oli larkin

I would like to make an external to get consistent mouse scroll wheel events on OSX (can't use HI since the device name changes depending on the mouse that is connected). I think it can be done using quartz event taps. Can anyone advise me on how to go about implementing this in a max external? I am not at all familiar with the apple APIs.

quartz-event-taps

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSEvent_Class/Reference/Reference.html#/

You can used obj-C to create max externals, and load all the cocoa 

I can send you some examples if you need. Or if you want I could 

probably throw it together in a couple of hours...either way.

On Feb 8, 2008, at 4:26 AM, Oliver Larkin wrote:

> I would like to make an external to get consistent mouse scroll 

> wheel events on OSX (can't use HI since the device name changes 

> depending on the mouse that is connected). I think it can be done 

> using quartz event taps. Can anyone advise me on how to go about 

> implementing this in a max external? I am not at all familiar with 

> original plugins and stuff for max: www.olilarkin.co.uk

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSEvent_Class/Reference/Reference.html#/ 
/apple_ref/doc/c_ref/NSScrollWheel

You can used obj-C to create max externals, and load all the cocoa  
classes as normal.

I can send you some examples if you need. Or if you want I could  
probably throw it together in a couple of hours...either way.

>
> Hi,
>
> I would like to make an external to get consistent mouse scroll  
> wheel events on OSX (can't use HI since the device name changes  
> depending on the mouse that is connected). I think it can be done  
> using quartz event taps. Can anyone advise me on how to go about  
> implementing this in a max external? I am not at all familiar with  
> the apple APIs.
>
> Thanks very much,
>
> Oli
> --
> original plugins and stuff for max: www.olilarkin.co.uk

San Francisco, CA
Work: 857-544-3967
Email: bthrew (at) gmail (dot) com
Web: www.barrythrew.com


Thanks for your tips. In the end I made a small app in C which taps mouse wheel events and sends them over OSC. I tried to include it in a max external but since the apple event uses an apple run loop i think i need to spawn a separate thread or something.

If you would be willing to have a go at making a mousewheel external, that'd be great since my current "solution" is possibly THE dirtiest hack ever. It would be great if it could be done with standard carbon stuff, and be compatible with tiger as well as leopard.

Ideally I'd like an external to poll the mouse wheel. Perhaps if we're lucky mousestate will get this functionality in Max 5?

I attached the source to my mouse wheel helper app if anyone's interested in turning it into an external.(you need to build liblo OSC library first)

Thanks for your tips. In the end I made a small app in C which taps mouse wheel events and sends them over OSC. I tried to include it in a max external but since the apple event uses an apple run loop i think i need to spawn a separate thread or something. 

I started looking at this a bit yesterday, and will get back to it 

On Feb 13, 2008, at 7:33 AM, Oliver Larkin wrote:

> Thanks for your tips. In the end I made a small app in C which taps 

> mouse wheel events and sends them over OSC. I tried to include it in 

> a max external but since the apple event uses an apple run loop i 

> think i need to spawn a separate thread or something.

> If you would be willing to have a go at making a mousewheel 

> external, that'd be great since my current "solution" is possibly 

> THE dirtiest hack ever. It would be great if it could be done with 

> standard carbon stuff, and be compatible with tiger as well as 

> Ideally I'd like an external to poll the mouse wheel. Perhaps if 

> we're lucky mousestate will get this functionality in Max 5?

> I attached the source to my mouse wheel helper app if anyone's 

> interested in turning it into an external.(you need to build liblo 

I started looking at this a bit yesterday, and will get back to it  
tonight...

> Hi Barry,
>
> Thanks for your tips. In the end I made a small app in C which taps  
> mouse wheel events and sends them over OSC. I tried to include it in  
> a max external but since the apple event uses an apple run loop i  
> think i need to spawn a separate thread or something.
>
> If you would be willing to have a go at making a mousewheel  
> external, that'd be great since my current "solution" is possibly  
> THE dirtiest hack ever. It would be great if it could be done with  
> standard carbon stuff, and be compatible with tiger as well as  
> leopard.
>
> Ideally I'd like an external to poll the mouse wheel. Perhaps if  
> we're lucky mousestate will get this functionality in Max 5?
>
> I attached the source to my mouse wheel helper app if anyone's  
> interested in turning it into an external.(you need to build liblo  
> OSC library first)
>
> cheers,
>
> oli
> --
> original plugins and stuff for max: www.olilarkin.co.uk

OK...Well, here is something that almost works.

I am having some problems with deallocation of object or something 

though...if you turn this thing off and on several times it slows your 

system to a crawl. I'm not very versed at spawning new threads, so 

maybe someone can take a look at it and tell me what is going wrong...

Also, I'm not very happy with my system of polling the mouse wheel. 

Its two different loops, the event callback from the runloop, and a 

Max clock that continually polls. Ideally, of course, I would like 

the value output whenever it changes without having to have a separate 

polling loop, but I'm not sure how to go about that...I've tried 

several ways and it hasn't worked. I'm thinking of switching over to 

NSRunLoops because it looks like there are some more options with 

Anyway, here is a first shot, if anyone can take a crack and telling 

I am having some problems with deallocation of object or something  
though...if you turn this thing off and on several times it slows your  
system to a crawl. I'm not very versed at spawning new threads, so  
maybe someone can take a look at it and tell me what is going wrong...

Also, I'm not very happy with my system of polling the mouse wheel.  
Its two different loops, the event callback from the runloop, and a  
Max clock that continually polls.  Ideally, of course, I would like  
the value output whenever it changes without having to have a separate  
polling loop, but I'm not sure how to go about that...I've tried  
several ways and it hasn't worked. I'm thinking of switching over to  
NSRunLoops because it looks like there are some more options with  
that...

Anyway, here is a first shot, if anyone can take a crack and telling  
me what I'm not releasing, please do.

any chance you can email me the file? I use the forum interface and there is no attachment to your post.

any chance you can email me the file? I use the forum interface and  there is no attachment to your post.

I tried your object and I experienced the same problems as you. After having a look at the juce windowing code, I was able to come up with this external which uses a carbon event handler instead of quartz event taps. It seems to work well so far. It takes mousewheel events for a specific window.

Quartz Event Taps