HP TouchSmart 9100 - Business PC User guide

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Resources for Developing Touch-Friendly
Applications for HP Business Touch-
Enabled Desktops
Table of Contents:
Overview...........................................................................................3
Scope ...............................................................................................3
Hardware Platforms .................................................................................3
Operating Systems...................................................................................3
Developing Touch-Friendly Applications on an HP Touch Platform ............4
Software Development Practice ............................................................4
General User Experience Guidelines for a Touch-Friendly Application ......5
Usability Testing for Touch Applications ................................................6
Touch Support in Windows XP®...........................................................7
Touch Support in Windows Vista® .......................................................7
System Gestures ......................................................................................7
Flick Gestures..........................................................................................8
Application Gestures..............................................................................10
Enabling/Disabling Touch Pointer ............................................................11
Disabling System Gestures ......................................................................13
Touch Support in Windows 7® ..........................................................13
Gestures...............................................................................................14
Touch Input Messages ............................................................................17
WPF Stylus Events..................................................................................19
What to Consider When Developing Touch Applications for Multiple
Windows Versions............................................................................24
Stylus ..............................................................................................24
HP dx9000 Specifics ........................................................................25
HP Touch Screen Configuration ...............................................................25
Enabling /Disabling the Touch Device ......................................................26
Disabling the HP TouchSmart Button .........................................................26
Disabling the Volume and Mute Controls ..................................................26

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HP TouchSmart 9100 Specifics ..........................................................27
Disabling the HP TouchSmart Button .........................................................27
Changing TouchSmart Style with HP TouchSmart Style Utility .......................28
HP TouchSmart Software Basic Style .................................................28
HP TouchSmart Software Ultimate Style .............................................28
Putting a System to Cleaning/Maintaining Mode with HP Maintenance Utility 28
Disabling/Retasking Volume Side Buttons .................................................29
HP System Configuration Schema Version 1.0 .....................................29
Schema................................................................................................29
Example 1 –XML to Disable All Side Volume Buttons..................................31
Example 2 –XML to Disable Side Mute Volume Button and Re-task Side Volume
Up and Down Buttons to Launch Applications ............................................31
Example 3 –XML to Re-task Side Volume Buttons to Control Display Brightness
and Toggle the Display On/Off...............................................................32
Example 4 –XML to Retask Volume Mute Button to Cleaning Mode ..............33
Button Element Attribute Summary ............................................................33
References .......................................................................................36
For More Information ........................................................................36
Call to Action...................................................................................37

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Overview
Touching a screen is a natural and inspiring way to interact with computers. HP has
expanded its portfolio to offer business customers touch-enabled desktops. Touch
products will help businesses provide services and environments where touch
enhances the user experience and satisfaction over the normal mouse and
keyboard experience. Software applications designed with touch in mind will
accelerate the touch experience on touch-enabled platforms. Software developers
can take applications to another level to provide a touch-friendly experience. This
paper offers developers high level information and resources to jump start their
development of touch-friendly applications for HP business touch-enabled desktops.
Touch-friendly applications allow users to use their finger tips to perform most of the
important operations in place of using a keyboard and/or a mouse. The paper
describes the elements needed to develop a touch friendly application: the user
experience design guidelines, the testing practices for a touch application, and the
touch support in Microsoft Windows Vista®and Microsoft Windows 7®.
How to develop a fully touch-optimized application, which provides multi-touch,
manipulation and inertia, is beyond the scope of this paper.
The paper also provides platform-specific information about the supported HP touch-
enabled products and features such as the touch device and functional buttons. You
may find the information useful to configure these systems for your environment.
Scope
Hardware Platforms
HP dx9000 Touchsmart Business PC
HP TouchSmart 9100 Business PC
Operating Systems
Microsoft Windows XP®Professional
Microsoft Windows Vista®Business (32-bit and 64-bit)
Microsoft Windows 7®Professional (32-bit and 64-bit)
Note
The touch feature of the operating systems in scope is
discussed, but each hardware platform has its own list of
supported operating systems. Be sure to check specific
platform sections towards the end of the document for HP
recommended operating system for your hardware.

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Developing Touch-Friendly Applications on an HP
Touch Platform
Hardware: A supported system above
Software: Microsoft Windows 7®, Windows Vista®or Windows XP®(Please see
platform specific sections towards the end of the document for HP
recommended operating system for each platform)
Touch driver and touch support: The following table summarizes the touch
support in different Windows versions and whether a touch driver is required
for the touch support.
Operating System
Single Touch
Multi-touch
Windows 7
X
Xd
Windows Vista
X
Windows XP
X
X: The touch support is native in the Windows version.
Xd: An appropriate touch driver is required for the touch support.
The touch support of each hardware platform and each Windows version is
different. Several sections later in this paper will discuss specific hardware
platforms and the recommended Windows version for each platform in details.
What to do:
1. Examine the touch support of available hardware platforms and operating
system versions.
2. Define the level of touch support and the user experience your application
will provide.
3. If you are updating an existing application for touch, evaluate the
application user interface and flow for touch. If developing a new touch
application, design it carefully with touch in mind. The following section
Software Development Practice can be helpful for the evaluation and the
design.
4. Implement the development needed to support touch. Most of the single
touch gestures are synthesized to mouse messages by the operating system,
so in many cases, legacy applications may just need a face slip with the
rearrangement of objects and the flow of the user interface without
implementing touch programming.
Software Development Practice
Refer to the “Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines” for an
application running in Windows on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN).
These articles include the recommended guidelines for all Windows
applications and touch applications.
Pay attention to the guidelines for a touch application.

