Pointer-events Suggestion

Hello, it's my understanding that this is the email address I should
write to with a suggestion for an enhancement to the pointer-events spec
in SVG. Please redirect if this is not the case.



I am working on a SVG application that uses translucent rectangles.
Clicking or hovering with the mouse pointer over a rectangle fires an
event related to the specific rectangle. In many circumstances one
rectangle is partially or completely overlapping another but because
they are translucent the rectangle in the back can still be seen through
the one in the front. In this situation it is quite intuitive for a user
to click on the overlapping region and expect the events associated with
both rectangles to be triggered. Indeed, this is the desired behaviour I
want to program for. 

The current pointer-events spec allows me to turn off the event capture
on the upper rectangle by setting pointer-events="none" on this
rectangle. This way the bottom rectangle receives the events. If I don't
do this, then only the top rectangle gets the events. I desire BOTH
rectangles to get the events but there seems to be no simple way to
achieve this. I imagine setting the upper rectangle to something like:  

pointer-events="spy"

This would allow the top rectangle to catch events but then immediately
release them to propagate to a rectangle beneath - the upper rectangle
would be "spying" on events. I'm guessing this type of
translucent-overlapping situation wasn't considered when the
pointer-events spec was written. Adding a "spy" or "catch-and-release"
type of behaviour would be valuable. Thank you for considering it.

Ryan Maw, P.Eng.

Received on Friday, 6 November 2009 01:49:10 UTC