Input Devices

Name

Input Devices -- Functions for handling extended input devices.

Synopsis


#include <gdk/gdk.h>


struct      GdkDevice;
struct      GdkDeviceClass;
enum        GdkInputSource;
enum        GdkInputMode;
struct      GdkDeviceKey;
struct      GdkDeviceAxis;
enum        GdkAxisUse;
GList*      gdk_devices_list                (void);
void        gdk_device_set_source           (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkInputSource source);
gboolean    gdk_device_set_mode             (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkInputMode mode);
void        gdk_device_set_key              (GdkDevice *device,
                                             guint index,
                                             guint keyval,
                                             GdkModifierType modifiers);
void        gdk_device_set_axis_use         (GdkDevice *device,
                                             guint index,
                                             GdkAxisUse use);
GdkDevice*  gdk_device_get_core_pointer     (void);

void        gdk_device_get_state            (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkWindow *window,
                                             gdouble *axes,
                                             GdkModifierType *mask);
gboolean    gdk_device_get_history          (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkWindow *window,
                                             guint32 start,
                                             guint32 stop,
                                             GdkTimeCoord ***events,
                                             gint *n_events);
void        gdk_device_free_history         (GdkTimeCoord **events,
                                             gint n_events);
struct      GdkTimeCoord;
gboolean    gdk_device_get_axis             (GdkDevice *device,
                                             gdouble *axes,
                                             GdkAxisUse use,
                                             gdouble *value);

void        gdk_input_set_extension_events  (GdkWindow *window,
                                             gint mask,
                                             GdkExtensionMode mode);
enum        GdkExtensionMode;


Description

In addition to the normal keyboard and mouse input devices, GTK+ also contains support for extended input devices. In particular, this support is targeted at graphics tablets. Graphics tablets typically return sub-pixel positioning information and possibly information about the pressure and tilt of the stylus. Under X, the support for extended devices is done through the XInput extension.

Because handling extended input devices may involve considerable overhead, they need to be turned on for each GdkWindow individually using gdk_input_set_extension_events(). (Or, more typically, for GtkWidgets, using gtk_widget_set_extension_events()). As an additional complication, depending on the support from the windowing system, its possible that a normal mouse cursor will not be displayed for a particular extension device. If an application does not want to deal with displaying a cursor itself, it can ask only to get extension events from devices that will display a cursor, by passing the GDK_EXTENSION_EVENTS_CURSOR value to gdk_input_set_extension_events(). Otherwise, the application must retrieve the device information using gdk_input_list_devices(), check the has_cursor field, and, if it is FALSE, draw a cursor itself when it receives motion events.

Each pointing device is assigned a unique integer ID; events from a particular device can be identified by the deviceid field in the event structure. The events generated by pointer devices have also been extended to contain pressure, xtilt and ytilt fields which contain the extended information reported as additional valuators from the device. The pressure field is a a double value ranging from 0.0 to 1.0, while the tilt fields are double values ranging from -1.0 to 1.0. (With -1.0 representing the maximum title to the left or up, and 1.0 representing the maximum tilt to the right or down.)

One additional field in each event is the source field, which contains an enumeration value describing the type of device; this currently can be one of GDK_SOURCE_MOUSE, GDK_SOURCE_PEN, GDK_SOURCE_ERASER, or GDK_SOURCE_CURSOR. This field is present to allow simple applications to (for instance) delete when they detect eraser devices without having to keep track of complicated per-device settings.

Various aspects of each device may be configured. The easiest way of creating a GUI to allow the user to conifigure such a device is to use to use the GtkInputDialog widget in GTK+. However, even when using this widget, application writers will need to directly query and set the configuration parameters in order to save the state between invocations of the application. The configuration of devices is queried using gdk_input_list_devices. Each device must is activated using gdk_input_set_mode(), which also controls whether the device's range is mapped to the entire screen or to a single window. The mapping of the valuators of the device onto the predefined valuator types is set using gdk_input_set_axes. And the source type for each device can be set with gdk_input_set_source().

Devices may also have associated keys or macro buttons. Such keys can be globally set to map into normal X keyboard events. The mapping is set using gdk_input_set_key().

The interfaces in this section will most likely be considerably modified in the future to accomodate devices that may have different sets of additional valuators than the pressure xtilt and ytilt.

Details

struct GdkDevice

struct GdkDevice
{
  GObject parent_instance;
  /* All fields are read-only */
	  
  gchar *name;
  GdkInputSource source;
  GdkInputMode mode;
  gboolean has_cursor;	     /* TRUE if the X pointer follows device motion */
	  
  gint num_axes;
  GdkDeviceAxis *axes;
	  
  gint num_keys;
  GdkDeviceKey *keys;
};


struct GdkDeviceClass

struct GdkDeviceClass;


enum GdkInputSource

typedef enum
{
  GDK_SOURCE_MOUSE,
  GDK_SOURCE_PEN,
  GDK_SOURCE_ERASER,
  GDK_SOURCE_CURSOR
} GdkInputSource;

An enumeration describing the type of an input device in general terms.

GDK_SOURCE_MOUSEthe device is a mouse. (This will be reported for the core pointer, even if it is something else, such as a trackball.)
GDK_SOURCE_PENthe device is a stylus of a graphics tablet or similar device.
GDK_SOURCE_ERASERthe device is an eraser. Typically, this would be the other end of a stylus on a graphics tablet.
GDK_SOURCE_CURSORthe device is a graphics tablet "puck" or similar device.


enum GdkInputMode

typedef enum
{
  GDK_MODE_DISABLED,
  GDK_MODE_SCREEN,
  GDK_MODE_WINDOW
} GdkInputMode;

An enumeration that describes the mode of an input device.

