Mac Cocoa: How to differentiate if a NSScrollWheel event is from a mouse or trackpad?

7
votes

In my application, I want the scrolling to happen, only with scroll wheel action from a mouse and not from the two finger gesture on a trackpad. Basically, I am trying to determine if the scrollWheelEvent is generated from the mouse or trackpad, inside - (void)scrollWheel:(NSEvent *)theEvent method. From what I know so far, it seems like there is no straightforward way to accomplish this.

I tried a work around of setting a boolean variable to true and false inside -(void)beginGestureWithEvent:(NSEvent *)event; and -(void)endGestureWithEvent:(NSEvent *)event; But this is not a solution because the scrollWheel: method is getting called several times, after the endGestureWithEvent: method is called.

Here is my code:

    $BOOL fromTrackPad = NO;

    -(void)beginGestureWithEvent:(NSEvent *)event;
    {
        fromTrackPad = YES;    
    }

    -(void) endGestureWithEvent:(NSEvent *)event;
    {
        fromTrackPad = NO;    
    }

    - (void)scrollWheel:(NSEvent *)theEvent
    {
       if(!fromTrackPad)
       {
          //then do scrolling
       }
       else 
       {
         //then don't scroll
       }
    }

I know this is something that is not standard, but this is my requirement. Does anyone know a way to do this?? Thanks!

4
cocoanseventtrackpad
This sounds like something at a much lower level. What if the user scrolled with the trackpad and mouse at the same time? – TheAmateurProgrammer
Hello TheAmateurProgrammer, as I mentioned, the question that I have posted is not something that is standard. I am looking for a way to implement this feature and any idea is appreciated!. – AProgrammer

4 Answers

17
votes

-[NSEvent momentumPhase] is the solution. So, the events generated from the trackpad between the beginGesture and endGesture events returns a value other than NSEventPhaseNone for -[NSEvent phase] and the trackpad events that are generated after the endGesture event returns a value other than NSEventPhaseNone for -[NSEvent momentumPhase]. The code is below,

 - (void)scrollWheel:(NSEvent *)theEvent
    {
       if(([theEvent momentumPhase] != NSEventPhaseNone) || [theEvent phase] != NSEventPhaseNone))
       {
          //theEvent is from trackpad           
       }
       else 
       {
         //theEvent is from mouse
       }
    }
8
votes

You can use [event hasPreciseScrollingDeltas] to differentiate. It was added in OS X Lion. It differentiates between line scroll (mouse wheels) and pixel scroll (trackpads, magic mouse) events.

2
votes

My answer in Swift, but for Objective C logic is the same:

override func scrollWheel(with event: NSEvent) {
  if event.subtype == .mouseEvent {
    // mouse
  } else {
    // trackpad
  }
}
0
votes

The answer given by @AProgrammer maybe not available. Because scrollwheel event generated by magic mouse has phase values of: began, changed and ended. And scrollwheel event generated by mighty mouse has value of none for both phase and momentumphase. So the method can only distinguish mighty mouse from magic mouse and trackpad.