X input extension bell class of the bell to be rung
.TP
.I\-bell_id
X input extension bell ID of the bell to be rung
.TP
.I\-percent
bell volume, from -100 to 100 inclusive
.TP
.I\-name
a name for the bell, or NULL
.SHDESCRIPTION
.LP
The core X protocol allows only applications to explicitly sound the system bell with a
given duration, pitch, and volume. Xkb extends this capability by allowing clients to
attach symbolic names to bells, disable audible bells, and receive an event whenever the
keyboard bell is rung. For the purposes of this document, the
.Iaudible
bell is defined to be the system bell, or the default keyboard bell, as opposed to any
other audible sound generated elsewhere in the system.
You can ask to receive XkbBellNotify events when any client rings any one of the
following:
.IP\(bu5
The default bell
.IP\(bu5
Any bell on an input device that can be specified by a bell_class and bell_id pair
.IP\(bu5
Any bell specified only by an arbitrary name. (This is, from the server's point of view,
merely a name, and not connected with any physical sound-generating device. Some client
application must generate the sound, or visual feedback, if any, that is associated with
the name.)
You can also ask to receive XkbBellNotify events when the server rings the default bell
or if any client has requested events only (without the bell sounding) for any of the
bell types previously listed.
You can disable audible bells on a global basis. For example, a client that replaces the
keyboard bell with some other audible cue might want to turn off the AudibleBell control
to prevent the server from also generating a sound and avoid cacophony. If you disable
audible bells and request to receive XkbBellNotify events, you can generate feedback
different from the default bell.
You can, however, override the AudibleBell control by calling one of the functions that
force the ringing of a bell in spite of the setting of the AudibleBell control -
.IXkbForceDeviceBell
or
.IXkbForceBell.
In this case the server does not generate a bell event.
Just as some keyboards can produce keyclicks to indicate when a key is pressed or
repeating, Xkb can provide feedback for the controls by using special beep codes. The
AccessXFeedback control is used to configure the specific types of operations that
generate feedback.
Bell Names
You can associate a name to an act of ringing a bell by converting the name to an Atom
and then using this name when you call the functions listed in this chapter. If an event
is generated as a result, the name is then passed to all other clients interested in
receiving XkbBellNotify events. Note that these are arbitrary names and that there is no
binding to any sounds. Any sounds or other effects (such as visual bells on the screen)
must be generated by a client application upon receipt of the bell event containing the
name. There is no default name for the default keyboard bell. The server does generate
some predefined bells for the AccessX controls. These named bells are shown in the Table 1
; the name is included in any bell event sent to clients that have requested to
receive XkbBellNotify events.
.TS
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lW(4i) l.
Table 1 Predefined Bells
_
Action Named Bell
_
Indicator turned on AX_IndicatorOn
Indicator turned off AX_IndicatorOff
More than one indicator changed state AX_IndicatorChange
Control turned on AX_FeatureOn
Control turned off AX_FeatureOff
More than one control changed state AX_FeatureChange
T{
SlowKeys and BounceKeys about to be turned on or off
T} AX_SlowKeysWarning
SlowKeys key pressed AX_SlowKeyPress
SlowKeys key accepted AX_SlowKeyAccept
SlowKeys key rejected AX_SlowKeyReject
Accepted SlowKeys key released AX_SlowKeyRelease
BounceKeys key rejected AX_BounceKeyReject
StickyKeys key latched AX_StickyLatch
StickyKeys key locked AX_StickyLock
StickyKeys key unlocked AX_StickyUnlock
.TE
Audible Bells
Using Xkb you can generate bell events that do not necessarily ring the system bell. This
is useful if you need to use an audio server instead of the system beep. For example,
when an audio client starts, it could disable the audible bell (the system bell) and then
listen for XkbBellNotify events. When it receives a XkbBellNotify event, the audio client
could then send a request to an audio server to play a sound.
You can control the audible bells feature by passing the XkbAudibleBellMask to
.IXkbChangeEnabledControls.
If you set XkbAudibleBellMask on, the server rings the system bell when a bell event
occurs. This is the default. If you set XkbAudibleBellMask off and a bell event occurs,
the server does not ring the system bell unless you call
.IXkbForceDeviceBell
or
.IXkbForceBell.
Audible bells are also part of the per-client auto-reset controls.
Bell Functions
Use the functions described in this section to ring bells and to generate bell events.
The input extension has two types of feedbacks that can generate bells - bell feedback
and keyboard feedback. Some of the functions in this section have
.Ibell_class
and
.Ibell_id
parameters; set them as follows: Set
.Ibell_class
to BellFeedbackClass or KbdFeedbackClass. A device can have more than one feedback of
each type; set
.Ibell_id
to the particular bell feedback of
.Ibell_class
type.
The Table 2 shows the conditions that cause a bell to sound or an XkbBellNotifyEvent
to be generated when a bell function is called.
.TS
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Table 2 Bell Sounding and Bell Event Generating
_
Function called AudibleBell Server sounds a bell Server sends an
XkbBellNotifyEvent
_
XkbDeviceBell On Yes Yes
XkbDeviceBell Off No Yes
XkbBell On Yes Yes
XkbBell Off No Yes
XkbDeviceBellEvent On or Off No Yes
XkbBellEvent On or Off No Yes
XkbDeviceForceBell On or Off Yes No
XkbForceBell On or Off Yes No
.TE
Set
.Ipercent
to be the volume relative to the base volume for the keyboard as described for .I XBell.
Note that
.Ibell_class
and
.Ibell_id
indicate the bell to physically ring.
.Iname
is simply an arbitrary moniker for the client application's use.
To determine the current feedback settings of an extension input device, use
.IXGetFeedbackControl.
See the X input extension documentation for more information on
.IXGetFeedbackControl
and related data structures.
If a compatible keyboard extension is not present in the X server,
.IXkbDeviceBell
immediately returns False. Otherwise,
.IXkbDeviceBell
rings the bell as specified for the display and keyboard device and returns True. If you have disabled the audible bell, the server does not ring the system bell, although it does generate a
.IXkbBellNotify
event.
You can call
.IXkbDeviceBell
without first initializing the keyboard extension.
.SHSTRUCTURES
Xkb generates XkbBellNotify events for all bells except for those resulting from calls to
.IXkbForceDeviceBell
and
.IXkbForceBell.
To receive XkbBellNotify events under all possible conditions, pass XkbBellNotifyMask in
both the
.Ibits_to_change
and
.Ivalues_for_bits
parameters to
.IXkbSelectEvents.
The XkbBellNotify event has no event details. It is either selected or it is not.
However, you can call
.IXkbSelectEventDetails
using XkbBellNotify as the
.Ievent_type
and specifying XkbAllBellNotifyMask in
.Ibits_to_change
and
.Ivalues_for_bits.
This has the same effect as a call to
.IXkbSelectEvents.
The structure for the XkbBellNotify event type contains:
.nf
typedef struct _XkbBellNotify {
int type; /\(** Xkb extension base event code */
unsigned long serial; /\(** X server serial number for event */