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Xcursor(3)                                                          Xcursor(3)




NAME

       XCURSOR - Cursor management library



SYNOPSIS

       #include <X11/Xcursor/Xcursor.h>


DESCRIPTION

       Xcursor  is  a simple library designed to help locate and load cursors.
       Cursors can be loaded from files or memory.  A library of  common  cur-
       sors  exists  which  map  to  the standard X cursor names.  Cursors can
       exist in several sizes and the library  automatically  picks  the  best
       size.



FUNCTIONAL OVERVIEW

       Xcursor  is  built  in  a couple of layers; at the bottom layer is code
       which can load cursor images from files.  Above that is a  layer  which
       locates  cursor  files based on the library path and theme.  At the top
       is a layer which builds cursors either out of an image  loaded  from  a
       file  or  one of the standard X cursors.  When using images loaded from
       files, Xcursor prefers to use the Render extension CreateCursor request
       if  supported  by  the X server.  Where not supported, Xcursor maps the
       cursor image to a standard X cursor  and  uses  the  core  CreateCursor
       request.


   CURSOR FILES
       Xcursor  defines a new format for cursors on disk.  Each file holds one
       or more cursor images.  Each cursor image is tagged with a nominal size
       so  that the best size can be selected automatically.  Multiple cursors
       of the same nominal size  can  be  loaded  together;  applications  are
       expected to use them as an animated sequence.

       Cursor files are stored as a header containing a table of contents fol-
       lowed by a sequence of chunks.  The table  of  contents  indicates  the
       type,  subtype and position in the file of each chunk.  The file header
       looks like:

         magic: CARD32 'Xcur' (0x58, 0x63, 0x75, 0x72)
         header: CARD32 bytes in this header
         version: CARD32 file version number
         ntoc: CARD32 number of toc entries
         toc: LISTofTOC table of contents

       Each table of contents entry looks like:

         type: CARD32 entry type
         subtype: CARD32 type-specific label - size for images
         position: CARD32 absolute byte position of table in file


       Each chunk in the file has set of  common  header  fields  followed  by
       additional type-specific fields:

         header: CARD32 bytes in chunk header (including type-specific fields)
         type: CARD32 must match type in TOC for this chunk
         subtype: CARD32 must match subtype in TOC for this chunk
         version: CARD32 version number for this chunk type

       There are currently two chunk types defined for cursor files;  comments
       and images.  Comments look like:

         header: 20 Comment headers are 20 bytes
         type: 0xfffe0001 Comment type is 0xfffe0001
         subtype: { 1 (COPYRIGHT), 2 (LICENSE), 3 (OTHER) }
         version: 1
         length: CARD32 byte length of UTF-8 string
         string: LISTofCARD8 UTF-8 string

       Images look like:

         header: 36 Image headers are 36 bytes
         type: 0xfffd0002 Image type is 0xfffd0002
         subtype: CARD32 Image subtype is the nominal size
         version: 1
         width: CARD32 Must be less than or equal to 0x7fff
         height: CARD32 Must be less than or equal to 0x7fff
         xhot: CARD32 Must be less than or equal to width
         yhot: CARD32 Must be less than or equal to height
         delay: CARD32 Delay between animation frames in milliseconds
         pixels: LISTofCARD32 Packed ARGB format pixels


   THEMES
       Xcursor  (mostly)  follows  the freedesktop.org spec for theming icons.
       The default search path  it  uses  is  ~/.icons,  /usr/X11/share/icons,
       /usr/X11/share/pixmaps.   Within each of these directories, it searches
       for a directory using the theme name.  Within the theme  directory,  it
       looks  for  cursor  files  in  the 'cursors' subdirectory.  It uses the
       first cursor file found along  the path.

       If necessary, Xcursor also looks for a "index.theme" file in each theme
       directory  to  find  inherited  themes  and searches along the path for
       those themes as well.

       If no theme is set, or if no cursor is found for the  specified  theme,
       Xcursor checks the "default" theme.