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Note: The preinstalled image of HP business touch-enabled desktops may come
with HP TouchSmart software. This software is a framework hosting other registered
applications to provide the unique HP touch experience. The instructions to write a
hosted application in HP TouchSmart software are available at
http://www.touchsmartdevzone.com/download/60/HP-TouchSmart-Software-
Developer-Guidelines/. The TouchSmart Community website has been divided into
two sites - nextBench and TouchSmart Dev Zone.
The following sections summarize the main points for developing a touch-friendly
application. Most of the information was collected from MSDN articles. Links to
these articles are located in the Reference section of this paper.
General User Experience Guidelines for a Touch-
Friendly Application
The majority of work required to ensure a touch-friendly application goes into
designing the user experience. An existing Windows application with small controls
designed for the mouse and keyboard is difficult for users to touch the controls and
to give input. Additionally, an application that requires constant alternating
between touching, clicking, or typing can lead to user aggravation and frustration.
The following table summarizes recommendations by Microsoft for a better touch
experience.
Aspect
Recommendation
Reasoning
Touch target/Control size
At least 23x23 pixels (13x13
dialog units (DLUs)
Frequently used controls can be
bigger, 40x40 pixels (23x22
DLUs).
For fingers to hit targets easily
Space between controls
At least 5 pixels of space
between controls.
For fingers not to accidentally hit
controls close to the target(s)
Control location
Place controls in a way to avoid
cross-screen movements when
touching controls.
Also, avoid placing small
controls near window edges.
Avoid placing controls leftmost
or rightmost of the screen.
Arms get hurt quickly.
Users may inadvertently hit the
outside area of the window
instead of the targets.
People are either left-handed or
right-handed. Placing the
controls leftmost or rightmost
may be inconvenient for either
type of people.
Common control usage
Use common controls wherever
you can because they are
designed to support a good
touch experience.
If you really need to use custom
controls, make sure that they are
well-implemented for touch
interactions.
Hover
Must not require users to hover
Hover is not supported by the

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Aspect
Recommendation
Reasoning
the fingers on the screen to
perform an action.
touch technology of the
hardware platforms.
Forgiveness
Allow users to easily
undo/reverse their actions.
Finger touching is not as
accurate as pen or stylus or
other input devices.
Text input
Minimize text input by providing
selections like sliders,
checkboxes, option buttons,
auto-text, appropriate default
values, etc.
It is cumbersome to switch
between finger touching and
keyboard typing.
Touch pointer
Should not rely on touch pointer
to provide input.
Touch pointer is not as easy and
natural to use as direct touch
input.
Feedback
Should provide clear visual
feedbacks right after each user
interaction.
To minimize chances of
confusion and dissatisfaction
For more details, please read the Windows User Experience Guidelines for Touch
on MSDN.
Usability Testing for Touch Applications
Usability tests for touch applications require additional user experience tests than
the standard application tests. Below are basic points for you to consider when
writing a test plan for a touch application.
Ensure the use of finger tips (not finger nails) for both normal and big sizes
Include right-hand and left-hand user tests
Make sure tests cover the same amount of time a typical user will spend on
your application to determine if there is physical discomfort to hands and arms
Include tests in which users touch the boundary of controls and touch targets
Test for how forgiving your application is when users accidentally hit unwanted
targets; in particular, destructive operations like delete, erase, etc.
If applicable, test your applications with different screen resolution and DPI
settings to ensure there are no obscure controls or touch targets and that the
display is correct for the user interface
Depending on your applications, perform usability tests on a variety of focus
groups
As new touch gestures are defined and increase in popularity, make sure your
application behaves gracefully even with unsupported gestures.

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Touch Support in Windows XP®
Only single touches work on Windows XP. System gestures are synthesized to the
equivalent mouse messages shown below so your applications only need to
respond to these mouse messages.
System gesture
Equivalent mouse message
Tap (down and up)
Mouse left-click
Double tap (down and up twice)
Mouse double click
Press and hold (down, pause then up)
Mouse right-click
Drag (down, move and up)
Mouse left-drag
Select (down, move over target(s), up)
Mouse select
Touch Support in Windows Vista®
Windows Tablet and Touch Technology is a standard component of Windows
Vista. Hence, applications running on Windows Vista and a hardware platform
supporting touch input like the HP dx9000 can and should take advantage of the
touch technology. This section highlights the gestures supported by Windows Vista
and provide links for more touch input manipulation.
System Gestures
A touch gesture is a quick movement of a finger on the screen that a computer
understands. The following table lists the system gestures defined by Windows and
supported by the hardware platform referenced in this paper. Windows Vista maps
the following touch gestures directly into equivalent mouse events. If your
application responds to any of the mouse events below, it will automatically
respond to the corresponding system gesture on the supported hardware platform.
System gesture
Equivalent mouse message
Tap (down and up)
Mouse left-click
Double tap (down and up twice)
Mouse double click
Press and hold (down, pause then up)
Mouse right-click
Drag (down, move and up)
Mouse left-drag
Hold and drag (down, pause, move and up)
Mouse right-drag
Select (down, move over target(s), up)
Mouse select

