Mouse

The mouse is a common input device for desktop games.

There are two ways to handle mouse input in Xenko:

  • Query mouse button states.

For more information about these options, see the Input index.

Before handling mouse input, use to check if a mouse is connected.

Get the mouse position

MousePosition returns the mouse pointer position in normalized X, Y coordinates instead of actual screen sizes in pixels. This means the pointer position adjusts to any resolution and you don't have to write separate code for different resolutions.

  • (0,0): the pointer is in the top-left corner of the screen
  • (1,1): the pointer is in the bottom-right corner of the screen

returns the mouse pointer position in absolute X and Y coordinates (the actual screen size in pixels). For example, if the pointer is in the top-left corner of the screen, the values are (0,0). If the pointer is in the bottom-right corner, the values depends on the screen resolution (eg 1280, 720).

Tip

To get the actual size of the screen, access IPointerDevice.SurfaceSize. For example:

You can use the mouse buttons to trigger actions in a project. For example, in first-person shooter games, the left mouse button is commonly used to shoot.

Use to get the change in mouse position in normalized coordinates since the last update. You can use this to analyze mouse movement speed and direction.

You can use the mouse wheel to trigger actions in a project. For example, in a first-person shooter game, moving the mouse wheel might switch weapons or zoom a camera.

The InputManager.MouseWheelDelta returns a positive value when the user scrolls forwards and a negative value when the user scrolls backwards. A value of indicates no movement.

Lock the mouse position

For some projects, the user needs to move the mouse cursor beyond the borders of the screen. For example, first-person shooter games usually need 360-degree camera rotation. In these cases, you also probably want the mouse cursor to be hidden.

Tip

You can get or set mouse visibility with .

  1. public class MouseInputScript : SyncScript
  2. {
  3.     public override void Update()
  4.     {
  5.         //If the left mouse button is pressed in this update, do something.
  6.         if (Input.IsMouseButtonDown(MouseButton.Left))
  8.         }
  9.         //If the middle mouse button has been pressed since the last update, do something.
  10.         if (Input.IsMouseButtonPressed(MouseButton.Middle))
  11.         {  
  14.         if (Input.MouseDelta.X > 0.2f)
  15.         {
  16.         }
  18.     }
  19. }

See also