Clicker Version 1.1D Release Notes
January 23, 1995

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About Clicker
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This is version 1.1D of Clicker, a mouse-button utility for 
Microsoft Windows NT version 3.5.

Clicker lets you assign a number of different functions
to the middle and right buttons of your mouse or trackball.

To install Clicker, simply put the files clicker.exe and
mouhook.dll in the same directory, then run clicker.exe.
If you are upgrading from a previous version, please make sure you
delete or overlay both of the old files.

Clicker is freeware. You may distribute Clicker freely, as long
as you include these release notes in unmodified form.

When you run Clicker for the first time, it will pop
up a configuration dialog. Double-clicking on the Clicker icon will
also bring up the dialog.

You can assign the following functions to the middle and right buttons:

- Double-click
- Close application
- Maximize
- Minimize
- Restore
- Show task list
- Cut
- Copy
- Paste
- Enter
- Backspace
- Delete
- Escape
- Undo
- Page Up
- Page Down
- F1 through F12

Once you have selected the button assignments you want and hit enter,
the selections are stored in the Windows NT registry.

The registry values are under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Nemesis Consulting Group\Clicker as MiddleButtonFunction and
RightButtonFunction. The values are stored as numbers that
correspond to the order that functions are displayed in the
configuration dialog. (For example, (Unassigned) is 0, Double-click
is 1, Close application is 2, etc.)

Since the values are stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, each user will
have their own Clicker settings.

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Changes from Version 1.1C to 1.1D
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Alpha binaries are now included, thanks to Dean Troyer!
(troyer@saifr00.ateng.az.honeywell.com)

The distribution now has a tree structure, with separate ALPHA and
I386 directories.

A few more bug fixes:

- Problems with activation of MDI child windows in File Manager
  were fixed.

- Cut, Copy, Paste and Undo now work properly almost everywhere.
  Unfortunately, one of the places it doesn't work is Microsoft
  Word.

- Clicker now checks for and silently ignores attempts to start
  more than one instance of itself.

A cosmetic touchup:

- Icon was modified slightly to look better on a white background.

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Changes from Version 1.1B to 1.1C
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A number of bugs have been fixed in 1.1C:

- Double-clicking in Program Manager now works properly on inactive
  program group windows.

- Crashes that were reported when restoring Netscape and other
  applications from an iconized state were due to a general
  problem with applications that call PeekMessage. This has been
  fixed in 1.1C.

- The close application function is now much more reliable. 

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Changes from Version 1.1A to 1.1B
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Version 1.1A was distributed with a corrupt clicker.exe
executable. Version 1.1B is a functionally identical bug-fix.

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Changes from Version 1.0A to 1.1A
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Version 1.0 was extremely primitive -- it only generated a double-click
from the middle button. Version 1.1A adds a configuration dialog,
multi-user registry support, many new mouse button functions, and
the ability to program both the right and middle buttons.

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Requested/Proposed Enhancements
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- Program-specific settings "like mouseky." This is under
  development and tentatively planned for release in version 1.2.

- Ability to assign settings to meta-keys plus buttons, for
  example Alt+Button, Ctrl+Button and Shift+Button. This is also
  under development and tentatively planned for release in
  version 1.2.

- Ability to arbitrarily swap mouse buttons so that the middle
  button can act as the right or left button or the right button
  can act as the middle button. This is not feasible based on the
  current implementation of Clicker, unfortunately. To do this
  properly would really require driver-level support. 

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Current Bugs and Limitations
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- Double-click doesn't work on the system menu of maximized MDI
  child windows. 

- Button clicks on the desktop do not work, nor do button clicks on
  command windows (DOS prompts.) See the "Why Doesn't Clicker Always
  Work?" section that follows.

- Cut, Copy, Paste and Undo work better, but don't work everywhere.
  This is still not acceptable to me, but is low priority at this
  point.

- No PowerPC or MIPS binaries are included. If you have a PowerPC machine
  and have a compiler, and want Clicker, please contact me and we'll
  try to work something out. MIPS binaries are in the works and should
  be available for version 1.2 or a 1.1E release if 1.2 is delayed.

- Requires that the mouse driver generate middle-button events
  to use the middle button functions. The Logitech driver for NT
  does, I don't know about others. The right button can be
  programmed, but use of the right button can be a problem right now
  with some applications and will be a major issue once the Windows
  95 interface gets added to NT.

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Why Doesn't Clicker Always Work?
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Clicker works by installing a system "hook" procedure that
monitors the mouse messages going to applications on your
system. Because of NT's multitasking model and multiple message
queues, Clicker is "attached" to applications and executes within
an application's memory space. If the application process does not
attach itself to Clicker's hook, Clicker can't function.

There are at least two kinds of processes that refuse to
allow themselves to be hooked in this way. One is the Desktop and
the other is command-line or DOS prompt windows. This means that
when you try to use Clicker on the Desktop or on command windows,
nothing happens.

Another cause of strange behavior is that fact that applications
can and do install their own hooks. NT gives these application hooks
first crack at the messages in the message queue. These hooks
can delete messages from the queue so that Clicker never gets them.

How can these problems be addressed? The proper way to implement
something like Clicker is with support at the device-driver level. This
would mean a special device-driver/control panel pairing, like Logitech
and Microsoft do for their 16-bit Windows driver software. Until then,
applications that try to work without device driver support, like
Clicker, will have some limitations.

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Mailing List
---------------------------------------------------------------
Send me your email address and I'll notify you by mail when new
versions of Clicker are released.

Please include the address in the text of the message or your
sig, since one of the mail systems I use strips message headers.

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Where To Get New Versions Of Clicker
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Announcements of new versions are posted to the newsgroup 
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc and will be mailed to those who ask
to be on the mailing list. (New NT newsgroups have been proposed
and are going through the Usenet debate/vote process. If and when
a comp.os.ms-windows.nt.announce is created, I will post there
instead.)

New versions of Clicker are posted to ftp.cica.indiana.edu and
to the newsgroups alt.binaries.misc and comp.binaries.ms-windows.

Since CICA and comp.binaries.ms-windows can take some time to make
postings available, Clicker is also available via anonymous FTP
at ftp.onramp.net in the pub/IBM/General directory.

If all else fails, and sometimes it does, I can mail it
to you.

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Reports and Comments
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You can send bug reports or comments to me at the following
email addresses:

msusrtsp.rick@eds.com
rick@onramp.net

Rick Brown