Table of Contents

Interaction

The Interaction property on TTMSFNCPlanner groups every setting that governs how users create, edit, move, resize, delete, and navigate items — with mouse, keyboard, and touch. Tune these to match the host application: a desktop scheduler wants click-to-edit and keyboard delete, while a tablet kiosk wants swipe navigation and touch scrolling. This guide walks through each interaction area with verified examples and finishes with a touch-friendly combination.

A multi-day planner with multi-selected items shown in orange and the previous/next navigation buttons in the header The same multi-select planner with navigation buttons in a dark theme

Insert modes

Two properties decide how new items are created:

Property Values Meaning
MouseInsertMode pmimNone, pmimAfterSelection, pmimDialogAfterSelection Whether dragging an empty range creates an item, opens the dialog, or does nothing.
KeyboardInsertMode pkimNone, pkimSelection, pkimSelectionDialog Whether a keyboard selection creates an item or opens the dialog.

Edit modes

Editing is controlled by three properties:

Property Values Meaning
MouseEditMode pmemDoubleClick, pmemSingleClick, pmemSingleClickOnSelectedItem The mouse gesture that starts editing. Default is pmemSingleClickOnSelectedItem.
UpdateMode pumNone, pumInplace, pumDialog Where edits happen: in place, in the dialog, or not automatically.
InplaceEditorMode piemText, piemTitle, piemTextAndTitle Which fields the inplace editor edits. 
procedure TForm1.ConfigureInsertAndEdit;
begin
  // Insert: drag-select an empty range to create an item.
  Planner1.Interaction.MouseInsertMode := pmimAfterSelection;
  Planner1.Interaction.KeyboardInsertMode := pkimSelection;

  // Edit: open the editor when an already-selected item is clicked again.
  Planner1.Interaction.MouseEditMode := pmemSingleClickOnSelectedItem;

  // Editing happens in place (vs. pumDialog or pumNone).
  Planner1.Interaction.UpdateMode := pumInplace;
  Planner1.Interaction.InplaceEditorMode := piemTextAndTitle;
end;

Move, size, and delete

MoveMode, SizeMode, and DeleteMode each take a *Desktop, *Mobile, or *Auto value (pmm*, psm*, pdm*). Auto adapts the gesture style to the current platform — the right default for cross-platform apps. KeyboardDelete enables the Delete key, and ReadOnly disables all moving, sizing, editing, and deletion in one switch:

procedure TForm1.ConfigureMoveSizeDelete;
begin
  // Auto picks desktop or mobile interaction per platform; force one if needed.
  Planner1.Interaction.MoveMode := pmmAuto;
  Planner1.Interaction.SizeMode := psmAuto;
  Planner1.Interaction.DeleteMode := pdmAuto;

  // Allow the Delete key to remove the selected item.
  Planner1.Interaction.KeyboardDelete := True;
end;

procedure TForm1.SetReadOnly(AReadOnly: Boolean);
begin
  // ReadOnly disables all moving, sizing, editing, and deleting at once.
  Planner1.Interaction.ReadOnly := AReadOnly;
end;

Per-item permissions (Movable, Sizeable, Editable, Deletable) still apply on top of these modes — see Items.

Selection

MultiSelect allows more than one item to be selected at once; ShowSelection draws the time-range selection overlay (styled via SelectionAppearance); and KeepSelection preserves the selection across navigation. Selection changes are reported through the OnBeforeSelectItem / OnAfterSelectItem events. For reading and driving the selection from code — selecting by criteria, bulk actions, vetoing — see the dedicated Selection guide.

TopNavigationButtons and BottomNavigationButtons are sets of pnbPrevious / pnbNext that show the built-in arrow buttons. TouchScrolling enables drag scrolling, and SwipeToNextDateTime / SwipeToPreviousDateTime enable swipe navigation between periods. KeyboardMode (default pkmDefault) selects what the arrow keys do. Programmatic navigation uses NavigateToNextDateTime / NavigateToPreviousDateTime (see Timeline).

