johnbruin.net

Now with the USB Panic Button you can always have one at your side at work. Pedro Glass

FYI If you access the download link from the direct page,
http://www.johnbruin.net/index.php/2008/11/30/new-software-for-your-usb-panic-button/
the link points to:
http://www.johnbruin.net/index.php/2008/11/30/new-software-for-your-usb-panic-button/files/usb%20panic%20button.zip

When in-fact the download is actually located at:
http://www.johnbruin.net/files/usb%20panic%20button.zip

Your software does not actually work for me, perhaps you need to run Vista as admin? (might try it on XP and see if I have more luck)

Hi Damian, thanks for your comment. You are right, I have fixed the location of the .zip file.
I have tested my software on XP and Vista and it works on several machines. Can you please try to run it as Admin? Please let me know!

I just tested on Win XP and it works fine.
Will test on Vista again if I get the chance. (note that it was Vista 64 – bit) The app launches and is in the task bar, but pressing the “panic button” has no effect.

I just tested Vista again as Admin – still no luck in getting it to work. The supplied app on the CD works fine however in Vista 64 bit (even in non-admin)

Thats great, we have the QI Klaxon on it, don’t bother with Vista, but do try and make it work for Mac!

Great software. Are there more vbs scripts available on the web.
Would be great to have a feature that if you press the button twice (quick) that CTRL ALT DEL is sent to the computer so pc can be unlocked.

New release coming up?

Hey, me again.
I am trying to use commands with a slash in it e.g. to start a batch file minimized but it’s not picking up the slashes at all. Any way to get this fixed?

@HJ
Maybe you should use quotes in your command like this “C:\test.bat /m”
or you can always wrap your command in another batch file.

this is awesome, thanks!
works on windows server 2003
Are you going to release the source code ?
I am running twin monitors and the images do not stretch across

I’d like random sounds, could an updated versions pick randomly from a folder, or can someone write a batch for us thickys to impliment that does it. And also, could it not support MP3 as well?

Cool! Thanks a lot. I’ve just placed my panic button back on the desk after many months locked away. Now it’s useful at last!

Thanks soo much!
i’ve always thought that the standard software was pretty useless, but now i always have my panic button plugged in and i use it almost 20 times a day!!!!!

Thank you!! I just received this product in my Bag of Crap from woot, and this is awesome!!! A+

this stops working after a bit, not sure what the trigger is, but I have to shut your program and unplug the button before plugining it back in again and rerunning the exe

I’m trying to make it so that when i press the button, it will be like pressing the number 2 on the top part of the keyboard (In MAME, the 2 key adds quarters to the ROMs)

Can anyone please help me do that? it would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

I’m running 64bit Vista, and while the software runs, pressing the panic button has no effect. I’ve tried running it as Administrator, but it still doesn’t work.

@admin
Great software. Works fine on 32-bit Vista but fails to launch anything when running on 64-bit version.

Got my in a BOC from Woot, too.. this is perfect. I was gonna trash it until I found your app.. Thanks Google and John Bruin

Any chance of getting a command script that just minimizes the active window?

Thanks

I have the Panic Button but with Vista 64 I just cannot get it to work! any ideas?

Zachary :
I’m trying to make it so that when i press the button, it will be like pressing the number 2 on the top part of the keyboard (In MAME, the 2 key adds quarters to the ROMs)
Can anyone please help me do that? it would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

make a text file with notepad, and name it “sendkey.vbs” or whatever, put this into the text file:

Dim objShell
Set objShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
objShell.SendKeys “{backspace}”, True

Change “{backspace}” to “2″ for your purposes.

guest :
Any chance of getting a command script that just minimizes the active window?
Thanks

Same trick as my last reply, but instead use: “% n” instead of “{backspace}”

I tried the trick for getting it to use a hotkey (F10) but it says it says there is an invalid character in line 3. I copied and pasted just the way it was.

Its a real pity the source code is not available.

i tried the generic C# code/app it finds the button but can not get any events from it

finally worked it out, just avoid control and input/output requests and use the feature reports.

