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From: RWS@ZERMATT.LCS.MIT.EDU (Robert Scheifler)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: cursors vs. fonts
Message-ID: <19881028190653.4.RWS@KILLINGTON.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Date: 28 Oct 88 19:06:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: KILLINGT.19881028190653.4.RWS
References: <8810281232.AA11565@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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    Date: 28 Oct 88 12:32:28 EDT (Fri)
    From: djb@cbnews.ATT.COM (David J. Bryant)

    Still, while Xlib will dutifully provide for
    me whatever (numerically referenced) cursor I desire, the X environment
    mechanics and conventions aren't open-ended as is the case with fonts.  Long 
    after my X stuff is installed and built I can add and use new fonts without 
    having to recompile.  It's not nearly so straightfoward for cursors.

From the R3 Xmu library:

 * XmuConvertStringToCursor:
 *
 * allows String to specify a standard cursor name (from cursorfont.h), a
 * font name and glyph index of the form "FONT fontname index [[font] index]", 
 * or a bitmap file name (absolute, or relative to the global resource
 * bitmapFilePath, class BitmapFilePath).  If the resource is not
 * defined, the default value is the build symbol BITMAPDIR.


    It even seems hard to make a good generalization for the "value" of the 
    pointerShape resource.  What is it?

See above for an example of what it might be; unfortunately there wasn't
time to get the R3 xterm converted to this.

    What's a "proper converter"?

E.g., XmuConvertStringToCursor.