NAME¶
imwheel - a mouse wheel and button interpreter for X Windows
SYNOPSIS¶
imwheel [
options ]
DESCRIPTION¶
IMWheel is a universal mouse wheel and button translator for the X
Windows System. Utilizing the input from X Windows, imwheel translates mouse
wheel and mouse button actions into keyboard events using the XTest extension
to X. Use
xdpyinfo for information on the supported extensions in your
X server.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS¶
Available command line options are as follows:
- -4, --flip-buttons
- Flips the mouse buttons so that 4 is 5 and 5 is 4, reversing the Up and
Down actions. This would make 4 buttons somewhat useful! This is the
similar to using '-b "5 4 6 7 8"'; see the -b option. See
also xmodmap(1).
- -b, --buttons button-spec
- Remap buttons in button-spec to interpreted wheel/button input.
Also limits the button grab to the specified buttons. The
button-spec must be surrounded by quotes. Each button number must
be separated by a space. The button-spec is decoded in the
following order for wheel input:
Index Interpreted As Button Number Name in imwheelrc
1 Wheel Up 4 Up
2 Wheel Down 5 Down
3 Wheel Left 6 Left
4 Wheel Right 7 Right
5 Thumb Button 1 8 Thumb1
6 Thumb Button 2 9 Thumb2
7 Extra Button 1 10 ExtBt7
8 Extra Button 2 11 ExtBt8
etc.
A
button-spec of "4 5" will limit the grabbed buttons to only
wheel up and down.
A
button-spec of "0" turns off any defined mapping, thus
allowing for skips in the
button-spec for something that doesn't exist
on your mouse.
A
button-spec of "4 5 0 0 8" may be for normal wheel up/down
and a thumb button 1, but no horizontal wheel axis.
The default
button-spec is "4 5 6 7 8 9", but you may want or
need to customize this yourself. If you want to ignore the mouse wheel on
regular mice, make sure to start the
button-spec with "0 0 0 0
...", thereby skipping over the vertical and horizontal axes of the wheel
(whether or not the horizontal axis exists or is used).
See also
xmodmap(1).
- -c, --config
- Popup to configuration helper window imediately.
See also CONFIGURATION HELPER
- -D, --debug
- Show all possible debug info while running. This spits out alot and I also
suggest using the -d option to prevent imwheel from detaching from
the controlling terminal.
- -d, --detach
- Actually this does the opposite of its name, it prevents detachment from
the controlling terminal (no daemon). Control-C stops, etc...
- -f, --focus
- Forces the X event subwindow to be used instead of the original hack that
would replace the subwindow in the X event with a probed focus query
(XGetInputFocus). This should fix some compatability problems with some
window managers, such as window maker, and perhaps enlightenment. If
nothing seems to be working right, try toggling this on or off...
- -g, --focus-events
- Disable the use of focus events for button grabs. If your @Excluded
windows are not regrabbing the mouse buttons when exited, try toggling
this on or off...
- -h, --help
- Short help on options plus version/author info.
- -k, --kill
- Attempts to kill old imwheel. Process IDs are tested using
/proc/${pid}/status Name: field ?= imwheel. If /proc is not mounted then
this fails everytime! Otherwise, this ensures that the wrong process is
not killed.
- -q, --quit
- Quit imwheel before entering event loop.
Example: `imwheel -k -q' = kill and quit (option order doesn't matter)
- -X, --display display
- Use XServer at a specified display in standard X form. Using this
option is usful for multiple displays.
X WINDOWS¶
Use multiple imwheels by either setting the DISPLAY environment variable before
running each imwheel, or use the
-X or
--display options to
specify a different display for each imwheel. Running multiple imwheels on the
same display is not recommended, but is allowed, and may cause strange things
to happen while using the wheel or buttons.
Edit your xorg.conf, and ensure that in the "InputDevice" section,
your mouse Protocol is set to "ExplorerPS/2" for a modern PS/2 or
USB mouse, or if not then "IMPS/2". For serial mice set it to
"IntelliMouse" or "Auto". This is for IntelliMouse
compatible mice; other protocols may be required for other mice.
NOTE
The
@Exclude command must be used for clients that either use the ZAxis
for themselves and have no keyboard translations to cause the same desired
effect. The
@Exclude command must also be added for any client
requiring mouse and/or mouse button grabs and that don't specify specific
buttons to grab. These clients fail when they try to grab the mouse because
the buttons 4 and 5 are already grabbed by imwheel. XV is an example of a
client that requires these types of grabs to succeed. KDE clients use the
ZAxis for their own purposes. The supplied imwheelrc includes an exclusion for
XV already. See the IMWheelRC section for more information.
