X Window selection
Encyclopedia
Selections, cut buffers, and drag-and-drop are the mechanisms used in the X Window System
to allow a user
to transfer data from a window
to another. Selections
and cut buffer are typically used when a user selects text or some other data in a window and pastes in another one. Drag-and-drop is used when a user selects something in a window, then clicks on the selection and drags it into another window.
Since the two windows may be handled by two different applications, these mechanisms require two different clients connected with the same X server to exchange data. The X Window core protocol
includes some requests and events that are specific to selection exchange, but the transfer is mainly done using event sending and window properties, which are not specific to selection transfer.
Different types of data can be transferred: it is usually text, but can also be an image, a number, a list of objects, etc. In the following, only the case of text is considered.
Passive: when some data is selected, the client handling the window where this selection is done transfers it somewhere, and needs not to care about it any longer;
Active: transfer of data to a client requires the client "holding" the selection to actively participate in the exchange;
Selections and drag-and-drop are active mechanisms: after some text is selected in a window, the client handling the window must actively support a protocol for transferring the data to the application requesting it. By contrast, cut buffers are a passive mechanism: after some text is selected, its is transferred to a cut buffer and remains there even if the application handling the window terminates and the window is destroyed. The X clipboard is a passive mechanism as perceived by the client holding the selection, but require the
An advantage of active mechanisms is that the data can be converted to a different format before the transfer. In particular, the client receiving the data can request the selection data to be converted into a suitable form. If the sending client refuses to do so, the receiver can request a different format. For example, a piece of text rendering HTML
code can be transferred as text to a requester that can only handle text, but can also be transferred as HTML code if the requester can handle it. Such negotiation of format cannot be done by passive mechanisms, in which the client holding the selection (and giving it a semantics) transfers the selection is not involved in the further transfer into a client requesting it.
Another advantage of the active mechanisms is that large pieces of data can be transferred in a sequence of transfers rather than a single one. Passive mechanisms instead require all data to be transferred somewhere from the selection owner, then transferred again to the client requesting it.
The advantage of the passive mechanisms is that the transfer can be done even after the client holding the data terminates. This is not possible in the active mechanisms, which require the client holding the data to actively participate in the transfer.
The following requests are specific to selection transfer, although transfer also involves other requests:
The owner of the selection is typically the window in which the selected text is located, if any. When the user selects some text in a window, the client handling the window must tell the server that the window is the owner of the selection.
When the user tries to paste the selection into another window, that window's handler initiates a protocol for getting the selected text from the other client. This protocol involves the second and third requests of the list above, and is not specified by the X protocol but as a convention in the Inter-Client Communication Convention Manual (ICCCM).
In particular, the destination client begins by asking the server which window owns the selection. Then the two clients transfer the selection via the server. This exchange involves a property of a window, an arbitrary piece of data attached to the window. If the content of the selection is considered small enough to be transferred all at once, the steps that take place are:
If the content is large, it should be transferred in chunks. In this case, both clients express interest in
At the level of the core protocol, the
, named
The
Cut buffers are considered obsolete.
in the X Window System is regulated by the Xdnd convention. When the user drags the selected text into a window and releases the mouse button, the exchange of data is done as for the primary selection. Drag-and-drop is complicated by what happens during the drag. Namely, when the user drags the selection to different parts of the desktop or a window, the user expects to be able to tell whether text can be dropped or not. In particular, the target should display visual feedback on whether or not it will accept the drop, and the cursor should change to indicate the action that will be taken; e.g., copy or move.
In the Xdnd protocol, the window where the text is selected and the drag begins is called the source; the window over which the cursor hovers is called the target. The communication between the source and the target is driven by the source because the source "grabs" the cursor. An exchange between source and target is therefore necessary in order for the target to even know that drag-and-drop is happening. Since the source decides the shape of the cursor, the source must receive a response from the target in order to update the cursor. In addition, since the target may need to draw a bombsight to indicate where the drop will occur, and since acceptance of the drop may depend on the exact location of the cursor, this exchange must happen repeatedly as the cursor moves. In fact, even if the cursor does not move, messages must be exchanged to allow the target to scroll when the cursor is near an edge of the viewing area. Otherwise, the user will only be able to drop on the visible portion of the target.
A program can state that a window can be the target of a drop by creating a property named
When the cursor enters the target window, the source checks the presence of the
While the cursor is inside the target window:
If the user drops, the target requests the selection from the source as usual. When the transfer of the selection is concluded, the target sends an
In summary, the protocol is driven by the source, which keeps the target informed of what is happening with the cursor. In reply, the target tells the source whether a drop would be accepted or not. The target must also be informed when the user releases the mouse button, as this event starts a regular request for a selection, which is a protocol driven by the target.
The above is the description of the Xdnd convention for drag-and-drop. Different conventions for drag-and-drop are used in Motif, OffiX, and Amulet.
