As described in Chapter 2, the Motif Window Manager recognizes the following button actions:
You can associate a mouse button action with a window management
function by using a button binding. A button binding is a command line
you put in your .mwmrc file that associates a button
action with a window manager function.
User-defined button bindings are added to built-in button bindings
and are always defined first.
Default Button Bindings
The Motif Window Manager provides default button bindings.
These button bindings define the functions of the window
frame components.
The user-specified button bindings that are
defined with the buttonBindings resource
are added to the built-in button bindings. The default value for this
resource is DefaultButtonBindings.
| Button Action | Context | Function |
|---|---|---|
| <Btn1Click2> | menu | f.kill |
| <Btn1Click> | minimize | f.minimize |
| <Btn1Click> | maximize | f.maximize |
| <Btn1Down> | title | f.move |
| <Btn1Down> | window|icon | f.focus_key |
| <Btn1Down> | border | f.resize |
| <Btn1Click> | icon | f.post_wmenu |
| <Btn1Click2> | icon | f.restore |
The syntax for button bindings is as follows:
Buttons ButtonBindingSetName
{
button context [| context] function [argument]
button context [| context] function [argument]
.
.
.
button context [| context] function [argument]
}
Each line identifies a certain mouse button action, followed by the
context in which the button action is valid, followed by the function
to be done. Some functions require an argument.
Modifying Button Bindings
To modify the default button bindings, you need to edit either
system.mwmrc to make system-wide changes or
.mwmrc to make changes to the local environment. The
easiest way to modify button bindings is to change the default
bindings or to insert extra lines in the
DefaultButtonBindings.
When modifying or creating a button binding, you need to first decide which mouse button to use and which action is performed on the button. Make sure you do not use button-action combinations already used by OSF/Motif. You might want to require a simultaneous key press with the mouse button action. This is called modifying the button action. Modifiers increase the number of possible button bindings you can make. The following table lists button binding modifier keys.
On some systems, you can bind up to five buttons if you have a 3-button mouse. For example, Button 4 is the simultaneous press of Buttons 1 and 2. Button 5 is the simultaneous press of Buttons 2 and 3. Each button can be bound with one of four actions.
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
| Btn1Down | Button 1 press |
| Btn1Up | Button 1 release |
| Btn1Click | Button 1 press and release |
| Btn1Click2 | Button 1 double-click |
| Btn2Down | Button 2 press |
| Btn2Up | Button 2 release |
| Btn2Click | Button 2 press and release |
| Btn2Click2 | Button 2 double-click |
| Btn3Down | Button 3 press |
| Btn3Up | Button 3 release |
| Btn3Click | Button 3 press and release |
| Btn3Click2 | Button 3 double-click |
After choosing the optional modifier and the mouse button action, you must decide under which context(s) the binding works.
| This context | For mouse action at this pointer position |
|---|---|
| root | Workspace (root window) |
| window | Client window |
| frame | Window frame (title and border) |
| icon | Icon |
| title | Title bar |
| border | Frame minus title bar |
| app | Application window (inside the frame) |
The context indicates where the pointer must be for the button
binding to be effective. For example, a context of window
indicates that the pointer must be over a client window or window
frame for the button binding to be effective. The frame
context is for the window frame around a client window (including the
border and title bar), the border context is for the
border part of the window frame (not including the title bar), the
title context is for the title bar of the window frame,
and the app context is for the application window or
client area (not including the window frame).
The following is an example of a button binding. Imagine you have
created your own Graphics Projects menu and you want
to display the menu with a button action. You choose as a modifier and
Btn3Down as the button action. You decide the pointer
must be on the workspace. The function name for posting a special menu
is f.menu and the argument is the menu name
Graphics Projects.
The following line in the DefaultButtonBindings in
your .mwmrc file creates the button binding:
Alt<Btn3Down> root f.menu "Graphics Projects"
If inserting a new button binding into the
DefaultButtonBindings set is not enough, you may need to
make a complete new set of button bindings. To create a new button
binding set, use the DefaultButtonBindings in your
.mwmrc file as a model. After you have created a new
button binding set, use the buttonBindings resource to
tell the window manager about it.
The buttonBindings resource specifies a button binding
set. The default value of the resource is
DefaultButtonBindings. Use the following syntax for
specifying the resource in your .Xdefaults file:
Mwm*buttonBindings: NewButtonBindingSetName
This line directs the window manager to use
NewButtonBindingSetName as the source of its button binding
information. The button bindings are assumed to exist in the file
named by the configFile resource; the default is
.mwmrc.
For example, suppose that you want to specify a
completely new button binding set instead of inserting a line in
the
existing DefaultButtonBindings set. The following entry in
your .mwmrc file creates a new button binding set:
Buttons GraphicsButtonBindings
{
<Btn3Down> root f.menu "Graphics Projects"
}
The following line in your .Xdefaults file references
the new button binding set:
Mwm*buttonBindings: GraphicsButtonBindings
To display the graphics menu, press Button 3 on the mouse when the pointer is on the workspace.