Jumping around when zooming out

[Steve Raiford]

Jeff

You have challenged me to give you more explanation about the "jumping" when zooming. Actually the jumping is a defensive mechanism of the underlying operating system, in your case Windows XP Pro, but as far as I  know all incarnations of Windows will exhibit this same behavior.

Any time the viewing area is changed either with scroll bars, the mouse, or other control items such as buttons or menus, a situation may be created that if allowed to proceed would cause the operating system to loose track of the mouse position.

If the mouse position is actually lost, then then all sorts of wierd things would happen such as clicking on one object, and possibly selecting a different object that may not even be on the screen.

Windows mechanism to retain an accurate mouse position is to move the displayed working area of the screen in whatever manner it needs to so that the displayed area never extends past the edge of the maximum working area. This is the unpredictable "jumping" we often see.

When the active working area is tucked against any side of the maximum available area, this will happen on a regular basis. The solution is to put the working space in the center of the maximum allowable space, as this will minimize the probability of the area being displayed attempting to grow outside of the maximum working space, a condition which would cause loss of mouse position.

Yes, sometimes the explanation is more complicated than the cure.

Steve Raiford

[Jeff]

Steve,

Interesting explanation. I'll pass along that it happens whether or not I expand the workspace well beyond the actual layout that Bill posted. Interesting, hmm? And it doesn't happen when AR is running under Vista. Perhaps some different mechanism for mouse tracking...

[santerdam]

Indeed, interesting explanation. Unfortunate, the story is very wrong and 100% not true. Jumping is not a Windows mechanism. The operating system never looses track of the mouse position. And for sure, Windows will never move  the displayed workarea in AR, and never does some unpredictable jumping.

Everything that happens in AR is programmed by David and his team. They decided what to do when a user wants to zoom and how AR reacts.

Sander

[Steve Raiford]

Santerdam

If you would read my words correctly, I did not say that Windows would lose track of the mouse. What I said was that Windows takes a predictable action so it does not lose the mouse position, but this action is unexpected to the user, and is what appears to the user as the "jumping".

Since you don't like my explanation, I will leave it to you to explain to the forum why and how David programmed AR zoom function to work the way it does when the "Cntrl + scroll mouse" zoom function is used.

I always look forward to expanding my understanding.

Steve Raiford

[Capt. Brigg]

What gauge are are you working in, HO?
Seems like a lot of track for a room 19' X 13' with a 5' closet.
Since I'm very new at this I have no prospective on size.

Capt. Brigg 

[Capt. Brigg]

The jumping around may be a function of Windows. I am running Windows 7 and have noticed when using my Windows Explorer if I open a folder in the left frame, it sometimes jumps to the bottom of the widow with the open folder at the top. This is aggravating when working between two folders, moving files. Just a personal insight.

Capt. Brigg 

[Jeff]

Bill,

This really is a reply to that request for further suggestions on my idea for your space. I'm moving the discussion to the Track Plans forum, since this really is off-topic here.

[Soulnet]

I'm not going to till you fix your table depth!!!

N scale I have to say seems to be super popular these days...

[Jeff]

Soulnet, we try to leave personal matters out, but how do you know Bill's arms aren't 5 feet long?

Yeah, N scale is popular, though never as much as HO, I guess. I hope it gets more popular, since it means more and better rolling stock and scenery items. It came about (as I recall) in much the same way as HO- an attempt to stuff just as much into smaller spaces. On the other hand, it also offers a way to build a BIG layout in a space that many people might have available. I was initially worried that the rolling stock would be too small to work on or that it would result in trains that looked, and worse, performed like toys. Fortunately, that's not the case. My only gripe with it (besides the high price of ALL scales) is that scale 2 x 4 lumber isn't easy to find or make.

[Future-Digital]

Capt:

I am using HO Gauge. I had it on hand, so I used it.


Bill

[Jeff]

That's ok, I forgive you for using HO... 

[Future-Digital]

Stout fellow!

Bill