IMWHEELRC¶
IMWheel uses, optionally, two configuration files. One,
/etc/X11/imwheel/imwheelrc, is usable by everybody. The other is
$HOME/.imwheelrc, used only by one user. One is supplied and should have been
installed automatically in /etc/X11/imwheel. All whitespace is ignored in the
files except for within the window names' double quotes.
The configuration file consists of window names and event translations and/or
imwheel commands that begin with an `@' (at) symbol. Each window name starts a
section that is its configuration. The window names are priortized as first
come first served, so more generic matches should always occur later in the
configuration file.
Comments are started with a pound (#) and extend to the end of the line.
Window name section headers are actually one of four things:
Window Title
Window Class Name
Window Resource Name
(null) which matches "\(null\)" in the imwheelrc
Most of these are probeable using fvwm2's FvwmIdent module or the configurator
(see the
CONFIGURATION HELPER section). Other window managers may have
their own method of identifying windows' attributes.
Each window name is matched as a regex string. Thus any window is matched using
the regex pattern ".*" as a window name. This pattern should be the
last section in your configuration file, or it will override the other window
configurations in the file for matched wheel/button actions.
There is one special header noted as "(null)" which matches windows
that have a null string in the three attributes. This makes it possible to
assign actions to even Quake3, which has no info for its window. Just make
sure that you realize that the keys used should not be keys that may conflict
with other key actions in the game or application you are aiming to make work!
The included imwheelrc file has a "(null)" section included to
demonstrate, and it should work with Quake3.
Each window/class/resource name
must be enclosed in double quotes
(") on a line by itself.
Inside each window section is any number of translation definitions or commands.
Each translation definition or command must be on a line by itself. The window
section doesn't have to be terminated, as it is terminated by either starting
another window section or the end of the configuration file.
IMWHEELRC TRANSLATION DEFINITIONS¶
Mouse wheel/button translations each take up a line after a window section has
been started. Each argument is seperated by commas(,); whitespace is ignored.
KeySyms are used to specify the keyboard input and outputs. Pipes (|) are used
to join multiple keys into one input/output. The format is as follows...
REQUIRED
The following arguments a required to make a minimum translation definition.
- Key Modifiers Input
- X KeySyms joined by pipes that indicate the required keys pressed when the
mouse action is made in order for this translation to be used. Alt, Meta,
Control, and Shift keys are typical modifiers, but are stated slightly
different than just `Shift' but rather `Shift_L' or `Shift_R',
differentiating between left and right shift keys. See the KeySyms section
for more.
` None' is a special KeySym used by imwheel, it is used to indicate
no modifiers. A blank entry is also acceptable in this case, but less
descriptive of what is going on! If ` None' is used then there can
be no modifiers in use during the wheel action. If the field is blank then
any modifier will match, so put these last in their window
section.
- Mouse Action Input
- This is the input from the mouse wheel or button. It is one of the
following and only one:
Up
Down
Left
Right
Thumb
These are self explanatory. If you have trouble use the configurator!
- Key Action Output
- Out KeySyms are placed here. See KeySyms section for more on all available
KeySyms. Join KeySyms using pipes. Output keys are pressed in order and
released, in reverse order, only after all have been pressed, likely
making them all combined as in `Control_L|C' which would be a `^C'
(control-c) keypress.
OPTIONAL
The following options are optional, but to use one you must fill in all the
preceding arguments.
- Output Repetitions
- How many times should the Output KeySyms be pressed in a row.
Default is 1.
- Delay Before KeyUp Event
- How long in microseconds until we release all the Output KeySyms in one
Output Repetition.
Default is 0.
- Delay Before Next KeyPress Event
- How long in microseconds until we press the next the Output KeySyms. Ths
delay occurs after the Output KeySyms are released.
Default is 0.
IMWHEELRC COMMANDS¶
Commands start with the `@' character. Commands are as follows:
- @Exclude
- Exclude this window from imwheel grabing mouse events. IMWheel will ungrab
the mouse when these windows are entered and not regrab the mouse until
focus is changed to a non-excluded window. This allows the ZAxis button
events to pass through normally and mouse grabs to succeed.
- @Priority=priority
- Using this is allowed in each window/class/resource section. Higher
priority values take precedence over lower ones. Equal priorities
on sections make the imwheelrc file parsed from top to bottom to find the
first match. Thus @Priority can be used to make the file search for
matches out of order, then you dont have to keep the entries in order if
you so please. The supplied imwheelrc file contains extensive comments and
examples of the @Priority function.
The default priority for any new section is 0. The last
@Priority command in a section overrides all previous priorities
for that section. Thus each section has only one priority setting
in the end. Priorities are kept as an int, thus range from INT_MAX to
INT_MIN. (See /usr/include/limits.h for these values on your system.)
