A  KEY-STROKE  TO  MOUSE-CLICK  THINGY. 

           First of all ,, this is NOT a replacement for Key2Mouse ,,, a brilliant wee program available from ,,,,,

http://www.wideview.it Luciano’s  Key2Mouse has a lot more features than my program.

My program however is FREE !!

UPDATED VERSION. 18-05-10

Background,,

This wee utility came about because,, when using simpler input methods into FSX ,, the actual screen concerned, sometimes had to be in focus for some inputs. 

This really is not a problem until you have multipule screens all over the place like I have, so, all I needed was to be able to click the mouse anywhere onto a particular screen by using a keystroke ,, which was included into the keyboard encoder codes for that particular event.

Once I had that all sorted, my friend Robert, asked if I would be able to modify it to do key-clicks so he could action 2 switch’s for a freeware panel that appeared to have no assigned events in FSX.     I always like a challenge,, so the end result is below.

What it does,,,

It takes any 2 pre-programmed keystrokes and then sends the mouse cursor to a pre-programmed position.

At that position you can program it to do either one left mouse click or two left mouse clicks or one right mouse click.

Once the action has taken place, the cursor goes back to where it came from. (So quick you wont see it move)

The program itself runs silently in the background.

The program works across multiple screens.

You can pre-program as many entries as you like.

You can use it in any program ,, or even just your desk-top.

It only looks at A to Z and 0 to 9 (Plus some others)

It does NOT look at Shift, Control, Alt,  F keys, Tab, any Number pad keys, or in fact any other special purpose key.

It works in XP (32 bit), Vista (32 bit) and Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit).

It works across multiple screens

If you have Maxivista installed, it works through that too.

How it does it.

(I will use keys Q and W for example.)

The input looks at all the keys that are being pressed ,,, when (In this example) Q is pressed, it then looks to see if  W is pressed within a short time period.

If it is,, then the mouse shoots off and does its thing and then returns to where it was.

The program looks for the combination within a few milliseconds, so you could actually use Q and Q  ! ! ! or any other key you like.

This in FSX is still achieved when you “hold down” Q and hit W. … It has exactly the same effect as long as both keys are pressed down within the time period  ,,, it doesn’t matter if you are holding the first one down or not.

This “time period” ,,, The response is not super fast ,, I actually had to slow the program down quite a lot to suit both manual input with the keyboard and still be suitable for a keyboard encoder.

The Program ,,

The first entry is an FSX one just to show you how you would “label” it ,,  (But your switch will be a different position)

The forth entry has a 2 at the start of the “Action required” description ,, this means it will DOUBLE click the mouse when it gets there. ,,, so by typing in NP it will open my notepad. (but it wont yours, as it will be in a different place, if its on your desktop at all)

The last entry has a 3 at the start of the “Action Required” description ,, this means it will RIGHT click the mouse when it gets there.

The QW you will open the computer clock. (I am presuming it is at the same place on the XP task-bar as mine)

Installation.

There are only 2 main files, “Link2fs_Mouse.exe” and “profile1.liz” both of which need to be in the same directory.

Simply unzip these 2 files (Plus the Doc’s) into a directory, make a shortcut to the exe file from your desktop and you are away.

To erase them ,, just erase them !!!

To change the type of click.

In the “Action Required” box, if the first letter is 2 then when the mouse goes to the desired position, it will LEFT click TWICE.

In the “Action Required” box, if the first letter is 3 then when the mouse goes to the desired position, it will RIGHT click once.

All other letters or numbers will LEFT click once.

The right and left clicking suits turning “knobs” and will repeat using windows keyboard repeat feature in control panel. (Keyboard setup)

To use it with FSX..

You can use it straight away with FSX by using the (NOT number-pad) numbers of   7,8,9, & 0 This gives you 77,78,79,70,87,88, etc etc. to use without doing anything else,, but just hope the ATC doesn’t come up with option in 7,8,9, or 0. range when you flick the switch.

Other than the above (Which gives you 16 inputs) you will have to change some or all of the “single letter” key-codes that are in use by default with FSX ,, See my page on  www.jimspage.co.nz/fsxinputs.htm

All the input letters/numbers that you want to use , must be free from “single letter” use ,,, for instance, if you didn’t and you used GQ as one of your codes ,,, when you sent that command ,, the gear would go down ,,  the sound would go off  AND the mouse would click on what you programmed it to do. ! ! !

To change an entry ,,,

Just bring up the 2 key code while in programming mode and it will over-write the entry with the new one.

To erase an entry ,,,

You can double click on an entry to erase it. (You will be asked to confirm)

To make another profile ,,,

Extra profiles allow you to use the same keystrokes with different programs or panels.

Just click on (say) profile2 and start entering some commands. It will automatically make the new file.

Turn off “Returning” ,,,

Once the action has happened, the mouse shoots back to where it came from so it wont bring up tool tips etc on the program you are using.

For testing, you can turn this feature OFF.

Errors..

This program is made with Visual Basic 6 ,, most computers have the VB6 runtime files already installed, but if not, you may have to install them.

If “Link2fs_Mouse” cant find the “Profile1.liz” file it will show an “error 53” message.

Do not run more than one copy of Link2fs_Mouse at a time ,,  unpredictable results. (There is no checking to see if it is already running)

You can download Link2fs_Mouse_v4rca   here ,,,    http://www.jimspage.co.nz/link2fs_mouse_v4rca.zip

Possible improvements ,,,  (If I get the urge)

Include some special purpose keys. (Alt Control etc)

.

Updated 20-6-08

Updated 18-11-08 (Cursor now returns to where it came from)

Updated 18-05-10 (Added right click function)