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
to allow a user
User (computing)
A user is an agent, either a human agent or software agent, who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified by a username , screen name , nickname , or handle, which is derived from the identical Citizen's Band radio term.Users are...
to transfer data from a window
Window (computing)
In computing, a window is a visual area containing some kind of user interface. It usually has a rectangular shape that can overlap with the area of other windows...
to another. Selections
Selection (user interface)
In computing and user interface engineering, a selection is a list of items on which user operations will take place. The user typically adds items to the list manually, although the computer may create a selection automatically. A precision pointing device or by hand on a touchscreen device is...
and cut buffer are typically used when a user selects text or some other data in a window and pastes in another one. Drag-and-drop is used when a user selects something in a window, then clicks on the selection and drags it into another window.
Since the two windows may be handled by two different applications, these mechanisms require two different clients connected with the same X server to exchange data. The X Window core protocol
X Window core protocol
The X Window System core protocol is the base protocol of the X Window System, which is a networked windowing system for bitmap displays used to build graphical user interfaces on Unix, Unix-like, and other operating systems...
includes some requests and events that are specific to selection exchange, but the transfer is mainly done using event sending and window properties, which are not specific to selection transfer.
Different types of data can be transferred: it is usually text, but can also be an image, a number, a list of objects, etc. In the following, only the case of text is considered.
Active and passive selections
The methods for transferring data can be classified into active and passive, depending on whether the client handling the selected data has to actively participate in the transfer to a client requesting it:Passive: when some data is selected, the client handling the window where this selection is done transfers it somewhere, and needs not to care about it any longer;
Active: transfer of data to a client requires the client "holding" the selection to actively participate in the exchange;
Selections and drag-and-drop are active mechanisms: after some text is selected in a window, the client handling the window must actively support a protocol for transferring the data to the application requesting it. By contrast, cut buffers are a passive mechanism: after some text is selected, its is transferred to a cut buffer and remains there even if the application handling the window terminates and the window is destroyed. The X clipboard is a passive mechanism as perceived by the client holding the selection, but require the
xclipboard client to actively support any subsequent data transfer.An advantage of active mechanisms is that the data can be converted to a different format before the transfer. In particular, the client receiving the data can request the selection data to be converted into a suitable form. If the sending client refuses to do so, the receiver can request a different format. For example, a piece of text rendering HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
code can be transferred as text to a requester that can only handle text, but can also be transferred as HTML code if the requester can handle it. Such negotiation of format cannot be done by passive mechanisms, in which the client holding the selection (and giving it a semantics) transfers the selection is not involved in the further transfer into a client requesting it.
Another advantage of the active mechanisms is that large pieces of data can be transferred in a sequence of transfers rather than a single one. Passive mechanisms instead require all data to be transferred somewhere from the selection owner, then transferred again to the client requesting it.
The advantage of the passive mechanisms is that the transfer can be done even after the client holding the data terminates. This is not possible in the active mechanisms, which require the client holding the data to actively participate in the transfer.
Selections
The X Window System supports an arbitrary number of selections; every selection is identified by a string (more precisely, anatom). The most used selection is the PRIMARY selection.The following requests are specific to selection transfer, although transfer also involves other requests:
- request to know which window owns the selection
- request to set the window that owns the selection
- request to convert the selection
The owner of the selection is typically the window in which the selected text is located, if any. When the user selects some text in a window, the client handling the window must tell the server that the window is the owner of the selection.
When the user tries to paste the selection into another window, that window's handler initiates a protocol for getting the selected text from the other client. This protocol involves the second and third requests of the list above, and is not specified by the X protocol but as a convention in the Inter-Client Communication Convention Manual (ICCCM).
In particular, the destination client begins by asking the server which window owns the selection. Then the two clients transfer the selection via the server. This exchange involves a property of a window, an arbitrary piece of data attached to the window. If the content of the selection is considered small enough to be transferred all at once, the steps that take place are:
- the recipient of the selection requests the selection to be converted, specifying a property of a window (this may be the window where the text has to be pasted)
- in response, the server sends to the current owner of the selection a
SelectionRequestevent; - the owner places the selected text in the property of the window that the requestor has specified by sending a
ChangeProperty; request to the server - the owner sends a request to the server to send the requester a
SelectionNotifyto notify that the selection has been transferred - the requester can now read the selection in the property of the window by sending one or more
GetPropertyrequests to the server; - the requester destroys the property; if the owner has requested to be informed of this, it is sent a
PropertyNotifyevent.
If the content is large, it should be transferred in chunks. In this case, both clients express interest in
PropertyNotify events: this way, the selection owner knows when the selection has been read, and the requester knows when another chunk has been placed in the property.Clipboard
The most used selection is thePRIMARY selection, and is used when the user selects some data. The CLIPBOARD selection is used when the user selects some data and explicitly requests it to be "copied" to the clipboard, such as by invoking "Copy" under the "Edit" menu of an application. An associated request of "Paste" results in the data of the CLIPBOARD selection being used.At the level of the core protocol, the
PRIMARY and CLIPBOARD selections do not differ. But the xclipboard client makes them behave differently. In particular, when another client asserts the ownership of the CLIPBOARD selection, this program requests and displays it in a window. Any further request for this selection are handled by xclipboard. This way, the content of the selection survives the client having copied it.Cut buffers
Cut buffers are another mechanism to transfer data, in particular selected text. They are window properties of the root windowRoot window
In the X Window System, every window is contained within another window, called its parent. This makes the windows form a hierarchy. The root window is the root of this hierarchy...
