[how to] enable long touch as right click

[bedtime]

The shell script from @bedtime gives the following error on my Raspbian 9.8 Stretch machine in Xfce:

Code: Select all

usage: xinput query-state <device name>
/home/pi/bin/rclk.sh: 30: [: =: unexpected operator

Sorry about that. Haven't used that script in a long time...

If it's a touchscreen device, you can try replacing the line:

Code: Select all

MOUSE_ID=$(xinput --list | grep -i -m 1 'mouse' | grep -o 'id=[0-9]\+' | grep -o '[0-9]\+')

with

Code: Select all

MOUSE_ID=$(xinput --list | grep -i -m 1 'FT5406' | grep -o 'id=[0-9]\+' | grep -o '[0-9]\+')

C program to find the device of a touchscreen:

printevent.c:

Code: Select all

/*
    gcc -Wall -O3  printevent.c -o printevent 
*/

#include<stdio.h>

__inline void fast_memcpyS(char *str, const char *str2, int start, int len)
{
    for( ;len > -1; )
    {
        str[len + start] = str2[len];
        --len;
    }
}

__inline int fast_memcmp(const char *str, const char *str2, int len)
{
    while(str[len] == str2[len] && --len);

    return len;
}

void get_device() 
{
    char data[120], s[32];
    int ret;
    FILE * const file = fopen( "/proc/bus/input/devices", "r");

    do
        ret = fscanf(file, "%*2s %s %*[^\n]\n", data);
    while(fast_memcmp(data, "Name=\"FT5406", 12) != 0 && ret != EOF);

    fscanf(file, "%*[^\n]\n%*[^\n]\n%*[^\n]\n%*2s %*15s %6s", data);

    fast_memcpyS(s, "/dev/input/", 0, 11);
    fast_memcpyS(s, data, 11, 6);

    puts(s);

    fclose(file);
}

int main() {

    get_device();

    return 0;

}

[MeneerJansen]

Solved it by adding this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf:

Code: Select all

   # Right mouse button is long press with pen:
   Option "EmulateThirdButton" "1"
   Option "EmulateThirdButtonTimeout" "750"
   Option "EmulateThirdButtonMoveThreshold" "30"

[edit 16-6-2019] It must be added in the section called "InputClass".

[Asymic]

Please can someone expand on the last post, quoting "solved it".

Is this all I have to do to get a long touch on Jessie?

I am quite new to Pi. The line "Solved it by adding this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf: " is a little confusing to me.

I take it that this is the path:- "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/" and this is a file name:- "99-calibration.conf"

If that is the case, and this is a new file, How does Pi know to read it?

Thank you.

[MeneerJansen]

Please can someone expand on the last post, quoting "solved it".

Is this all I have to do to get a long touch on Jessie?

I am quite new to Pi. The line "Solved it by adding this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf: " is a little confusing to me.

I take it that this is the path:- "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/" and this is a file name:- "99-calibration.conf"

If that is the case, and this is a new file, How does Pi know to read it?

Thank you.

I think that my "method" only works in Raspbian 9 "Stretch". And yes, the path is "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/" and the filename is "99-calibration.conf". If you don't have that file on your Pi then I don't think it will work. By the way, all files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ are read and executed when Linux starts up. By the way, the text must be added in the section called "InputClass" in said file.

If you're new to the Pi and to Linux then trying to get a TFT screen to work on Raspbian Stretch may be quite difficult. See this topic.

[Asymic]

Thank you for the answer. I am running "Stretch" so I am a little confused as to why you would have the folder, and I have not.

I really need this long press feature! Do you think adding the folder and making the file would produce a result?

Thank you!

[MeneerJansen]

Thank you for the answer. I am running "Stretch" so I am a little confused as to why you would have the folder, and I have not.

I really need this long press feature! Do you think adding the folder and making the file would produce a result?

Thank you!

You may have another LCD touch screen than I have. I had to download "drivers" (read: some sripts) from the manufacturers' website. Those create said files and folders.

[irdroid3]

Does anyone know how to enable the long touch for the right mouse button
in Buster / Debian 10 (on the Official Touch screen on a Raspberry Pi 4) ?

I poked around looking for - /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf
but the similariry ends at - /etc/X11/

Cheers, Ian
.

[MeneerJansen]

Does anyone know how to enable the long touch for the right mouse button
in Buster / Debian 10 (on the Official Touch screen on a Raspberry Pi 4) ?

I poked around looking for - /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf
but the similariry ends at - /etc/X11/

Cheers, Ian
.

