Controlling cursor speed when using a joystick

[Erin]

Thank you David.  I looked up the joystick in the "control panel" and
the only adjustments available are normal calibration, which doesn't
help with adjusting it's sensitivity.

Strange that your code changes the behavior of the joystick within E-
Prime.  In effect, it changes the joystick's effect on the cursor, and
makes it function more like a track ball.   E-Prime must treat the
joystick input differently than the mouse input, and your code somehow
interacts with that difference.

I am not sure exactly what data the joystick sends to the PC or in
what I/O port the date appears.  I'll do some more research, and post
back here if I find anything that may be useful.  Thank you again so
much for your help!

Erin



On May 12, 3:38 pm, David McFarlane <mcfar... at msu.edu> wrote:
> 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

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "E-Prime" group.
To post to this group, send email to e-prime at googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to e-prime+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/e-prime?hl=en.