**************************
* Button Fixer Accessory *
**************************
Freeware by Charles F. Johnson
Based on an idea by Gene Sothan
Release Date: December 23, 1990
Introduction
------------
If you've recently upgraded to TOS 1.4, you may have noticed (and been
driven slightly nuts by) a difference in the way the system responds to
mouse button clicks. Often, when you click on a window's scroll bar,
you'll move _two_ pages up or down instead of one; or if you click on a
window's up/down arrows, you'll move two lines instead of one. This
problem does not occur with versions of TOS earlier than 1.4; but all
versions after TOS 1.2 do exhibit these symptoms. At this time, it's
unclear whether the problem is caused by a bug in TOS 1.4 and above, or
by an unfortunate choice of coding techniques in the programs that
suffer from it.
Some programs have this problem to such a degree that they're almost
unusable; Flash (from Antic Software) is a good example. It's almost
impossible to click fast enough on its capture buffer scroll bar to
cause a single page scroll. Calamus is another example; you'll often
end up "picking up" objects in Calamus when all you wanted to do was
select them.
A Pretty Good Fix
-----------------
So here's a tiny desk accessory (less than 400 bytes long) that can
really help with this problem. To use it, just place BUTTNFIX.ACC in
the root directory of your boot disk and reboot your computer.
NOTE: this accessory won't do anything if it's loaded into CodeHead
Software's MultiDesk; it must be installed as an ordinary desk
accessory.
Some people have found that they need to click on the accessory's
title in the 'Desk' menu before it will start working; for others, just
installing it seems to be enough. (Go figure.) You'll have to
experiment to see which category you fall into.
(If you do need to open the accessory to make it start working, a good
way to do this would be to use CodeHead's amazing new product CodeKeys,
and set up an autorun macro that does it for you automatically.)
(Sorry. Couldn't resist one little plug.)
Once you've installed it, you should find that the "double button
event" problems are almost entirely fixed. Most programs will now
behave themselves quite nicely.
A Small Drawback
----------------
There's one small disadvantage to using BUTTNFIX.ACC -- you may notice
that the overall response of your system to button clicks is just a tiny
bit more sluggish than before. The difference is so small that it's
really almost unnoticeable. But if it does bother you, you'll just
need to decide for yourself whether the advantage it offers outweighs
the small slowdown. As Robert Heinlein was fond of saying, "There ain't
no such thing as a free lunch."
Not My Idea
-----------
I can't take credit for this idea; it was originally suggested to me
by Gene Sothan, during a discussion of the double-scroll problem. So
any kudos, unbridled admiration, and/or poison pen letters should be
directed to Gene, not to me.
The Wrap-Up
-----------
That's all there is to it. This DA is free; consider it a Christmas
present, and circulate it as you will. I hope it solves your double
trouble.
- Charles F. Johnson