Wednesday, March 31, 2010

MX Revolution 5500 Keyboard and Mouse middle button config

Having replaced a very loved Logitech MX Revolution mouse, with the only version I could find available where the mouse has a second wheel, I ran into the same configuration issues regarding middle mouse button functionality.

Short version for those of you impatient to get things moving....
After you've installed the Setpoint software and the mouse and keyboard are working correctly, RIGHT CLICK on the Setpoint icon down near the clock and select EXIT.  Then on your computer, go here;

C:\Users\YOURLOGGEDONUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Logitech\SetPoint\user.xml

You and I both know that in the line where it says YOURLOGGEDONUSERNAME, it's referring to the current user, which is usually your name, but I think I've explained that enough right now....

Find the line in the file that says this;
            <Button Number="6" Name="4">

From there, down to where it reads
            </Button>

Paste this;
            <Button Number="6" Name="4">
               <Trigger Class="ButtonPress">
                  <Param Button="6" FirstRepeatDelay="0" RepeatDelay="0" Silent="0" Type="0"/>
                  <TriggerState Name="ButtonDownUp" HandlerSet="MiddleMouseButton">
                     <Handler Class="MouseButton">
                        <Param ButtonName="MiddleButton"/>
                     </Handler>
                  </TriggerState>
               </Trigger>
               <Param IconLoc="" Type=""/>
            </Button> 

SAVE the file, then run Setpoint again.
ALL PROGRAMS > LOGITECH > MOUSE AND KEYBOARD > MOUSE AND KEYBOARD SETTINGS

Ok geeks need not read any further, but for those of us who don't speak fluent Matrix, here's some detail.


For whatever reason, someone at Logitech didn't think that anyone would want to be able to use the little search button as a middle mouse click, so this is a way of forcing the software to do what you want it to, even though the levers and pulleys are not available to you on the outside. Sort of like making a bus driver drop you off right outside your house even though the route is nowhere near it and if you asked they would tell you there was no way you could buy a ticket to that exact destination.  A lot of software works this way, and you can probably find lots of other incomprehensible text files all over your computer that set very specific things in very specific ways.  If you must fiddle, do be a good chap and make a backup copy of any file BEFORE you do it.  In this case I just RIGHT CLICKED the USER.XML file, selected COPY, then PASTE to put a copy right there with it.  If you do screw up, you can just delete the (now useless) USER.XML file, and rename the USER - COPY.XML file to USER.XML and you are all good.

To edit that file you can use Notepad.  Open Notepad first, and then drag this file in, or RIGHT CLICK on the file and select OPEN WITH, then from the list that appears select NOTEPAD.  If that doesn't show up then you can select it from the option CHOOSE DEFAULT PROGRAM and any more than that is probably outside the scope of this particular post.

To insert the above text into the file, just copy the text above, then find the corresponding line in the USER.XML file and highlight that, then select PASTE.  You should see it change.  Then SAVE the file, and run the Setpoint software again (as it says above).  Then go to a link on a web page, click the little button and OH MY GOODNESS, it opens in a new tab!

Oh and if you were wondering (which you probably weren't but what they heck) I use the second mouse wheel for volume up and down, and click it to mute/unmute.

My work here is done (except maybe some pictures to brighten up the entry..... soon)

P.S. This is obviously for a PC, and perhaps the Mac version lets you do this already.  Do YOU know?
P.P.S Now I have two functioning middle mouse buttons right next to each other.  So if someone ever brings out a Track and Field game that uses the middle mouse button, I AM GONNA WIN!