Desktop cursor appearance

The Desktop cursor is a bitmap file. Each Desktop cursor has both a data bitmap and a mask bitmap component associated with it. These two components together form a cursor shape. The data bitmap defines the image associated with the cursor. The mask bitmap acts as an outline, defining which portion of the cursor is transparent.

The Desktop has several default cursors already defined, but any of them can be redefined. Both users and system administrators can modify the default Desktop cursors. In addition, they can create new bitmaps to create brand new cursors.

Users make Desktop cursor specifications in their $HOME/XDesktop3 file. System administrators make Desktop cursor specifications in the /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XDesktop3 file. Both a data pixmap and a mask pixmap must be specified; if only one pixmap is specified, the cursor designation is ignored.

The default Desktop cursors are located in the default picture directories, /usr/lib/X11/IXI/XDesktop/bitmaps/xdt_c_[large|small]. You can examine the files located in these directories to see the contents of sample bitmap files and sample filenames, but do not edit the files in this directory. If you want to edit a default Desktop cursor, copy the default bitmap file, then make desired changes to the copy.

The default Desktop cursors are defined as follows:

alert

when an alert box is displayed (except within the box)

bgTrigger

when a user clicks on the background

busy

when the Desktop is processing

drag

when a single icon is being dragged

fatal

when an error box is displayed (except within the box)

iconTrigger

when a user clicks on an icon to select it

idle

when the Desktop is waiting for the user to do something

multiDrag

when several icons are being dragged

rubber

when a user is using ``rubberbanding'' to select one or more icons

The following table lists the default Desktop cursors:

Resources that control Desktop cursor appearance

Data pixmap	Class
alert.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
bgTrigger.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
busy.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
drag.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
fatal.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
iconTrigger.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
idle.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
multiDrag.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
rubber.data	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
Mask pixmap	Class
alert.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
bgTrigger.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
busy.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
drag.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
fatal.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
iconTrigger.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
idle.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
multiDrag.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap
rubber.mask	XDesktop3.Cursor.Bitmap

See also:

• ``Changing the Desktop cursor''