Does any kind soul have the original driver disk, i’ve lost mine over xmas and can’t get the button to work at all without it, i’m running vista 64 bit, this app looks great tho

I’m having problems with this not working on my 64-bit Vista. Does anyone have any solutions???

have uploaded original CD contents to rapidshare.
http://rapidshare.com/files/187752045/usbpanicbuttoncdcontents.zip.html

Thank you thank you thank you.

I spent 3 hours trying to find a way to get VB to access USB devices only to find out my version can’t do it. I found some source code for USB interaction and i’d get errors when I tried to open it… It looks like VB ad USB are not good bed fellows.

I don’t suppose you would post your source code It’d give me a reason to catch up on my C#

Hey thanks for this, got the Panic Button as a novelty gift from a friend that knows I like goofy gadgets. This software makes it actually worth plugging in! =)

Thanks for this update! I wonder if you could give me the opportunity to set a default script so the customer doesn’t have to choose a file manually. This would be so nice!

Love you man, great software!!

This is exactly what I was looking for, I wanted to push a big red button to run a whole lot of code for my reports at work.

I haven’t bought this product yet, but I assume it can be set up to do one of the following once pushed:

1. Open a specific excel spreadsheet.
2. Open a specific ms access database.
or
3. Open a MDDos Batch.exe file.

These will then kick off all my code.

Personally, I use it in combination with autohotkey. I assume the author wrote this program after I posted code on kbabslive: USB Panic Button (HACKED!) Post (google: USB panic button hacked). I used Jan Axelson’s code as a base as well, and I actually released my source code.

http://www.orkey.net/bin/PanicTray.zip

binary and source code inside.

it’s called generichid because I just lazily modded the original generic hid project, but you can rename the exe to whatever you like. It will work fine.

on the command line, if you rename generichid.exe to panictray.exe you can use something like:

C:\panictray.exe somefile.exe panic

and it will auto-run in the tray listening for a button press.

An excel spreadsheet, access database, or batch file… or .ahk (autohotkey file) all work perfectly fine to “run” with this program.

Thank you so much. This thing work great. The original software dose nothing but loading a image. Instead your software really rocks! Now mu button isn’t useless anymore!

Hi John, found your blog via the MIX 10k competition. Once again, congrats on Silvertyper – definitely one of my fave entries. Oddly enough I got a panic button just this Christmas gone, and my first thought was ‘how can I hack this to make it do something useful or at least _interesting_?’

Lo and behold – you’ve done it already

Cheers John, this has probably saved me hours of searching!

First of all please excause my bad english. I’ve downloaded your very nice USB Panic Button Software and I tried to make it portable but the configuartion file is stored in the local app-directory and looks like this USB_Panic_Button.exe_Url_dzl5zpik2wdnipbqq1dk0d0wmcp10jzi. I think there are some factors that the last part (dzl5…) dependes on, because a differnt execute-path effects a different config-path (is the algorithm a secret? or is there a way to change the config path?)

THX for help

Awesome! I was so disappointed with the s/w that came with it this works great u r muh hero!

I just got my panic button from woot.com and was going to spend hours writing my own program for it. Thanks very much for saving me the time. Your program works perfectly with some nice features and the earthquake effect is worth a laugh.

WOW! Thank you for sharing this programming. I’d just purchased a USB Panic Button for fun and realized how lacking the default application was. Yours makes this thing actually usefull instead of a silly novelty.

Hello webmaster
I would like to share with you a link to your site
write me here preonrelt@mail.ru

Hi im using vista 64 like some others and cannot get this to work under any mode. It looks like a great piece of SW any chance of a 64 bit patch?

cheers my email is: dandman_66@hotmail.co.uk

Looks cool.

Is there any chance this software could be modified to support the “one touch” button found on various external USB drive enclosures?

I’m not a programmer, so I’m not sure if they are HID-compliant devices or not.

Just a thought…

JohnB

Just a follow-up to my previous post:

Like I said, I’m not a programmer or anything. But after doing a little research, it looks like the “one touch” buttons found on many external USB drive enclosures are implemented as a Generic HID device.

