Can I use JQuery to query the Trackpad? So I can do something like this:

Pseudo Javascript (JQuery)

$(document).keyInput().trackpadTwoFingersLeft(function() {
  $('#div ul').animate({left: "=+1"},1);
});

Is there a plugIn or another framework where I can do this?
Thank you for every response and idea. :)

Can I use JQuery to query the Trackpad? So I can do something like this:

Pseudo Javascript (JQuery)

$(document).keyInput().trackpadTwoFingersLeft(function() {
  $('#div ul').animate({left: "=+1"},1);
});

Is there a plugIn or another framework where I can do this?
Thank you for every response and idea. :)

• javascript
• jquery
• macos
• function
• trackpad

5 Answers 5

I've looked around a bit on the web, and so far see that both Chrome and Safari do not expose these events in the browser.

https://superuser.com/questions/27627/three-finger-page-up-page-down-in-safari-chrome

Touch events available in Safari?

Firefox does support something:

https://developer.mozilla.org/En/DOM/Mouse_gesture_events

But I don't see a lot of references to this.

I guess when only one browser supports it, it is a bit useless to use these kind of events.

There is a wheel event which you can use to detect two-finger swipe on Mac.

Your code could look something like this:

      $('element').on('wheel', function(e){
        var eo = e.originalEvent;
        if(Math.abs(eo.wheelDeltaY) < 10 && Math.abs(eo.wheelDeltaX) > 2){
          e.preventDefault();

          if(eo.wheelDeltaX < -100 && !scope.item.swipedLeft){
              // swipe left
          }

          if(eo.wheelDeltaX > 100 && scope.item.swipedLeft){
              // swipe right
          }
        }
      });

This could possibly not work in some older browser and/or Mozilla (as it fires some different event for the wheel movement), but as long as you implement this as an additional/helper feature, this code should suffice.

You could probably use mouse wheel tracking to get the desired effect: http://www.switchonthecode.com/tutorials/javascript-tutorial-the-scroll-wheel

If you want to use jQuery, this mousewheel plugin should help: http://brandonaaron.net/code/mousewheel/docs

We manage to determine trackpad usage by first assuming an OSX machine has it and then working to detect if that user has a mouse plugged in. Excuse me, because we use typescript, but it will work in javascript.

First, just look at the user agent properties, and then if OSX, assume it has one. I just use some basic string expressions on the user agent to determine what the OS is.

 if (!props.isMobile && props.operatingSystem === OSType.Darwin) {
        props.hasTouchpad = true
        props.hasGestureSupport = props.browser === BrowserType.Safari | props.isMobile
 }

Now work to eliminate that device by listening to the wheel event. A trackpad device will create really small deltaY values that are non-integer. I have tried this and it does a very good job.

    const detectMouseType = useCallback((e:WheelEvent) => {

        if (e.ctrlKey || !browserProperties.hasTouchpad) {
            //Didn't detect originally, or pinch zoom OSX and surface, ignore
            return
        }

        let isMouse = e.deltaX === 0 && !Number.isInteger(e.deltaY)

        isMouseCounts.push(isMouse ? 1 : 0)
        if (isMouseCounts.length > 5) isMouseCounts.shift()

        let sum = isMouseCounts.reduce(function(a, b) { return a + b; });

        if (sum > 3 && e.type === "wheel") {
            console.log("Touchpad disabled")
            //detected a mouse not a touchpad, maybe a mouse plugged into a mac
            document.removeEventListener('wheel', detectMouseType);

            props.hasTouchpad = false
            props.hasGestureSupport = false
        }
    }, [])

Now onto using trackpad events and detecting pinch in browsers that normally don't support it (HammerJS for example): On OSX Safari and iOS Safari the "gesturestart" and "gesturechange" events are fired which are sufficient for detecting pinch and rotate. There are scale and rotate parameters you can use to get the data you need.

Here's some code to get you started:

https://medium.com/@auchenberg/detecting-multi-touch-trackpad-gestures-in-javascript-a2505babb10e

On OSX Chrome, you can use the "wheel" event to detect pinch, scroll, and two finger tap. Most solutions you'll see will not support pinch or two finiger tap on OSX Chrome, but this will. Here's how two finger tap and pinch are done for Chrome and also mice on all other browsers:

let scale = 1.0;
let posX = 0.0;
let posY = 0.0;

element.addEventListener('wheel', (e) => {
     e.preventDefault();
     if (e.ctrlKey) {
          //using two fingers
          if (e.deltaY === 0 && e.deltaX === 0) {
             console.log("Chrome two finger tap detected")
          } else {
             console.log("pinch zoom")
             scale = scale - e.deltaY * 0.01
          }
     } else {
          console.log('scrolling')
          posX = posX - e.deltaX * 2
          posY = posY - e.deltaY * 2
     }
});

There's some info here but I wasn't able to test it

function setupForceClickBehavior(someElement)
{
  // Attach event listeners in preparation for responding to force clicks
  someElement.addEventListener("webkitmouseforcewillbegin", prepareForForceClick, false);
  someElement.addEventListener("webkitmouseforcedown", enterForceClick, false);
  someElement.addEventListener("webkitmouseforceup", endForceClick, false);
  someElement.addEventListener("webkitmouseforcechanged", forceChanged, false);
}

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/SafariJSProgTopics/RespondingtoForceTouchEventsfromJavaScript.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40016162-SW6