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I am running windows7 on my laptop, and all is well, but I am jealous of the multitouch on macs. I don't really know how all of this "works", but i'm imagining that it couldn't be that hard to write a program to patch into windows that allows this.

Currently, if I put two fingers on the pad and drag around, it sortv half-heartedly tries to follow both. Or something. It's pitiful. After extended experimentation, I don't think it can really track both points at once. But perhaps I could detect the fumbling that occurs when I put my second finger down mathematically, and then "release" tracking on one of them.

Basically, I'm not trying for true multitouch (like stretching images), but I feel like I ought to be able to get something together that detects a double press as a right click. That's a step in the right direction.

What would I need to write that in? How would I install it?

If you're going to say it's impossible, then ignore that and take it from another direction. What if I wanted to enable a triple tap as a right click? (please no pre-built 3rd party solutions, I want to write this myself) That's certainly got to be possible.

How do I tap in to the resources I need?

Cœur
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Nona Urbiz
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    All multi-touch that I've seen requires hardware support. It's possible that your touch pad is not "multi-touch aware" and no amount of programming will make it so. Multiple clicks, on the other hand, can be programmed for. – Michael Todd Nov 04 '09 at 18:56
  • This reminds me of the statistics clerk at my office who told me about downloading a touch-screen browser at home, but he couldn't figure out how to make it work. No matter where he touched his CRT, the browser didn't react. Hardware support is required, of course, and no amount of wishing makes it possible otherwise. – Ken White Nov 04 '09 at 18:59
  • I realize there are hardware limitations. I'm trying to think outside of the box. If i can write an equation to detect the type of "floundering" that I notice when I place two fingers on the pad, I can take advantage of it. but anyway: how would I start on the multi click idea? – Nona Urbiz Nov 04 '09 at 19:10
  • That's part of the problem; how do you interpret "floundering" programmatically? Your device probably only reports a single point at a time and you may not have enough "timer resolution" to really determine what the user was trying to do. "Did they just try to zoom in or was their finger moving so fast that it only registered in two disparate spots on the pad?" – Michael Todd Nov 04 '09 at 19:53
  • well, leave the interpreting up to me. all i'm asking for is how i would get started. – Nona Urbiz Nov 05 '09 at 01:56

2 Answers2

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This might be a hardware and or driver limitation. Not all touch surfaces (like trackpads) support multitouch. You might want to check out Raw Input on msdn which supports alternative input methods.

Edit:

Note that the Raw Input API only provides access to multitouch if its supported by your hardware.

Yngve Hammersland
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This is not possible, this is discussed on the www.insanelymac.com forum, where people create hackintosh pcs (basically pcs running mac osx). Several attempts have been made, but DUE to the construction and METHOD with which MANY touchpads collect sensory data it is impossible. Best of luck...

jmercouris
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