How many of you put extra mouse buttons to work while LabVIEWing?

[p27182]

Hey-

I'm looking to buy a new mouse (the one I have keeps randomly reseting its position to the upper rightmost spot on my displays) and looking on newegg I see mic with upwards of 10+ buttons...

My question is, have any or many of you set up any of the extra buttons on your mouse to execute shortcuts in labview?

Are there a lot of programmable shortcuts or hotkeys in labview that make you significantly faster? I'm aware of only a few with the quickdrop window, so I suppose if you could get one button on the mouse to ctrl+space and another to ctrl+d (or whichever). I think I read or heard somewhere you can create your own through the quickdrop menu- have to look into this i do.

Sorry if any of this is unclear... it's early and I havent had my coffee yet.

thanks

[p27182]

How do you edit a post you made? I don't see an edit button...

anywho...

Assuming that you can make your own hotkeys and such, it'd be cool to use something like this even though it is overkill

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=pd_sim_e2

take your most commonly used commands and map em to the keys and whatnot...

-pat

[Ravi Beniwal]

How do you edit a post you made? I don't see an edit button...

I believe you have to be a premium member to be able to edit/delete your posts.

[asbo]

I believe you have to be a premium member to be able to edit/delete your posts.

TIL.

For a while, I was using a programmable Logitech trackball mouse becuause it's my personal preference, but more and more I found that the shortcuts I had programmed for the mouse wrecked my productivity when I was integrating on test stands. I got tired of having to code in two different styles so I use a normal optical mouse as much as possible.

[Jordan Kuehn]

TIL.

For a while, I was using a programmable Logitech trackball mouse becuause it's my personal preference, but more and more I found that the shortcuts I had programmed for the mouse wrecked my productivity when I was integrating on test stands. I got tired of having to code in two different styles so I use a normal optical mouse as much as possible.

My SSD and large monitors have also done this. To counteract, I'll code on my laptop occasionally. The worst is having to code on a touch pad in the field.

For an on topic response, no I don't use any of the extra buttons, though I do like having a wireless mouse. Logitech makes good products.

[p27182]

I found that the shortcuts I had programmed for the mouse wrecked my productivity when I was integrating on test stands. I got tired of having to code in two different styles so I use a normal optical mouse as much as possible.

Do you mean wrecked your productivity while trying to write code without the mouse shortcuts?

thx for the responses

-pat

[asbo]

My SSD and large monitors have also done this. To counteract, I'll code on my laptop occasionally. The worst is having to code on a touch pad in the field.

We actually have a couple stands out in our shop that have touchpads built into their roll-out keyboards as well as touch screens. It'll be really handy in the field, but I almost always walk back to my desk to write any significant amount of code. I only recently stepped up to a dual monitor setup and I'm loving it.

Do you mean wrecked your productivity while trying to write code without the mouse shortcuts?

Yep, I get too accustomed to having all those niceties and it does make me slower when working away from my desk. The only thing I depend on to code these days is Quick Drop and Auto-Tool.

[Mark Balla]

I have been using a programmable 5 button MS Explorer mouse since they came out.

I program the buttons to the three keyboard keys I use the most

Shift (Left back)

Delete (Left front)

CTRL (Center mouse wheel))

Several years ago I went all out and started using my tricked out programmable gaming joystick

I programmed it with all the LabVIEW shortcuts and used it with my left hand.

It worked great at home but because I couldn't have one at every machine that I worked on it wasn't as effective as I originally had hoped.

Fortunately I was able to put the programmable mice at each computer which made for a common platform to work with.

Quick drop was a great productivity boost for me and because my right hand can press the ctrl and shift keys my left hand only needs to press one key at a time

There are many Quick drop short cuts that make development easier.

Here are a few links to QD shortcuts.

https://decibel.ni.com/content/groups/quick-drop-enthusiasts

https://decibel.ni.c...t/docs/DOC-9573

http://zone.ni.com/r...op_shortcut_db/

http://labviewartisa...p-keyboard.html

[COsiecki]

I like to map buttons 4 and 5 to undo and redo. Its the same behavior as forward and back in a browser. I also sometimes map Align and Distribute to the wheel rocking. Unfortunately, I don't think you can map individual Align or Distribute functions. All you can do is just a repeat of the last operation you selected. Ideally, I'd love to have Align Left and Align Right as my left and right wheel rock respectively. I'm kinda OCD about my code, and I do a lot of alignment. With wire alignment in 2011, its worse... thanks NI

[p27182]

I just bought a 13 button mouse (G700)... not only does it have buttons for days, but you can program one of them to change back and forth through 3 different "profiles" so that all the 12 other buttons can be config'd for another 12 hotkeys and or macros... with timing recorded on the keys too... it's a wee bit overwhelming lol...

somehow, despite having the button "unassigned" in logitechs mouse config sw, when I hit one of the buttons it Ctrl+E's by default... kinda handy haha.

we'll see if I can actually put these buttons to some productive use...

It's a wireless guy that apparently will work on all surfaces so I'm certainly bringing it with me anywhere my laptop goes....

-pat

[crelf]

Like Asbo, I code on too many different PCs for a single non-standard setup to be helpful (again, like Asbo, doing so is nonproductive). especially when I'm coding on someone else's PC (to help them with something) and they've changed a lot of the standard setup

[SuperS_5]

I used to play a lot of PC games, before getting into programming. This background taught my one hand to hover over the keyboard, quickly hitting multiple shortcuts without looking. The 100+Keys on the keyboard come in handy. (I can also use the mouse with either hand.)

Trackpads, and single displays drive me crazy though.

[Ryan Podsim]

I'm about the same SuperS_5, gaming has taunt me how to cover a full keyboard with one hand, even the big split keyboards (which I love ). I used to use a track ball for years, but thumb muscles finally decided they didn't like it, so now I just use a regular optical mouse. Though, I do use a high precision mouse at home. (still trying to figure out to convince the boss to buy me a $150 mouse for LabVIEW. ) My really don't like using LabVIEW on a laptop or a track-pad. Oh and single low res monitors just make me cringe. I usually have to many VIs open at once, so I love screen space. I'm a bit spoiled with my Dev Machine, dual 23" wide screens.