VirtualBindings(library caUNIX SysteVirtualBindings(library call)
NAME
VirtualBindings - Bindings for virtual mouse and key events
DESCRIPTION
The Motif reference pages describe key translations in terms
of virtual bindings, based on those described in the Motif
Style Guide.
Bindings for osf Keysyms
Keysym strings that begin with <osf> are not part of the X
server's keyboard mapping. Instead, these keysyms are
produced on the client side at run time. They are
interpreted by the routine XmTranslateKey, and are used by
the translation manager when the server delivers an actual
key event. For each application, a mapping is maintained
between <osf> keysyms and keysyms that correspond to actual
keys. This mapping is based on information obtained at
application startup from one of the following sources,
listed in order of precedence:
⊕ The XmNdefaultVirtualBindings resource from Display.
⊕ A property on the root window, which can be set by mwm
on startup, or by the xmbind client, or on prior
startup of a Motif application.
⊕ The file .motifbind in the user's home directory.
⊕ A set of bindings based on the vendor string and
optionally the vendor release of the X server. Motif
searches for these bindings in the following steps:
0. If the file xmbind.alias exists in the user's
home directory, Motif searches this file for a
pathname associated with the vendor string or
with the vendor string and vendor release. If
it finds such a pathname and if that file
exists, Motif loads the bindings contained in
that file.
1. If it has found no bindings, Motif next looks
for the file xmbind.alias in the directory
specified by the environment variable XMBINDDIR,
if XMBINDDIR is set, or in the directory
/usr/lib/Xm/bindings if XMBINDDIR is not set.
If this file exists Motif searches it for a
pathname associated with the vendor string or
with the vendor string and vendor release. If
it finds such a pathname and if that file
exists, Motif loads the bindings contained in
that file.
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2. If it still has found no bindings, Motif loads a
set of hard-coded fallback bindings.
The xmbind.alias file contains zero or more lines of the
following form:
"vendor_string[ vendor_release]" bindings_file
where vendor_string is the X server vendor name as returned
by the X client xdpyinfo or the Xlib function XServerVendor,
and must appear in double quotes. If vendor_release is
included, it is the X server vendor release number as
returned by the X client xdpyinfo or the Xlib function
XVendorRelease, and must also be contained within the double
quotes separated by one space from vendor_string. The
vendor_release argument is provided to allow support of
changes in keyboard hardware from a vendor, assuming that
the vendor increments the release number to flag such
changes. Alternatively, the vendor may simply use a unique
vendor string for each different keyboard.
The bindings_file argument is the pathname of the file
containing the bindings themselves. It can be a relative or
absolute pathname. If it it is a relative pathname, it is
relative to the location of the xmbind.alias file.
Comment lines in the xmbind.alias file begin with !
(exclamation point).
The bindings found in either the .motifbind file or the
vendor mapping are placed in a property on the root window.
This property is used to determine the bindings for
subsequent Motif applications.
On startup mwm attempts to load the file .motifbind in the
user's home directory. If this is unsuccessful, it loads
the vendor bindings as described previously. It places the
bindings it loads in a property on the root window for use
by subsequent Motif applications.
The xmbind function loads bindings from a file if that file
is specified on the command line. If no file is specified
on the command line, it attempts to load the file .motifbind
in the user's home directory. If this fails, it loads the
vendor bindings as described previously. It places the
bindings it loads in a property on the root window for use
by subsequent Motif applications.
The format of the specification for mapping <osf> keysyms to
actual keysyms is similar to that of a specification for an
event translation. (See below) The syntax is specified (and
below) here in EBNF notation using the following
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conventions:
[a] Means either nothing or a{a} Means zero or more occurrences of a(a|b) Means either a or b.
Terminals are enclosed in double quotation marks.
The syntax of an <osf> keysym binding specification is as
follows:
binding_spec = {line "\n"} [line]
line = virtual_keysym ":" list_of_key_event
list_of_key_event= key_event { "," key_event}
key_event = {modifier_name} "<Key>" actual_keysym
virtual_keysym = keysym
actual_keysym = keysym
keysym = A valid X11 keysym name that is
mapped by XStringToKeysym
As with event translations, more specific event descriptions
must precede less specific descriptions. For example, an
event description for a key with a modifier must precede a
description for the same key without the same modifier.
Following is an example of a specification for the
defaultVirtualBindings resource in a resource file:
*defaultVirtualBindings: \
osfBackSpace: <Key>BackSpace \n\
osfInsert: <Key>InsertChar \n\
osfDelete: <Key>DeleteChar \n\
...
osfLeft: <Key>left, Ctrl<Key>H
The format of a .motifbind file or of a file containing
vendor bindings is the same, except that the binding
specification for each keysym is placed on a separate line.
The previous example specification appears as follows in a
.motifbind or vendor bindings file:
osfBackSpace: <Key>BackSpace
osfInsert: <Key>InsertChar
osfDelete: <Key>DeleteChar
...
osfLeft: <Key>left, Ctrl<Key>H
The following table lists the fixed fallback default
bindings for <osf> keysyms.
