How to program a software like AutoHotkey Topic is solved

[GuiliuG]

Hello,

I'm currently designing for the fun a foot operated track ball device to control my computer more efficiently and I have just started looking about how to program the software to interface the device with the Windows OS (so that by moving the track ball, the current page is zoomed in and out for example, or a shortcut (dependant of the current application) is called. I have basic C/C++ programming skills but I'm willing to learn

I thought at first that I had to look and learn more about drivers but it seems I was wrong as I can re-use a standard mouse driver from Microsoft. So now I'm confused and don't know where to start. Consequently, I thought it would be a good idea to look about programs that do similar things and just ask how to design such a program, what's the key steps and where can I find more information about those, which is the reason why I'm posting this comment on AutoHotkey forum !

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Guillaume.

[guest3456]

why not just use AHK to trigger the zoom commands?

[sancarn]

Hello,

I'm currently designing for the fun a foot operated track ball device to control my computer more efficiently and I have just started looking about how to program the software to interface the device with the Windows OS (so that by moving the track ball, the current page is zoomed in and out for example, or a shortcut (dependant of the current application) is called. I have basic C/C++ programming skills but I'm willing to learn

I thought at first that I had to look and learn more about drivers but it seems I was wrong as I can re-use a standard mouse driver from Microsoft. So now I'm confused and don't know where to start. Consequently, I thought it would be a good idea to look about programs that do similar things and just ask how to design such a program, what's the key steps and where can I find more information about those, which is the reason why I'm posting this comment on AutoHotkey forum !

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Guillaume.

You might need to be more specific... AHK was built over a very long time and by multiple people and was based upon an ancient proprietary language made by Microsoft.

As far as the basic functionality of AHK goes, most commands are basically wrappers around the Windows32 API (user32.dll, kernel32.dll etc.)

Arrays, Objects and COMObjects came later with Lexicos and that stuff is a little more complicated see: https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/13 ... in-plain-C

You can already do a lot with the Win32 API and COM Objects. If you don't have the ability to manipulate those, automation becomes pretty difficult in my experience. However, recognise, I'm speaking with no experience with .NET. And I'm pretty sure .NET has even more answers to problems that I have yet to learn about.