Writing callback functions in XLib

[SamoaWarrrior]

Hi...
I want to write a simple graphics library that works on top of XLib(as a term project). And I want to provide an abstract keyboard and mouse handling support. But XLib handles these as events, so a typical event-handling routine would be:

XEvent event;
while(1)
{
  XNextEvent( display, &event );
  switch( event )
  {
    case ButtonPress:
      // stuff
   .
   .
  }
}

I can't use code like this in my library, so I think I will have to write a callback function for the events. So how do I accomplish this? Or is there a way without using callback functions?

[bidi]

Well, I'm not sure if this post is acceptable to forum rules seeing as it is for homework, so I'll wait until a moderator replies to it before I post anything else.

EDIT: Either way, I do think I'm allowed to post this (great resource, and how I first learned Xlib):
http://users.actcom.co.il/~choo/lupg...ogramming.html

[SamoaWarrrior]

No, this is not a homework... I am supposed to do any project, I thought up of this... And right now, I've hit a roadblock.... if I can't do this, I'll have to move on to some other project, so please help!!
@bidi : I've been through that tutorial, that doesn't answer my question.

[Javasnob]

If you want to implement callbacks in C, I'd recommend you use function pointers.

[SamoaWarrrior]

If you want to implement callbacks in C, I'd recommend you use function pointers.

Of couse, I have to use function pointers, but how do I get XLib to call that function ( or any function for that matter ) when the event occurs??

[Javasnob]

You don't. With Xlib, you have to poll for events. However, this isn't the interface your library has to expose to your clients, you could take a hint from GTK and do something like this:

void MyLibraryXLoop(void) {
  XEvent ev;
  while(1) {
     XNextEvent(dsp, &ev);
     switch(ev.type) {
         // Call relevant callback
     }
  }

[bidi]

Well, you HAVE to use an event loop in order to get it to work, no matter what. In your case, you can try:

XEvent event;
while(1)
{
  XNextEvent( display, &event );
  switch( event )
  {
    case ButtonPress:
      handleButtonPress()
   .
   .
  }
}

Instead of using XNextEvent you can also use XCheckWindowEvent() to pull a particular event.

[SamoaWarrrior]

You don't. With Xlib, you have to poll for events. However, this isn't the interface your library has to expose to your clients, you could take a hint from GTK and do something like this:

void MyLibraryXLoop(void) {
  XEvent ev;
  while(1) {
     XNextEvent(dsp, &ev);
     switch(ev.type) {
         // Call relevant callback
     }
  }

That's a good idea, but once I write a while(1) loop in my function, the user code from that point ahead won't be executed, right?

[SamoaWarrrior]

Think I got my answer. No callbacks, I'll provide an abstraction of the event loop.
The user code would like:

while(1)
{
   myEvent = MyGetEvent( );   // Uses XCheckNextEvent or something
   switch( myEvent )
   {
       case MOUSE_LBUTTON:
               // stuff
       case KEYPRESS:
               
   }
}

Guess that can be done.
Thanks everybody!!

[rajeshk]

As per my understanding, you can accomplish this with help of "libdl" library.

It provides the api to read the Function addresses you are interested in.

For more information read the manual pages for dlopen(), dlsym etc..

--Regards,
rajesh