You might try to create it. Maybe it'll work... If not, this topic might be of help if you're an experienced Linux user.

[Asymic]

I have been trying again to get the long touch to work on stretch, with the official 7 inch screen.

it has created a number of questions, which for ease I will number at the beginning of the line as they come up!

As my install of stretch does not seem to have the file, and path, mentioned earlier, I decided to do a search on *.conf files and had a look at ones which seemed like they might contain "input class", and sure enough I find all the settings which everybody has installed in "xorg.conf", and as I take it that this file is run at boot, then it would appear something really has stopped this working in the later updates of Raspbian.

1) can someone tell me if this file is run at boot or how to find out?

The one thing that begins to bug me about this topic is the fact that a touch screen should allow the mouse to be left behind! It is a nice screen, not cheap, and official. It also strikes me that the latest versions of Raspbian are "official" and so is this forum!

2) Surely there is some developer on here that can get to the bottom of this?! To me it is a major step backwards.

I have read that "Long touch is not supported on Stretch"

3) Why or how can this be? Are we expected to use the touch screen, but then when we want the mouse menu we have to get the mouse out?

I am almost tempted to find an early version of Raspbian where this does work - but I feel this is actually going against the grain.

As a last resort I had planned to use TwoFing to get round this, but I have also read that this does not work on Stretch.

4) Does TwoFing work with Stretch? Has anybody got it working?

5) Is it possible to escalate this topic so that one of the higher developers of Raspbian is aware? or are they aware anyway?

Many thanks for any answers!

[MeneerJansen]

I have been trying again to get the long touch to work on stretch, with the official 7 inch screen.

it has created a number of questions, which for ease I will number at the beginning of the line as they come up!

As my install of stretch does not seem to have the file, and path, mentioned earlier, I decided to do a search on *.conf files and had a look at ones which seemed like they might contain "input class", and sure enough I find all the settings which everybody has installed in "xorg.conf", and as I take it that this file is run at boot, then it would appear something really has stopped this working in the later updates of Raspbian.

I've reacted before on your post. I redirect everybody w/ questions about this to this post of mine. It could be that the commands in that file do not work with the official Pi screen that you use. Also make sure you've installed evdev:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libevdev2 xserver-xorg-input-evdev

Where is the xorg.conf file that you are talking about? In the directory /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d? Rename it to 99-calibration.conf, maybe that'll help.

1) can someone tell me if this file is run at boot or how to find out?

I'm afraid I do not. It is a mystery to me how Xorg works and it is going to be replaced by Wayland anyway. AFAIK Xorg does not need a .conf file anymore. It "configures" itself. So the files we're talking about are not per definition on one's system anymore now-a-days.

The one thing that begins to bug me about this topic is the fact that a touch screen should allow the mouse to be left behind! It is a nice screen, not cheap, and official. It also strikes me that the latest versions of Raspbian are "official" and so is this forum!

The seller/manufacturer should support it. Can you contact that company?

2) Surely there is some developer on here that can get to the bottom of this?! To me it is a major step backwards.

I don't think the problem is not w/ the Raspbian developers but the developers of Xorg and it's documentation. There are a lot of commands that can/could be placed in xorg.conf that only work w/ a certain driver for a certain videocard. There are old commands that are no longer supported by the latest version of Xorg, etc. etc. And some of the stuff that I enabled for my touch screen only works w/ ye good olde evdev instead of libinput. However libinput is installed by Raspbian and evdev has to be installed manually (see command above).

I have read that "Long touch is not supported on Stretch"

3) Why or how can this be? Are we expected to use the touch screen, but then when we want the mouse menu we have to get the mouse out?

I am almost tempted to find an early version of Raspbian where this does work - but I feel this is actually going against the grain.

As a last resort I had planned to use TwoFing to get round this, but I have also read that this does not work on Stretch.

4) Does TwoFing work with Stretch? Has anybody got it working?

5) Is it possible to escalate this topic so that one of the higher developers of Raspbian is aware? or are they aware anyway?

Many thanks for any answers!

The developers of Raspbian did not sell the screen. So I do not think that they are the ones to support it. It is the responsibility of an equipment manufacturer to make sure it's stuff works. I think they contracted a Linux expert at the time they started to sell said screen. That person wrote down what to do to get the screen working. And they didn't bother to hire an expert who knows the in and outs of Xorg again when Xorg and/or the Debian system changed. Shame, if you ask me. What is the official website of the screen that you bought? Are there no good instructions there?

[Asymic]

Thank you for the answers above.

Xorg.conf is in /etc/X11 folder. I do begin to wonder if it is used - I now find when looking through Xorg.0.log that not all of the EmulateThirdButton commands (in Xorg.conf) are used.

