LabVIEW 2011: Mouse scroll wheel not working as expected in Windows 7

[vix]

I've just updated LabVIEW to version 2011 on my Windows 7 64-bit machine and I discovered a severe bug: the mouse scroll wheel doesn't work as expected (i.e. it doesn't scroll the window)

In the past I found the same problem in other softwares, and I've already discovered the reason:

• mouse wheel works if I use a standard USB mouse
• it doesn't work as expected if I use the wireless mouse of the Microsoft Wireless Desktop 800 kit (http://www.microsoft.com/italy/products/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=125)
• I found this document http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Picasa/thread?tid=0618ac42be6f9a5a&hl=en that explains the reason for this issue in Google Picasa software:

Most (almost all) mouse drivers cause mouse wheel events with a "delta"  of ±120. This is an arbitrary value that has been chosen by Microsoft  in the past to allow finer control.

Since then, several programs  use that value directly to test whether the mouse has been scrolled down  or up (delta / 120 == 1 -> down, delta / 120 == -1 -> up, or  something like that).

However, the Intellipoint software causes  mouse wheel events with smaller "delta" value (the expected finer grain  control), and programs which use the 120 value that way just fail to  register the wheel movement, because in integral values, 30 / 120 = 0...

Let's hope Picasa devs read this post and fix the mousewheel handling method.

There  has been in the past other software with similar mousewheel problems,  notably OpenOffice, which fixed it - see  http://forums.java.net/jive/thread.jspa?messageID=203449&tstart=0 ,  they tell approximately the same thing.

• even in LabVIEW I did a simple test and if I do a quick large scroll (a fast complete revolution or more) the LabVIEW window scrolls of a short amount.

Im quite sure this is the issue, and I think LabVIEW should be patched ASAP as Picasa, OpenOffice and other softwares has already been.

... waiting for a patch

[vix]

I can't perform additional tests, but I'm quite sure the problem is not related to the Operating System itself: the bug is in the mouse scroll handling.

And for this reason I imagine that the same behavior can be seen in Win XP too, for example

[Matthew_Kelton]

While I will not argue that LabVIEW should probably have a better scroll interface, it is unlikely to get fixed anytime soon.

The Intellipoint driver does offer a workaround though.  My mouse is an Intellipoint 2.0, so I don't know how your driver will differ, but in my mouse properties, under scrolling:

Clicking the link "Identify programs that don't scroll properly..." gives me this window:

I added LabVIEW, and it fixes the scrolling problems.

[vix]

I've never installed Intellipoint driver, or something like that, because the MS Windows 7 Compatibility Center declares this device "Compatible with no action required".

My mouse has been recognized by Win 7 without any problem, and the standard Microsoft driver (version 6.1.7600.16385) is used.

[Matthew_Kelton]

That's the same driver I have installed on my system for my Intellipoint mouse.

[vix]

At this site there is an explanation of this issue: probably LabVIEW don't support partial scrolling.

If I understood what they write, in Intellimouse 8.0 and above, Microsoft implemented a kind of patch for applications that don't support partial scrolling.

And so without Intellimouse, none of these applications supports partial scrolling.

I'll try to install the latest version of Intellimouse, but I think NI developers should patch LabVIEW to support partial scrolling. On the same site MS gives a link to the MSDN information dedicated to developers on how to handle partial scrolling.

[vix]

I installed IntelliPoint 8.20.468 for Windows 7 64-bit but "Identify programs that don't scroll correctly" is not available (see attachment)

[Matthew_Kelton]

I updated to your version (altough I have Win 7 32-bit), and have the same screen I originally posted.  I see you also don't have horizontal scrolling, so perhaps it is actually the hardware and not just the driver that supports the driver option.

[vix]

I looked inside technical information and my MS Wireless 1000 mouse doesn't support horizontal scrolling because it doesn't have a tilt wheel.

But I don't understand why "Identify programs that don't scroll correctly" is not available.

And if the MS patch included into Intellipoint software doesn't work, I need a patch to LabVIEW (that doesn't handle partial scrolling as it should do)

[Matthew_Kelton]

I posted your issue to the bug thread, but I wouldn't count on this being fixed soon.