Tooltips and hints

Set ShowHint := True and the planner raises three "get hint" events so you can supply context-specific tooltip text as the pointer moves: OnGetItemHint over an appointment, OnGetTimeHint over the time-axis labels, and OnGetPositionHint over a position (resource/day) header. Each passes a var AHint you fill in:

procedure TForm1.WirePlannerHints;
begin
  // Hints must be enabled on the control for the events to surface.
  Planner1.ShowHint := True;

  Planner1.OnGetItemHint := PlannerGetItemHint;
  Planner1.OnGetTimeHint := PlannerGetTimeHint;
  Planner1.OnGetPositionHint := PlannerGetPositionHint;
end;

procedure TForm1.PlannerGetItemHint(Sender: TObject;
  AItem: TTMSFNCPlannerItem; var AHint: string);
begin
  // Build a rich hint from the item being hovered.
  AHint := Format('%s'#13#10'%s - %s',
    [AItem.Title, TimeToStr(AItem.StartTime), TimeToStr(AItem.EndTime)]);
end;

procedure TForm1.PlannerGetTimeHint(Sender: TObject; AValue: Double;
  ARow: Integer; AKind: TTMSFNCPlannerCacheItemKind; var AHint: String);
begin
  // Fires over the time-line labels (AKind is ikTimeLineLeft / ikTimeLineRight).
  AHint := Format('Time slot row %d', [ARow]);
end;

procedure TForm1.PlannerGetPositionHint(Sender: TObject; AIndex: Integer;
  AKind: TTMSFNCPlannerCacheItemKind; var AHint: string);
begin
  // Fires over a position (resource/day) header; AIndex is the column index.
  AHint := Format('Column %d', [AIndex]);
end;

Putting it together

This example builds a touch-friendly, multi-select schedule that combines multi-select, drag-insert, swipe and touch scrolling, on-screen navigation buttons, and an OnAfterSelectItem handler:

procedure TForm1.ConfigureTouchSchedule;
begin
  Planner1.BeginUpdate;
  try
    // Multiple items can be selected at once.
    Planner1.Interaction.MultiSelect := True;
    Planner1.Interaction.ShowSelection := True;

    // Drag an empty range to insert.
    Planner1.Interaction.MouseInsertMode := pmimAfterSelection;

    // Touch: swipe between periods and scroll by dragging.
    Planner1.Interaction.TouchScrolling := True;
    Planner1.Interaction.SwipeToNextDateTime := True;
    Planner1.Interaction.SwipeToPreviousDateTime := True;

    // On-screen navigation arrows at the top.
    Planner1.Interaction.TopNavigationButtons := [pnbPrevious, pnbNext];
  finally
    Planner1.EndUpdate;
  end;

  // React to selection changes.
  Planner1.OnAfterSelectItem := PlannerAfterSelectItem;
end;

procedure TForm1.PlannerAfterSelectItem(Sender: TObject; AItem: TTMSFNCPlannerItem);
begin
  if Assigned(AItem) then
    Caption := 'Selected: ' + AItem.Title;
end;

Pitfalls

  • Navigation buttons are a set, not a Boolean. Assign [pnbPrevious, pnbNext] (or [] to hide them) — True will not compile.
  • ReadOnly overrides per-item permissions. When Interaction.ReadOnly is True, items cannot be changed even if their own Movable / Editable flags are True.
  • Insert needs a mode. With MouseInsertMode = pmimNone, dragging an empty range does nothing; set pmimAfterSelection to let users create items by selection.
  • Edit trigger vs. update target. MouseEditMode decides when editing starts; UpdateMode decides where it happens. With UpdateMode = pumNone, no editor opens regardless of MouseEditMode.
  • TTMSFNCPlanner.Interaction — MouseInsertMode, MouseEditMode, UpdateMode, InplaceEditorMode, MoveMode, SizeMode, DeleteMode, KeyboardDelete, MultiSelect, ShowSelection, TouchScrolling, TopNavigationButtons, ReadOnly
  • TTMSFNCPlanner — OnAfterSelectItem, NavigateToNextDateTime, NavigateToPreviousDateTime, ShowHint, OnGetItemHint, OnGetTimeHint, OnGetPositionHint

See also

  • Selection — reading and driving the selection from code
  • Items — per-item permissions and editing
  • Appearance — styling the selection overlay
  • Timeline — navigation and the active range