7.4 Automatic Mouse Handling

The setting of the MOUSE-FLAGS configuration variable determines whether or not automatic mouse handling is used (see the preceding section). By default, this is turned on.

Automatic mouse handling requires no changes to the COBOL program. It causes the runtime to interpret any mouse actions that occur within a field that's being entered by an ACCEPT statement. The runtime processes the mouse actions; your application doesn't have to do anything. Your application doesn't even have to be aware that a mouse action has occurred.

The user is able to do the following with the mouse:

Move the cursor to any position within the current field by moving the mouse to that location and pressing the left button. The cursor will move to that location.

Select a set of characters by moving the mouse to a location in the field, pressing the left button, and then dragging the mouse to a new location and releasing the button. The selected characters will be shown in reverse video. The next character that the user types will replace the selected characters. Also, if the user types any key associated with the "Delete" action, the selected characters will be deleted.

When the application is ACCEPTing a Screen Section item that includes several fields, jump to another field by moving the mouse to that field and pressing the left button.

Note: Automatic mouse support takes precedence over other settings. That means that if a mouse action can be handled by automatic support, it will be. If automatic support cannot handle the action, and you have unmasked the action, then your program dictates how it's handled.

In graphical environments, the mouse pointer can assume different shapes. Whenever the mouse cursor is placed anywhere within the current field, it is shown as an "I-Bar". This is a vertical bar that's typically used to indicate that the cursor will be positioned at a particular character if you press the left button. If you desire, you may change this by using the "MOUSE" configuration variable described below or by setting the ALWAYS-ARROW-CURSOR option in MOUSE-FLAGS (see Section 7.3.3 in this manual for a description of ALWAYS-ARROW-CURSOR).