Fallback Default Bindings for osf Keysyms
<osf Keysym> Fallback Default Binding
<osfActivate>: <Key>KP_Enter
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<Key>Execute
<osfAddMode>: Shift<Key>F8
<osfBackSpace>: <Key>BackSpace
<osfBeginLine>: <Key>Home
<Key>Begin
<osfCancel>: <Key>Escape
<Key>Cancel
<osfClear>: <Key>Clear
<osfCopy>: unbound
<osfCut>: unbound
<osfDelete>: <Key>Delete
<osfDeselectAll>: unbound
<osfDown>: <Key>Down
<osfEndLine>: <Key>End
<osfHelp>: <Key>F1
<Key>Help
<osfInsert>: <Key>Insert
<osfLeft>: <Key>Left
<osfLeftLine>: unbound
<osfMenu>: Shift<Key>F10
<Key>Menu
<osfMenuBar>: <Key>F10
Shift<Key>Menu
<osfNextMinor>: unbound
<osfPageDown>: <Key>Next
<osfPageLeft>: unbound
<osfPageRight>: unbound
<osfPageUp>: <Key>Prior
<osfPaste>: unbound
<osfPrimaryPaste>: unbound
<osfPriorMinor>: unbound
<osfReselect>: unbound
<osfRestore>: unbound
<osfRight>: <Key>Right
<osfRightLine>: unbound
<osfSelect>: <Key>Select
<osfSelectAll>: unbound
<osfSwitchDirection>: Alt<Key>Return
Alt<Key>KPEnter
<osfUndo>: <Key>Undo
<osfUp>: <Key>Up
Changes in the Handling of Shifted Keys
In conjunction with MIT X11R5 Patch 24, this version of
Motif introduces a change in the way that keys involving the
<Shift> modifier are processed. This change allows the
numeric keypad to be used to generate numbers using the
standard X mechanisms. Since the default behavior is now to
honor the xmodmap keymap bindings, translations and virtual
key bindings that use <Shift> may behave differently. A
common symptom is that unshifted keypad and function keys
(with or without other modifiers) produce the expected
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results, but shifted ones do not.
To obtain the old behavior you can remove the shifted
interpretation from problematic keys using the xmodmap
utility. Each entry in a xmodmap keymap table contains up to
four keysym bindings. The second and fourth keysyms are for
shifted keys. If an expression contains only two keysyms,
simply remove the second keysym. If an entry contains three
or more keysyms, replace the second keysym with NoSymbol and
remove the fourth keysym.
Action Translations
The translation table syntax used by Motif is completely
specified in the X11R5 Toolkit Intrinsics Documentation. For
the complete syntax description, and for general
instructions about writing or modifying a translation table,
please refer to this document. A brief summary of the
translation table format, however, is included below.
The syntax is defined as in the binding syntax specification
above. Informal descriptions are contained in angle
brackets (<>).
TranslationTable= [ directive ] { production }
directive = ( "#replace" | "#override" | "#augment") "\n"
production = lhs ":" rhs "\n"
lhs = ( event | keyseq) {"," ( event | keyseq) }
keyseq = """ keychar { keychar } """
keychar = ( "^" | "$" | "\\") <ISO Latin 1 character>
event = [ modifier_list ] "<" event_type ">" [ count ] {detail}
modifier_list = ( ["!"][":"] { modifier } | "None")
modifier = [ "~" ] ( "@" <keysym> | <name from table below>)
count = "(" <positive integer> [ "+" ] ")"
rhs = { action_name "(" [params] ")" }
params = string { "," string }
The string field need not be quoted unless it includes a
space or tab character, or any comma, newline, or
parenthesis. The entire list of string values making up the
params field will ba passed to the named action routine.
The details field may be used to specify a keysym that will
identify a particular key event. For example, <Key> is the
name of a type of event, but it must be modified by the
details field to name a specific event, such as <Key>A.
Modifier NamesThe modifier list, which may be empty,
consists of a list of modifier keys that must be pressed
with the key sequence. The modifier keys may abbreviated
with single letters, as in the following list of the
familiar modifiers:
s Shift
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c or ^ Ctrl (Control)
m or $ Meta
a Alt
Other modifiers are available, such as "Mod5" and "Button2."
These have no abbreviation (although the "Button" modifiers
may be abbreviated in combination with events, as outlined
below). If a modifier list has no entries, and is not
"None", it means the position of the modifier keys is
irrelevant. If modifiers are listed, the designated keys
must be in the specified position, but the unlisted modifier
keys are irrelevant. If the list begins with an exclamation
point (!), however, the unlisted modifiers may not be
asserted. In addition, if a modifier name is preceded by a
tilde (~), the corresponding key must not be pressed.
If a modifier list begins with a colon (:), X tries to use
the standard modifiers (Shift and Lock), if present, to map
the key event code into a recognized keysym.
Event Types These are a few of the recognized event types.
Key or KeyDown
A keyboard key was pressed.
KeyUp A keyboard key was released.
BtnDown A mouse button was pressed.
BtnUp A mouse button was released.
Motion The mouse pointer moved.
Enter The pointer entered the widget's window.
Leave The pointer left the widget's window.
FocusIn The widget has received focus.
FocusOut The widget has lost focus.
There are some event abbreviations available. For example,
<Btn1Motion> is actually a "Motion" event, modified with the
"Button1" modifier (Button1<Motion>). Similarly, <Btn3Up>is
actually a "BtnUp" event with the "Button3" modifier. These
abbreviations are used extensively in the Motif translation
tables.
RELATED
xmbind(1)
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