Add the ability to use a Multitouch trackpad with NVDA on Windows 8 and later.

[nvaccessAuto]

Reported by santiagoblue7 on 2013-07-11 21:24
Hello,
I would like to know if it were possible to add support for multitouch trackpads with NVDA, similar to its touch screen support, or trackpad support on VoiceOver for Mac OS X. This might be limited to Windows 8 and later.

[LeonarddeR]

cc @jcsteh @josephsl: Do you think the touch screen layer could be used for this somehow?

[josephsl]

Hi, highly unlikely, especially on Windows 10 where MS specifies folks implement precision touchpad drivers where Windows itself will manage how commands are performed with them. Thanks. From: Leonard de Ruijter [mailto:notifications@github.com] Sent: Monday, July 17, 2017 5:55 AM To: nvaccess/nvda <nvda@noreply.github.com> Cc: Joseph Lee <joseph.lee22590@gmail.com>; Mention <mention@noreply.github.com> Subject: Re: [nvaccess/nvda] Add the ability to use a Multitouch trackpad with NVDA on Windows 8 and later. (#3358) cc @jcsteh <https://github.com/jcsteh> @josephsl <https://github.com/josephsl> : Do you think the touch screen layer could be used for this somehow? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3358 (comment)> , or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AHgLkN2uYskL_MBpAciyD-VtA74lr-M8ks5sO1mWgaJpZM4OZ7lY> .

[jcsteh]

@leonardder commented on 18 Jul 2017, 00:54 GMT+12:

Do you think the touch screen layer could be used for this somehow?

1. Hooking the device: I'm pretty certain you can't use the touch screen hooking API to hook touch pads. @michaelDCurran, can you confirm? We'd need some API to communicate with these devices. In Windows 10, Windows did standardise some of this, but I don't know whether we can hook it as @josephsl notes. Still, it's an open question. Synaptics does provide an API to access its touch pads, but we'd have to implement support for several different vendor specific APIs.
2. NVDA code: You could probably reuse the touch tracker stuff to detect gestures, etc.
3. User experience: The desired UX for touch is a bit different, since touch pads are so much smaller. The view available to explore by touch needs to be much smaller, probably restricted and relative to the current navigator object's parent.

[Adriani90]

@josephsl any further thoughts on @jcsteh's comment above?

[josephsl]

Hi,

I'm in favor of closing this at the moment, not because of technical difficulties but we haven't heard from the original poster in the last five years.

Thanks.

[fernando-jose-silva]

I find this function extremely interesting.

[Adriani90]

However, we have some users in the german community, who are still trying to work with such touchpads. I think this function is very interesting for many users worldwide. Best Adriani Von meinem iPhone gesendet

…

Am 29.11.2018 um 16:15 schrieb Joseph Lee ***@***.***>: Hi, I'm in favor of closing this at the moment, not because of technical difficulties but we haven't heard from the original poster in the last five years. Thanks. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[josephsl]

Hi, if implemented, it might be supported on Windows 10 only unless we find a way to work with touchpads on Windows 8.x, and support on Windows 10 will depend on if we can hook into API’s from different vendors (Synaptics, for instance). Also, note that touchscreens and touchpads are not the same thing – touchpads are mainly used for scrolling and mouse replacements, whereas touchscreens are meant for direct finger-based interaction with UI elements. Thanks. From: Adriani90 <notifications@github.com> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2018 1:52 PM To: nvaccess/nvda <nvda@noreply.github.com> Cc: Joseph Lee <joseph.lee22590@gmail.com>; Mention <mention@noreply.github.com> Subject: Re: [nvaccess/nvda] Add the ability to use a Multitouch trackpad with NVDA on Windows 8 and later. (#3358) However, we have some users in the german community, who are still trying to work with such touchpads. I think this function is very interesting for many users worldwide. Best Adriani Von meinem iPhone gesendet

Am 29.11.2018 um 16:15 schrieb Joseph Lee ***@***.***>: Hi, I'm in favor of closing this at the moment, not because of technical difficulties but we haven't heard from the original poster in the last five years. Thanks. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3358 (comment)> , or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AHgLkJc-YhYfi3dzeK4iMiLsexml8R9kks5u0FbmgaJpZM4OZ7lY> .

[michalradacz]

Hi, I agree, this function is extremelly interesting for me too. I search addons for this, but no result. I have Toshuba laptop with excellent touchpad and supporting gestures is famous enhancement for NVDA.