I assume your application is hard-coded to use the Panic Button’s ProductID & VendorID.

Would it be possible to modify your settings window so that you could set the ProdutID & VendorID to work other Generic HID devices?

JohnB

Great software! It’s most powerful that the original software!
But, I would like – if possible – to make some tweaks, can you distribute the source code ?

Thank you
Chris

Chris :
Great software! It’s most powerful that the original software!
But, I would like – if possible – to make some tweaks, can you distribute the source code ?
Thank you
Chris

my email: christouf@gmail.com

Thanks
Chris

Please make it work for 64 bit vista i have only computers with that OS…

Hi Junky, there are lots of questions about making my software available for 64 bit but unfortunately I have no 64 bit environment to test…

Yes I made it work in 64 bit version i will (when i get home from school today) upload it and get the link up here. questions how I dit it, well I used Xenocode on a 32 bit machine and virtualized it then when I run it, it works! I know the method is not the best but it works:) I’ll upload it ASAP!

well here is the link:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/agbde4f/n/Panic_Button_rar
hope it works for you 2:)

@Junky Thanks Junky! Is there anyone who can test and confirm this?

admin :
@Junky Thanks Junky! Is there anyone who can test and confirm this?

I just tested it out using a picture, sound and the Earthquake option under Vista 64-bit and it worked great! Thanks Junky!!

Could I please have the source code for this app? Pretty please?

does the software support using multiple panic buttons?
one for each cooldown in wow would look priceless

Nice, very nice. I love it. I took the button and used a script and autohotkey to launch a missile out of a usb missile launcher. Everything I used I got from http://www.woot.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiOBCVw47qA

WOW Duncan! That is so cool! I also own a USB Missile Launcher and this combination rules! I also love your youtube movie.

thank you Junky ! It’s work on Vista64 !

I’ve got the panic button for father’s day. With your software this gadget works perfect. Thanks

Jesse :
Personally, I use it in combination with autohotkey. I assume the author wrote this program after I posted code on kbabslive: USB Panic Button (HACKED!) Post (google: USB panic button hacked). I used Jan Axelson’s code as a base as well, and I actually released my source code.
http://www.orkey.net/bin/PanicTray.zip
binary and source code inside.

This link doesn’t seem to work for me. Is the source/binary still available? Can anyone provide a link to it? Thanks!!!

Hey, that link should work now. Good luck with it!

I should note that the version I linked is my version, released before Mr. Bruin’s. It’s less polished (read: kind of a cheap hack) and the interface is more like the test app on which he based his solution. At the time I really just wanted something that would work, and unlike Mr. Bruin’s solution, it does indeed include the modified source code, and something of a debugging interface. To launch it at start, you can use a command line option as well. Something like ‘panictray.exe “C:\bin\somefile.exe” panic’ . It will start listening for a button press on startup and minimize itself to the system tray.

Great work!The software is better that the orginal one.

How did you know which vendor – and product id to use?

You can find the vendor and product id in the Device Manager

Is this software TenX chip-specific (i.e.: does it require the TenxHID.dll)? I would like to try to modify it & possibly get it to work with some other similar “panic button”-type gadgets I’ve got that are based on different chipsets.

Also, would you be able to send me the source code or make it avaialable for download? My email address is: johnbeekman@yahoo.com.

thanks in advance,
JohnB

@JohnB

I’ve written a Python application which serves a similar purpose to this application although it’s command-line based. It can either run a command or simulate pressing a certain key combination. The source code is available and you’re welcome to see if it helps you JohnB.

@ME
Was anyone able to come up with a way for the audio played to be random? I’ve got the panic button, the new executable works great, I’m just not real handy with the batch files, etc. Thanks for any help!

@awatts
Thanks, awatts. Yes, I’ve looked at your Python stuff for the Panic Button – pretty cool. Unfortunately, it’s TenX-specific.