, named
CUT_BUFFER1, etc. Unlike selections, cut buffers do not involve a direct interaction between clients. Rather, when text is selected in a window, the window owner copies this text into the property of the root window called CUT_BUFFER1. When the user pastes the text in another window, the window owner reads this property of the root window.The
xcutsel program transfers data between selections and cut buffers, and the xcb program allows various kinds of access to the cut buffers.Cut buffers are considered obsolete.
XDND
Drag-and-dropDrag-and-drop
In computer graphical user interfaces, drag-and-drop is the action of selecting a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object...
in the X Window System is regulated by the Xdnd convention. When the user drags the selected text into a window and releases the mouse button, the exchange of data is done as for the primary selection. Drag-and-drop is complicated by what happens during the drag. Namely, when the user drags the selection to different parts of the desktop or a window, the user expects to be able to tell whether text can be dropped or not. In particular, the target should display visual feedback on whether or not it will accept the drop, and the cursor should change to indicate the action that will be taken; e.g., copy or move.
In the Xdnd protocol, the window where the text is selected and the drag begins is called the source; the window over which the cursor hovers is called the target. The communication between the source and the target is driven by the source because the source "grabs" the cursor. An exchange between source and target is therefore necessary in order for the target to even know that drag-and-drop is happening. Since the source decides the shape of the cursor, the source must receive a response from the target in order to update the cursor. In addition, since the target may need to draw a bombsight to indicate where the drop will occur, and since acceptance of the drop may depend on the exact location of the cursor, this exchange must happen repeatedly as the cursor moves. In fact, even if the cursor does not move, messages must be exchanged to allow the target to scroll when the cursor is near an edge of the viewing area. Otherwise, the user will only be able to drop on the visible portion of the target.
A program can state that a window can be the target of a drop by creating a property named
XdndAware which contains the highest version of the protocol that the program supports. This way, applications which support newer versions can fall back to older versions in order to interoperate correctly. In addition, all applications that are written without support for Xdnd will be ignored.When the cursor enters the target window, the source checks the presence of the
XdndAware property on that window. If this property is present, an exchange begins:- the source tells the target that the cursor has entered the target while dragging some data by sending an event
XdndEnter - the target can find out which kind of data is dragged (text, image, etc.) by looking at this event and possibly by further interaction with the source
While the cursor is inside the target window:
- the source sends
XdndPositionevents to tell the target where the cursor currently is - the target replies with
XdndStatusevents to tell the source whether the data can be dropped in the current position - the source sends a message
XdndLeaveorXdndDropwhen the cursor has left the window or the button has been released, respectively
If the user drops, the target requests the selection from the source as usual. When the transfer of the selection is concluded, the target sends an
XdndFinish event to tell the source that the transfer has been successful.In summary, the protocol is driven by the source, which keeps the target informed of what is happening with the cursor. In reply, the target tells the source whether a drop would be accepted or not. The target must also be informed when the user releases the mouse button, as this event starts a regular request for a selection, which is a protocol driven by the target.
The above is the description of the Xdnd convention for drag-and-drop. Different conventions for drag-and-drop are used in Motif, OffiX, and Amulet.
Programs
The following programs specifically operate on data transfer mechanisms:- xcutsel transfers data from selections to cut buffers or vice versa
- xclipboard, glipperGlipperGlipper is a clipboard utility for the GNOME panel. It allows users of Unix-like operating systems to access a history of X Selections, any item of which can be reselected for pasting. Glipper is often described as the GNOME counterpart to KDE's Klipper...
(GnomeGnomeA gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
), and klipperKlipperKlipper is a clipboard manager for the KDE interface. It allows users of Unix-like operating systems running the KDE desktop environment to access a history of X Selections, any item of which can be reselected for pasting. It can also be used to react automatically if a certain text is selected...
(KDEKDEKDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
) are clipboard managerClipboard managerA clipboard manager is a computer program that adds functionality to basic clipboard usage.All existing window managers provide only one buffer, overwritten by each new clipping....
s, maybe wmcliphist as well - xselection transfers data to/from a selection
- xcb shows the content of the cut buffers and allows the user to manipulate them
- xclip, xsel and uclip are command line programs which are used to copy data to/or from a selection from scripts
- synergy is a cross platform tool that allows you to share a clipboard across multiple computers running multiple operating systems
- xfce4-clipman-plugin is a "clipboard history plugin for the Xfce4 panel" and also a clipboard manager
- xtranslate looks up words in the Xselection in a multi-lingual dictionary
- autocutsel syncs cut buffer and selection buffer
See also
- X Window System protocols and architectureX Window System protocols and architectureIn computing, the X Window System is a network-transparent windowing system for bitmap displays. This article details the protocols and technical structure of X11.-Client–server model and network transparency:...
- X Window System core protocol
- ICCCM