Although the mouse is an important input device for Windows-based applications, not every user necessarily has a mouse. An application can determine whether the system includes a mouse by passing the SM_MOUSEPRESENT value to the GetSystemMetrics function.
Windows supports a mouse having up to three buttons. On a three-button mouse, the buttons are designated as the left, middle, and right buttons. Windows messages and named constants related to the mouse buttons use the letters L, M, and R to identify the buttons. The button on a single-button mouse is considered to be the left button. Although Windows supports a mouse with multiple buttons, most applications use the left button primarily and use the others little, if at all.
An application can determine the number of buttons on the mouse by passing the SM_CMOUSEBUTTONS value to the GetSystemMetrics function. To configure the mouse for a left-handed user, the application can use the SwapMouseButton function to reverse the meaning of the left and right mouse buttons. Passing the SPI_SETMOUSEBUTTONSWAP value to the SystemParametersInfo function is another way to reverse the meaning of the buttons. Note, however, that the mouse is a shared resource, so reversing the meaning of the buttons affects all applications.