java Swing debugging headaches with Wacom pen tablet

Question

I've been running up against a problem with Java Swing + my Wacom Graphire tablet for a few years in several Java applications and have now encountered it in my own.

I use a pen tablet to get around wrist issues while clicking a mouse, and it works fine under Windows except when I'm using Java applications. In Java applications, the single-click of the pen doesn't work correctly. (Usually the problem only occurs with file-selection dialog boxes or tree controls.) The pen tablet also comes with a wireless mouse that works with the same tablet, and its single-click does work correctly.

I don't know whether the problem is in the WACOM driver or in the Java Swing runtime for Windows or both. Has anyone encountered this before? I'd like to file a bug report with WACOM but I have no idea what to tell them.

I have been able to reproduce this in my own application that has a JEditorPane with an HTML document that I've added a HyperlinkListener to. I get HyperlinkEvent.ACTIVATED events on every single click with the mouse, but I do NOT get HyperlinkEvent.ACTIVATED events on every single click with the pen.

One big difference between a pen and a mouse is that when you click a button on a mouse, it's really easy to cause the button-click without mouse movement. On the pen tablet it is very hard to do this, and that seems to correlate with the lack of HyperlinkEvent.ACTIVATED events -- if I am very careful not to move the pen position when I tap the tablet, I think I can get ACTIVATED events.

Any suggestions for things to try so I can give WACOM some good information on this bug? It's really frustrating to not be able to use my pen with Java apps, especially since the pen works fine with "regular" Windows (non-Java) applications.

Normally I wouldn't ask this question here but I'd like to find out from a programmer's standpoint what might be going on so I can file a good bug report.

Answer 1

What you should do is add a mouseListener and see when it registers a mouseClicked(), mousePressed(), mouseReleased() event. I'm not sure if the swing reads the tablet pen as a mouse though. However, it should give you some insight into what's actually going on.

Answer 2

I think you already got the answer yourself: Moving the pen results in some other event than a simple click, perhaps maybe a Drag and drop like event. I'm not sure whether it's a Java/Swing or a Wacom problem, it could be that the tablet doesn't register the clicks as such but as drag events, or it could be that swing interprets the events incorrectly.

Answer 3

I tried dr.manhattan's suggestion and it works like a charm. I get mousePressed/mouseReleased events correctly; mouseClicked events happen always with the pen tablet mouse, but mouseClicked events do not happen with the pen unless I manage to keep the pen very still. Even a 1-pixel movement is enough to make it fail. I guess I should blame Java for this one: there's no way to specify a "click radius" for acceptible movement.

package com.example.bugs;

import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;

import javax.swing.JFrame;

public class WacomMouseClickBug {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
     JFrame jframe = new JFrame();

     jframe.addMouseListener(new MouseListener(){
      @Override public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent event) {
       System.out.println("mouseClicked: "+event);
      }
      @Override public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent event) {}
      @Override public void mouseExited(MouseEvent event) {}
      @Override public void mousePressed(MouseEvent event) {
       System.out.println("mousePressed: "+event);
      }
      @Override public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent event) {
       System.out.println("mouseReleased: "+event);    
      }   
     });

     jframe.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400,400));  
     jframe.pack();
     jframe.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
     jframe.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
     jframe.setVisible(true);
    }
}