2.1.2 Input Events

The X input mechanism is conceptually simple yet quite powerful. Most events are attached to a particular window (that is, contain an identifier for the window receiving the event). A client program can receive multiple window input streams, all multiplexed over the single byte-stream connection to the server.

Clients can tailor their input by expressing interest in only certain event types. The server uses special event types to send important messages to the client. For example, the client can elect to receive an :enter-notify (see enter-notify) event when the pointer cursor moves into a certain window. Another vital message from the server is an :exposure (see exposure) event. This is a signal to the client indicating that at least some portion of the window has suddenly become visible (perhaps the user moved another window which had been overlapping it). The client is then responsible for doing what is necessary to redisplay the window’s image. Client programs must be prepared to regenerate the contents of windows in this way on demand.

Input is also subject to policy decisions about which client window receives keyboard and pointer events. Since the pointer is free to roam between windows, just clicking on a window is often enough to send a pointer event to that window. Keyboard events, however, must go to a keyboard focus window which has to be designated in some other way. Usually, the arbiter of such input management policy is a program called the window manager. The window manager gives the human user a way to make a window the keyboard focus, to manage the layout of windows on the screen, to represent windows with icons, and so forth. In fact, the window manager client determines most of the so-called look and feel of the X Window System.