I just started with C++ and I've been messing around with mouse movements in C++. I'm currently trying to get the mouse to forever move to the right while I'm holding down a key, and stop when I'm not.
The only way I can find to achieve anything similar to this is to use GetAsyncKeyState and SetCursorPos, but that would just instantly move my cursor to a certain position. I want the mouse to just keep moving to the right (or whatever direction) while a key is held down.
How could I achieve this?
Raw Input for globally monitoring keyboard input, and SendInput to generate mouse input.
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I want to have my code read the movement of the mouse and act accordingly, for example, if you are moving your mouse up, you print the mouse is moving up in the console and sort of like that. (I am using Windows 10.)
The problem is, I could find a lot of articles that take the coordinates of the mouse cursor, but couldn't find one that deals with the real raw mouse input. The reason I want to do it this way is that when your cursor hits the border and cannot go further, the cursor position wouldn't change and the program won't recognize the mouse movement even though the mouse is "physically" moving. Another problem is that certain programs can "lock" your cursor to stay in a fixed position. For example, most FPS games do that.
Therefore, I wanted to get the raw input that the sensor of the mouse gives to the computer and utilize them instead of cursor position.
Therefore, I wanted to get the raw input that the sensor of the mouse gives to the computer and utilize them instead of cursor position.
Use the Raw Input API for that. Call RegisterRawInputDevices() to register the target mouse device(s) you want to monitor (there could be multiple connected to the PC), and then handle WM_INPUT messages containing the raw input data from the mouse(s).
At the moment I simply use the WM_MOUSEMOVE message, but it limits the mouse movement to the maximum resolution. So what's the best way of capturing the mouse with Win32 (on a OpenGl window)? I don't want to use freeglut or any extra library.
For games and realtime DirectInput is very suitable, it's moderately hard to use.
That is not core win32 api, the winapi way of getting the input is either GetCursorPos/SetCursorPos driven by your own update loop, so you query and reset with your own frequency.
Or SetCapture and then upon WM_MOUSEMOVE you call SetCursorPos.
The point of setting the cursor pos is to give room for movement so you can get the delta, the amount the cursor moved since the last update and then put it back the cursor into the center of your window.
If you want to be able to capture mouse events after the mouse has existed the window, then you might want to look into the SetCapture function
If your problem is that you want to make a FPS game and you want your character to be able to spin in a continuous motion, then you want to set the mouse position to the center of the window after each mouse move event and handle input based on the difference between the position of the cursor when the mouse move event is fired and the center of the screen. To set the position of the mouse you can use the SetCursorPos function.
Your best bets are to either use DirectInput (which can be a bit of a pain to set up) or RawInput.
There is a fairly comprehensive example available in the Using RawInput page (See example 2).
I'm trying to use SetCursorPos to move the cursor location when it hits the edge of the screen (for a scrubby control); the standard "track until the edge is hit, move cursor to middle of screen" thing.
The problem is that Windows resets the cursor location back to where it was as soon as it gets a mouse event.
For debugging purposes, I made a test app using the code at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms648380(v=vs.85).aspx#_win32_Using_the_Keyboard_to_Move_the_Cursor
This is showing me the same behavior: I use the mouse to park the cursor in the top left corner of the window (right under the File menu) and use the keyboard to move the cursor off to wherever. But as soon as I touch the mouse, the cursor is right back to the top left corner.
This is obviously less than helpful for my control that uses the mouse to scrub.
How can I make Windows accept my SetCursorPos position as truth?
Thanks!
Using SetCursorPos usually works fine (even though to use it is considered bad style in general.) Some devices such as a Wacom tablet send absolute positions, though. As soon as the device sends a new location, the cursor will jump back. You really can't help this if this is the case.
However, am I right assuming you're doing this because you're trying to detect the speed of the cursor? If so, you should probably use a different API that gives you the low-level values without the need to use the position of the cursor at all. Have a look at DirectInput!
Reading this article "Taking Advantage of High-Definition Mouse Movement" - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee418864(v=vs.100).aspx, I surmise that one should use raw input for more precise readings from input devices.
The article states that WM_MOUSEMOVE's primary disadvantage is that it is limited to the screen resolution.
Upon close inspection of the RAWMOUSE structure I see that lLastX and lLastY are long values and you get the delta via them.
To me it looks like WM_MOUSEMOVE and WM_INPUT is the same except with WM_INPUT you do not get acceleration (pointer ballistics) applied.
Are both WM_MOUSEMOVE and WM_INPUT limited to the screen resolution?
If so, what is the benefit of using WM_INPUT?
RAWMOUSE gives you logical coordinates for the mouse based on the mouse's native resolution.
That is, you see the actual movement of the mouse.
Windows will use the mouse speed and acceleration (ballistics) settings to update the cursor position. Because of course the two are not linked - the apparent movement of the mouse must be interpreted to generate a cursor movement else how can more than one mouse be supported?
If you wish to control a pointer, as far as I can tell there is no reason to duplicate the Windows mouse ballistics calculations. Just let windows do it. Therefore for controlling the pointer, you should just use WM_MOUSEMOVE. That is, unless you wish to disable the mouse acceleration settings in your application.
However, if you want to control the player's POV (point of view), or use the mouse to control an in-game object such as a spaceship flight yoke, then the RAWMOUSE data gives you the best possible access to the movement of the mouse, and you can implement your own algorithm to convert that into flight yoke/POV movement.
The main benefit and reason to use it is that that with rawInput you can use two mouses or more. Presently I write small game prototype which is designed to be played by two players with two mouses/mices - It is more complicated but It works and it is not bad because I do nod need to link external libs.
I'm attempting to move the camera via gluLookAt in my OpenGL app similar to how the camera moves in a FPS game. It works, however, I would like to center the mouse after moving it, to disallow the mouse from ever reaching the edge of the screen. After doing some research, I found glutWarpPointer is a viable option, however, I get the sense that professional game developers only utilize the basic OpenGL commands, instead of something like glutWarpPointer, or glutSolidCube, or glutSolidSphere. Am I correct in assuming this?
In my WndProc function, I set the look for my gluLookAt under the WM_MOUSEMOVE message in my switch block. I also realize that SendInput would achieve what I want, but from my understanding SendInput would trigger another WM_MOUSEMOVE when the cursor goes to the middle of the screen, essentially reversing my original movement of the mouse, and not moving the camera's look at all.
Any ideas?
Edit: I don't think there exists a function that does not call a WM_MOUSEMOVE message. I think the proper route is to create a flag that determines whether the WM_MOUSEMOVE was invoked by a SetCursorPos, and if it was, do not change the camera's look.
Use SetCursorPos to relocate the mouse cursor if you're on Windows.