X Library Controls
The Xkb extension is composed of two parts: a server extension, and a
client-side X library extension. discusses functions used to modify
controls affecting the behavior of the server portion of the Xkb extension.
This chapter discusses functions used to modify controls that affect only the
behavior of the client portion of the extension; these controls are known as
Library Controls.
library controlscontrolslibrary
All of the Library Controls are boolean flags that may be enabled and disabled.
The controls can be divided into several categories:
Controls affecting general string lookups
Controls affecting compose processing
Controls affecting event delivery
There are two types of string lookups performed by
XLookupString.
XLookupString
The first type involves translating a single keycode into a string; the
controls in the first category affect this type of lookup. The second type
involves translating a series of keysyms into a string; the controls in the
second category affect this type of lookup.
An Xkb implementation is required to support the programming interface for all
of the controls. However, an implementation may choose not to support the
semantics associated with the controls that deal with compose processing. In
this case, a program that accesses these controls should still function
normally; however, the feedback that would normally occur with the controls
enabled may be missing.
Controls Affecting Keycode-to-String Translation
The first type of string lookups, which are here called
simple string lookups,
involves translating a single keycode into a string. Because these simple
lookups involve only a single keycode, all of the information needed to do the
translation is contained in the keyboard state in a single event. The controls
affecting simple string lookups are:
ForceLatin1LookupConsumeLookupModsLevelOneUsesShiftAndLockForceLatin1Lookup
If the
ForceLatin1Lookup
control is enabled,
XLookupString
only returns strings using the Latin1 character set. If
ForceLatin1Lookup
is not enabled,
XLookupString
can return characters that are not in the Latin1 set. By default, this control
is disabled, allowing characters outside of the Latin1 set to be returned.
ConsumeLookupMods
Simple string lookups in
XLookupString
involve two different translation phases. The first phase translates raw
device keycodes to individual keysyms. The second phase attempts to map the
resulting keysym into a string of one or more characters. In the first phase,
some of the modifiers are normally used to determine the appropriate shift
level for a key.
The
ConsumeLookupMods
control determines whether or not
XLookupStringconsumes
the modifiers it uses during the first phase of processing (mapping a keycode
to a keysym). When a modifier is consumed, it is effectively removed from the
working copy of the keyboard state information
XLookupString
is using and appears to be unset for the remainder of the processing.
If the
ConsumeLookupMods
control is enabled,
XLookupString
does not use the modifiers used to translate the keycode of the event to a
keysym when it is determining the string associated with a keysym. For example,
assume the keymap for the ‘A’ key only contains the shift modifier and the
ConsumeLookupMods
control is enabled. If a user presses the
Shift
key and the
A
key while the
Num_Lock
key is locked,
XLookupString
uses the
Shift
modifier when mapping the keycode for the ‘a’ key to the keysym for
‘A’; subsequently, it only uses the
NumLock
modifier when determining the string associated with the keysym ‘A’.
If the
ConsumeLookupMods
control is not enabled,
XLookupString
uses all of the event modifiers to determine the string associated with a
keysym. This behavior mirrors the behavior of
XLookupString
in the core implementation.
The
ConsumeLookupMods
control is unset by default. For more information on modifier consumption,
refer to .
AlwaysConsumeShiftAndLock
The
AlwaysConsumeShiftAndLock
control, if enabled, forces
XLookupString
to consume the
Shift
and
Lock
modifiers when processing all keys, even if the definition for the key type
does not specify these modifiers. The
AlwaysConsumeShiftAndLock
control is unset by default. See section 15.2 for a discussion of key types.
Controls Affecting Compose Processing
The second type of string lookup performed by
XLookupString
involves translating a series of keysyms into a string. Because these lookups
can involve more than one key event, they require
XLookupString
to retain some state information between successive calls. The process of
mapping a series of keysyms to a string is known as
compose processing.
compose processing
The controls affecting compose processing are:
ConsumeKeysOnComposeFailComposeLEDBeepOnComposeFail
Because different vendors have historically used different algorithms to
implement compose processing, and these algorithms may be incompatible with the
semantics required by the Xkb compose processing controls, implementation of
the compose processing controls is optional in an Xkb implementation.
ConsumeKeysOnComposeFail
Some compose processing algorithms signal the start of a compose sequence by a
key event meaning start compose.
Another possibility is to have the compose processing simply be the result of a finite state acceptor; a compose sequence would never fail for a properly written finite state acceptor.
The subsequent key events should normally result in a valid composition yielding a
valid translation to a string. If the subsequent key events do not have a valid
translation, some decision must be made about what to do with the key events
that were processed while attempting the compose. The
ConsumeKeysOnComposeFail
control allows a client to specify what happens with the key events
XLookupString
has been considering when it reaches a dead end in a compose sequence.
