Kbase P20342: Does Progress work with touch screens?
| Autor |
Progress Software Corporation - Progress |
| Acesso |
Público |
| Publicação |
8/21/2003 |
|
Status: Unverified
GOAL:
Does Progress work with touch screens?
FIX:
Progress does work with touch screens as the screens in general run an interface program over windows which simulates a mouse click/drag event. The simulation is invisible to the application being run (assuming it works on Windows). The only real thing to bear in mind is that the right mouse click is Not generally supported by the touch-screen driver (or very badly if it is). Other than that, write your application as per normal. Although Progress works with touch screens, any issues thrown up by the touch screen software are not our responsibility as this is not our software.
There are 2 main technologies available, a resistance/capacitance system which in effect overlays an invisible film over the screen, when a user pushes it a contact is made to the layer below and a position recorded. The other system is older and features a system of LEDs round the monitor frame. When the beam from the LED is broken, a position is recorded. Avoid the old break-beam systems if possible as these are not so reliable.
In general a touch screen will be more expensive than a keyboard. However if you are concerned about the environment (water/dust ingress or just users breaking keyboards) a touch system is much more suitable.
The pros are easy, assuming that you don't want
eed lots of data entry a touchscreen is very easy to use. The system can be easily hardened against water/dust and there is little cabling needed.
The main cons are the price, and for some applications the fact that the interface takes some getting used to for mouse/keyboard users. The only other Con is that if you need to do data entry on a regular basis, a keyboard is MUCH better than trying to hit keys on a picture.