The InfiniteGlass python library

The InfiniteGlass python library wraps the python-xlib library.

Informational variables

InfiniteGlass.keysyms dictionary X keysyms and their values

InfiniteGlass.symkeys reverse dictionary of keysyms above.

InfiniteGlass.eventmask.event_mask_map dictionary from event name to list of event mask names that cover said event.

Main loop for event handling.

Event handlers can be registered on displays and on windows. See display.on(), window.on() and with display: below.

Extended poperty types

FLOAT

Content is encoded as an 32bit IEEE float.

JSON

JSON data is encode like STRING, but the content is guaranteed to be a valid JSON string.

Core object extensions

InfiniteGlass extends (monkey patches) many python-xlib objects with short cut syntaxes for common problems, e.g. window property manipulation.

Display

Xlib.display.Display objects are extended with the followin methods:

display.root the root windows of screen 0 of the display.

display.peek_event like display.next_event but does not remove the returned event from the event queue.

@display.on(event="PropertyNotify", mask=None)
def handler(display, event):
    pass

Register a andler for an event. Additional filter rules can be added as keyword arguments. If e.g. a keyword named button with value 1 is supplied, only event objects with a property named button with a value of 1 will trigger the event handler.

with display: at the exit of the block, process events and call event handlers until there are no registered event handlers any more.

display.keycode("KEYSYM_NAME") look up a keycode for a display by a keysym specified with its string name.

display.mask_to_keysym dictionary from mask name to list of keysyms that set the mask on events when pressed. Example: ShiftMask': ['XK_Shift_L', 'XK_Shift_R']

Windows

Xlib.xobject.drawable.Window objects are extended with the following syntaxes:

window.keys() list of all property names (as strings).

"MY_PROPERTY" in window check if perty is set on window.

window["MY_PROPERTY"] or window.get("MY_PROPERTY", default=None) retrieves a property value.

window.items() retrievs al properties, as a list of tuples of names and values.

window["MY_PROPERTY"] = value sets a property to a value.

Window values will be returned as Xlib.xobject.drawable.Window objects, ATOMs will be returned as string values. STRING values are returned as byte sequences.

del window["MY_PROPERTY"] unsets a property.

Type conversions when getting and setting values:

• array: depending on typecode
  • b, B: STRING
  • h, i, l: INTEGER
  • H, I, L: CARDINAL
  • f: FLOAT
• Xlib.xobject.drawable.Window: WINDOW
• int: INTEGER
• float: FLOAT
• bytes: STRING
• dict: JSON
• tuple (TYPE_NAME, value): TYPE_NAME
• string:
  • If a keycode name: KEYCODE
  • If an X constant name: XCONST
  • If it starts with @: Read STRING value from file path
  • If URL:
    • file:///path: Read STRING value from file path
    • resource://package/path: Read STRING value from python package resource
    • data://value: STRING, value is encoded to UTF-8
    • eq://jsonpath: Evaluate a JSON-path on {"window": window} and set value to return value.
  • Otherwise: ATOM

@window.on(event="ButtonPress", mask=None, **filter)
def handler(window, event):
   pass

or

@window.on(mask=None, **filter)
def ButtonPress(window, event):
   pass

Register an event handler for an event, with some event mask on the window. Additional filter rules can be added as keyword arguments. If e.g. a keyword named button with value 1 is supplied, only event objects with a property named button with a value of 1 will trigger the event handler.

@window.require("MY_PROPERTY")
def handler(self, value):
    pass

Call an event handler once when a property with a particular name is first set on a window.

window.send(destination_window, client_type, *values) send a ClientMessage to a window. client_type should be an atom name as a string, values will be converted the same way as for window properties.