Auto-Launch Preference Panel

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on macOS.

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bHunkins
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Auto-Launch Preference Panel

Post by bHunkins »

Most of us are aware of the bug where their 3DConnexion device doesn't work until you first launch the 3DConnexion Preference Pane. Once the Preference Pane is launched once, the driver kicks in and the 3D mouse works fine there after. Some of us, like myself, have added the Preference Pane to their startup items, so it launches at bootup and fixes the problem of having to remember to open the Preference Pane before using their device. This workaround really annoyed me, as after every startup the Preference window would open and I would have to manually close it every time I rebooted. So, I decide to come up with a more elegant way to handle this. I wrote a small AppleScript applet that simply opens the preference pane and closes it. It also does this invisibly, so you never see it happen. No more dialogs to close and the driver now works right after startup!

I am currently running Mountain Lion 10.8 and using the Beta 6 drivers. I have not tested this technique with the other drivers, but I suspect it will run the same, but your milage may vary. Anyway, here's the instructions:

1. Open the AppleScript Editor.app (located in the Utilities folder)
2. Paste the following code into the editor:

tell application "System Preferences"
run
set the current pane to pane "3Dconnexion"
quit application "System Preferences"
end tell

3. Press the Compile button at the top of the editor window
4. Save the script to your computer and give it a name like "3DConnexionActivation" or something that makes sense. Be sure to set the File Format to Application before saving the script. Do not check any of the checkboxes.
5. Quit ActionScript Editor.
6. Add your newly created applet to your startup items (which is found in the Users & Groups preferences). That's it! You can also test it by double-clicking the app as well, although you won't see anything, as it runs hidden. If for some reason you don't like that it runs hidden, and you want to see it open and close the preference pane, just change 'run' in the script to 'activate' and it will no longer run hidden.

Hope this helps. Worked for me so I thought others might like this approach to a very simple problem. Anyway, good luck! :D
ngomes
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Re: Auto-Launch Preference Panel

Post by ngomes »

Hi bHunkins,

Thanks for sharing this information. I believe the issue to be already fixed but will have it confirmed.
aladdinsane
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Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:59 pm

Re: Auto-Launch Preference Panel

Post by aladdinsane »

I believe the issue to be already fixed but will have it confirmed.
This is still happening for me. I believe I have the latest version. Anyone know if this issue is supposed to be fixed?
ngomes
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Re: Auto-Launch Preference Panel

Post by ngomes »

Hi aladdinsane,

Are you using our new 3DxWare 10 Beta driver? The software is available in the Labs page. 3DxWare 10 is now in the final stages of development and we're recommending our customers to use it instead of the older 1.7 version.
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