Temporarily disabling mouse avoidance mode automatically

Temporarily disabling mouse avoidance mode automatically

[Corey Foote]

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Hi everybody,
 
Mouse avoidance mode keeps the mouse pointer away from the point to avoid obscuring text. I find this helpful when using just the keyboard, but annoying when I'm using the keyboard and mouse in conjunction. I'm looking for a way to have mouse avoidance mode temporarily disabled automatically if the mouse has been used recently, say within the last ten seconds. Otherwise mouse avoidance mode will be enabled. This will save me from having to manually disable mouse avoidance mode when using the keyboard and mouse in conjunction and then having to manually re-enable it when finished.
 
Thanks!
 
Sincerely,
 
Corey Foote
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RE: Temporarily disabling mouse avoidance mode automatically

[Drew Adams]

> Mouse avoidance mode keeps the mouse pointer away from the point
> to avoid obscuring text. I find this helpful when using just the
> keyboard, but annoying when I'm using the keyboard and mouse in
> conjunction. I'm looking for a way to have mouse avoidance mode
> temporarily disabled automatically if the mouse has been used
> recently, say within the last ten seconds. Otherwise mouse avoidance
> mode will be enabled. This will save me from having to manually
> disable mouse avoidance mode when using the keyboard and mouse in
> conjunction and then having to manually re-enable it when finished.

Sorry, I don't have a ready solution for you. Perhaps look at the code in
avoid.el and fiddle with some timers and states.

But you made me think. It would be nice if Emacs could (optionally) do what some
apps do: Hide the mouse pointer completely, until you move the mouse. That way,
the pointer would not simply be moved away when you use mainly the keyboard; it
would disappear altogether. You would be able to have an on-demand mouse.

That would be a good mode value to add to `mouse-avoidance-mode': `vanish'.

Re: Temporarily disabling mouse avoidance mode automatically

[Bill White]

On Wed Dec 03 2008 at 11:31, "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> wrote:

> But you made me think. It would be nice if Emacs could (optionally) do
> what some apps do: Hide the mouse pointer completely, until you move
> the mouse. That way, the pointer would not simply be moved away when
> you use mainly the keyboard; it would disappear altogether. You would
> be able to have an on-demand mouse.
>
> That would be a good mode value to add to `mouse-avoidance-mode': `vanish'.

I'd *love* to have something like that!  Now that I think of it, I never
use the mouse in emacs.  It often proves a distraction by inadvertently
highlighting previous shell inputs or sitting atop something that vomits
up a tooltip (or the tooltip's quieter but still annoying companion,
flashing echo area text).

VLC media player automatically hides the cursor a moment after it
stops moving.

Cheers -

bw, eagerly awaiting Drew's rat poison
-- 
Bill White . billw@wolfram.com . http://members.wolfram.com/billw
"No ma'am, we're musicians."

RE: Temporarily disabling mouse avoidance mode automatically

[Drew Adams]

> > But you made me think. It would be nice if Emacs could 
> > (optionally) do what some apps do: Hide the mouse pointer
> > completely, until you move the mouse. That way, the pointer
> > would not simply be moved away when
> > you use mainly the keyboard; it would disappear altogether. 
> > You would be able to have an on-demand mouse.
> >
> > That would be a good mode value to add to 
> > `mouse-avoidance-mode': `vanish'.
> 
> I'd *love* to have something like that!  Now that I think of 
> it, I never use the mouse in emacs.  It often proves a distraction
> by inadvertently highlighting previous shell inputs or sitting
> atop something that vomits up a tooltip (or the tooltip's quieter
> but still annoying companion, flashing echo area text).
> 
> VLC media player automatically hides the cursor a moment after it
> stops moving.
>
> bw, eagerly awaiting Drew's rat poison

Sorry, I don't poison rats (having had a pet rat as a boy). ;-)

FWIW, I've suggested this to emacs-devel@gnu.org as a possible feature (after
the release) - thread "invisible mouse pointer?". Two people replied that they
have C patches to Emacs that implement this. So maybe something will come of it
eventually.

I do use a mouse, myself, so I don't really care one way or the other. But if
you're interested, you might follow up with emacs-devel. If you build Emacs
yourself, you might even try the C patches proposed, to have the feature for
yourself right away.