not possible to disable zoom on middle mouse button - causes usability problem when using mouse or wacom pen to pan

> Problem2:
> Sometimes when I want to pan with the mouse, I zoom in when it isn't
> my intention. This problem is worse when working with worn out
> mice that will send a click when you want to drag.

The minimal drag distance in screen pixels aka "click/drag threshold" can be adjusted in the preferences - maybe this helps with old mices:

File > Inkscape Preferences > Mouse: Click/drag threshold ___ (default: 4)

Problem 2 solution:
Thanks, that's always nice to be aware of. I also think that will help with old mice.

Setting the Click/drag threshold to 0 improved the usability a lot in my case. My mouse isn't old, but it was still emitting a lot of undesired clicks with the middle button.

this not only affects usability with tablets; every form of mouse that can middle-click without moving is affected. for example, when using a trackpoint, idly pondering where to pan next can lead to surprising results. disabling the "zoom on middle click" feature would be a helpful option.

Dear devs, please add an option to disable this idiotic behavior and have it ON by default. It's been bugging me for years.
It's not a feature, its a bug. I keep zooming by mistake while inking with my tablet. I want to pan. I sometimes touch the stylus button that pans by mistake and it zooms in.

Come on, looks like a low hanging fruit. filed 2011, its almost 2014 now.

I am hoping that someone with knowledge of how the zooming function is implemented in Inkscape can look at this.

Having an option to disable zoom on middle click would enable users of tablet to configure a button for middle click for panning the canvas. The way it is implemented now makes it impractical for tablet users to pan the canvas. (Because when trying to pan the canvas using the talet, the zoom in event is also fired).

The best way to do this would in my opinion be to adopt the way the gimp project allows users to configure just about all the commands the program does to whatever mouse or keyboard bindings they want.

If some developer with knowledge (but not time) reads this, please direct me to what I should read to gain understanding of how to hack the zooming function binding. I have some programming experience including C++ and would like to try and hack this behaviour if it won't be prioritized.

Cincerely yours,
Eirik Hanssen (original bug reporter)

If someone want to help me resolve this matter, please read on.

I believe it is possible to disable the zoom on middle mouseclick behaviour by editing the following file (that you get after downloading development sourcecode) :

inkscape/src/ui/tools/tool-base.cpp, and then recompiling inkscape.

To download the sourcecode follow instructions here: http://www.inkscape.org/en/develop/getting-started/

It seems this function handles events:

bool ToolBase::root_handler(GdkEvent* event) {
(...)
    switch (event->type) {
(...)
    case GDK_BUTTON_PRESS:
(...)
        case 2:
/* My comment here: since middle click is button 2 in this context, the behaviour might be corrected here */
/* But actually this case only sets some variables. The zoom in event actually fires on middle button release. */
/* Further down in the switch statement: */

    case GDK_MOTION_NOTIFY:
/* Probably to find out if there is some dragging motion involved, the variable zoom_rb seems important */

    case GDK_BUTTON_RELEASE:
/* this is probably where the zoom event is actually triggered. I think there are checks to decide what action to take here */
/* for instanse to fire a zoom event or to release the canvas drag */
/* will investigate further later */

Cheers,
Eirik Hanssen

This report was migrated (manually, I think) to gitlab here: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/3190

This now has been solved for Inkscape 1.1.
Yu can download it before it releases here: https://inkscape.org/release/inkscape-master/?latest=1