Find my mouse: set spotlight duration

[nmdemarco]

Description of the new feature / enhancement

I should be able to set the duration the spotlight appears.

Scenario when this would be used?

There exists a delicate balance in the universe: Shake minimum distance. Too much distance, and you look like a crazed maniac shaking your mouse to find it. Too little distance, and your screen flashes like the WOPR learning that nobody wins at Global Thermonuclear War[^1]. If the spotlight duration could be specified, the interruption would be brief, and the cost for a lower Shake minimum distance would be reduced[^2].
[^1]https://www.theaceblackblog.com/2016/10/movie-review-wargames-1983.html
[^2]Yes, I realize the screen would flash more like the War Games movie scene, however, the visualization was too good to resist using the analogy.

Supporting information

No response

[fredso90]

I would like to give this a go if possible?

[htcfreek]

@fredso90
Feel free to open a PR. Your contribution is welcome. Thank you for your work on this.

[fredso90]

@fredso90 Feel free to open a PR. Your contribution is welcome. Thank you for your work on this.

I have a question. Now I've made it so that Duration (ms) is an actual setting, but I can't seem to figure out how to update the labels. As seen in the screenshot above, the setting has no name on the settings screen :(
Do you happen to know how I can update the label(s)?

[htcfreek]

@fredso90
It's hard to see the code problem without code. But if you copied an existing SettingsCard control, it is either linked by named properties (header, description) or the uid that references an entry in the resource file. (If it is done by the uid then the resource file contains entries like <uid name>.Header and <uid name>.Description.)

I hope that helps you.

[fredso90]

@htcfreek

Here's what the SettingsCard looks like. I can't find the resource file, which, from your previous reply, should be where to find the Header and Description of all the labels.

I'm sorry if my questions are annoying. Just trying to learn :(

[htcfreek]

@fredso90
You have to add an MouseUtils_FindMyMouse_DurationMs.Header entry and optional an MouseUtils_FindMyMouse_DurationMs.Description entry to the file https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/Strings/en-us/Resources.resw .

[fredso90]

@htcfreek Thank you so much.

[fredso90]

@htcfreek may I trouble you with yet another question?
I don't fully understand how the project is structured. What design pattern(s) and principles are being used?

More concretely, I wonder where I should implement the spotlight duration. I assume it's in the FindMyMouse.cpp file?

[htcfreek]

@htcfreek may I trouble you with yet another question?
I don't fully understand how the project is structured. What design pattern(s) and principles are being used?

More concretely, I wonder where I should implement the spotlight duration. I assume it's in the FindMyMouse.cpp file?

@jaimecbernardo
Can you please help here. I don't know the project structure too.

[jaimecbernardo]

Hi @fredso90,
As a summary, PowerToys main executable is the runner, which acts as a hub for every utility and provides each utility with common tools.
Each utility complies with the module interface in its own defined Module interface. For the case of FindMyMouse, the code is simple enough so all the code is contained in the module interface dll. You can find it in https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/tree/812b343776b5f0cbda734182e4996571803c35d8/src/modules/MouseUtils/FindMyMouse

The module interface per se is in https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/812b343776b5f0cbda734182e4996571803c35d8/src/modules/MouseUtils/FindMyMouse/dllmain.cpp to deal with PowerToys integration and the Find My Mouse logic is in https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/812b343776b5f0cbda734182e4996571803c35d8/src/modules/MouseUtils/FindMyMouse/FindMyMouse.cpp

By the way, GdiSonar and GdiSpotlight are not really used and are there from previous experiments. They're kept around mostly for reference. CompositionSpotlight is the SuperSonar implementation that's actually in use.

Hope this helps!

[fredso90]

Thank you for your detailed reply. It does help. Now I know where to look and what code is relevant.

[InterClaw]

I wrote a duplicate request, so I am very much in favor of this suggestion. 👍

I did however also add another suggestion as part of it that it should not be required to stop moving the mouse completely for the spotlight to be able to go away. It should be enough to stop shaking it. If it can detect me shaking the mouse, it can also detect me having stopped shaking it and just moving the mouse normally.

[crutkas]

@fredso90 please do.

[Jay-o-Way]

Duplicate of #16945