ECTkeyboard - The progress bar and window positioning settings (51-79)

Progress bar and Window Positioning Settings

The progress bar located under the cells of the text matrix is intended to facilitate the process of character selection in it. When the user makes a selection, the progress bar starts to fill with a different color (from right to left by default), and displays the remaining time before the confirmation or the cancellation. The progress bar, like other elements of the program is fully customizable: its color, size and font style can be changed, as well as the direction of the bar filling.

The order of the options in the settings panel:

The settings 51 to 56 are progress bar settings when a row, a column, or a cell are selected. The settings 57 to 62 are the same settings but for the cancellation of a selection. The unfilled bar color is determined by the hue fill of the entire progress bar, before the selection of the desired character by the user, or only by the hue fill of the inactive area of the progress bar once the selection is made. The color of the filled bar is related to the shade of the filling bar during the selection.

To make the comprehension of these settings simple, let’s consider an example. The user controls the program through closing his eyes for some time. Assume the minimum hold time setting (37) is set to a value of 1000, and the maximum hold time (38) is 1500. This means that in order to select the desired row or column , and then a character in it, the user must keep his eyes closed for longer than a second , but no more than 1,5 seconds (otherwise the selection will be canceled). Let’s say the color of the unfilled bar is silver (# C0C0C0) and the color of the filled bar - gray- green (# 008080), and for the cancellation - gray (# 808080) and dark blue (# 000080).

When the user does not make any selections, the progress bar is completely gray and does not display the selection countdown (see Fig. 39).

In the absence of action the progress bar is inactive (Fig. 39. In the absence of action the progress bar is inactive)

When the user by closing his eyes selects a row, a column, or a character, the progress bar changes its color completely (in the chosen example – it becomes gray- green), and starts the countdown. The bar displays the remaining time until the completion of the selection in milliseconds (see Fig. 34). In this case, the bar strip is filled from right to left with the inactive color (in this example - silver) (see Fig. 40).

The progress bar starts getting filled when a character is selected (Fig. 40. The progress bar starts getting filled when a character is selected)

If a user keeps his eyes closed longer than the minimum hold time (1 second in this example), then the countdown reaches 0 and the progress bar gets completely filled with inactive color, after what begins the countdown for user’s actions cancellation. The progress bar becomes dark blue (selected active color when deselecting), and gets filled with gray (selected inactive color when deselecting). The progress bar also displays the remaining time - if the user doesn’t make a selection before the end of the countdown (do not open the eyes ), then the action will be canceled (see Fig. 41).

At long hold the deselection mode is activated (Fig. 41. At long hold the deselection mode is activated)

The color of the text over the bar strip is recommended to be contrasting with the color of both the active and inactive bar. For example it can be dark color text on dim and bright color progress bar. The text font name, allows setting the text font style and size, or increasing and decreasing it (see Fig. 42).

Various text font types and sizes in the progress bar (Fig. 42. Various text font types and sizes in the progress bar)

The ability to separately customize the appearance of the progress bar in the input selection and cancellation mode allows a convenient use of the program and to use different color options (for example, to use softer shades in the selection mode and more contrasting shades with enlarged fonts in the cancellation mode).

When working with a progress bar it is possible to adjust separately for each case the direction of its filling (see Fig. 43). This can be done through the settings BarDirection1 (56) - responsible for the direction of the filling in the input mode; BarDirection1 (62) - the direction of the bar filling in the cancellation mode. The following values are available:

Various progress bar fillings (Fig. 43. Various progress bar fillings) Different versions of progress bar text notifications (Fig. 44. Different versions of progress bar text notifications) Text matrix with disabled Automatic Scaling (Fig. 45. Text matrix with disabled Automatic Scaling) Program window with an enlarged progress bar and vertical filling color (Fig. 46. Program window with an enlarged progress bar and vertical filling color) Program window with a reduced progress bar and horizontal filling color (Fig. 47. Program window with a reduced progress bar and horizontal filling color)

The position and size of the windows can also be changed in the settings panel. 4 parameters are to be set individually for the main form and the output form: the width and the height in pixels, the margin in pixels vertically and horizontally from the upper left corner of the screen.

The order of the options in the settings panel:

Working in coordinate mode by holding the cursor is different from other operation modes of the program. In coordinate mode, the holding operation is carried with the cursor keys, each pressing moves the special pointer in the desired direction - to the right, left, up or down (see Fig. 48).

Using the coordinate mode with holding the cursor (Fig. 48. Using the coordinate mode with holding the cursor)

The pointer shift size vertically and horizontally can be changed separately. The greater the shift is the faster will the pointer move from one cell to another. Lower the shift is, the higher is the accuracy of the program.

Automatic settings at startup (80-81)

At startup the program can automatically activate the user-defined selector mode, or hide if necessary the frames of the main form of the program.

      ECTkeyboard → Menu → Localisation → Set Language File

      To return to the language default, English, perform the following:

      ECTkeyboard → Menu → Localisation → Reset to Default