Visual Feedback

The following sections describe the drop zone feedback and transition effects of drag and drop.

Drop Zone Feedback

The default drop zone feedback, called drag under, can be a solid line drawn around the site, a raised or lowered surface with a beveled edge around the drop zone, or a pixmap drawing over the drop zone.

Transition Effects

Transition effects show the user that the drop has either succeeded or failed. The two transition effects are melt and snap back.

Melting occurs when the user drops a drag icon on a valid drop zone. When the user drops a drag icon on a valid drop zone, the drag icon melts into the drop zone. The drag icon is replaced by the icon appropriate to the destination application. A printer on the Front Panel may show nothing other than the melting effect. An open File Manager window may display an appropriate icon.

When an icon is dropped, sometimes the melting effect does not take place immediately. The icon is displayed where it is placed until the transfer is done. It is a good idea for the destination to set its cursor to a busy state while the transfer is occurring. The user cannot move or select the icon until the transfer is complete; the busy cursor lets the user know the transfer is in process.

Snap back occurs when a drop fails. Drops can fail in two ways. If the user drops a drag icon over an invalid drop zone, then the drag icon snaps back to the source application. Once a drop occurs, the source and destination applications have to transfer the data. If the data transfer fails, the drag icon snaps back and the destination application is responsible for indicating failure to the user and providing information on why the drop failed.