I must admit I was a little surprised by your comment about contacting the manufacturer of the "official" screen. Am I wrong in assuming that this forum and the "official" display are not linked despite it being in the products section? Forgive my confusion please!

Thank you.

[MeneerJansen]

Thank you for the answers above.

Xorg.conf is in /etc/X11 folder. I do begin to wonder if it is used - I now find when looking through Xorg.0.log that not all of the EmulateThirdButton commands (in Xorg.conf) are used.

Try to move it to the directoy /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/. Also install evdev:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libevdev2 xserver-xorg-input-evdev

I must admit I was a little surprised by your comment about contacting the manufacturer of the "official" screen. Am I wrong in assuming that this forum and the "official" display are not linked despite it being in the products section? Forgive my confusion please!

Thank you.

I might be wrong but I thought that this forum is run by volunteers/amateurs. I most certainly am getting no money for posting here, nor am I in any way affiliated w/ Raspberry Pi, LCD screen manufacturers or any hardware manufacturer what so ever. I'm just a hobbyist, like many on this forum I think.

Good luck!

[davidcoton]

I might be wrong but I thought that this forum is run by volunteers/amateurs. I most certainly am getting no money for posting here, nor am I in any way affiliated w/ Raspberry Pi, LCD screen manufacturers or any hardware manufacturer what so ever. I'm just a hobbyist, like many on this forum I think.

The forum is maintained by RPF. All contributors are volunteers, even if they are also RPF or RPT staff. (I suspect they may use work time for some answers, but not all.)

The "official" display is indeed an RPT product.

RPT is the trading subsidiary of the RPF (charity/not for profit).

[Asymic]

Thanks to everyone for helping here. I have now, however, loaded twofing to at least give me some mouseless fun.

If anybody has any idea who the manufacturer of the rpi screen is I will however try and contact them as suggested

[Marjorie]

For what it's worth:

I was able to configure the right click on touchscreen ADS7846 in Raspian Buster by creating file /etc/X11/xorg.conf with directives like this:

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Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Touchscreen"
    Driver "evdev"
    MatchProduct "ADS7846"
    Option "EmulateThirdButton" "1"
    Option "EmulateThirdButtonTimeout" "750"
    Option "EmulateThirdButtonThreshold" "50"
EndSection

It seems that the directive Driver "evdev" is required to make it work.
Prior to that I also installed package evdev:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libevdev2 xserver-xorg-input-evdev

(libevdev2 was already installed on my system)

Warning if you have this touchscreen (ADS7846): the official script on Github will mess your system.
Please perform manual configuration instead. Here's a guide that helped me: https://www.root42.de/blog/?p=6

[modernhistorian]

For what it's worth:

I was able to configure the right click on touchscreen ADS7846 in Raspian Buster by creating file /etc/X11/xorg.conf with directives like this:

Code: Select all

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Touchscreen"
    Driver "evdev"
    MatchProduct "ADS7846"
    Option "EmulateThirdButton" "1"
    Option "EmulateThirdButtonTimeout" "750"
    Option "EmulateThirdButtonThreshold" "50"
EndSection

It seems that the directive Driver "evdev" is required to make it work.
Prior to that I also installed package evdev:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libevdev2 xserver-xorg-input-evdev

(libevdev2 was already installed on my system)

Warning if you have this touchscreen (ADS7846): the official script on Github will mess your system.
Please perform manual configuration instead. Here's a guide that helped me: https://www.root42.de/blog/?p=6

Using Buster on a Pi3, I installed evdev and wrote xorg.conf, but no joy on long touch. could you be more specific about what manual configuration might be needed? Thanks.

[MeneerJansen]

Using Buster on a Pi3, I installed evdev and wrote xorg.conf, but no joy on long touch. could you be more specific about what manual configuration might be needed? Thanks.

I think it depends on the brand of screen that you have. I think that for some screens evdev works, and for instance on the "official" Pi-screen it doesn't. Also, the various screens of different sizes do not all contain the same hardware, so that's also a factor to take into account.

Good luck!

[jft]

Many thanks to @bedtime for the C++ code !
I've slightly modified the C++ program, and it works nicely with a WaveShare 7inch USB display, and Raspbian buster : long press for right button, very long press for middle button

The modified file is here:
https://gist.github.com/jft7/7b3bcf54e2 ... 20ed44b080

Just :
- compile the .cpp file
- add a line in XDG autostart file : "/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart":
@/home/pi/mouse/ts-mouse

(ts-mouse file is supposed to be in /home/pi/mouse ...)

