Programming the Mouse from a Real-Mode C Program

MS-DOS                 | WINDOWS

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft C for MS-DOS, versions 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0ax
• Microsoft C/C++ for MS-DOS, versions 7.0
• Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0 and 1.5

SUMMARY

The text below presents a code example to test the mouse in a C program. You must install the mouse driver before using this program.

MORE INFORMATION

The information in this program is presented in the "Mouse Programming Interface" chapter of the "Microsoft Mouse Programmer's Reference," available from Microsoft Press.

Sample Code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <dos.h>

int m1 = 0, m2 = 0, m3 = 0, m4 = 0;

void mouse(void)

   Mouse_regs.x.ax = m1;
   Mouse_regs.x.bx = m2;
   Mouse_regs.x.cx = m3;
   Mouse_regs.x.dx = m4;
   int86(0x33, &Mouse_regs, &Mouse_regs);
   m1 = Mouse_regs.x.ax;
   m2 = Mouse_regs.x.bx;
   m3 = Mouse_regs.x.cx;
   m4 = Mouse_regs.x.dx;

void main(void)

   // Turn on the mouse
   m1 = 1;           // SHOW MOUSE Opcode -- See reference
   m2 = m3 = m4 = 0; // Additional parameters (init = 0)
   mouse();          // Make it happen

   for ( ; ; )       // Loop until both buttons are down
      {
      m1 = 3;        // Get mouse status
      m2 = m3 = m4 = 0;
      mouse();

      if (m2 & 1)
         printf("Left button down\n");
      if (m2 & 2)
         printf("Right button down\n");
      if (m2 & 1 && m2 & 2)
         {
         printf("BOTH!\n");
         exit(0);
         }
      }