As I said in my post, I’m trying to come up with something that will work with some similar devices I’ve got that use different chipsets (Dream Cheeky’s Stress Button & something called a USB Security Button).

Anyway, do you know if Jon Bruin’s software is TenX-specific? If it’s not, I was hoping that I could modify his source code to work with these other devices.

Any help will be much appreciated.

best,
JohnB

@Brian
@ME,

I assume you could do this by having the Panic Button trigger a VBScript (.VBS) which plays a random sound file within a specific directory.

I couldn’t find a suitable VBScript, but I did find this:

http://theessentialexchange.com/blogs/michael/archive/2007/11/15/shuffle-play-your-audio-files-with-powershell.aspx

It requires Microsoft PowerShell (similar to VBScript), and a simple open source audio player called MPlayer.

I hope this helps.

Hi John,

This looks like exactly what I need, but it will not work on my button. it appears that ine is slightlty difefrent than the one you designed the sw for.

The “test” function works fine, but when I press the button I just get the default Windows error sound. (bing)

My device is here http://www.dreamcheeky.com/index.php?pagename=product&pid=11

Can you help?

Hi John,
No my software is not TenX-specific and I think is should be not too difficult to modify it for use with other panic buttons. If you have the product and vendor id’s of your button then you can use Jan Axelson’s Generic HID example to test what happens when you click the button.

@admin
Thanks for your reply, John. Yes, I know the VID/PID’s and I should be able to use Jan’s Generic HID or some other “USB sniffer” to figure out what happens on a button press.

Would you be able to post or send me your source code so I can take a shot at modifying it?

thanks again,
JohnB

Today I have added the source code.

@admin
Thanks so much for posting the source, John. I’ll take a look at it and see if I can get it to work with those other gadgets.

Is it possible to have three rigged in to a PC and have them perform different actions? I’m thinking gameshow buzzer style.

No I don’t think that is possible BUT I have also software ready to use the PlayStation Buzz controllers on your PC.

Oh well that sounds perfect. Where can I find more information?

@Jonny I will make a post with that soon!

Is there any way to have it take commands from two buttons?

I can now startup my pc by pressing ctrl+alt+del on my keyboard.
is it possible to startup my pc with this button if I set the command to Ctrl+Alt+Del?
(don’t have the button (yet) so can’t test it)
Thanks

No Thijs, I am sorry but you have to be logged in to make this work.

Thijs, how did u get this to work…using CTRL-ALT-DEL and computer turns on.

In theory somehow it should be possible to use the button to turn on PC, USB devices still have power when computer is off

Hi,
does it also work for Windows 7?
THX for help:)

@pepe2299
Yes I can confirm that it works in 32bit Windows 7

@Junky
Can you post an alternate link (filehippo is good). Filefactory is pretty unreliable.

Thanks. Worked as a charm on Win7.

Hi,
this software bei John works damn good:)
But how can I start a game like BATTLEFIELD 2 with the USb Panic Button?
Can somebody please help me?
THX a lot
Steve

Hi,
this site is great:)
Can somebody please help me?
Is there any chance to start a game liek BF2 with the USB Panic Button?
THX all for helping me
Steve

Hey,

I’ve got a similar usb button. It’s not the panic button but a similar button. I guess it’s using the same USB info since i have found this website using the info i’ve found in the Device manager . Í want the software to acces this button so i can try out those earthshake kind of stuff aswell. I did not buy the button so i got no software cd with it. Is there anyone able to help out?

Cheers!

hi,
i want to ask can it work in two panic buttons in one pc for different command?

Hi guys; cannot get this to work with Win 7 64 but… any chance of an update at some point?

@

admin

Which file do you modify the vendor/device ID’s in? I’m either blind or dumb I can’t find where to modify it…

John, this is incredible!
I loved my panic button, but now it not only stylish – it is very useful and much more fun!
THANKS!

@admin
I am running 64-bit Windows 7 and it doesn’t work. I wonder if I just fire up Visual Studio and compile for 64-bit Win7 if that is all that will be needed. If so, I can do so and hang up the file for others.