If the
ConsumeKeysOnComposeFail
control is set, all keys associated with a failed compose sequence should be
consumed (discarded). If the
ConsumeKeysOnComposeFail
control is not set, the key events associated with a failed compose sequence
should be processed as a normal sequence of key events.
The
ConsumeKeysOnComposeFail
control is disabled by default.
ComposeLED
The
ComposeLED
control allows a client to specify whether or not an indicator should be set
and cleared to provide feedback when compose processing is in progress. The
control does not specify which indicator should be used; the mapping for this
is up to the individual implementation. If the
ComposeLED
control is enabled, it specifies that an indicator should be set when a
compose sequence is in progress and cleared when one is not in progress. The
ComposeLED
control is disabled by default.
While the Xkb extension does not specify the type of type of indicator to be
used when the
ComposeLED
control is implemented, a consistent convention between implementations is to
everyone’s benefit. If a named indicator is used for this purpose, the
recommended name is “Compose”.
Note that some implementations may use an unnamed, custom hardware LED for
this purpose.
BeepOnComposeFail
The
BeepOnComposeFail
control allows a client to specify whether or not a bell should be activated
to provide feedback when a compose sequence fails. The control does not specify
the type of bell that should be used; the mapping for this is up to the
individual implementation. If the
BeepOnComposeFail
control is enabled, it specifies that a bell should be activated when a
compose sequence fails. The
BeepOnComposeFail
control is disabled by default. If implemented, the bell should be activated
using
XkbBell
or
XkbDeviceBell.
While the Xkb extension does not specify the type of bell to be used when the
BeepOnComposeFail
control is implemented, a consistent convention between implementations is to
everyone’s benefit. If a named bell is used for this purpose, the recommended
name is “ComposeFail”.
Controls Effecting Event DeliveryIgnoreNewKeyboardseventsNewKeyboardNotifyeventsMappingNotify
When Xkb is initialized, it implicitly forces requests for
NewKeyboardNotify
events. These events may be used by the Xkb library extension internally; they
are normally translated into core protocol
MappingNotify
events before being passed to the client. While delivering the event to the
client is appropriate in most cases, it is not appropriate for some clients
that maintain per-key data structures. This is because once the server has sent
a
NewKeyboardNotify
event, it is free to send the client events for all keys in the new range and
that range may be outside of the per-key data structures the client is
maintaining.
The
IgnoreNewKeyboards
control, if enabled, prevents Xkb from mapping
NewKeyboardNotify
events to core
MappingNotify
events and passing them to the client. The control is initially disabled.
Manipulating the Library Controls
The Library Controls are manipulated using functions that deal with bitmasks to
indicate which controls to manipulate. The controls are identified by the masks
defined in Table 11.1.
Library Control MasksLibrary Control MaskValueXkbLC_ForceLatin1Lookup(1 << 0)XkbLC_ConsumeLookupMods(1 << 1)XkbLC_AlwaysConsumeShiftAndLock(1 << 2)XkbLC_IgnoreNewKeyboards(1 << 3)XkbLC_ConsumeKeysOnComposeFail(1 << 29)XkbLC_ComposeLED(1 << 30)XkbLC_BeepOnComposeFail(1 << 31)XkbLC_AllControls(0xc0000007)
Determining Which Library Controls are Implemented
To determine which Library Controls are actually
implemented, use XkbXlibControlsImplemented.
XkbXlibControlsImplementedunsigned int XkbXlibControlsImplementedDisplay *displaydisplay
connection to X server
XkbXlibControlsImplemented
returns a bitmask indicating the controls actually implemented in the Xkb
library and is composed of an inclusive OR of bits from
Table 11.1.
Determining the State of the Library Controls
To determine the current state of the Library Controls, use
XkbGetXlibControls.
XkbGetXlibControlsunsigned int XkbGetXlibControlsDisplay *displaydisplay
connection to X server
XkbGetXlibControls
returns the current state of the Library Controls as a bit mask that is an
inclusive OR of the control masks from
Table 11.1 for the controls that are
enabled. For the optional compose processing controls, the fact that a control
is enabled does not imply that it is actually implemented.
Changing the State of the Library Controls
To change the state of the Library Controls, use
XkbSetXlibControls.
XkbSetXlibControlsBool XkbSetXlibControlsDisplay *displayunsigned long bits_to_changeunsigned long values_for_bitsdisplay
connection to X server
bits_to_change
selects controls to be modified
values_for_bits
turns selected controls on (1) or off (0)
XkbSetXlibControls
modifies the state of the controls selected by
bits_to_change;
only the controls selected by
bits_to_change
are modified. If the bit corresponding to a control is on in
bits_to_change
and also on in values_for_bits, the control is enabled. If the bit
corresponding to a control is on in
bits_to_change
but off in
values_for_bits,
the control is disabled.
bits_to_change
should be an inclusive OR of bits from
Table 11.1.