Experiment Builder hides the system mouse during tasks, but if your project requires a mouse response you can replace the system mouse cursor with any screen resource (e.g an image of a mouse cursor) by making it mouse contingent. This locks the screen resource to the mouse's position, causing it to move and act like a custom cursor.
How to Enable a Custom Cursor
Using Transparent Cursor Images
We provide four ready-to-use, transparent cursor images (two black, two white) in the following folder:
Because these are PNG files with transparency, you must uncheck the Use Color Key property for the image resource. This will ensure the cursor has a transparent background instead of a black box.
Positioning the Cursor's "Hotspot"
To align the hotspot with the cursor's tip, choose either the "Centered" or "TopLeft" version of the black or white mouse cursor images, depending on whether the Location Type property of the Screen resource in your project is set to Center Position or TopLeft Position:
Resetting the Cursor Position
To reset the mouse position at the start of each trial (e.g., to the center of the screen), use an Update Attribute node to set the mouse_position property.
Detecting Clicks
Creating a custom cursor does not automatically handle clicks. To record participant responses, you still need to use a Mouse Trigger. A Mouse Trigger can detect button presses and releases, either anywhere on the screen or within a specific, defined region.
For more details, see the article: "How can I make it so that the participant can click on certain parts of the screen?"
How to Enable a Custom Cursor
- Select any screen resource (e.g., an Image Resource) in your project.
- In its properties, check the box for Mouse Contingent.
Using Transparent Cursor Images
We provide four ready-to-use, transparent cursor images (two black, two white) in the following folder:
Quote:Documents\Experiment Builder\Examples\Resources\Images
Because these are PNG files with transparency, you must uncheck the Use Color Key property for the image resource. This will ensure the cursor has a transparent background instead of a black box.
Positioning the Cursor's "Hotspot"
To align the hotspot with the cursor's tip, choose either the "Centered" or "TopLeft" version of the black or white mouse cursor images, depending on whether the Location Type property of the Screen resource in your project is set to Center Position or TopLeft Position:
Resetting the Cursor Position
To reset the mouse position at the start of each trial (e.g., to the center of the screen), use an Update Attribute node to set the mouse_position property.
- Example: To center the cursor on a 1024x768 screen, set the value to (512, 384).
Detecting Clicks
Creating a custom cursor does not automatically handle clicks. To record participant responses, you still need to use a Mouse Trigger. A Mouse Trigger can detect button presses and releases, either anywhere on the screen or within a specific, defined region.
For more details, see the article: "How can I make it so that the participant can click on certain parts of the screen?"