Topic: How do I disable media key volume control? (Read 4053 times)

aatreya · « **on:** July 16, 2007, 01:57:24 am »

My mouse has an up-down volume control on it, and I would like to use this to control the system volume. However, when MC has the focus, the mouse controls instead change the internal MC volume. Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

Matt · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2007, 12:05:15 pm »

You can change the media key handling mode in Options > General > Advanced

(the mouse is sending app command messages, which MC responds to)

aatreya · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2007, 06:03:24 pm »

Is there a way to do this while preserving the functionality of the play/pause/back/next buttons on my keyboard?

Matt · « **Reply #3 on:** July 16, 2007, 06:34:35 pm »

Since the mouse and keyboard work the same way, you'll have to pick.

Remember that MC can be set to control the system volume, so it may not hurt just to let it grab the volume commands.

aatreya · « **Reply #4 on:** July 16, 2007, 07:07:35 pm »

Yikes. Unfortunatley I'm using Vista, so MC is never reallyy able to control system volume.

Couldyou consider adding an option to not have MC capture volume commands but leave the other controls intact? Remember this only occurs when MC has the focus... otherwise everything works the way I'd like it to.

aatreya · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2007, 08:55:52 am »

Hmm... it looks like even disabling all media key support doesn't solve the problem. With media keys disabled in MC, the volume control still only works while MC doesn't have the focus. Now, instead of changing the internal MC volume when MC has the focus, it just doesn't do anything at all. The desired behavior is to have the OS receive the volume commands regardless of which program is open.

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

aatreya · « **Reply #6 on:** July 27, 2007, 11:51:27 am »

Any ideas how to solve this problem?

JimH · « **Reply #7 on:** July 27, 2007, 12:22:57 pm »

Under Playback options, try switching between Direct Sound and Wave Out.

aatreya · « **Reply #8 on:** July 27, 2007, 12:36:26 pm »

That didn't fix it. The OS still doesn't receive volume commands if MC has the focus, and MC can't control the OS volume. I just want the volume buttons to control the OS volume regardless of which program is active.

JimH · « **Reply #9 on:** July 27, 2007, 01:14:10 pm »

That's odd. Did you try a google search for how the volume works on Vista? User level?

aatreya · « **Reply #10 on:** July 27, 2007, 02:00:54 pm »

Yeah - it seems like the problem is due to a couple compounding factors. I see two possible solutions:

1 - be able to control the real system volume through MC - there appears to be an API for this according to http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/archive/2005/12/15/504158.aspx

2 - be able to configure MC to not capture volume control commands.

Are either of these possible?

Matt · « **Reply #11 on:** July 27, 2007, 02:15:01 pm »

I don't think there's anything else MC can do.

If media keys are enabled, we catch WM_APPCOMMAND messages. You can also disable this.

If the mouse driver only sends the message to the top-level window, we can't control that. When disabled, we return FALSE to any app commands.

aatreya · « **Reply #12 on:** July 27, 2007, 02:17:00 pm »

Ok - that makes sense. However, even with media keys disabled, the commands do not pass through to the OS, so the volume keys do nothing. Do you know if MC is the cause of this?

Matt · « **Reply #13 on:** July 27, 2007, 02:18:05 pm »

Quote from: aatreya on July 27, 2007, 02:17:00 pm

Ok - that makes sense. However, even with media keys disabled, the commands do not pass through to the OS, so the volume keys do nothing. Do you know if MC is the cause of this?

I don't think so. We return FALSE to a WM_APPCOMMAND message if media keys are disabled. I think it's up to the driver to keep sending the WM_APPCOMMAND until someone returns TRUE.

aatreya · « **Reply #14 on:** July 27, 2007, 02:21:43 pm »

Ok - thanks. Since it seems like option 2 (see above) won't work, is there any way to set MC to control the real system volume in Vista? As it stands right now, both the "internal volume" and "system volume" settings are somewhat redundant.

Matt · « **Reply #15 on:** July 27, 2007, 02:26:18 pm »

Vista's per-application volume is a big selling point, and I'm not even sure if it's possible (or a good idea) to go around it.

For what it's worth, I'm not a big fan of more layers in the audio-chain either.

By the way, what's the exact hardware model of your mouse with the volume buttons?

Thanks.

aatreya · « **Reply #16 on:** July 27, 2007, 02:33:54 pm »

I'm using a Logitech MX 610 mouse with a Dell D820 laptop. Both the mouse and the laptop keyboard have volume buttons, and they both behave the same way. I tried plugging in an external Microsoft media keyboard, which also behaved the same way.

Perhaps for Vista, you might consider mapping "internal volume" to the vista per-application volume and "system volume" to the overall volume?

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #17 on:** July 27, 2007, 03:35:47 pm »

I've got a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro,
which up until 5 minutes ago controlled the system volume in Vista
whether MC was in focus or not....
I think this is in part due to the fact that I have IntelliType Pro 6 installed,
so you might want to try that.

My keyboard is now however not working as I attempted to clean it
with a bit to much water :-S

JimH · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2007, 03:43:40 pm »

Turn it upside down and put it in a warm place (in the sun, for example) to dry as fast as possible.

I spilled a beer on my keyboard once. After a rinse-and-dry, it worked.

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #19 on:** July 27, 2007, 04:34:38 pm »

Quote from: JimH on July 27, 2007, 03:43:40 pm

Turn it upside down and put it in a warm place (in the sun, for example) to dry as fast as possible.

I spilled a beer on my keyboard once. After a rinse-and-dry, it worked.

Worth a try. Although the sun hasn't happened here for a while, so it'll
have to be on top the boiler

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Author Topic: How do I disable media key volume control? (Read 4053 times)