Ah, I see that it is compiled for AllCPUs. So that isn’t the problem. Hmm.

dmikeyl :
Hi John,
This looks like exactly what I need, but it will not work on my button. it appears that ine is slightlty difefrent than the one you designed the sw for.
The “test” function works fine, but when I press the button I just get the default Windows error sound. (bing)
My device is here http://www.dreamcheeky.com/index.php?pagename=product&pid=11
Can you help?

I just realized that that is the button I have. So I changed the vendor ID and product ID and compiled. Still not working. However, I think it that the driver for the button isn’t working on 64-bit Windows 7, as I installed it on my 32-bit Windows 7 laptop and the vendor’s software works.

So, when I have a moment free. I will compile this for the cheeky geeky button and hang the binaries up for others. Ping me at chaim (at) chaim -dot- com if I forget to post them here.

John, thanks for your great software. I just picked up the Panic Button and it works flawlessly with it. Are you still open to making enhancements? I’d like to see an option to allow the sound file to loop

Thanks again.

Hey John, love your software as i lost the original disk and drivers, i been wanting to use my panic button to essentially activate a screensaver and kinda lock the screen (not really fussed) by opening a .html file of “www.thecolourclock.co.uk” in a browser in full screen mode (F11) using either Google Chrome or IE which i have been able to do without fullscreen using ur superb “Command” input however when i press the panic button a second unlike ur picture input it just opens a second instance (opens in another tab) of the .html in the default browser.

I would love it if you could offer any advice on how to set it up to open the .html file in full screen and how to on the second press it the closes the browser and therefore html file???

Many Thanks, and once again a brilliant piece of software

I’ve just modified John’s work to get it working on Windows 7 x64, If no one objects I’ll upload it someplace and provide a link.

@Sam
I am trying to find some code to access USB in windows 7 x64 – but not having any luck, so Sam – it would be great to see some code

any update for the 64bit? im thinking of using this for my photobooth thanks!

This should work: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21730098/USBPanicButton%20×64.zip

It’s just John’s source with a few tiny mods to work on x64 and a different Icon as I didn’t like the older one on windows 7.

I don’t think I built an installer, but if you look in the bin/Debug folder I think I built the EXE.

Any luck getting this bastard to work in GNU? If I can’t find some pre-existing GNU+Linux program for this, I want to write one. Any advice on how to get it to respond? I don’t see any event input when pressing it.

Billy – see one of:

http://www.lunarlamp.co.uk/usb-panic-button-linux
http://freshmeat.net/projects/usb-panic-button-daemon

I can’t guarantee it, as I use Win XP, but I found the first one before I found this page. I just picked this up second hand and thought it was some obscure toy — didn’t realise I’d be able to find a superior driver in minutes!

The earthquake feature is quite funny, too.

Hi,

I tried to run this on windows 7 (32-bit) with the Dream Cheeky Big Red Button…but it seems that the software doesn’t recognize the usb-button. Can anybody help me? I read something about a vendor and product ID…where can I configure this parameters?

Hi,

Does anyone have a version of the software that works with the Dream Cheeky button? I have one and quite urgently need to be able to get it to run a custom application.

Many thanks in advance!

Hi again John,

Excellent, I ‘did’ get it working just fine.

Is there a way to have your better version run on WindowsME too?

Many thanks,
Jeff Phillips.

Sam – thanks a lot! Works great on Win 7 x64.

@JohnB
Hi JohnB,

I read that you tried to modify the software so that it is also working for other USB Buttons. I have this one http://www.dreamcheeky.com/big-red-button. Was your attemp successfully? I’m also looking for a software that is working for this button. Could you help me, please?

Thanks.

I have the Dream Cheeky Big Red Stress button. I got it from Woot. All it does is open Windows Media Player. Doesn’t play anything. Just opens WMP. I tried the stock software and the software here. Same issue.

Hi admin, my best regards and congratulations.

This is my BRB HID USB:

Vendor ID: 0x1D34
PID: 0x000D

I am not a pro on C#. Where I have to do any required changes to read this HID device with your modified source code?