DATATYPES

       XcursorImage
              holds a single cursor image in memory.  Each pixel in the cursor
              is a 32-bit value containing ARGB with A in the high byte.

                  typedef struct _XcursorImage {
                      XcursorDim  size;         /* nominal size for matching */
                      XcursorDim  width;        /* actual width */
                      XcursorDim  height;       /* actual height */
                      XcursorDim  xhot;         /* hot spot x (must be inside image) */
                      XcursorDim  yhot;       /* hot spot y (must be inside image) */
                      XcursorPixel    *pixels;    /* pointer to pixels */
                  } XcursorImage;


       XcursorImages
              holds multiple XcursorImage structures.  They're all freed  when
              the XcursorImages is freed.

                  typedef struct _XcursorImages {
                      int             nimage;        /* number of images */
                      XcursorImage    **images;   /* array of XcursorImage pointers */
                  } XcursorImages;


       XcursorCursors
              Holds multiple Cursor objects.  They're all freed when the Xcur-
              sorCursors is freed.  These are reference counted so that multi-
              ple XcursorAnimate structures can use the same XcursorCursors.

                  typedef struct _XcursorCursors {
                      Display     *dpy;     /* Display holding cursors */
                      int        ref;  /* reference count */
                      int        ncursor;   /* number of cursors */
                      Cursor     *cursors;  /* array of cursors */
                  } XcursorCursors;


       XcursorAnimate
              References  a  set  of  cursors  and a sequence within that set.
              Multiple XcursorAnimate structures may reference the same  Xcur-
              sorCursors;  each  holds  a  reference which is removed when the
              XcursorAnimate is freed.

                  typedef struct _XcursorAnimate {
                      XcursorCursors   *cursors;  /* list of cursors to use */
                      int          sequence;  /* which cursor is next */
                  } XcursorAnimate;


       XcursorFile
              Xcursor provides an abstract API for accessing  the  file  data.
              Xcursor  provides  a  stdio implementation of this abstract API;
              applications are  free  to  create  additional  implementations.
              These functions parallel the stdio functions in return value and
              expected argument values; the read and write functions flip  the
              arguments around to match the POSIX versions.

                  typedef struct _XcursorFile {
                      void   *closure;
                      int    (*read)  (XcursorFile *file, unsigned char *buf, int len);
                      int    (*write) (XcursorFile *file, unsigned char *buf, int len);
                      int    (*seek)  (XcursorFile *file, long offset, int whence);
                  };



FUNCTIONS

   Object Management
       XcursorImage *XcursorImageCreate (int width, int height)
       void XcursorImageDestroy (XcursorImage *image)
              Allocate  and  free  images.  On allocation, the hotspot and the
              pixels are left uninitialized.  The size is set to  the  maximum
              of width and height.


       XcursorImages *XcursorImagesCreate (int size)
       void XcursorImagesDestroy (XcursorImages *images)
              Allocate  and  free  arrays  to hold multiple cursor images.  On
              allocation, nimage is set to zero.


       XcursorCursors *XcursorCursorsCreate (Display *dpy, int size)
       void XcursorCursorsDestroy (XcursorCursors *cursors)
              Allocate and free arrays to hold multiple cursors.   On  alloca-
              tion, ncursor is set to zero, ref is set to one.


   Reading and writing images.
       XcursorImage *XcursorXcFileLoadImage (XcursorFile *file, int size)
       XcursorImages *XcursorXcFileLoadImages (XcursorFile *file, int size)
       XcursorImages *XcursorXcFileLoadAllImages (XcursorFile *file)
       XcursorBool   XcursorXcFileLoad   (XcursorFile  *file,  XcursorComments
       **commentsp, XcursorImages **imagesp)
       XcursorBool XcursorXcFileSave (XcursorFile *file, const XcursorComments
       *comments, const XcursorImages *images)
              These  read and write cursors from an XcursorFile handle.  After
              reading, the file pointer will be left at some random  place  in
              the file.