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The following code fragment of a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
application shows that the code to handle the users touching/tapping the exit
button is just the very same code that handles a mouse click to the exit button.
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
//add the event handler to handle users click/tap the exit button
button1.Click += new RoutedEventHandler(exitButton_Click);
}
private void exitButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//close the window to exit the application
this.Close();
}
You may wonder why there is nothing relating to touch in this code. The operating
system synthesizes the tap or the touch on the exit button to the mouse left click
message, so no extra code is needed to handle the tap/touch to the button other
than the usual left mouse click event handler. When users use the mouse and left-
click on the button, exitButton_Click is detected. And the very same exitButton_Click
handler is detected when users touch the button.
Flick Gestures
A flick is a simple touch gesture that can be interpreted as a keystroke command.
The following table lists the flick gestures and default assignment in Windows Vista.
Flick
Equivalent command
Navigational flicks
Flick left
Back command
Enabled by default
Flick right
Forward command
Flick up
Keyboard Scroll Down
one screenful
Flick down
Keyboard Scroll Up one
screenful
Editing flicks
Flick up-left diagonal
Keyboard Delete
Not enabled by
default (because
these flicks are not
natural and
require more
precision )
Flick down-left diagonal
Keyboard Undo
Flick up-right diagonal
Keyboard Copy
Flick down-right
diagonal
Keyboard Paste

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When a flick is detected, Windows will first send a flick message
(WM_TABLET_FLICK Message). If the flick message is not handled, Windows
follows up by sending the applicable WM_APPCOMMAND notification. Your
application can either handle flick messages directly or responds to follow-up
command notifications. Please note that users can re-assign these flicks to the
commands of their choice in Windows| Control Panel | Pen and Input Devices.
Hence, if your application responds to commands instead of flick events, it is
recommended that the application responds to application commands that can be
potentially assigned to a flick gesture. A more detailed discussion about flick
gestures is available on MSDN.
If you would like to support flick gestures in your application, refer to “Flicks API
Reference”on MSDN.
If your application handles command messages, the window procedure (WndProc)
of the window that handles the command message should be similar to the
following pseudo-code:
if (message == WM_APPCOMMAND)
{
switch (GET_APPCOMMAND_LPARAM(lParam))
{
case APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_BACKWARD:
//do something
//return TRUE after processing the APPCOMMAND message
return 1;
case APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_FORWARD:
//do something
//return TRUE after processing the APPCOMMAND message
return 1;
}
}
The constants and macros relating to WM_APPCOMMAND are defined in
WinUser.h of Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK).

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Application Gestures
In addition to gestures and flick gestures, Windows Vista also supports application
gestures. You can use Microsoft Gesture Recognizer, or create your custom gesture
recognizer or use a combination of both. Microsoft Gesture Recognizer can
recognize over forty gestures. The following table lists a few examples of gestures
recognized by Microsoft Gesture Recognizer.
Gesture
Gesture name
Suggested
behavior
Notes
Scratch-out
Erase content
Make the strokes as horizontal as possible, and
draw at least three strokes. If the height of the
gesture increases, the number of back and forth
strokes also needs to increase.
Triangle
Insert
Draw the triangle in a single stroke, without
lifting the finger. Make sure that the top of the
triangle points upward.
Square
Action item
Draw the square starting at the upper left corner.
Draw the square with a single stroke, without
lifting the pen.
A complete list of application gestures recognized by Microsoft Gesture Recognizer
is available on MSDN at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/ms698540(VS.85).aspx.
The following code fragment of a WPF application gives you some idea about
Windows-defined application gestures. The application has an ink canvas control
that only accepts the enabled application gestures: triangle, square and circle.
When a user runs the application and uses his finger to draw a stroke on the
canvas, the inkCanvas_OnGesture method is called. If the stroke is a one-stroke
triangle or square or circle and the gesture is recognized as a defined enabled
gesture, the stroke is removed from the canvas. Otherwise, the stroke remains on the
canvas.
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
if (inkCanvas.IsGestureRecognizerAvailable)
{
inkCanvas.EditingMode = InkCanvasEditingMode.InkAndGesture;
inkCanvas.Gesture += new
InkCanvasGestureEventHandler(inkCanvas_OnGesture);
//enable only certain application gestures
inkCanvas.SetEnabledGestures(new ApplicationGesture[]
{ApplicationGesture.Triangle,
ApplicationGesture.Square,
ApplicationGesture.Circle});
}