Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!oliveb!apple!bloom-beacon!EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU!rws
From: rws@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Bob Scheifler)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Could someone explain what the serial field of an XAnyEvent structure is?
Message-ID: <8903282320.AA07483@EXPIRE.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Date: 28 Mar 89 23:20:05 GMT
References: <8903282219.AA10302@b.sei.cmu.edu>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 23

Each protocol request issued by a client is assigned a serial number.
The serial number in an event, reply, or error indicates the last request
executed (or executing) by the client.  By the time the client receives
the event, reply, or error, there is no guarantee that no additional
requests have been executed, hence it is the "last known" request (as
far as Xlib has ascertained) to have been executed by the server.

	1) There are holes in the numbering.  Does this mean that I am not
	selecting for all possible events, or that some events are being sent
	to other clients, or am I just way out in left field?

Events aren't numbered, requests are.  You shouldn't expect "by 1"
increments.

	2) There are more serial fields with the same number than I would have
	expected.  The documentation led me to believe that each time the 
	server processed an event, it would increment the serial field, but it
	doesn't appear to work this way.

No, each time it processes a request.  If a request generates multiple events,
all of them will have the same serial number.  If multiple events are generated
between two requests by a client, all of the events to that client will have
the same serial number.