Name

Mouse Control Panel

Dictionary commands

application

This class represents the Mouse control panel. Figure 29-2 shows what this control panel looks like in Mac OS 9. You can get or set the four properties of the Mouse application class if you are compelled to use AppleScript to control your mouse input device:

Figure 29-2. The scriptable Mouse control panel

tell application "Mouse"
   (* get all these properties and view in Event Log *)
   tracking speed
   double click speed
   mouse tracks
   thick ibeam
end tell
(* Sample view in Script Editor Event Log *)
get tracking speed
--> 6
get double click speed
--> 2
get mouse tracks
--> 0
get thick ibeam
--> false

tracking speed integer

This settable number determines how fast the mouse cursor follows the user’s mouse movement. The higher the number, the faster the tracking speed, as in the following (this is a high-speed mouse):

tell app "Mouse" to set tracking speed to 6

double click speed integer

This number determines how fast you have to double-click for the computer to determine that two clicks equal a double-click (as opposed to a single click followed by another single click). The higher the number, the faster the speed at which the user has to double-click.

mouse tracks integer

Setting this property to something other than causes the mouse to leave visible “tracks” or mouse cursor images as it moves about the screen. This may make the cursor easier to find on the screen with bright small screens like those of the PowerBook or iBook.

thick ibeam boolean

If this property is true, the mouse will be a thick ibeam shape:

tell app "Mouse" to set thick ibeam to true.