Swapping left and right mouse button in .NET

Question

How do I swap left and right mouse buttons in .NET (preferably C#)? Basically the result should be the same as if the user checked the "Switch primary and secondary buttons" checkbox in the Mouse Properties through the control panel. I'm dealing with Windows XP, in case that makes a difference.

what do u mean by swapping... do u want to do a system-level swap or a swap for your own application? — Aamir, Mar 17 '09 at 11:55

John Feminella · Accepted Answer · 2009-03-17T12:17:27.623

15

You can use a Windows API call to SwapMouseButton:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

// ...

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern Int32 SwapMouseButton(Int32 bSwap);

// ...

// Swap it.
SwapMouseButton(1); 

// Back to normal.
SwapMouseButton(0);

edited Mar 17 '09 at 12:17

answered Mar 17 '09 at 11:57

John Feminella

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thanks. may want to add that you need "using System.Runtime.InteropServices;" – Eugene Katz Mar 17 '09 at 12:08
Whoops; I did indeed neglect to mention that. I'll add it for future reference. – John Feminella Mar 17 '09 at 12:16
This works but the state is not saved after user logs out. To have the swap state remembered you have to use Porges's solution with the registry. – foka Feb 24 '13 at 11:53

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 17 '09 at 12:09

Something like this:

using Microsoft.Win32;

var key = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("Control Panel\\Mouse\\");
var newValue = key.GetValue("SwapMouseButtons");

if (newValue == null) newValue = "1";
else                  newValue = Int32.Parse(newValue) == 1 ? "0" : "1";

key.SetValue("SwapMouseButtons", newValue, RegistryValueKind.String);

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 17 '09 at 11:58

-1

Here's a code snippet that does this.

answered Mar 17 '09 at 11:58

Ólafur Waage

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Swapping left and right mouse button in .NET

3 Answers3

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