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 - XkbForceDeviceBell or
XkbForceBell. 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.
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 |
SlowKeys and BounceKeys about to be turned on or off |
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 |
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 XkbChangeEnabledControls. 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 XkbForceDeviceBell or XkbForceBell.
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 bell_class and bell_id
parameters; set them as follows: Set bell_class to
BellFeedbackClass or KbdFeedbackClass. A device can have more than one
feedback of each type; set bell_id to the particular bell
feedback of bell_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.
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 |
Set percent to be the volume relative to the base
volume for the keyboard as described for .I XBell.
Note that bell_class and bell_id indicate the
bell to physically ring. name is simply an arbitrary moniker for
the client application's use.
To determine the current feedback settings of an extension
input device, use XGetFeedbackControl. See the X input extension
documentation for more information on XGetFeedbackControl and
related data structures.
If a compatible keyboard extension is not present in the X
server, XkbDeviceBell immediately returns False. Otherwise,
XkbDeviceBell 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
XkbBellNotify event.
You can call XkbDeviceBell without first initializing
the keyboard extension.