So there's no way to even programmatically check if a devices supports the pen? Are there plans to add this capability? It would be really useful to know this. Active pens allow for an alternative workflow (not just a more precise, pressure sensitive input device) due to their ability to have side buttons. This would allow for a simplified user interface when using a device with a pen versus a device without a pen where a user must access elements through menus or other UI elements.
Alternatively, I could *ask* the user if they have an active pen, but this process would be better if I could know if their device is even capable of supporting an active pen before asking the user if they have one (since some users might not even know what an active pen is, especially if their device does not support it). It would also be helpful if active pen support could be listed as a "uses-feature" in the Manifest to use Market filters to keep applications that require active pen support from being installed on devices that don't support it. (I believe HTC has a uses-feature descriptor called "android.hardware.touchscreen.pen" that they recommend to be used with their OpenSenseSDK, but it is not listed as an official uses-feature, despite its android namespace). I am aware that devices with active pen support could (and most likely) also have a capacitive touchscreen. I seen no reason to have a device with *only* an active pen and no touchscreen support (unless, I suppose, it was a desktop-like device with an external Wacom/N-trig digitizer), so it seems that active pen support should be a subset of touchscreen support. Additionally, a user with a device that supports an active pen may not actually *have* an active pen, so applications should be able to handle this. Regardless, it would be nice to ask the device if it does support an active pen. On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 2:21 PM, Dianne Hackborn <[email protected]>wrote: > Sorry, no there is not. Especially since a lot of these screens can be > used with both a finger or a stylus, this kind of fine-grained thing would > probably cause more trouble than it would help. This is already becoming an > issue with the existing resource qualifiers with the growing ability to plug > in and pair with keyboards etc. > > > On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 2:16 PM, ashughes <[email protected]> wrote: > >> With the addition of active pen support in Android 4.0, is there a way to >> detect if the current device *supports* a stylus (has an active pen >> digitizer)? I noticed there is a touchscreen type resource qualifier called >> "stylus" included since API level 1, but it's supposed to identify resistive >> touchscreens. Will this same qualifier work for devices supporting an active >> pen digitizer? I would like to use different layout resources depending on >> if a device supports an active stylus as well as query programmatically if >> the device supports an active stylus. >> >> P.S. I'm really happy to see active pen support in ICS! My masters thesis >> was adding active pen support to Gingerbread ( >> https://github.com/ashughes/ActivePenInputAndroidInputFramework). >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "Android Developers" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > > > > > -- > Dianne Hackborn > Android framework engineer > [email protected] > > Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to > provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails. All such > questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and > answer them. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Developers" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