       XcursorImage *XcursorFileLoadImage (FILE *file, int size)
       XcursorImages *XcursorFileLoadImages (FILE *file, int size)
       XcursorImages *XcursorFileLoadAllImages (FILE *file)
       XcursorBool  XcursorFileLoad  (FILE *file, XcursorComments **commentsp,
       XcursorImages **imagesp)
       XcursorBool  XcursorFileSaveImages  (FILE  *file,  const  XcursorImages
       *images)
       XcursorBool  XcursorFileSave  (FILE * file, const XcursorComments *com-
       ments, const XcursorImages *images)
              These  read and write cursors from a stdio FILE handle.  Writing
              flushes before returning so that any errors should be  detected.


       XcursorImage *XcursorFilenameLoadImage (const char *filename, int size)
       XcursorImages  *XcursorFilenameLoadImages  (const  char  *filename, int
       size)
       XcursorImages *XcursorFilenameLoadAllImages (FILE *file)
       XcursorBool  XcursorFilenameLoad  (const  char  *file,  XcursorComments
       **commentsp, XcursorImages **imagesp)
       XcursorBool  XcursorFilenameSaveImages  (const  char  *filename,  const
       XcursorImages *images)
       XcursorBool  XcursorFilenameSave  (const  char *file, const XcursorCom-
       ments *comments, const XcursorImages *images)
              These  parallel  the stdio FILE interfaces above, but take file-
              names.


   Reading library images
       XcursorImage *XcursorLibraryLoadImage (const  char  *name,  const  char
       *theme, int size)
       XcursorImages *XcursorLibraryLoadImages (const char *name,  const  char
       *theme, int size)
              These search the library path, loading the first file found.  If
              'theme'  is not NULL, these functions first try appending -theme
              to name and then name alone.


   Cursor APIs
       Cursor XcursorFilenameLoadCursor (Display *dpy, const char *file)
       XcursorCursors *XcursorFilenameLoadCursors (Display  *dpy,  const  char
       *file)
              These load cursors from the specified file.


       Cursor XcursorLibraryLoadCursor (Display *dpy, const char *name)
       XcursorCursors *XcursorLibraryLoadCursors  (Display  *dpy,  const  char
       *name)
              These load cursors using the specified library name.  The  theme
              comes from the display.


   X Cursor Name APIs
       XcursorImage  *XcursorShapeLoadImage  (unsigned  int  shape, const char
       *theme, int size)
       XcursorImages  *XcursorShapeLoadImages  (unsigned int shape, const char
       *theme, int size)
              These  map 'shape' to a library name using the standard X cursor
              names and then load the images.


       Cursor XcursorShapeLoadCursor (Display *dpy, unsigned int shape)
       XcursorCursors *XcursorShapeLoadCursors  (Display  *dpy,  unsigned  int
       shape)
              These map 'shape' to a library name and then load the cursors.


   Display Information APIs
       XcursorBool XcursorSupportsARGB (Display *dpy)
              Returns whether the display supports  ARGB  cursors  or  whether
              cursors will be mapped to a core X cursor.


       XcursorBool XcursorSetDefaultSize (Display *dpy, int size)
              Sets the default size for cursors on the specified display. When
              loading cursors, those whose nominal size  is  closest  to  this
              size will be preferred.


       int XcursorGetDefaultSize (Display *dpy)
              Gets the default cursor size.


       XcursorBool XcursorSetTheme (Display *dpy, const char *theme)
              Sets the current theme name.


       char *XcursorGetTheme (Display *dpy)
              Gets the current theme name.



ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       XCURSOR_PATH   This variable sets the list of paths to look for cursors
                      in.  Directories in this path are  separated  by  colons
                      (:).



RESTRICTIONS

       Xcursor  will  probably  change  radically in the future; weak attempts
       will be made to retain some level of source-file compatibility.



AUTHOR

       Keith Packard



Keith Packard                  libXcursor 1.1.9                     Xcursor(3)

Mac OS X 10.6 X11 - Generated Sun Mar 7 12:31:10 CST 2010
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