Re: [RP] detect state of Mode_switch modifier?

[Shawn Betts]

Joe Corneli <address@hidden> writes:

> I asked this question in the help-gnu-emacs list, but didn't hear
> back, so I'm thinking that maybe this is "too low level" to be an
> Emacs question and thought I'd try here, since this seems like
> the sort of thing ya'll are knowledgeable about.
>
> I want to have my Emacs cursor be one color when Mode_switch is
> depressed and another when it isn't.  Since X knows when the modifier
> is pressed/released, there is probably a way of passing this
> information along to Emacs.  What would you suggest?

As I understand it the mode switch key is a modifier and modifier keys
can't be bound to commands. I suspect you'd have to do quite a bit of
hacking to make an exception to allow binding a command to it.

How about this idea instead: write a program along the lines of that
auto-banish C program I wrote a while back. But instead of banishing
the pointer, set the window's border color to, say, red when the mode
switch key is pressed and back to black when it is released (so long
as there's a focused window). This would also work for all
windows. Alternatively you could have it call a ratpoison command like
'echo mode switch on' and 'echo mode switch off'.

Shouldn't be too hard to whip up. Lemme know if you need help doing it.

-Shawn