I'll Click Files

Isn't it about time your mouse was working for you?

I'll Click
~~~~~~~~~~~
by Or Ben Shabat

    hosted by sourceforge at: http://illclick.sourceforge.net
    Click the headline of the tray icon menu to launch the website.



I'll Click - the basics
------------------------

I'll Click is about making your daily computer work more productive, easy and healthy. Mainly, it's about reducing the stress your knuckles, wrists, arms, eyes, ears and mind are experiencing while you're using the mouse and the keyboard. In a nutshell, that's how it works:

when you move your cursor to another point, and you leave it there for about 1/5 of a second, I'll Click sends a click to the computer.

It's as simple as that. But there are some interesting side effects: mainly, you'll be eliminating unnecessary wrist and arms movements. That's bacause you'll get used to not moving your mouse unless you know where you're going. you'll also notice lesser strain in your fingers and wrists, and the clicking noise is gone.

other features extend or control the operation of I'll Click. you can set it to:
* right click (instead of regular left click) if you leave the cursor on a web link;
* double-click on folder icons to open a folder;
* specify region limits, and I'll Click won't click outside that region;
* set the delay time for auto-click;
* disable and enable auto-click and auto-right-click by "knocking" on the screen left or right edges;
and more.

That's the basic function of I'll Click, and that's the way it was in the beginning.



Long Click
-----------

Then I figured that double-clicking an icon to launch it is annoying too. Also, I'm using right-click -> Properties a lot.
So I assigned a long click to carry out these functions (long left click for launch, long right click for Properties).
I did that with another program, named Long Click.



Hot Spots
----------

Then, another need arose.
My PC is at the living room, functioning as a TV set.
So I really hate the desktop icons and the taskbar hiding the wallpaper, but sometimes I need them. I also needed a fast way to minimize all windows.
And I need to do that with the (wireless) mouse only.
So I came up with Hot Spots. That is a program that makes the computer do something when the cursor arrives at any of the screen corners.
The default settings of my computer is icons and taskbar hidden. If I want to show the taskbar, that's usually because I'm interested in what's happenning in the system tray.
Since that is on the lower-right corner of the screen, the natuarl thing is to set that when the cursor gets there, the taskbar is shown. next time, it's hidden again.
Similar considerations set that the upper-left corner shows/hides the desktop icons.
The lower-left corner launches the Windows Start Menu (usefull when I can't click it, as the taskbar is hidden).
And finally, the upper-right corner clears the desktop (minimize all windows).
With Hot Spots you can assign practically any task to any screen corner. e.g. at work I used to work with Windows Desktop Manager (a multi-workspace for Windows) with four workspaces, so naturally I assigned the hotkey of every workspace to a corresponding screen corner.
 


Hide Idle
----------

Back to my living room. When watching a movie, or web slideshow of pictures, the cursor gets in the way - sometimes it doesn't disappear.
And when nothing happens - i.e. just the wallpaper is shown - the mouse is still there.
So I looked for a program to hide the cursor when idle. Found some, like CursorHider and NoMousy, but not quite for my liking.
So I wrote Hide Idle (hide the cursor after some idle time, about 2 seconds. show it again on move).



Where do we go from here ?
---------------------------

So here I am, running four programs in the background, and more are coming. So I decided to merge them into a single program. Since the main feature is the auto-click, I added the other modules to it, creating the comprehensive version of I'll Click. The basic version of I'll Click, as well as the other modules, can be downloaded and used individually; but they are discontinued, and any further development will be done on the full version of I'll Click, coming soon.



No Drags
---------

There's yet another reason for joining all programs into one.
No Drags uses long click to trigger a hold, then you can stop pushing your finger against the mouse button and the cursor will still drag what it's holding.
Click again to release the drag. Naturally, No Drags can't work with Long Click.
Unfortunately it can't work with I'll Click, too. That's unless they are joined into a single program.



Drag'n'Rock
------------

The new features of Windows Vista Aero interface are somewhat similar to what Drag'n'Rock does. You can drag a windows to the upper edge of the screen to maximize it, and to the side edges to dock it. Well, Drag'n'Rock does that and much more, by "rocking" the mouse buttons. Rocking means clicking the mouse button in this order: push left, push right, release left, release right. Rocking in various regions of a window performs a unique operation on the window.

Unfortunately Drag'n'Rock can't work with I'll Click the way it is now. Of course, that's unless they are joined into a single program.
Drag'n'Rock also forces using No Drags, so No Drags is embedded into Drag'n'Rock.



The future
-----------

Currently, these are the modules of the project:
1) I'll Click
2) Long Click
3) HotSpots
4) Hide Idle
5) No Drags
6) Drag'n'Rock (under development)

You can use the modules in the following combinations (each line specifies several possible combinations):
I'll Click and/or Long Click	with/without	Hot Spots and/or Hide Idle
Hot Spots and/or Hide Idle	with/without	I'll Click and/or Long Click
No Drags or Drag'n'Rock	with/without	Hot Spots and/or Hide Idle
Hot Spots and/or Hide Idle	with/without	No Drags or Drag'n'Rock

Another module - Hideout - is composed of Hot Spots and Hide Idle.
Since both deal with hiding Windows desktop elements, it made sense to bind them together.

Two full-featured programs are under development:
1) I'll Click	- including: Long Click, Hot Spots, Hide Idle
2) I'll Click Rocks!	- including: HotSpots, Hide Idle, Drag'n'Rock (including No Drags)

Once the full-featured programs are completed, it is recommended to use one of them, and disable any module you do not need.



The scripting language
-----------------------
I used AutoHotKey 1.0.48.00 for scripting all programs in this project. The code files (*.ahk) are attached to the program files.
I was much assisted by the work of Mr. Skrommel (http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/), both for ideas and coding examples.