Controlling cursor speed when using a joystick

[David McFarlane]

Just thinking through this a bit further, if we knew exactly what 
data the joystick sent to the PC, and where (e.g., what I/O port) 
that data appeared, then in principle we could write code to affect 
the cursor in whatever way we wish.  But at the moment we lack that 
technical information.

-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder


At 5/12/2011 03:34 PM Thursday, you wrote:
>Erin,
>
>Thanks for testing that out, and posting back so quickly.  I don't 
>have any joystick myself, so I don't think I can help any 
>further.  I would not have expected your result, clearly the 
>joystick does not simply emulate the mouse otherwise it would just 
>work (and in that case you would not need a code solution in the 
>first place).  Is there a separate Windows "control panel" for the 
>joystick that you can use to control its settings?  Other than that, 
>if it were me I might try another joystick, or start Googling around 
>for more technical background on joysticks in general and then use 
>that knowledge to devise a solution.
>
>Good luck,
>-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
>
>
>>hi David,
>>Matt was the one helping me.
>>
>>Thank you very much for the sample code!  I tried it out, and it does
>>change how the cursor moves.  For the mouse, it slows it down quite
>>perfectly.  For the joystick, it also slows down, but there is an
>>interesting effect. The mouse cursor is basically "stuck" to the
>>joystick.  Normally, when you move the joystick left, the cursor
>>continues to move left, even when the joystick handle is held in a
>>constant left position.  With your modification, the mouse cursor
>>moves only when you move the joystick.  So, the cursor will move left
>>as you move the joystick left, but when you stop the joystick, it
>>stops.  And, when you let the joystick go back to it's resting
>>position, the cursor actually backtracks back to it's original
>>position.  This is an interesting feature, but not what will work for
>>my particular application. (However, I'm sure it's exactly what
>>someone else might need).  It would be absolutely perfect if the
>>cursor could be "unstuck"  from the joystick, so that the joystick
>>just directs the cursor to move forward in whatever direction the
>>joystick is pointed.  Any suggestions?  Again, thank you so much!
>>
>>Erin
>>
>>
>>
>>On May 12, 1:58 pm, David McFarlane <mcfar... at msu.edu> wrote:
>> > Erin,
>> >
>> > Thanks for posting the full information from PST, that helped (can
>> > you let us know which staff member helped you?).  I might have come
>> > up with the Mouse.SetCursorPos approach myself, but not the
>> > Mouse.SetCursorLimits approach, that approach seems a little wacky to
>> > me but what do I know?.
>> >
>> > As for Mouse.SetCursorPos, this posed a nice little puzzle, so I
>> > knocked out a quick demo, and here is the inline that I came up
>> > with.  (Just to have a mouse click to respond to, I preceded the
>> > inline with a TextDisplay called StimText, set to Duration of 0 and
>> > mouse with Time Limit of (infinite)):
>> >
>> > /----------------------------------------------------------------------\
>> > ' Code to modify the rate of mouse movement.
>> >
>> > Const  LoopDelay as Long = 0
>> > Const  CursorMoveFactor as Single = 0.5
>> >
>> > Dim  x0 as Long, y0 as Long
>> > Dim  x1 as Long, y1 as Long
>> >
>> > Mouse.GetCursorPos x0, y0  ' initialize
>> > Do While (StimText.RT = 0)  ' replace this with your exit condition
>> >      Mouse.GetCursorPos x1, y1
>> >      x0 = x0 + (CursorMoveFactor * (x1 - x0))
>> >      y0 = y0 + (CursorMoveFactor * (y1 - y0))
>> >      Mouse.SetCursorPos x0, y0
>> >      Sleep LoopDelay
>> > Loop
>> > \----------------------------------------------------------------------/
>> >
>> > I expected to find some cursor movement artifacts, but it really
>> > worked rather smoothly.  As you can see, I didn't even really need
>> > the LoopDelay, but I left it there just in case.
>> >
>> > -- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
>> >
>> > At 5/12/2011 01:03 PM Thursday, you wrote:
>> >
>> > >I want to control the speed the cursor moves when controlling it with
>> > >a joystick.  I set the joystick to emulate the mouse in my experiment
>> > >(inline Joystick.AttachToMouseCursor = True).  The joystick is quite
>> > >touchy, and causes the cursor to move very quickly across the screen.
>> > >For my experiment, I need the cursor to only move slowly, no matter
>> > >how much the joystick is moved.
>> >
>> > >I tried decreasing the mouse sensitivity settings on my computer.
>> > >This slowed the cursor down when using the mouse within my experiment,
>> > >but had no effect on the joystick.  I also tried increasing the
>> > >resolution display of my experiment (giving the cursor "further" to
>> > >travel)- also no effect.  I have also tried adjusting the sensitivity
>> > >of my joystick, but the cursor is still too fast.
>> >
>> > >E-Prime support suggested the following: "E-Prime does have some
>> > >limited options for positioning the mouse cursor and limiting its
>> > >boundaries. We could try to use a combination of the two to make the
>> > >mouse cursor move more slowly. However, this would require significant
>> > >scripting and could result in the cursor movement not being smooth"
>> >
>> > >My main question: Is anyone aware of a simpler way of controlling the
>> > >cursor speed in E-Prime?
>> >
>> > >If not, here is further information on this method:
>> >
>> > >E-Prime help suggested the following:
>> > >"I would recommend taking a look at the MouseDevice.SetCursorLimits
>> > >and MouseDevice.SetCursorPos topics in the E-Basic Help (accessed via
>> > >the Help menu). The former will allow you to specify boundaries for
>> > >the cursor, and the latter will allow you to position the mouse cursor
>> > >in a specific area. You could use a combination of the two to first
>> > >limit the movement of the cursor so that it does not immediately move
>> > >to one edge of the screen, and then use SetCursorPos to move the
>> > >cursor move slowly. You could also slowly expand the cursor limits as
>> > >the cursor hits the maximum in one direction. This would allow you to
>> > >give the appearance of the cursor moving more slowly. To do this, you
>> > >would have a loop that continuously checks the cursor position against
>> > >the limits that are set, and expand the limits in one direction as the
>> > >cursor hits that limit. This would require significant scripting and
>> > >could result in the cursor movement not being smooth."
>> >
>> > >I took a look at the MouseDevice.SetCursorLimits and
>> > >MouseDevice.SetCursorPos help, and I understand how this would work in
>> > >theory.  However, I am very new to programming, and I am afraid that
>> > >the scripting involved is a bit over my head.  If anyone can offer any
>> > >advice or pointers, it would be very appreciated.  thank you!
>> >
>> > >Erin

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