So let me se if i get this right. i apply 5V and ground to two of the 4 wires and the others are hooked up to analog inputs on the Arduino board an treated just like any other variable resistor ? each giving me a number for the X and Y position on the screen ?
You have to apply the 5V across one pair then read the analogue value from one of the wires in the other pair, then apply the 5V to the other pair and read the analogue voltage from one of the wires in the first pair.
It is that easy, though in a commercial environment you would have to calibrate the x and y values so top left and bottom right etc are accurate, also to prevent build up from electrolysis you would reverse the voltage on the pairs, you would debounce the touches, you would have a sleep mode with touch detection, some filtering of the values is desireable and if you are using it as an input device to replace a mouse, you need to be able to detect a "click".
None of this is necessary in simple applications, though.
Regards,
Mike