CONFIGURATION HELPER¶
IMWheel contains a semi-hidden configuration helper which can be brought up by
rolling up and down a few times in the root window of the X server. Inside
this window you can find out possible window names to use in your imwheelrc
file. Press on the mini-screen capture to grab another window, including the
root window (whole screen).
Mouse wheel and button actions can be grabbed along with active modifier keys on
the keyboard. The mouse wheel/button action is displayed and the X KeySyms are
displayed beneath it. All this information can be directly entered into an
imwheelrc as desired.
IMWheel can be restarted to read in a changed imwheelrc file or the configurator
can be canceled causing imwheel to resume oprations without reading the
configuration file. To restart, imwheel execs itself as called by the user in
the first place but adding the
-R option to indicate to itself that
this is a restarted imwheel. The
-R is not for use by the user, as it
bypasses some configuration of imwheel.
KEYSYMS¶
The program expects combinations of keysyms to be used by using pipe(|)
characters to combine them together.
Example:
Alt_R|Shift_R
Means right alt
and right shift together, not just either one or the
other! And not one after the other, they are both pressed at the same time
essentially.
Common Modifier Keysym names used in X:
Shift_L Shift_R
Control_L Control_R
Alt_L Alt_R
These are probably not currently assigned any keys, unless you
xmodmap
them in:
Meta_L Meta_R (Actually, Sun keyboards have this...)
Super_L Super_R
Hyper_L Hyper_R
And here's some that you may use, and they are
somewhere on your
keyboard. Here's where they were on my keyboard, again, this is not universal.
Use the
xev program to test your own keys on your keyboard!
Caps_Lock = The Caps Lock key!
(This still turns on and off caps lock!)
Num_Lock = The Num Lock key!
(This is not good to use...
for the same reasons as Caps_Lock)
Multi_key = The Scroll Lock key!
(Go figure!)
Mode_switch = Right Alt...for me anyways.
(This mean I cannot use Alt_R)
The windows keys may not be assigned any KeySyms, but they will have numbers.
xmodmap can be used to assign them to a real KeySym.
To find keysym names for any keys available see the
/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h file, and for any define in that file
remove the "XK_" for the usable KeySym name in the configuration
file. The path to this file may differ for you.
Remember, there's always the configurator. And
xev will also help here
too!
Configure the XF86Config without "Emulate3Buttons" and increase
"Buttons" if it is 2 in the Ponter or InputDevice section. The wheel
will act as a real middle button and the outer two buttons will act as
separate buttons (1 and 3), even when pressed together.
Of course if your wheel keeps clicking middle button while you're trying to use
the wheel you may want to activate the Emulate3Buttons option to disable the
wheel button! And don't forget to reduce the Buttons argument to 2!
For those lefties out there, this command may help you get the buttons set up
correctly in XWindows for both left handed and imwheel use.
xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1 4 5"
or
xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1 4 5 6 7"
etc...
xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1 4 5 6 7 8 9"
NOTE: most of these are NOT going to work, because of all the limits in X.
Add more numbers to the end of this line if you have more buttons!
BUGS¶
Of course...but most of the time it's just that you haven't read everything I've
written here and in the files of the distribution itself. Even then, you may
be giving up too easily. Keep trying, it's not that hard. I am always working
to reduce strange behavior. This is still a beta, as indicated by the leading
0 in the version number.
Real Bugs
imwheel doesn't get along with itself on the same X display. This will always be
your fault :-/
Stick mice are still a pain in the butt to use. - This is the manufacturer's
fault. Or X Windows' fault, for not having a method to easily use such devices
in all applications.
Keyboard focus isn't changed automatically to input keys into Window mouse is
over. This only occurs with Click-to-Focus type focus managment in window
managers. I use sloppy focus in fvwm2, which always works for me. - Whose
fault
is this? (Switch focus modes and/or window managers, or try the
-f option on imwheel)
Configuration file is not validated for correctness nicely... although it does
get preparsed before the main program starts, thus stopping you before you run
with an invalid configuration file. I just have never made a bad configuration
file, so I guess I'll have to try and do that to see what happens. Just don't
make any mistakes and you'll be fine.
HOMEPAGE¶
http://imwheel.sourceforge.net
AUTHOR¶
Jonathan Atkins <jcatki@jcatki.no-ip.org>
FILES¶
$HOME/.imwheelrc
The user's configuration file.
/etc/X11/imwheel/imwheelrc
The global location for the configuration
file. Overidden by the user's configuration file.
SEE ALSO¶
xdpyinfo(1x)
X Display information, including extensions.
FvwmIdent(1x)
FVWM2's Identify module, for probing windows.
regex(7)
POSIX 1003.2 Regular Expressions.
xmodmap(1x)
Utility for modifying keymap & button mappings in X.
xev(1x)
Print contents of X events.
/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h
X11 KeySym definitions.
/usr/include/limits.h
INT_MIN and INT_MAX definitions.