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From: rws@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Bob Scheifler)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: (none)
Message-ID: <8909131317.AA01111@expire.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: 13 Sep 89 13:17:23 GMT
References: <8909130712.AA29892@Larry.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
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    As a simple example, suppose I have a key labeled "00" and I want it to
    do what its label implies: generate two zero characters when typed.

And suppose I have one labeled "build the Taj Mahal" and I want it to do
what its label implies. :-)

The X keyboard mechanism is fundamentally keysym based, not character based or
string based.  Not all applications use XLookupString, and even some that do
use it ignore the string return and just look at the keysym return.  "String"
input doesn't make sense in all applications.  The translation mechanism in the
Intrinsics is primarily based on turning "events" into "actions", a plausible
action being to "insert a particular string" in the context of a textual
application, but not necessarily in all applications or all contexts.

XLookupString is a carryover of an X10 mechanism, one that few X10 programs
ever dealt with gracefully either.

You are welcome to try and figure out how to do what you want, I know of others
doing the same thing.  But don't forget to deal with internationalization
issues.  Any major new mechanism that doesn't deal with character set and
encoding issues is doomed.