Microsoft Intellimouse Scroll Wheel Not Working with Netbeans 6.5 on Vista

Question

I would appreciate any help with this problem, I have spent hours trying to diagnose it myself to no avail and haven't received a single response when posting it to the Netbeans user list and the bugs list.

Netbeans is an excellent IDE, and I have loved it since switching over from Eclipse a few months back. I do Java on Unix and Win32, and PHP on both, plus C on Linux (using Visual Studio on Windows as well). The problem is that I am far too accustomed to using the scroll wheel while coding now, and it doesn't work with Netbeans.

I am running Netbeans 6.5 on Vista (sp1) with a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000. The scroll wheel refuses to work in any window, and mouse gestures on my laptop track pad also don't work (less important). My platform details are:

Software:
Vista Sp1
Product Version: NetBeans IDE 6.5 (Build 200811100001)
Java: 1.6.0_03; Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM 1.6.0_03-b05
System: Windows Vista version 6.0 running on x86; Cp1252; en_AU (nb)

Hardware:
Mouse: Microsoft Wireless Lasermouse 6000

Driver First Attempt:
Mouse Driver: HID-compliant mouse
Driver provider: Microsoft
Date: 21/06/2006
Driver Version: 6.0.6001.18000

Driver Second Attempt:
Mouse Driver: Microsoft Wireless USB Mouse
Driver provider: Microsoft
Date: 26/11/2008
Driver Version: 6.31.230.0

I found a very old bug report that said the problem was because Microsoft started enabling smooth scrolling by default, meaning the Input API would spit out smaller scroll values - but no matter how much I spin the wheel the document doesn't move.

I also tried rolling the driver back, re-installing and newest drivers etc. Would appreciate any pointers on this problem, I am sure other people are also experiencing it as I have found a lot of references to the same problem online, but without solutions.

I tried another Logitech mouse that I have (MX5000) and it's scrollwheel also doesn't work. I assigned page up and page down shortcuts to two of the extra mouse buttons, but it just isn't the same. Please please can somebody who is using Netbeans on Vista help me out with this, its killing me!

The funny thing is, this mouse and scroll wheel work fine with Netbeans on Linux..

Answer 1

All I can do is partially confirm what you have reported.

I am running a Microsoft Intellimouse -- a Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0 on my Vista Ultimate laptop. I can confirm that the mouse wheel works correctly in every applicable application I've tried it with -- with the exception of Netbeans 6.5. I also have a Logitech optical wireless 4 button mouse w/mouse wheel, I'm not sure the model number. It is on my OpenSUSE 11.1 Linux laptop. I can confirm that the mouse wheel works correctly with every applicable application I've tried it with -- including Netbeans 6.5. When I switch the Logitech mouse to the Vista box, everything works -- including Netbeans 6.5. When I switch the Microsoft mouse to the Linux box, everything works -- including Netbeans 6.5. When I switch them back, the old behavior is maintained -- the Microsoft mouse wheel does not work with Netbeans 6.5 on Vista, all other combinations seem to work fine.

Answer 2

Are you this a Netbeans problem? Have you tried using your scroll wheel in any other Java applications?

I ask because there was a bug in Java related to scroll wheels for some mice not working. This is now fixed.

It may be worth updating the JVM you use to run Netbeans since the problems you are seeing might be caused by this bug which is now fixed.