Feature Request: make tilt work on "window under cursor"

[rainbumped]

Hi,

first of all, this piece of software rocks!! The "Make scrill wheel scroll window under cursor" works better then every other tool I tried to do his (autohotkey tools & whizmouse).

I use XMBC to be able to use my mouse's wheel-tilt buttons and for the "scroll window under cursor"-thing.
But when you are used to scroll on windows without focus, I tried multiple times to use the tilt-buttons on an unfocused window as well, but they are tied to the focused window.
So I would be soo glad if there would be another option like "Make Tilt Wheel scroll windows under cursor"

Is that feasible?

Thanx for your great work!
Kind regards

[phil]

Urm, it is supposed to work that way already, but clearly something is not quite right, I will investigate.
The strange thing is that it works when under the debugger, so maybe its a timing problem.

If I can figure it out quick, then I will included it in the next version run (but there wont be an independent option, it will all work from the 'scroll window under cursor' option as is currently intended.

Thanks,
Phil

[phil]

OK silly bug - fixed

But I have to declare, it only works on windows that naturally support the tilt, i.e. the tilt scrolls when the window is active. Alternatively you will have to use the profiles and advanced scrolling for windows that don't natively support the wheel or tilt.

This calls for a new beta of 2.1. I will update the beta post here so you can grab 2.1 beta 8 in a minute when Ive built it and let me know if it works for you

Thanks,
Phil

[phil]

OK latest beta is live.

I'm trying to get this released as its in the final stages of testing. I managed to squeeze this fix in, so if you can confirm it works as expected (or not), please let me know.

Thanks,
Phil

[rainbumped]

Alternatively you will have to use the profiles and advanced scrolling for windows that don't natively support the wheel or tilt.

wow. what a response-time!

I use tilting with firefox so the latest beta doesn't do the trick (as expected, right?).
Could you give me a hint how to configure profiles and advanced scrolling?
I do have a profile for FF (the tilt-actions set to "back" and "forward") and tried every "Advanced Window Scrolling" method availabe. But no avail while ff is unfocused.

I do have a cheap logitech b110, running 64bit win 7 pro, and the tilt-buttons don't work at all without xmbc...

thanx!

[phil]

Not expected, firefox works perfectly here Thats the main window I tested it on!
lol

EDIT: Try disabling you firefox profile (un-tick it and hit apply) see if that makes any difference.
Ahhh Are you expecting the back/forward options to work when not active? Thats not how it is intended to work, the "scroll window under cursor" is for scrolling only, not re-assigned options - maybe thats the confusion?

[rainbumped]

Not expected, firefox works perfectly here Thats the main window I tested it on!
lol

I have the xmbc config-window in front off firefox and see the firefox-profile going red when the mouse leaves xmbc and comes over ff. but tilting the wheel has no effect. any other settings in xmbc I could have messed up?

[phil]

To clarify, the back/next options send the VK_BACK and VK_NEXT keys to the active window, thus they will never work unless the window is actually active.

To scroll the window however (which is the intent), it should work fine, that is what I "fixed" earlier.

[rainbumped]

To clarify, the back/next options send the VK_BACK and VK_NEXT keys to the active window, thus they will never work unless the window is actually active.

ok, so if I want to use the tilting for "going back and forth" (or sending keystrokes) there is no way to do it without bringing the focus to the window where I want the action to be performed?

To scroll the window however (which is the intent), it should work fine, that is what I "fixed" earlier.

The window can be scrolled vertically without any help and with the option set in xmbc also if it doesn't have the focus. Horizontal scrolling does not work, neither with xmbc nor without (but I don't need it anyway). The thing I wanted was to use the back-and-forth thingy on unfocused windows. But the reason of not working is perhaps because of my mouse?

[phil]

The window can be scrolled vertically without any help and with the option set in xmbc also if it doesn't have the focus. Horizontal scrolling does not work, neither with xmbc nor without (but I don't need it anyway). The thing I wanted was to use the back-and-forth thingy on unfocused windows. But the reason of not working is perhaps because of my mouse?

I doubt its your mouse. If the tilt options get highlighted in orange when the setup window is open then the mouse is sending the relevant messages.

I don't understand why the tilt scroll does not work, but you would have to disable the firefox profile or change the tilt back to default.

The whole point of scrolling the window under the cursor is just that, to scroll the window. If you change the behavior of the wheel or tilt so it does not scroll, then that option is irrelevant, because your not scrolling.

So, it should work for horizontal scrolling (assuming there is a horizontal scroll bar on the web page) without the window being active, but not for the BACK/NEXT type of options because they simulate a key being pressed, and when a key is pressed, it goes to the window with keyboard focus - ie, the active one.

I'm afraid there is little (or nothing) I can do about that because I would have to send the back/next a different way (not simulating the back/next key) but posting a message to the window, which might work but would potentially be different for every target application - and thus not realistic

Maybe in the future I could add a new option, to send a windows message to the target window (under the cursor) and then you could define a message that can control the back.next if there is one (not sure about that in firefox) but that is a massive job and will not be something I can add so quickly (certainly not in v2.1)

Thanks,
Phil

[rainbumped]

So, it should work for horizontal scrolling (assuming there is a horizontal scroll bar on the web page) without the window being active, but not for the BACK/NEXT type of options because they simulate a key being pressed, and when a key is pressed, it goes to the window with keyboard focus - ie, the active one.

Ok, I got the point. For me it would also be very helpfull if xmbc would have an option to give the window the focus before sending VK_BACK or VK_NEXT and make that available in an extra option (e.g. "Focus & Forward" or "Raise & Forward")

How do you think about such an option?

Thanks,
Thomas

[phil]

Hi,

I don't think that is possible, because the SendInput API (to simulate keys) is asynchronous and as such, I don't know when the keys have actually been delivered, and thus when to reset focus.

However, the good news is, I have found a way to do what you want (with back and next) that does not rely on sending keys, and therefore works with the window under the cursor. The same will probably apply to other options too but for now, I will limit the change to back and forward only.

I will also upload a new beta at some point soon for you to try it.

Thanks,
Phil

[rainbumped]

However, the good news is, I have found a way to do what you want (with back and next) that does not rely on sending keys, and therefore works with the window under the cursor. The same will probably apply to other options too but for now, I will limit the change to back and forward only.

I will also upload a new beta at some point soon for you to try it.

Wohooo.
Thanks a lot!!

[phil]

OK try 2.1 beta 9 and let me know how you get on.
I wont be doing any more work on it tonight, and I'm away this weekend but I hope if all is good, I can release on Monday or sometime next week if things arn't so good

Thanks again for the feedback and testing!
Phil

[rainbumped]

OK try 2.1 beta 9 and let me know how you get on.
I wont be doing any more work on it tonight, and I'm away this weekend but I hope if all is good, I can release on Monday or sometime next week if things arn't so good

you rock Phil!
Works like a charm!!!
I'll put this on my office pc on monday, so it'll be tested a little further but the fwd/back thing now works without focus.
Soooooo sweeeeet.
Thank you so much!