Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!smsc.sony.com!dce
From: dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: SUMMARY: Hiding the mouse pointer for text editor
Message-ID: <1991Apr3.034955.7661@smsc.sony.com>
Date: 3 Apr 91 03:49:55 GMT
References: <1854@svin02.info.win.tue.nl> <1991Apr2.203821.10810@news.iastate.edu>
Organization: Sony Microsystems Corp, San Jose, CA
Lines: 32

In article <1991Apr2.203821.10810@news.iastate.edu> john@iastate.edu (Hascall John Paul) writes:
>In article <1854@svin02.info.win.tue.nl> wsineel@info.win.tue.nl writes:
>}I received two answer for my question for a utility to hide
>}the mouse after a few seconds. None very usefull.
>
>}I'd still like to have a mouseblanker. And others too. If
>}someone finds one, please post.
>
>   Use an "empty" mouse bitmap?

While this is not an incorrect idea, it's not a complete one.

Unlike the Mac graphics world, where there is a single cursor,
and applications are required to change the cursor as needed, the
X cursor is a per-window resource.  That is, each window can have
a different cursor, and the X server is responsible for seeing that
the correct cursor is displayed.

One could modify the X server to "blank" the cursor if no mouse events
are received.

I don't believe that one could write an X client that would do this.
First, there's no universal way I know of finding out when there
have been no mouse events for a certain amount of time.  Second, I
don't believe it's possible to get all of the cursor data so that,
once blanked, the cursor can be restored.

As I suggested to the requestor originally, the best way is to modify the
application to figure out when time has passed, and then change the
cursor to a blank one (created by using an all-0s bitmap for both the
cursor and the mask).  While this does require some modification to
an existing editor, it isn't so drastic as writing a new editor.