topic Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click? in ArcGIS API for Silverlight Questions

Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:33:42 GMT

I am new to working with touch screens but we have a few and the touch gesters work great such as pan and zoom. We have a toolbar with a few tools such as an identify tool and a measure tool, etc... these are listening for the mouse click event on the map...

What is the best way to handle both touch taps and mouse clicks?

1) For each tool we created do I need to handle both the MouseClick and the TouchUp events?
2) This wont work for the measure action though because that is an action (which has the clicking embedded), so how do we use the measure action with touch?

Thanks a lot for any info!

*EDIT*
So in I tried this in one of my tools:

        map.MapGesture += Identify_MapGesture;
        ...

        protected void Identify_MapGesture(Object sender, ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Map.MapGestureEventArgs e)
        {
            if(e.Gesture == GestureType.Tap)
            {
                ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Map.MouseEventArgs mouseEventArgs = new ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Map.MouseEventArgs();
                mouseEventArgs.MapPoint = e.MapPoint; 
              Identify_MouseClick(sender, mouseEventArgs);
            }
        }

And it works pretty good...

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

JenniferNery — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:49:02 GMT

Are you saying that when you tap on the map, MouseClick does not fire?

Touch promotes mouse events as discussed here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd894494(v=vs.95).aspx (see "Promotion to Mouse Events" section)

You can subscribe to both touch and mouse events but there is a risk of "Dualism". I don't think there is a need to raise MouseClick() inside MapGesture eventhandler.

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:17:50 GMT

Jennifer, thanks a lot for the reply. I prefer not to have to subscribe to touch events if I can...

Yeah, no mouse click is fired when touching/tapping the map... I can touch to perform a click on buttons and such, but not the map. So it seems that the "promotion to mouse events" is working for the WPF components, just not the map. This is a WPF application by the way, not Silverlight.

Maybe I am missing a setting or flag somewhere?

*EDIT* I just checked the "Pen and Touch" settings again on the Windows 7 touch screen computer. Under the "Pen" tab there is an entry that maps a single-touch to single-click, but on the "Touch" tab there is no entry for single-touch and no way to add it. But single-touch seems to work as a single-click in Windows itself... so is this a fixed mapping of the single-touch that is always set?

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

JenniferNery — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:48:23 GMT

Oh I see why that is happening now. MouseClick is an event from our API, which we only raise when triggered by mouse.

Can you use MouseLeftButtonDown or MouseLeftButtonUp instead of MouseClick?

Alternatively, you can refactor the code you have inside MouseClick eventhandler to a method that you can call inside MapGesture eventhandler. Similar to what you have but I imagine that refactored code will only need MapPoint as parameter.

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:19:07 GMT

Awesome, thanks Jennifer... I can change from MouseClick to MouseLeftButtonUp, that is no problem. Thanks for that info...

What about the measure action though? Any ideas why it is not detecting a click? I am programatically invoking the measure action, would that cause any issues?

Thanks a ton!

*EDIT* I take that back, I can't use MouseLeftButtonUp because I need the MapPoint, darn...

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

JenniferNery — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:31:07 GMT

I just tried this sample http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/silverlight/samples/start.htm#UtilityActions on a touch-enabled device and it works fine for me. I'm able to draw the polyline by tapping the map to mark my vertices. Are you seeing something different when you use this sample?

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 12:58:33 GMT

That example does work for me... hmmmm, so why is mine different.

I have my own derived measure action so I can invoke it programatically:

    public class ExecutableMeasureAction : MeasureAction
    {
        public void Execute()
        {
            Invoke(null);
        }
    }

Then I setup the measure action property with this:

        protected void InitializeMeasureAction()
        {
            if (Maps.Count > 0)
            {
                if (MeasureAction != null)
                    MeasureAction.Detach();

                //Initialize
                MeasureAction = new ExecutableMeasureAction();
                MeasureAction.AreaUnit = ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Actions.AreaUnit.Acres;
                MeasureAction.DisplayTotals = true;
                MeasureAction.DistanceUnit = ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Actions.DistanceUnit.Feet;
                MeasureAction.MapUnits = MapUnit; //Dependency Property
                MeasureAction.MeasureMode = ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Actions.MeasureAction.Mode.Polyline;
                MeasureAction.FillSymbol = MeasureSymbol; //Dependency Property
                MeasureAction.Attach(Maps[0]);
            }
        }

And then to invoke the measure action:

        MeasureAction.Execute();

So I am launching the action in a much different way, but still not sure why this would be different with the touch input...

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

JenniferNery — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:24:02 GMT

When you put breakpoints in debug-mode, does InitializeMeasureAction() and Execute() get hit? When do you invoke MeasureAction.Execute() - through button click, mouse event?

