install_mouse(3)

💖 install_mouse — Allegro manual, bestie edition 💖

okay so real talk, you're reading the install_mouse(3) page from the Allegro manual and I am SO glad you're here. let's get you set up. 🐭✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

install_mouse — the function that installs the Allegro mouse handler. that's it, that's the whole job, and it does it flawlessly. 👑

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <allegro.h>

int install_mouse();

like... look at her. one line. no arguments. iconic behaviour. 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So. install_mouse() installs the Allegro mouse handler. 🐭

And hear me out — you have to call this before you touch literally any other mouse function. no skipping, no "oh I'll do it later", no main character shortcuts. it's the entry fee, bestie. pay it first. 💸

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✨ RETURN VALUE ✨

okay this is the part you need to actually pay attention to, because the return value has RANGE:

• -1 — it failed. 😭 not the vibe.
• 0 — the mouse handler is already installed, so this function literally did nothing. it's giving "you showed up to a party you were already at." 🙈
• the number of buttons on the mouse — slay! the handler got installed successfully, i.e. this is the first time a handler has been installed, or you removed the previous one first. 🎉

💀 IMPORTANT CAVEAT, no cap: that number of mouse buttons is more of an indication than a physical reality. with most devices there is genuinely no way of telling how many buttons there are. and ANY user can override the number of buttons returned by this function using a custom configuration file and the variable num_buttons.

and even if the user overrides that value? the global mouse variables will still report whatever the hardware is actually sending. so like, the override is a vibe, not a truth. 🔥 the hardware stays the main character.

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these next, they're all in the same friend group:

• remove_mouse(3)
• poll_mouse(3)
• mouse_x(3)
• show_mouse(3)
• get_mouse_mickeys(3)
• position_mouse(3)
• set_mouse_range(3)
• set_mouse_speed(3)

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okay that's the whole page, you're officially mouse-handler-literate 🫶

this was Allegro, version 4.4.3, and this page is install_mouse(3) — mwah, go forth and install that mouse handler. 🎀💖✨