Savij

Why is 2.0 always the best version?

I sometime wonder why all of my 2.0 versions are the best. I think in 1.0 we rarely have enough time, or maybe that it’s such a hot item, we rush to get it out the door. I had this mouse problem where I wanted to have multiple mice on my laptop, a touch pad and a mouse. The problem was that the resolution of the mouse was MUCH higher than the touch pad, so touching my mouse would cause the pointer to move at screaming speeds. Of course I could go into control panel in windows and set the speed, but I got tired of going back and forth with the settings….

So I rushed out a quick app that I thought would be quick and dirty, but it quickly got got out of hand. I released it in a previous blog article. While it did do the trick, I realized it SUCKED!!

So here is 2.0. I re-wrote it from the ground up. I used some better encapsulation in classes and list classes. I also used data binding on all forms, so there was much less hookup code. I feel a lot better about this version than the last.

I hope it solves your problems as much as it does mine.

Download it from my SkyDrive here – WinMouseSpeed v2.0

I wonder how long till 3.0 needs to evolve ….. NOT

Version 2.0 of this application is available in another post. It has MANY new features and is much more solid than this version. Find the article here:

http://savij.com/2009/12/25/multiple-mouse-speeds-in-windows/

As I write this post, I have my laptop with it’s nifty TrackPad (TouchPad). I recently added a BlueTooth mouse to the mix. Ok, so I couldn’t use my mouse with my laptop while sitting on the couch! Where was I to put my mouse? I already own a Belkin lap pad thing to keep the flaming inferno of heat off of my crotch, but still my mouse sat next to me on the couch yearning to be touched. So enter ANOTHER device I got from Logitech. A small platform that I put on top of the Belkin lap pad. My Laptop sits on top of the Logitech platform and it has a pull out mouse pad. FINALLY, I can use my mouse. So I sync the BlueTooth mouse, piece of cake. But I now noticed that the resolution of the mouse is WAY more accurate than the TrackPad. What this means is that while the trackpad works fine, breathing on the mouse causes my pointer to go off the screen at warp factor 5.6. So, I figure, just head off to the control panel and setup both right? WRONG! Windows 7 STILL does not have built in support for more than one pointing device. While this could be a shortcoming of my mouse, it is bluetooth and I should not have to install extra drivers for it. I know you say if I have a mouse, why worry about the damn trackpad at all, but sometimes I am mobile. Sometimes I dont have my mouse with me. After all, one of the things I love about laptops is that I can just grab it and go.

The SOLUTION

I noticed that a lot of people have this problem. I also could not find an easy solution out there. Then I thought, “Stupid ass!” I am a programmer. So I just made one. It is really simple and could use a lot of refinement, but I didnt want this to be a big project. So I threw it together in about an hour and a half.

It uses a call to the API SystemParametersInfo to control the mouse. I did find some help online with it’s implementation. Then I made a little sys-tray app out of it. You can set how ever many devices you want to control. For instance I have a mouse and a trackpad. So I set it to 2 devices. I then adjust the slider for device 1 to set the speed for my mouse. I then change the dropdown to device 2 and set the speed for my trackpad. Then I just minimize the app. It disappears to the sys-tray where I can right click it to switch between the device 1 and device 2 settings. I can also double click it to bring the application window back up. All of the settings get saved in isolated storage and the app installs to the startup folder so it runs when windows starts. YAY!

See the link at the top of this post for the latest download. Let me know what you think….