I didn't make any change in X11 conf files

The default device name is "WS170120", it can be entered as the first ts-mouse program parameter

[MeneerJansen]

Many thanks to @bedtime for the C++ code !
I've slightly modified the C++ program, and it works nicely with a WaveShare 7inch USB display, and Raspbian buster : long press for right button, very long press for middle button

The modified file is here:
https://gist.github.com/jft7/7b3bcf54e2 ... 20ed44b080

Just :
- compile the .cpp file
- add a line in XDG autostart file : "/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart":
@/home/pi/mouse/ts-mouse

(ts-mouse file is supposed to be in /home/pi/mouse ...)

I didn't make any change in X11 conf files

The default device name is "WS170120", it can be entered as the first ts-mouse program parameter

Wow! Didn't even know that a c++ program existed for this... Or was it posted in this topic and did I miss it? Anyway, how does one determine the device name?

[jft]

To list input devices:
"xinput --list"

In the mean time I've also tested with the Raspberry official display, using FT5406 display unit.
As the official touchscreen is more sensible, I've added a parameter to filter little moves during right button emulation.

So to use FT5406 touchscreen:
"ts-mouse FT5406"

Note that right click is OK, but this solution doesn't allow to "rightclick and drag" ...

[MeneerJansen]

To list input devices:
"xinput --list"

In the mean time I've also tested with the Raspberry official display, using FT5406 display unit.
As the official touchscreen is more sensible, I've added a parameter to filter little moves during right button emulation.

So to use FT5406 touchscreen:
"ts-mouse FT5406"

Note that right click is OK, but this solution doesn't allow to "rightclick and drag" ...

Thanks for clearing that up.

[kotov]

Many thanks to @bedtime for the C++ code !
I've slightly modified the C++ program, and it works nicely with a WaveShare 7inch USB display, and Raspbian buster : long press for right button, very long press for middle button

The modified file is here:
https://gist.github.com/jft7/7b3bcf54e2 ... 20ed44b080

Just :
- compile the .cpp file
- add a line in XDG autostart file : "/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart":
@/home/pi/mouse/ts-mouse

(ts-mouse file is supposed to be in /home/pi/mouse ...)

I didn't make any change in X11 conf files

The default device name is "WS170120", it can be entered as the first ts-mouse program parameter

Something worked! All my taps are right clicks now
Device name is
ILITEK ILITEK-TP
[Johnwill screen]
Would you please suggest a change that'll finally work?
Because we're almost there

[mpvano]

Hi all:

I'm having the same problem.

It looks like the answer is:

You cannot do this and won't be able to do this in the foreseeable future.

Three days of experiments and research has lead me to that conclusion:

1. Clearly all the configuration fixes described do not and will not work in Buster since the change to the use of libInput for devices. The developers have made clear in the documentation for libinput (see FAQs) that this change (removal of options they disagree with in principle) is deliberate and a matter of policy.

2. Instead of working on a way to do this without using options they don't like, the libInput group has basically indicated that they have no intention of supporting tablet devices and that it's someone else's job in a different working group. They avoid even mentioning them in the documentation and keep stressing that their use of the word deliberately refers to graphics tablet pads, not ipad like devices.

3. The proposed fix of running a userspace event mangler doesn't seem to work. It takes 25% of the CPU on my Pi 4, and it breaks the LEFT button. It's developer has left the discussion.

4. The current design of the GUI makes operation impossible without a right click.

5. The "Twofing" solution is incapable of working with an uncertainty smaller than the size of two fingers - a minimum of 1 cm - this is not enough to use popups on even the largest icons.

6. Pointer event hacks using the "onBoard" keyboard are unreliable and clumsy and require many operations for each right click making this impractical except for emergencies.

I'm not being argumentative - I've wasted several full days on this now, and need to move on to solving my problem using other platforms instead. Does anyone have other ideas or is just a lost cause?

m

[MeneerJansen]

[...]
Clearly all the configuration fixes described do not and will not work in Buster since the change to the use of libInput for devices.
[...]

It has been made clear in this topic that, like you say, libinput can not be used for the touchscreen of a R. Pi. Have you tried installing evdev? Because that's the only driver that works for me.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libevdev2 xserver-xorg-input-evdev

From what I can tell evdev is still available in Debian Buster (link). I made a separate post 'bout getting Aliexpress' touch screen working in Debian Stretch and X.org (link). Maybe that Howto works in Debian Buster w/ a small modification. As far as I know this does not work w/ the "official" R. Pi screen.

Good luck