Arrow Key Selection in Option Menus

Paul Hibbert lc at pbh.on-rev.com
Sat Feb 2 14:39:02 EST 2013


Gregory,

I did a quick test with option menus in stack created on a Mac and tested on Win7 under Parallels, they behaved exactly the same when using the arrow keys to choose the selection then pressing enter/return to record the choice, the main difference I could find is that on the Mac you definitely need to press return or enter, whereas on Win7 if I used the arrow keys to make the choice simply clicking on the next menu button would record the choice of the button just exited. That's probably opposite to what I expected to find given your issues.

My only suggestion would be, maybe you could add a check to confirm that the answer has been stored as they answer each question or possibly a checksum to count the number of chars in the file before they upload it, just a couple of ideas.

One of the biggest challenges I find in developing is thinking of all the ways things could go wrong, or what users may do differently than expected that will affect the data, and then covering all those options.

I think I read something on Jacquie's site about a good way to test your software, is to silently watch someone else try to use it for the first time.

HTH

Paul

On 2013-02-02, at 8:00 AM, Gregory Lypny wrote:

> Hello everyone,
> 
> 	I have a question about buttons formatted as option menus.  I created a standalone for my students that allows them to submit answers to multiple choice homework assignments via FTP to my Mac at work.  Once in a while I will receive a blank submission from a student using a PC version of the standalone.  By blank, I mean the student's text file on my Mac, which is their log, is updated with the date and time and name of the quiz, but the list of answer choices, for example, "A, C, A, A, B, E", is missing.  As far as I can tell, it has never happened with students using Macs.  I thought it might be that some students quit the app before receiving the confirmation that their answers have gone through.  I took that possibility into account by building in a progress message and a warning not to quit, and a warning for students who were actually submitting a list of blanks.  One day, a PC-using student, who had had the blank experience, told me that he is able to submit successfully when he selects his answers using a trackpad or a mouse, but that when he selects answers using the arrow keys, the answers that appear selected in the option buttons are not sent.
> 
> 	I took a look at this on my Mac, and although I seldom use the arrow keys, I can select answers in option menus using the arrow keys, and I can send them fine.  My handler simply loops through the option buttons and gathers the answers by taking the value of the selected line.  Is there something else I should be doing for PC users?
> 
> 	Gregory
> 
> 	Associate Professor
> 	Department of Finance
> 	John Molson School of Business
> 	Concordia University
> 	Montreal, Canada
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