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MOUSE CHORDS
#1
Hi,

I have a six-button mouse that I use for controlling an unbelievably complicated music editing program, and I find that even six buttons are not enough to access the endless menus and get at the multiple toolbars. In order to avoid any more repetitive stress syndrome I would like to get even more functionality out of my mouse. What I would like to do is use some of the mouse buttons in combination clicks (like chords on a piano) that will launch helpful macros.

Have only had the Quick Macros program for a couple of days but it's clear to me already that it's an amazing program. It's not just a simple macro recording program but is actually a powerful instrument for controlling the Windows operating system without having to mess around with API calls.

Has anyone got a quick script for creating macro triggers by pressing mouse button combinations?

JW
#2
You know I had a logitech before I switched to the Finger Works LP keyboard. It had chording function within the trackball setup which allowed me to make key stroke assignments like (CAS`). If your driver allows this as well, you can do the same thing and then set the QM macro to the keystroke that you assign to it.
#3
I think it is possible, but you would have to press mouse buttons in certain sequence. For example, use one button as modifier (like Ctrl, Shift, Alt and Win keys). For example, if you set the middle button as modifier, then you can have triggers Middle+Left, Middle+Right, Middle+4, Middle+5 and Middle+6 (actually, you can set triggers only for five buttons, but if the sixth button can be programmed to press some keys, you probably can set keyboard trigger for it).

We can try various ways to implement this. For example, set single mouse button triggers (Left, Right, 4, etc), and assign a filter function to each of them. The filter function would check whether the middle button is pressed ....

I would instead place the macros on a toolbar. Or, use QM MIDI triggers.
#4
Suggestions very much appreciated. The software for the mouse is sophisticated but does not include chording functions, so evidently I must use Quick Macros to do it, as outlined by G.D.

Actually I do have a QM toolbar attached to the window of the music editing program, and it is crowded with macro buttons. But I still would like to have the mouse chords (sequential buttons is fine) in order to switch back and forth very rapidly between the various cursors and pointers used in creating the musical score. The program is complex beyond belief and musical ideas fly by very fast and can be lost if the attention is taken up by the details of the complicated user interface.

Thanks so much for the thoughts.
JW
#5
I have created a set of functions and sample macros for this purpose:

http://www.quickmacros.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=310
#6
Thanks indeed to Gintaras for the mouse chord functions. Very interesting how it works -- I must press two mouse buttons in sequence to launch a macro, and the middle button (or whatever button I choose to make it) is always the first button. I was a little puzzled at first because my mouse has no middle button but does have a scroll wheel in the middle. Finally I remembered that the scroll wheel is also a pushbutton like the other buttons, and makes a click when you press on it. Very good, but the mouse chord still would not work. Then I remembered that the mouse software has dropdown boxes for assigning functions to buttons, and I found that the scroll wheel click was still unassigned. To my surprise, in the list of functions was a "middle button" function, which I gladly assigned to the scroll wheel click.

Voila, all of Gintaras's functions suddenly began to work (perfectly of course), and I now have very many possibilities for extending my mouse functionality. Now that I see how it is done my next independent project will be to extend the mouse chords to three sequential buttons... (LOL, but then again, maybe)

By the way, here is a really good (and free) screen magnifier that I found, one that follows the mouse around like a magnifying glass, is very customizable and runs easily and neatly:
http://magnifier.sourceforge.net/

Thanks again, Gintaras. Quick Macros never stops amazing me.

JW


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