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:34:28 GMT

Both of these get hit... MeasureAction.Execute() gets set in a ToolbarItemClicked event handler from a class that is derived from ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Toolkit.Toolbar.

Also, if I use the mouse on the same touch machine, the measure works, but using the finger does not.

Thanks!

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

JenniferNery — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:02:35 GMT

It's hard to tell where the problem could be. Are you saying using touch, ToolbarItemClicked eventhandler is not hit, but using mouse it does?

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:19:07 GMT

No, ToolbarItemClicked is hit with both the mouse and the touch... MeasureAction.Execute() is executed both ways. It�??s just that the measure action does not respond to map touches, just to map clicks. Kind of weird...

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:24:02 GMT

I found another related issue too with my application on a touch screen:

GraphicsLayer.MouseLeftButtonUp is an ESRI event, so as you said before it is not called with a touch... but I do not see any touch related events in GraphicsLayer so how can I handle this? I have an eraser tool on our graphic toolbar so with this tool, when you click on a graphic (hence the GraphicsLayer.MouseLeftButtonUp) it can then remove the graphic.

Still havn't figured out why the measure works with the mouse and not the touch in the app either... still poking around with it though.

Thanks for all the help so far!

*EDIT*
Looks like I might be able to hook up an event handler to each individual graphic... would be nice to just hook up to the graphic layer though

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:08:49 GMT

Graphic.MouseLeftButtonUp doesn't fire on touch tap either (and its uses Microsoft's event args), so that didn't work 😞

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

JenniferNery — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 12:58:36 GMT

If you would like to get the graphic based on touch gesture you can do something like:

 double tapTolerance = 30;
 private void MyMap_MapGesture(object sender, Map.MapGestureEventArgs e)
 {
  if (e.Gesture == GestureType.Tap)
  {
   IEnumerable<Graphic> graphics = e.DirectlyOver(tapTolerance, new List<GraphicsLayer>() { layer });
   if (graphics != null && graphics.GetEnumerator().MoveNext())
   {
    Graphic graphic = graphics.First();
    
   }
  }
 }

http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/silverlight/apiref/ESRI.ArcGIS.Client~ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.Map+MapGestureEventArgs~DirectlyOver.html

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:23:44 GMT

Jennifer, Thanks so much for all the help!

That solved my problem for my graphic erase tool... maybe in the future Graphic and GraphicsLayer events will directly support touch too :).

I still cannot get the MeasureAction to work though. It seems to be an issue with WPF, that Silverlight does not have. I recreated that Silvelright sample you linked to above in WPF and it does not work with taps, just clicks. I wonder if it is a similar issue to what I posted here: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/21149-Slider-Inside-Of-Legend-Does-Not-Work-With-Touch-Screen-(Only-WPF)

Thank you much!

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

JenniferNery — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 03:58:32 GMT

No problem.

I am also puzzled why your MeasureAction does not respond to touch events when you say that all code is reached.

I also read your post about the Slider but I have not had the chance to replicate it yet. It could be because of some tolerance issue? Maybe you need to increase the size of the slider to accommodate touch gesture.

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

RyanCoodey — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:59:52 GMT

Did you try the MeasureAction in WPF on a touch screen?

With the slider, I don't think it is a tolerance or size issue... I can clearly select the slider's thumb. I think it is due to the fact that the Legend/Treeview control has scroll bars (only visible if needed) and those are capturing the touch slide gesture.

Thanks Jennifer!

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

LeonKosiba — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:42:53 GMT

I am having the same issue where the measure action where it will not work on a newer touch screen, when trying to measure by tapping on the screen.
I�??m using ArcGISWPFSDK_DotNet40_VBNet.sln compiled using v2.2 ESRI assemblies.
The sample application works when using a pen with the touch screen. When using the Silverlight application I can measure by tapping on the screen.
I�??m using a new touch screen that supports gestures, when I try this on an older screen that doesn�??t support gestures I�??m able to measure by tapping.

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

johnbrosowsky — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:14:06 GMT

Hi Jennifer - the example you cite is for the ArcGIS API for Silverlgiht, and it does work with touch, but only sort of. Using the mouse you can click to measure and double click to stop measuring. Using touch you can tap to measure, however double tapping to stop measuring makes the map zoom in which is not expected or desirable.

However, can you please try the corresponding exmaple for the ArcGIS API for WPF:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/wpf/samples/start.htm

... the corresponding ArcGIS API for WPF interactive sample -> behaviours and actions - utility actions - > measure:

It most definitley does not work with a touch screen, and is different behavior than in the Silverlight example.

Do you know how to make it work with the WPF example?

Re: Map Touch Tap To Mouse Click?

ae — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:32:44 GMT

Did any of you ever figure out how to make measureactions work with touch input?

Cheers