The TrackBall::Update function method updates the state of the TrackBall object based on the information contained in the input widget event structure. The return value is nonzero if a transformation matrix is calculated as a result of the event, or zero otherwise.
Syntax
Result = Obj->[TrackBall::]Update( sEvent [, MOUSE={1 | 2 | 4}] [, TRANSFORM=variable] [, /TRANSLATE] )
Arguments
sEvent
The widget event structure.
Keywords
MOUSE
Set this keyword to an integer value to indicate which mouse button to honor for trackball events. Valid values include:
- 1 = Left mouse button (the default)
- 2 = Middle mouse button
- 4 = Right mouse button
TRANSFORM
Set this keyword to a named variable that will contain a 4 x 4 element floating-point array if a new transformations matrix is calculated as a result of the widget event.
TRANSLATE
Set this keyword to indicate that the trackball movement should be constrained to translation in the X-Y plane rather than rotation about an axis.
Example
The example code below provides a skeleton for a widget-based application that uses the TrackBall object to interactively change the orientation of graphics.
Create a trackball centered on a 512x512 pixel drawable area, and a view containing the model to be manipulated:
xdim = 512
ydim = 512
wBase = WIDGET_BASE()
wDraw = WIDGET_DRAW(wBase, XSIZE=xdim, YSIZE=ydim, $
GRAPHICS_LEVEL=2, /BUTTON_EVENTS, $
/MOTION_EVENTS, /EXPOSE_EVENTS, RETAIN=0 )
WIDGET_CONTROL, wBase, /REALIZE
WIDGET_CONTROL, wDraw, GET_VALUE=oWindow
oTrackball = OBJ_NEW('Trackball', [xdim/2.,ydim/2.], xdim/2.)
oView = OBJ_NEW('IDLgrView')
oModel = OBJ_NEW('IDLgrModel')
oView->Add, oModel
XMANAGER, 'TrackEx', wBase
You must handle the trackball updates in the widget event-handling code. As the trackball transformation changes, update the transformation for the model object, and redraw the view:
PRO TrackEx_Event, sEvent
...
bHaveXform = oTrackball->Update( sEvent, TRANSFORM=TrackXform )
IF (bHaveXform) THEN BEGIN
oModel->GetProperty, TRANSFORM=ModelXform
oModel->SetProperty, TRANSFORM=ModelXform # TrackXform
oWindow->Draw, oView
ENDIF
...
END
For a complete example, see the file surf_track.pro, located in the examples/doc/objects subdirectory of the IDL distribution. Run the example procedure by entering surf_track at the IDL command prompt or view the file in an IDL Editor window by entering .EDIT surf_track.pro.
The SURF_TRACK procedure uses IDL widgets to create a graphical user interface to an object tree, creates a surface object from user-specified data (or from default data, if none is specified), and places the surface object in an IDL draw widget. The SURF_TRACK interface allows the user to specify several attributes of the object hierarchy via pulldown menus.
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