Thanks.

Maybe I am learning by myself…

Is line 429 on FrmMain.cs?

[Int16 myVendorID = 0;]

…and line 428 too

[myProductID = 0;]

Sorry of my ignorance. I´m going to compile it.

Thanks again.

Hello John, do you know is your application can also be used with the standby / eco-buttons which you see a lot nowadays? (press the button to send pc to standby)….

how do we download the needed software that comes with it for a mac because we can’t put in the smaller disc

@Rod

I am ofuscated. I can not do this button to do any actions after compiling source. Somebody… can help me?

Thanks.

I am trying to modify the source code to work with the Dream Cheeky “Stress” button I got from Woot. Could someone point me to where I would need to change what line of code to look for my device id as the trigger?

@John Bruin

@admin

Could you tell me where in the source code I can find the device ID numbers? I want to try and modify the source to work with the button I got from Woot.com It’s a Dream Cheeky button.

Has anyone gotten this to work with the Dream Cheecky Stress button? If so I would be very interested

What would really be neat would be a way to config this from the interface to work with one or more different makes of these USB buttons, so that you simply tell from a drop down menu or radio gadget that you have the Dream Cheeky Big Red Button, or the USB Panic Button, or what have you, and it adjusts itself accordingly. Even better might be if one could set it do one thing with the Panic Button and another with the Big Red Button if you have both on your machine.

I have the Dream Cheeky Big Red Button, Bluw don’t seem to make the Panic Button anymore, which is a pity because that’s the one I REALLY wanted.

Anyway, I downloaded Sam’s 64bit version of the program here (I’m on Win7 64bit), but it doesn’t work with the Big Red Button. I would love to see a version of this that works with the Big Red Button, and I see at least one other person here recently has said that too.

@Rod
Rod, were you able to get the “Dream Cheeky – Big Red Button” to work with the source code given the ids? I was going to give it a try and create a Distress Button out of it?

Nomad. Looks like we’re on the same path. I was looking for the Bluw, but have ordered the Dream Cheeky since it was available. You probably tried it, but I was going to use software like “NirSoft” to get the vendorId and productID of the device to update in the provided code.

I plan to use Windows 7 32-bit though. My intention is upon depressing of the button to call an external .vbs and auto send a “Distress Alert” BB email out to various securities. My current vbs application works now with Ctrl + F12 sending to outlook mail and BB gmail, but incorporating the button would be super!

I should get the button on Nov 30, and will update if I make any progress.

Wish me luck so we can all square this away with the Dream Cheeky button!

@Thomas

Any luck on your button? I’ve got a Dream Cheeky Big Red Button, but I’d like it to do something else like an autohotkey script. I’m not a programmer/coder, but I do pretty well with clicking.

Still hoping to get the Dream Cheeky button to work. I just want it to do the sound and screen image. Just don’t know which lines of code to look at. Right now if I press the button it just starts WMP, but that’s it. It doesn’t play anything. Just starts the program.

Hi,

looks awesome! I’m no programmer (at all) but would it be possible to install 3 different buttons to start 3 different sounds? Or would they all respond to the same driver/program?

hope someone can help!

Does anyone have another link to the 64bit version of the software? All of the links point to a non existent file. Thanks.

@John Bruin
Thanks, excuse my low understanding of everything, but what program do I need to use to compile this?

@John Bruin

Nevermind my last request, I found Visual C#. I know a lot of people have been asking, but off the top of your head if someone was to find the vendorID and product code of the device they wanted to read from (one of the many dream cheeky buttons right now) is it as simple as just replacing those values? Or is it much more complicated to get the code to work with a non panic button?

So the code is recognizing my Dream Cheeky button (not the panic button) when I put in the VendorId 1d34 and productId 0008. But it is still not responding to any inputs from the device even though it’s saying it is connected correctly. Does anyone have any insight into this?

@panic.button
When I run the code, I am seeing 0 feature reports and get no response from the device even though it says it is connected to it.

@Scott

How did you do this scott?

Do you have the hulk smash button?