GDK_MODE_DISABLEDthe device is disabled and will not report any events.
GDK_MODE_SCREENthe device is enabled. The device's coordinate space maps to the entire screen.
GDK_MODE_WINDOWthe device is enabled. The device's coordinate space is mapped to a single window. The manner in which this window is chosen is undefined, but it will typically be the same way in which the focus window for key events is determined.


struct GdkDeviceKey

struct GdkDeviceKey
{
  guint keyval;
  GdkModifierType modifiers;
};

The GdkDeviceKey structure contains information about the mapping of one device macro button onto a normal X key event. It has the following fields:

guint keyvalthe keyval to generate when the macro button is pressed. If this is 0, no keypress will be generated.
GdkModifierType modifiersthe modifiers set for the generated key event.


struct GdkDeviceAxis

struct GdkDeviceAxis
{
  GdkAxisUse use;
  gdouble    min;
  gdouble    max;
};


enum GdkAxisUse

typedef enum
{
  GDK_AXIS_IGNORE,
  GDK_AXIS_X,
  GDK_AXIS_Y,
  GDK_AXIS_PRESSURE,
  GDK_AXIS_XTILT,
  GDK_AXIS_YTILT,
  GDK_AXIS_WHEEL,
  GDK_AXIS_LAST
} GdkAxisUse;

An enumeration describing the way in which a device axis (valuator) maps onto the predefined valuator types that GTK+ understands.

GDK_AXIS_IGNOREthe axis is ignored.
GDK_AXIS_Xthe axis is used as the x axis.
GDK_AXIS_Ythe axis is used as the y axis.
GDK_AXIS_PRESSUREthe axis is used for pressure information.
GDK_AXIS_XTILTthe axis is used for x tilt information.
GDK_AXIS_YTILTthe axis is used for x tilt information.
GDK_AXIS_WHEEL 
GDK_AXIS_LASTa constant equal to the numerically highest axis value.


gdk_devices_list ()

GList*      gdk_devices_list                (void);

Returns : 


gdk_device_set_source ()

void        gdk_device_set_source           (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkInputSource source);

device : 
source : 


gdk_device_set_mode ()

gboolean    gdk_device_set_mode             (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkInputMode mode);

device : 
mode : 
Returns : 


gdk_device_set_key ()

void        gdk_device_set_key              (GdkDevice *device,
                                             guint index,
                                             guint keyval,
                                             GdkModifierType modifiers);

device : 
index : 
keyval : 
modifiers : 


gdk_device_set_axis_use ()

void        gdk_device_set_axis_use         (GdkDevice *device,
                                             guint index,
                                             GdkAxisUse use);

device : 
index : 
use : 


gdk_device_get_core_pointer ()

GdkDevice*  gdk_device_get_core_pointer     (void);

Returns : 


gdk_device_get_state ()

void        gdk_device_get_state            (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkWindow *window,
                                             gdouble *axes,
                                             GdkModifierType *mask);

device : 
window : 
axes : 
mask : 


gdk_device_get_history ()

gboolean    gdk_device_get_history          (GdkDevice *device,
                                             GdkWindow *window,
                                             guint32 start,
                                             guint32 stop,
                                             GdkTimeCoord ***events,
                                             gint *n_events);

device : 
window : 
start : 
stop : 
events : 
n_events : 
Returns : 


gdk_device_free_history ()

void        gdk_device_free_history         (GdkTimeCoord **events,
                                             gint n_events);

events : 
n_events : 


struct GdkTimeCoord

struct GdkTimeCoord
{
  guint32 time;
  gdouble axes[GDK_MAX_TIMECOORD_AXES];
};

The GdkTimeCoord structure stores a single event in a motion history. It contains the following fields:

guint32 timeThe timestamp for this event.
gdouble axes[GDK_MAX_TIMECOORD_AXES] 


gdk_device_get_axis ()

gboolean    gdk_device_get_axis             (GdkDevice *device,
                                             gdouble *axes,
                                             GdkAxisUse use,
                                             gdouble *value);

Interprets an array of double as axis values for a given device, and locates the value in the array for a given axis use.

device : a GdkDevice
axes : pointer to an array of axes
use : the use to look for
value : location to store the found value.
Returns : TRUE if the given axis use was found, otherwies FALSE


gdk_input_set_extension_events ()

void        gdk_input_set_extension_events  (GdkWindow *window,
                                             gint mask,
                                             GdkExtensionMode mode);

Turns extension events on or off for a particular window, and specifies the event mask for extension events.

window :a GdkWindow.
mask :the event mask
mode :the type of extension events that are desired.


enum GdkExtensionMode

typedef enum
{
  GDK_EXTENSION_EVENTS_NONE,
  GDK_EXTENSION_EVENTS_ALL,
  GDK_EXTENSION_EVENTS_CURSOR
} GdkExtensionMode;

An enumeration used to specify which extension events are desired for a particular widget.

GDK_EXTENSION_EVENTS_NONEno extension events are desired.
GDK_EXTENSION_EVENTS_ALLall extension events are desired.
GDK_EXTENSION_EVENTS_CURSORextension events are desired only if a cursor will be displayed for the device.