What is mouse control called? - briefly
The operation is generally called cursor control (or pointer control). In software development it is usually referred to as mouse input handling.
What is mouse control called? - in detail
The function of directing the on‑screen pointer with a hand‑held device is commonly referred to as mouse input. In technical documentation the term expands to include pointer control, cursor manipulation, and mouse event handling.
Operating‑system APIs categorize mouse activity under specific event types. For example:
- Windows: WM_MOUSEMOVE, WM_LBUTTONDOWN, WM_RBUTTONUP, etc.
- macOS: NSEvent mouse events such as
mouseMoved:andmouseDown:. - Linux (X11):
ButtonPress,ButtonRelease,MotionNotifyevents. - Wayland:
pointer_motion,pointer_buttonmessages.
Programming frameworks expose these events through language‑specific abstractions:
- JavaScript:
mousemove,mousedown,mouseuplisteners. - Java AWT/Swing:
MouseListenerandMouseMotionListenerinterfaces. - .NET:
MouseEventArgsin WinForms and WPF. - Qt:
QMouseEventobjects delivered to widget event handlers.
The hardware side is identified as a pointing device, with the sensor mechanism often described as an optical or laser tracking system. Firmware translates physical movement into DPI (dots per inch) resolution data, which the driver converts into cursor displacement values.
User‑interface designers differentiate between absolute positioning (e.g., touchscreens) and relative positioning, the latter being the standard behavior for a mouse. Relative positioning reports incremental movement deltas rather than fixed screen coordinates.
In accessibility contexts the same functionality may be labeled mouse emulation or pointer assistance, covering alternative input methods such as trackballs, joysticks, or voice‑controlled cursor movement.
Overall, the collective terminology—mouse input, pointer control, cursor manipulation, and mouse event handling—covers the full spectrum of hardware signals, software interfaces, and user‑level interactions that constitute control of the graphical cursor via a mouse device.