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GestureEvent Class Reference

Inherits from
UIEvent
Availability
Available in iPhone OS 2.0 and later.
Companion guide

Overview

The GestureEvent class encapsulates information about a multi-touch gesture.

GestureEvent objects are high-level events that encapsulate the low-level TouchEvent objects. Both GestureEvent and TouchEvent events are sent during a multi-touch sequence. Gesture events contain scaling and rotation information allowing gestures to be combined, if supported by the platform. If not supported, one gesture ends before another starts. Listen for GestureEvent events if you want to respond to gestures only, not process the low-level TouchEvent objects.

The different types of GestureEvent objects that can occur are:

gesturestart

Sent when two or more fingers touch the surface.

gesturechange

Sent when fingers are moved during a gesture.

gestureend

Sent when the gesture ends (when there are 1 or 0 fingers touching the surface).

For example, for a two finger multi-touch gesture, the events occur in the following sequence:

  1. touchstart for finger 1. Sent when the first finger touches the surface.

  2. gesturestart. Sent when the second finger touches the surface.

  3. touchstart for finger 2. Sent immediately after gesturestart when the second finger touches the surface.

  4. gesturechange for current gesture. Sent when both fingers move while still touching the surface.

  5. gestureend. Sent when the second finger lifts from the surface.

  6. touchend for finger 2. Sent immediately after gestureend when the second finger lifts from the surface.

  7. touchend for finger 1. Sent when the first finger lifts from the surface.

See TouchEvent Class Reference if you want to process just low-level TouchEvent objects.

Tasks

Accessing Properties

Initializing

Properties

altKey

If true, the alt key is pressed; otherwise, it is not. If there is no keyboard, this value is false.

readonly attribute boolean altKey;
Availability

ctrlKey

If true, the control key is pressed; otherwise, it is not. If there is no keyboard, this value is false.

readonly attribute boolean ctrlKey;
Availability

metaKey

If true, the meta key is pressed; otherwise, it is not. If there is no keyboard, this value is false.

readonly attribute boolean metaKey;
Availability

rotation

The delta rotation since the start of an event, in degrees, where clockwise is positive and counter-clockwise is negative. The initial value is 0.0.

readonly attribute float rotation;
Availability

scale

The distance between two fingers since the start of an event, as a multiplier of the initial distance. The initial value is 1.0. If less than 1.0, the gesture is pinch close (to zoom out). If greater than 1.0, the gesture is pinch open (to zoom in).

readonly attribute float scale;
Availability

shiftKey

If true, the Shift key is pressed; otherwise, it is not. If there is no keyboard, this value is false.

readonly attribute boolean shiftKey;
Availability

target

The target of this gesture.

readonly attribute EventTarget target;
Availability

Methods

initGestureEvent

Initializes a newly created GestureEvent object.

void initGestureEvent( in DOMString type, in boolean canBubble, in boolean cancelable, in DOMWindow view, in long detail, in long screenX, in long screenY, in long clientX, in long clientY, in boolean ctrlKey, in boolean altKey, in boolean shiftKey, in boolean metaKey, in EventTarget target, in float scale, in float rotation);

Parameters
type

The type of event that occurred.

canBubble

Indicates whether an event can bubble. If true, the event can bubble; otherwise, it cannot.

cancelable

Indicates whether an event can have its default action prevented. If true, the default action can be prevented; otherwise, it cannot.

view

The view (DOM window) where the event occurred.

detail

Specifies some detail information about the event depending on the type of event.

screenX

The x-coordinate of the event’s location in screen coordinates.

screenY

The y-coordinate of the event’s location in screen coordinates.

clientX

The x-coordinate of the event’s location relative to the window's viewport.

clientY

The y-coordinate of the event’s location relative to the window's viewport.

ctrlKey

If true, the control key is pressed; otherwise, it is not.

altKey

If true, the alt key is pressed; otherwise, it is not.

shiftKey

If true, the Shift key is pressed; otherwise, it is not.

metaKey

If true, the meta key is pressed; otherwise, it is not.

target

The target of this gesture.

scale

The distance between two fingers since the start of an event as a multiplier of the initial distance. The initial value is 1.0. If less than 1.0, the gesture is pinch close (to zoom out). If greater than 1.0, the gesture is pinch open (to zoom in).

rotation

The delta rotation since the start of an event, in degrees, where clockwise is positive and counter-clockwise is negative. The initial value is 0.0.

Discussion

Use this method to programmatically create a GestureEvent object.

Availability
  • Available in iPhone OS 2.0 and later.



Last updated: 2010-02-24

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