[webkit-gtk] Implementing Multipointer Support

[Muriel Bowie]

> Just a comment: before diving into implementation, I would suggest that you
> design how CSS, HTML, and Javascript have to change to handle multiple
> independent pointers.  Each of these abstractions embeds the assumption that
> there is one pointing device in specific ways (Javascript is least
> constraining, CSS is the most).

Exactly, we are currently working on defining the event structure for
Javascript. We are not so sure yet about how to add multipointer
support to CSS and HTML though. This will definitely be a tough one.

> Note that even "multitouch" displays treat the touches as single input
> device controlled by one person, and generate "gesture events" - see the
> Safari Reference Manual for gesture input - you get a touch event that
> indicates the positions of all the fingers.

Thank you, I will have a look at the Safari Reference Manual about how
it is done in detail, but I am aware that most inputs are treated as
single events. It also means that there are hardly any standards we
can use for multipointer input.

> The most trivial thing would be just to add additional information to the
> incoming "mouse events" coming from GTK, indicating a "mouse ID".  That only
> begs the question though.

That's what I am trying to solve at the moment, since we will need a
testbed for our JS extensions.


>
> On 06/09/2010 09:51 AM, Muriel Bowie wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am working on a research project that involves multiple people
> collaborating on several inter-connected large displays. For this
> purpose, we want to implement a browser which supports multiple
> concurrent mouse pointers. GTK has a git branch where they working on
> the integration of MPX (http://live.gnome.org/GTK%2B/MPX). I have been
> using GTK MPX, but since we need to support multiple interconnected
> displays, we want to add MPX support to the web browser.
>
> I have been playing around with WebKitGtk for a bit, but I haven't
> figured out the best way to integrate MPX support. Since it's platform
> dependent, it would probably make sense to implement it as a plugin.
> Simply compiling WebKit with the newest GTK sources doesn't work (of
> course).
>
> Anyway, I am new to WebKit and I would really appreciate some input on
> how this could/should be done.
>
> Thanks,
> Muriel
>
>



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