I'm not a programmer by trade, but I occasionally dabble in scripting, using VB for Excel, Perl, and whatnot. I looked for a Windows utility on the web and couldn't find one that did what I wanted, so I decided, screw it, why not just write one? It can't be that hard. I looked briefly at Java, but was told it wasn't possible in Java, and to look at C++ instead. So here I am.

Before I start any tutorials in earnest, though, I'd love to get some advice about whether it's actually possible/easy using managed C++ code in .NET, and if not, should I use native C++, or what platform should I be learning?

Let me describe the simple utility I'm imagining. It displays an ordered pair of numbers representing the current mouse absolute screen position relative to the desktop, even when the mouse is not over its window. It operates in the background while other applications are active, which means I want it to continue to display the current desktop mouse position even when it's not the currently active Windows program.

Thanks for your help.

The System.Windows.Forms.Cursor class provides the mouse position indesktop coordinates at all times. Ask farther questionsin the Windows Forms forum.

Hi,

John's answer is correct, and to go one step further I'd just like to point out that c++ isn't necessary, you should be able to do this in C# or Vb.Net either of which should be easier that C++.

The System.Windows.Forms.Cursor class provides the mouse position indesktop coordinates at all times. Ask farther questionsin the Windows Forms forum.

Hi,

John's answer is correct, and to go one step further I'd just like to point out that c++ isn't necessary, you should be able to do this in C# or Vb.Net either of which should be easier that C++.

Acutally, someone just proved that it's possible in Java as well, and I have a working reference example running in the background as I write this. I'll just stick with Java, since I had already progressed partway through Sun's tutorials. Thanks for your replies, though. Much appreciated.