DONE: Toggle X-Mouse.

[TaoPhoenix]

A while back I commissioned (and later posted here) a super-simple Micro-App that just toggled the "show/hide extensions" part of Windows, because I found myself needing extensions doing document control and web stuff, and hiding them to do content creation.

I am interested in the same idea here, with another property. With TweakUI, I recently enabled X-Mouse like function, where the active window follows the mouse. However, that was for a specific use, namely my job search between the browser on Monster.com and my spreadsheets. The rest of the time I am discovering it gets in the way. (You can't get to dialog boxes because they vanish behind other windows.)

So what about just a binary "double click this widget" and it toggles on or off X-Mouse? The attached picture would be in the Options setting, maybe right clicking it or something. Tip: My other widget doesn't reside in memory - it toggles, and exits. I would like that behavior here too.

And yes, the number of milliseconds is intentional.  

[skwire]

Here you go: http://skwire.dcmemb...ks/X-MouseToggle.zip

There are a couple of values in the included config.ini that you will need to set before running it.  After you set those values, simply run X-MouseToggle.exe as necessary to toggle X-Mouse functionality on and off.

[TaoPhoenix]

Hmm. It turns X-Mouse off, but then it doesn't come back again.

[skwire]

Which OS are you using?

[TaoPhoenix]

Which OS are you using?

-skwire (September 07, 2012, 07:39 AM)

It's Win XP, but there seem to be a couple of wrinkles where stuff from here doesn't always work like we think it should. The "DC's Resident Pest" joke came from prior snacks with you and maybe Chris Gingerich where I was getting funny results.

[skwire]

Try this build, please:

http://skwire.dcmemb...ks/X-MouseToggle.zip

Did you want any sort of visual notification with this?

[TaoPhoenix]

That's close, though I have a "finesse" request in a minute.

Meanwhile, I don't need any visual at this time because it's one of those snack requests where I found myself using exactly one feature of a process over and over, and having to navigate one more visual item back and forth just became a tiny subtle wear and tear.

My finesse request is if the settings can be "merged into the app" such as right-clicking the icon, so that the app travels as its one contained entity, and doesn't depend on needing to find a location of the ini file. That portability feels important, so the fallback is to hardcode Autoraise = 1 and Timer = 666 milliseconds. (Heh).

[skwire]

Sure, I can hard-code those defaults in there.  Please re-download the zip and see if that fits your requirements.  Thanks.

[TaoPhoenix]

I think that looks like pretty much it!

Hooray!

[skwire]

I'll call this one done.  Thanks.   

[TaoPhoenix]

I'll call this one done.  Thanks.  

-skwire (September 07, 2012, 04:41 PM)

I'm just shamelessly bumping this thread because I found a neat finesse with it. It seems to give window priority without damaging "selected areas" which is the usual case on a full click. That's important because I am doing a project where I really "sorta need" 2-3 items on the clipboard, but I don't feel like messing with a whole clipboard manager. So a neat hack is to create a microscopic text file (or three) with the selected text at the bottom of the screen, below the main duty windows, and then a mouse rollover activates the window, but the text stays highlighted, so then a simple Control-C copies it again, rather than having to re-select the text each time. Whee!

I love low-level hacks. : )