Thread: ncurses and touchpad support for Windows

Hello, i tried ncurses and touchpad clicks from an ASUS laptop with Msys2 installed.

It seems that ncurses for Windows do not support touchpad.

How can i catch touchpad-mouse clicks for ncurses in windows ?
I tried midnight commander on Windows and it support my touchpad, how does it do it ?

Thanks in advance for your replies...
DimK

i posted this answer at C Programming thread but i was advised to post it here
ncurses and touchpad support for Windows

i think this issue has nothing to do with Windows OS but ncurses for Linux or Windows do not support touchpad clicks as mouse clicks !

Originally Posted by john.c

Are you using ncurses itself or are you using pdcurses?

i use ncursesw from Msys2

Did you download a precompiled library or compile it yourself?

I use no library

Are you compiling your program through mingw or msys2, or just directly on Windows?

i use msys2 mingw64 gcc

You mentioned Linux, too. Have you also tried it on Linux?

i tried on virtual box with a Debian 13. On Linux the program works fine because the OS sees mouse as USB Tablet pointing device.

Post the shortest program that demonstrates the problem.

Code:

#include <ncurses.h>


int main() {
    initscr(); // Initialize ncurses
    cbreak(); // Line buffering disabled, Pass on everything to me
    noecho(); // Don't echo() while we do getch
    keypad(stdscr, TRUE); // Enable keypad mode
    mousemask(ALL_MOUSE_EVENTS, NULL); // Enable mouse events


    // Check if the terminal supports mouse
    if (!has_mouse())
    {
        endwin(); // Clean up ncurses
        printf("Mouse not supported.\n");
        return 1;
    }


    mvprintw(LINES / 2, (COLS - 21) / 2, "Click anywhere to exit");
    refresh();


    int ch;
    MEVENT event;
    while((ch = getch()) != KEY_F(1)) { // Exit loop on pressing F1
        if(ch == KEY_MOUSE) {
            if(getmouse(&event) == OK) {
                if(event.bstate & BUTTON1_CLICKED) {
                    // Left button clicked
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }


    endwin(); // Cleanup ncurses
    return 0;
}

Something else, chatgpt mentions that ncurses for win or linux has no native support for touchpad devices

Originally Posted by john.c

Presumably you are using the ncurses library.
What exactly is your compile line?

gcc.exe -Wall -g -IC:\msys64\mingw64\include\ncursesw -c C:\Users\demos\Documents\WORKSPACES\C\NCURSES\4_5\ main.c -o obj\Debug\main.o
gcc.exe -o bin\Debug\4_5.exe obj\Debug\main.o -lncursesw

You say you tried it on Linux and it worked fine. So does it work on Linux or not?

Linux was in a virtual machine in virtual box which the OS sees mouse as usb device, that's why it worked there !!!

EDIT:
Also, have you tried it with an actual mouse hooked up to your laptop? Does that work?

no i have not tried to plug in a usb mouse to laptop

That is not a solution. If i use a usb mouse it will work.

I tried a binary version for windows of midnight commander and there the touchpad works... i am wondering how they did it ?

of course I want any help...don't take it personally...

for me it works with vm so that's enough

on the other hand I don't have a mouse handy to try

thanks for your time and feedback anyway

What terminal are you using? Mintty or something else?

This might be relevant: ncurses on windows, can't receive KEY_MOUSE

Originally Posted by christop

What terminal are you using? Mintty or something else?

This might be relevant: ncurses on windows, can't receive KEY_MOUSE

Yes this is the case...
i use XTerm in Linux and cmd on Windows11

so john.c was right... it does not work on Windows also with a mouse nor touchpad...

thanks for feedback

Originally Posted by john.c

Try a mouse. Neither seems to work for me. The terminal seems to be eating the mouse clicks.

You are correct !!! This is not touchpad issue but terminal issue.
Windows cmd terminal does not accept mouse clicks. I tried on Windows 11 with a usb mouse.

i have good news...
i had success with cygwin64. In cygwin64 the mouse behaves as expected.
i can compile the program, run it, and make clicks with touchpad from laptop, and the program behaves as wanted !