Special case keys

There are two ways of looking at how to supply a mouse menu key to users of RPCEmu that only have a two button mouse (bit of a rarity these days)

1. Use the Keymapper utility, or something similar, to map key value for the Windows menu key to the mouse button – user configurable. keymap 106 112 is the thing, I believe.
2. Build some code into the emulator that does the same (maps the Windows menu key to the mouse menu button)

Sadly the second is the one in use.

	// Special case, handle windows menu key as being menu mouse button
	if(Qt::Key_Menu == event->key()) {
		emit this->emulator.mouse_press_signal(Qt::MidButton);
		return;
	}

This has the unfortunate consequence of blocking the use of the four combinations – lone, shift-menu, ctrl-menu, and ctrl-shift-menu which could, using good old keymapper again¹, be mapped to all three of the mouse buttons plus a spare combo.

¹ With an open source OS you can even modify the appropriate module so the keyboard “shortcut” for the mouse buttons is there on real machines too.

Remember laptops don’t generally behave as if they have three mouse buttons—certainly not under Windows. They don’t generally have a menu key anyway either. (That said, with Linux on the GNOME desktop, you can get a middle mouse click on the trackpad—either by position or by clicking with three fingers. The former option certainly works well — you may need to use gnome-tweak-tool to change the setting, however.)

Remember laptops don’t generally behave as if they have three mouse buttons—certainly not under Windows.

Dell Latitude E5410: three buttons above the touchpad thingumie (two below) – which I normally ignore and use a Logitech wireless mouse. I forget what the three buttons on the touchpad are supposed to do in Windows – I’m sort of wedded to the mouse…

They don’t generally have a menu key anyway either.

In which case, generally speaking the code in the RPCEmu build is redundant although if you docked to a workstation with a menu key on the keyboard or you worked on a desktop it becomes relevant.

The point was that the code is trampling on the use of all four combinations with no option. Keymapping in RO gives the user more options.

I was actually looking to see what I could test on RPCEmu and still use on an ARMBook when I stumbled on the menu key kludge in RPCEmu when I plugged in an old Chicony KU-2971 specifically to test the Menu key.
The Windows-logo key can be used similarly but the key unmodified has the irritating habit of doing what MS put it there for in the RPCEmu instance:)

you can get a middle mouse click on the trackpad

Blech! There’s a nice utility on the DELL to turn that thing off – much gentler than a 6-inch nail but less fun :)

They don’t generally have a menu key anyway either.

Yeah… I set my notebook to use the left mouse button as Select, and the right as Menu, and just did without Adjust.

you can get a middle mouse click on the trackpad

You can do a lot of things on trackpads. I tend to turn all that stuff off where possible because of the number of times my action is misinterpreted with interesting unwanted results…

My current Microsoft Wireless keyboard has a touchpad that seems to support an insane number of “gestures”. This instantly stiffs RISC OS, so I use the keyboard with XP and every so often I hear “bong!” which means the touchpad interpreted by movement as a gesture and sent a code to XP that XP didn’t understand.
Usefully, the instructions didn’t even bother mentioning anything about gestures. And the touchpad doesn’t seem to understand being flipped the bird, which I thought was a pretty universal gesture…

The point was that the code is trampling on the use of

I suppose it comes down to what you feel ought to be providing support for the Menu key, whether the emulator should fake it, or whether it should be handled within the RISC OS environment. Both are equally correct and equally wrong. ;-)

I suppose it comes down to what you feel ought to be providing support for the Menu key, whether the emulator should fake it, or whether it should be handled within the RISC OS environment.

There’s a similar bit of code immediately after the bit I quoted – that bit has additional qualifiers such that End with Ctrl is handled specially and the others are left alone.
Using Keymapper in RO gives full flexibility for 4 combinations. The existing emulator code gives no choice and treats all 4 combinations as one – bad idea.

Both are equally correct and equally wrong. ;-)

Nah, ones my opinion, and I’m from Yorkshire so…

that bit has additional qualifiers such that End with Ctrl is handled specially and the others are left alone.

Ah, so a poor copy-paste job then. ;-)

and treats all 4 combinations as one – bad idea.

Yeah, that is kind of dumb.

Nah, ones my opinion, and I’m from Yorkshire so…

Long hard day at work, it’s nearly midnight, and I still haven’t gotten around to eating (unless you consider a Mars to be dinner) so… no… not falling for the bait. ;-)

that bit has additional qualifiers such that End with Ctrl is handled specially and the others are left alone.

Ah, so a poor copy-paste job then. ;-)

The whole emulator is quite an achievement so a few little niggles that haven’t, yet, been corrected is not a mega thing.

and treats all 4 combinations as one – bad idea.

Yeah, that is kind of dumb.

An oversight of an unusual case?

unless you consider a Mars to be dinner

Introduce your French colleagues to the student staple¹ of Mars bar sandwiches.

¹ That might just have been a 1960s – 1970s thing and current students prepare some kind of Jamie Oliver inspired gourmet dish.

Mars bar sandwiches.

Or deep-fried battered Mars bars. Happily we live far enough west of Glasgow to escape this treat.

Steve P,
suggestion 1) in your initial post is unsuitable for RPCEmu for I hope obvious reasons.
Your assertion that two button input devices are unusual is wrong. The RPCEmu code is intentional features not bugs.

No chance of modifying the special case to only apply to Menu and not sh-menu or ctrl-menu or sh-ctrl-menu then?

I’ve had a dig around and found an old DELL D420 with only two buttons.

and current students prepare some kind of Jamie Oliver inspired gourmet dish.

Pfft. If they were real students they’d spend their dark dismal winter evening hours poring over their homework by candlelight and eating cold beans directly from the can.

Kids these days. Don’t know they’re born…

You had a can?