination will have a copy of the original object (the original object will not be moved).	Carbon:`kThemeCopyArrowCursor` Cocoa: Not available
	Indicates an invalid drag destination.	Carbon:`kThemeNotAllowedCursor` Cocoa: Not available
	Selecting and inserting text.	Carbon:`kThemeIBeamCursor` Cocoa:`IBeamCursor`
	Precise rectangular selection, especially useful for graphics objects.	Carbon:`kThemeCrossCursor` Cocoa:`crosshairCursor`
	URL links.	Carbon:`kThemePointingHandCursor` Cocoa:`pointingHandCursor`
	Indicates that an item can be manipulated within its containing view.	Carbon:`kThemeOpenHandCursor` Cocoa:`openHandCursor`
	Pushing, sliding, or adjusting an object within a containing view.	Carbon:`kThemeClosedHandCursor` Cocoa:`closedHandCursor`
	Moving or resizing an object, usually a splitter, to the left. Use when the user can move the object only in the indicated direction.	Carbon:`kThemeResizeLeftCursor` Cocoa:`resizeLeftCursor`
	Moving or resizing an object, usually a splitter, to the right. Use when the user can move the object only in the indicated direction.	Carbon:`kThemeResizeRightCursor` Cocoa:`resizeRightCursor`
	Moving or resizing an object, usually a splitter, to the left or the right.	Carbon:`kThemeResizeLeftRightCursor` Cocoa:`resizeLeftRightCursor`
	Moving or resizing an object, usually a splitter, upward. Use when the user can move the object only in the indicated direction.	Carbon:`kThemeResizeUpCursor` Cocoa:`resizeUpCursor`
	Moving or resizing an object, usually a splitter, downward. Use when the user can move the object only in the indicated direction.	Carbon:`kThemeResizeDownCursor` Cocoa:`resizeDownCursor`
	Moving or resizing an object, usually a pane splitter, either upward or downward.	Carbon:`kThemeResizeUpDownCursor` Cocoa:`resizeUpDownCursor`

The spinning wait cursor (see Figure 12-1) is displayed automatically by the window server when an application cannot handle all of the events it receives. If an application does not respond for about 2 to 4 seconds, the spinning wait cursor appears. You should try to avoid situations in your application in which the spinning wait cursor will be displayed. The Spin Control application provided with Xcode can help you eliminate code that is causing this cursor.

Figure 12-1 Spinning wait cursor

Designing Your Own Pointers

Mac OS X supports 32-bit RGBA pointers in sizes up to 64 x 64 pixels. If you need a pointer larger than that, you can implement it as a window that tracks with the pointer.

Before you design your own pointer, ask yourself if it is going to add value to the user interface. Recognize that by doing so you are introducing a new, potentially confusing user interface element. If you decide you really need a new pointer, keep the following in mind:

You need to indicate where the hot spot of the pointer is.
Your pointers need to be able to work on older hardware that may not provide hardware video acceleration.
If you create a custom version of a standard pointer, you need to also create new versions of related pointers. For example, if you create a larger arrow pointer you need to also create custom pointers for copy, move, alias, poof, and so forth.

If creating a custom pointer is necessary, both Cocoa and Carbon applications should use NSCursor methods to do so.

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Last updated: 2009-08-20

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