Behavior and guidance
The states of the two indicators available (mode and docking) play an important role in determining the user experience around touch keyboard and screen auto-rotation.
When you determine the modes that are to be reported for the indicators, consider the scenarios and behaviors that are described in Table 1 Expected Behaviors.
Table 1 Expected Behaviors
| Mode indicator | Dock indicator | On screen keyboard displayed | Auto-rotation enabled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop | Undocked | No | No |
| Laptop | Docked | No | No |
| Slate | Undocked | Yes | Yes |
| Slate | Docked | Yes | No |
When the system is in slate mode:
- Touch screen keyboard is auto-invoked
- Rotation lock is unlocked (unless previously locked by the user)
- Rotation lock can be toggled
- Display can freely rotate
When the system is in laptop mode:
- Touch screen keyboard is suppressed
- Rotation is set to landscape and locked
- Rotation lock cannot be toggled
- Display cannot freely rotate
To match this behavior, the mode and dock indicators must be implemented according to the guidance that is described in Table 2 Implementation Guidance.
Table 2 Implementation Guidance
| Indicator | State | Implementation guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Mode | Laptop | Report laptop if a keyboard is attached and comfortably accessible to the user. (For convertibles, the system can be in clamshell or equivalent mode from a keyboard accessibility perspective.) |
| Mode | Slate | Report slate if the physical keyboard is not available to the user. (This includes the case where they don’t have complete access or they can’t type comfortably.) |
| Dock | Docked | Report Dock if the system is stationary (attached to a docking system or a port replicator). Stand-alone AC power supply does not apply as long as the system can be freely moved. |
| Dock | Undocked | Report undocked if the system is not stationary. This applies to the case of having the device connected to general power supply because it can still be freely moved. A power supply is not mandatory for reporting undocked. This is the natural state of any system when it is not connected to a port replicator or docking solution. |