4 INTERACTION

Many of the built-in applications are based around two standard view layouts: a base/ list view and a detail view. The detail view can be of a “viewing” nature or an “editing” nature.

The base view is the topmost level of the application, providing the user with an overview of all items and navigation between them. The base/ list view normally displays a list of items for the application where one item is always highlighted.

The interaction style of UIQ is to navigate to an item within the list view and open the detail view for the item by pressing the Action key. An item can also be selected by tapping with the pen (Pen style). This implies that you view a single item at a time. The item that was opened in detail view (or just created) is highlighted in the list view when the user returns.

The list view has a button bar at the bottom for actions (Pen style). At a minimum, there is a back option in the button bar that closes the list view. When selecting the back option, the user is typically returned to the Application launcher or the start screen, that is, one step up in the navigation hierarchy. See section 5 for details regarding navigation. See section 8.4 for details regarding lists.

Applications may support the concept of categories to allow selective filtering of the items shown in the base/list view. Categories are explained further in section 9.1.

As far as possible, all screen elements react to tapping in Pen style.

Dialogs can be used as a compliment to application views. For example, a Dialog can be used to display an information message or to display or change user settings.

The user can save any changes by selecting the Save option. Save is normally available on the left softkey in Softkey style and as a button in Pen style. The Save option applies to the entire view/ dialog, not to a specific tab. No item is saved if the user has opened the detail view but made no changes.

Cancel is available via the Cancel hardware key in Softkey style and as a Cancel button in Pen style. If any data is changed and the Cancel command is used to navigate from the view, the user is prompted with a query dialog that asks if the changes should be saved or not.

A highlight is displayed to indicate which control has focus. The highlight covers both the caption and the control and always uses full width independent of which control has focus. It is recommended that only controls that have commands shall gain highlight, for example, a label control should normally not gain highlight.

The Action key acts on the highlighted control. The control is typically changed to an active state when the Action key is pressed. The surrounding screen area, except the Softkey bar and the Status bar, is dimmed when a control is activated.

In Pen style, highlight is set on a pen down event and the control switches to active state on a pen up event. Tapping outside of a control that has an active state normally saves any changes, returns the control to a passive state where any changes made are displayed. The highlight stays on the same control. The exceptions are controls that require one selection, for example, a choice list or a menu pane where the user has to select an option in the control before the action has any affect; tapping outside these controls will just close the control.

When activating a control in Softkey style, the set of commands displayed in the softkey menu is switched to the commands that relate to the active control.

In Pen style, the application menu is dimmed when a control becomes active. The rich-text editor and the image-capture control are exceptions. Commands belonging to the active control are available in the application space. For example, cut, copy and paste will be available in the menu of the container control when using a text editor.

The UIQ command processing framework (CPF) handles different command types.

The most frequently used CPF types are:

Most application commands are of the screen type. Context sensitive commands, that is commands that are dependent on which control is highlighted, are most often of the item type.

If the command to be assigned to a softkey is a named group, the entire group is assigned to the softkey as a menu pop-out with the group name as the soft key label. The group will become a cascading menu if it is placed in the menu.

Dividers are displayed above and below commands within an unnamed group that is placed in the menu. Placing a named grouped in a cascading menu will have the same effect.

Action key: operates on the object or control in focus. The label "View" is normally displayed if there is a detail view for the focused item. This is commonly used in list views. See section 10.1 for details about Action-key labels.

Left softkey:

• View: If there is another important command that is available for a focused item, it could be placed here. If not, a command valid for the active view can be added. New, the short label for New entry, is often placed here. If no important command for the highlighted item or for the view is available, the left softkey can be left empty. Do not add a command just to avoid it being empty.

• Dialog: A non-editable dialog most often contains a list of items. They normally have a command of Done type displayed on the left softkey.

Right softkey: The rest of the commands with "More" as the softkey label.

Examples of softkey layouts in list and non-editable detail views:

See section 8.4.4 for details regarding the multiple selection behavior.

Action key: View/ Select/ Done

Left softkey: Mark/ Unmark

Right softkey: More

Action key: Operates on the object or control in focus. The label on the Action key is provided by the control.

Left softkey: The Done command is most often named "Save". In some dialogs with just one control Save is moved to the Action key.

Right softkey: If there is one command still to be assigned, it is placed on the right softkey. If more then one command is still to be assigned, they are placed on the right softkey with "More" as the softkey label.

Example of Softkey layout in an editable view:

Action key: Select, provided by the control.

Left softkey: Empty.

Right softkey: Close, provided by the control.

In dialogs, when no command is explicitly assigned to the Cancel key, the behavior of this key is to carry out the Cancel command. It is possible to create an exception to this rule.

Here is an example of the softkey layout in system dialogs. See section 7 for more details regarding dialogs.