RE: Missing rotation attribute on PointerEvent

Actually, this value is available in IE10 via the MSPointerEvent.rotation property. We intentionally left it out of our Member Submission spec because it lacks the broad device support needed to build an API that's interoperable across device manufacturers.

-Jacob


From: Mose Bottacini [mailto:duke@live.it]
Sent: Friday, March 1, 2013 6:22 AM
To: public-pointer-events@w3.org
Subject: Missing rotation attribute on PointerEvent

Hello, I've noticed something little that is probably missing in the Pointer Events API, it is probably something that can added quickly and easily but it may allow developers to create a broader range of applications.

Advanced pen input devices can also sense the rotation around stylus, I think the event PointerEvent should also consider this information providing an attribute like "stylusRotation" (or another name of your choice).
This could be important to create first class art-oriented web application.
Devices that can sense the rotation are for example Wacom pens like this one
http://www.wacom.com/products/accessories/pens/art-pen (and others)
that is of course an advanced device but quite common between artists..

rotating the brush is a technique used to create particular effect on paints.
it may be also useful if you consider possible future devices shaped like a knob that may be used on touch surfaces to control for example volume values or any other quantity

I think it is conceptually correct to provide all the related information related to the event of a pen-like object touching a surface, and provide a more complete and future-proof oriented API. if you think to a stylus, together with the x,y tilt and the pressure it may also possible to know its rotation.

it is also easy to left this attribute set to zero if the device doesn't support rotation sensing.
the same way tiltX and tiltY (and the other input related attributes) are retrieved by the input driver, also the rotation attribute can be retrieved as well.

Hope this make sense.
Let me know if you need any other info.

Thank you for the attention,
Mosè