I use Alt-Escape to switch between windows, and I would like to attach
this functionality to one of the extra keys on my Microsoft
IntelliMouse.

The IntelliMouse software comes pretty close. It will let me assign
Alt-Tab or a variety of other preset functions to my mouse buttons,
but Alt-Escape is not on this list.

I can also assign a custom set of keystrokes to the button, which
ought to be all I need to do. The software will, indeed, accept almost
any button I press as part of my custom keystroke, but upon striking
the escape key it kicks me out of the input dialog as hitting the
escape key normally would.

So I guess I'm looking for either a kludge around the software or the
location of the registry key where the information is actually stored
so I can bypass the software altogether.

I'm using Windows XP and Windows 2000, by the way.

"So I guess I'm looking [...] the location of the registry key where
the information is actually stored so I can bypass the software
altogether."

The registry key is:

\HKEY_USERS\[Your user]\Control Panel\Microsoft Input Devices\Mouse\

in there, there's "4_BtnAssignment" and "5_BtnAssignment"

When the assignment is set to "Esc", the value becomes 23d. When it's
set to Alt+ K, it's 044B002Eh. When it's just K, it's 004B002Eh. That
led me to believe that the second hex digit being 4 makes it "Alt+".

Setting the key to 04000023h would seem to work. However, when I tried
this, the setting was reset to the default once it realized that it
had been messed with.

Hopefully, this answer to your question will help you solve your
problem. Let me know how it goes!

---

Clarification of Answer by samrolken-ga on 22 May 2002 23:54 PDT

Actually, I was mistaken when I said that setting the key to 04000023h
would work. What I really meant was 040000017h. I was mixing up my
decimal and hexidecimal bases. Sorry.

> Let me know how it goes!

Hmm, no luck quite yet. Entering hex 040000017 causes the software to
revert back to button defaults. This appears to be only true for
unrecognized values, as I can modify the button keys to known values
and have it retain my registry modifications when I restart
point32.exe.

Then again, I asked for the key path, and that's what I got!

CHR$(27) is the control code for the ESC key. Perhaps typing in
CHR$(27) does the trick?

Unfortunately, the software won't let me enter control characters. It
would come up as Alt+C+H+R etc. I would give this a shot manually if I
could find the right registry key. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

The escape key is a reserved windows key and therefore reserved by
windows. You will not be able to add this into the Windows registry or
the IntelliMouse software. Try getting used to Alt-Tab instead ... ?!

Just in case anyone was curious, I found it!

Hex 041b002e did the trick.

The 04 in the first byte indeed appears to represent the Alt key. I
guess 2e in the fourth byte represents the custom keystroke option,
and I haven't the foggiest what the third byte is for.

I ended up writing a small cscript to rotate through values in the
second byte until I hit 1b which represents Escape, and it works
beautifully!