Methods for combination tools that zoom, pan, rotate, draw, or manipulate during a drag

Abstract

After positioning the cursor and pressing-and-holding a mouse button to begin a drag, a user continues to drag the cursor out of and into plural popped up regions. While the cursor is within a region, an associated function effects the displayed graphical information in a particular way, such as continuously panning, drawing, zooming, or rotating. Upon rolling-out of a region without entering a contiguous region, the last function continues to execute and all popped up regions are removed such that the user may utilize the entire display without being switched to another function. In a simple form, after release of the mouse button, a tool may zoom out if the user held the mouse substantially stationary and zoom in on a rectangle if the mouse was dragged. Reducing the number of times a user clicks by eliminating the step of selecting a function should help avoid repetitive strain injuries.