Mouse - right click simulation

Hello All!

In Mac OS X Ctrl + Click combination is used for mouse right click simulation. In guest Windows Ctrl + Click doesn't serve for this purpose and often used by applications for multiple selection and other actions. We are going to add possibility for customization of Ctrl + Click behavior in RC2.

Which option should be default?

1. Ctrl + Click passed directly to guest OS, some other combination is used for mouse right click simulation (Ctrl + Shift + Click for example). If mouse has 2 buttons then actual right click could be used.
2. Ctrl + Click is used for mouse right click simulation. There is no possibility to pass Ctrl + Click inside guest OS.

 

Without doubts the only possibility is n. 1. Having no way to pass Ctrl-click to guest OS is a non-option.

 

Windows is designed to operate with a two button mouse, and I think that should be the default assumption. In fact, OSX works very well with a two button mouse with the right button and ctrl-left (in OSX) doing the same thing.

I would be very surprised if somewhere down the road Apple didn't start putting two buttons on laptops. They already sell a four button mouse with scrolling, and support industry standard multi button mice, so the one-button concept seems poised to soon go the way of the Dodo. New Mac laptops manage a right click from the trackpad (two fingers and click) and people are even calling it right click.

And when you are running a guest OS, the guest is an OPERATING SYSTEM, not just an application, and forcing it to respond like the host is like insisting on speaking English in Paris. You can manage to get around, but you'll have a much richer experience if you speak French.

 

I voted for this option, as a default. There should be an option to set it for another modifier key or combination of modifiers keys. If at all possible try to offer Alt-click as a possible combination.

 

Why make half the people unhappy?

Is there a good reason why you won't make it an option? It seems like flipping it back and forth is just causing a lot of tension.

Sure, ctrl-click is important in Windows, but right-clicking even more so. And when I happen to be on my MacBook Pro, which is a portable computer, which means I do not generally want to drag a mouse around, not being able to simulate a right click is a severe limitation.

Just make it a configurable option: not only whether it's enabled, but which key combination is used, and then everyone can be happy.

 

This is exactly how we are going to do it. It will be a configurable option. The question in this poll is about default value for this option.

 

I think the default should be to let the guest OS use Ctrl-Click the way it normally does. After all, we are trying to make the particular guest OS act as close to "native" as possible. Apple's lack of a right mouse button is the oddball, so let that function be assigned to some arbitrary key combination. And of couse, it should be user-configurable.

 

I completely agree with Manatee's above statement.

 

I'm the only person that don't care. I'm getting old but I don't have any problem hitting the shift & ctrl key at the same time even if it were not user configurable. As for as the default, it should be ctrl + click because it on a mac in a window. And don't waste the time coding the default to change if the user changes to full screen. Anyone that needs a ctrl + click in windows, should be smart enough to change the default.

Andrew must be in sales. A developer would some of the the posters than keep complaining about the same problem that parallels has 999,000 beta tester that do not have the problem but Andrew tells them we will look into the problem and fix it in the next release. Name me one other company where free or $39 gets you this type of support.

 

One thing to take into account is that the newer MacBooks have the ability to 'right click' by placing two fingers on the touchpad and clicking the button... you want to be sure to have that passed through.

Supposedly somebody dug up a way to enable that functionality on 'old' macbooks (like 15" of a month ago) as well, although I haven't tried that.

 

Let's save everyone the trouble:

http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?showtopic=17685&st=20&p=118012&#entry118012

 

OK, I just got two-finger right click working on my 15.4" MBP. It's slick.

 

Well, I need to chime in on this.

Being a long time windoze and two or three button mouse user, I could never get use to the one button mouse of the Mac's I have started to work with, so I have always gotten a two button mouse and find that it works just great.

For me, when I first used parallels, I found the transparency of how the system worked under Mac OsX was great, ans thing sworked just like I expected them two.

I alway wondered why apple did a one button mouse? A two button was at least natural for me and my first mouse under GEM was a three button mouse, never really used the middle button.

Mike V.

 

Right Click

I think parallels have no choice - the DEFAULT option should be for a right click (not pass through to the guest OS).
Yes - users can get a two button mouse.
Yes - some windows apps (and windows explorer itself) use Ctrl-Click.
That is why many users will either change their settings to pass the click to the OS and/or plug in a 2 button mouse. However first time users will probably use the default settings, will probably be using athe trackpad or single button mouse and will probably instinctively reach for the Ctrl key to bring up a context sensitive menu in Windows since that is what they have been trained to do in OSX.
Later when they realise they need access to that click in Windows they will change the settings - until then the software should do the expected thing (even if that is technically the wrong thing) so as to attract new customers.

 

It's debatable whether a Mac user would 'instinctively reach for the Ctrl key'. Heck, I know several Mac users around me who don't bother doing ctrl-click and just use a right mouse button. I practically never used the combo thanks to my first Mac (as in owned) being a Mac mini. You know, BYODKM?

Why let the user realize later that ctrl-click means something different in Windows? It's also possible that the customer might feel that Windows can't do multiple-click, or somehow Parallels isn't fully functional - I see that it could do just as much disservice. I feel it would serve the customers better if the difference is pointed out first. I personally think there needs to be a wizard screen about this during the VM creation.

 

Wow, never thought of that . . .

Reading all of the posts on this topic so far, I can see the arguments on both sides for a default setting. But the idea of a wizaed during installation/setup is a brilliant idea. This is an important enough issue that it should be brought to the attention of every Parallels user. This ought not to be somthing that someone should have to dig thru a manual to figure out.

Without the benefit of a wizard, a user can expect a ctrl/click to work one way or the other, and if the behavior of Parallels is not what is expected by the user, they may very well jump to the conclusion that it is a bug without even bothering to look at the manual.

 

new USB wirleless mouse was my choice

As soon as I started using windows in bootcamp and parallels i went out and bought a microsoft wireless mouse and it hooks up via usb. Works great is so nice to not have to use two fingers to right click, best part is it works as option click in OS X too.

One thng that amazes me is it is only usb item i have that works with parallels. Now it that works why dont the rest of the usb things work???

 

Use of Sidetrack

When I started using parallels I also had Sidetrack for my Macbook loaded on OS X. A key function in Sidetrack gave me the ability to tap on the trackpad for a right-click operation. This process is also functional in XP. Sidetrack also works in XP for vertical and horizontal scroll, and use of some Expose functions, (which takes me from XP back to the OSX desktop or applications). Sidetrack is a pretty slick answer for use in OS X and apparently Parallels Desktop.

 

Ctrl-Click = right click default

I use my MacBook Pro all the time and I am quite used to using the Ctrl-Click as a right mouse click. When I launch PW and Windows, I expect the same behavior. Ctrl-click = right mouse click. If I happen to need to use ctrl-click for something in Windows, I'd be perfectly happy using another key combo for that. But with PW, I am still using the Mac and moving between the 2 environments. It is counter intuitive to change the way the "right-click" works just because my mouse cursor happens to be over PW in Windows versus a Mac window or program.

Obviously there are 2 trains of thoughts here, both with the obvious points of view. For those people who want ctrl-click to pass directly to Windows, how did you use this feature with Virtual PC on the Mac? Ctrl-Click there worked as the right-click using Virtual PC/Mac.

 

I've nearly over-posted on this topic, but I can't resist chiming in here. If Parallels is going to be a product for consumers and not just techie types, then ctl. click=right click will have to be the default.