************************** * Button Fixer Accessory * ************************** Freeware by Charles F. Johnson Based on an idea by Gene Sothan Release Date: December 23, 1990 Introduction ------------ If you've recently upgraded to TOS 1.4, you may have noticed (and been driven slightly nuts by) a difference in the way the system responds to mouse button clicks. Often, when you click on a window's scroll bar, you'll move _two_ pages up or down instead of one; or if you click on a window's up/down arrows, you'll move two lines instead of one. This problem does not occur with versions of TOS earlier than 1.4; but all versions after TOS 1.2 do exhibit these symptoms. At this time, it's unclear whether the problem is caused by a bug in TOS 1.4 and above, or by an unfortunate choice of coding techniques in the programs that suffer from it. Some programs have this problem to such a degree that they're almost unusable; Flash (from Antic Software) is a good example. It's almost impossible to click fast enough on its capture buffer scroll bar to cause a single page scroll. Calamus is another example; you'll often end up "picking up" objects in Calamus when all you wanted to do was select them. A Pretty Good Fix ----------------- So here's a tiny desk accessory (less than 400 bytes long) that can really help with this problem. To use it, just place BUTTNFIX.ACC in the root directory of your boot disk and reboot your computer. NOTE: this accessory won't do anything if it's loaded into CodeHead Software's MultiDesk; it must be installed as an ordinary desk accessory. Some people have found that they need to click on the accessory's title in the 'Desk' menu before it will start working; for others, just installing it seems to be enough. (Go figure.) You'll have to experiment to see which category you fall into. (If you do need to open the accessory to make it start working, a good way to do this would be to use CodeHead's amazing new product CodeKeys, and set up an autorun macro that does it for you automatically.) (Sorry. Couldn't resist one little plug.) Once you've installed it, you should find that the "double button event" problems are almost entirely fixed. Most programs will now behave themselves quite nicely. A Small Drawback ---------------- There's one small disadvantage to using BUTTNFIX.ACC -- you may notice that the overall response of your system to button clicks is just a tiny bit more sluggish than before. The difference is so small that it's really almost unnoticeable. But if it does bother you, you'll just need to decide for yourself whether the advantage it offers outweighs the small slowdown. As Robert Heinlein was fond of saying, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." Not My Idea ----------- I can't take credit for this idea; it was originally suggested to me by Gene Sothan, during a discussion of the double-scroll problem. So any kudos, unbridled admiration, and/or poison pen letters should be directed to Gene, not to me. The Wrap-Up ----------- That's all there is to it. This DA is free; consider it a Christmas present, and circulate it as you will. I hope it solves your double trouble. - Charles F. Johnson