[EG]: Some of the fancier features of modern *nix desktops aren't available in Tk by default. While the latest development addresses some of the issues (ttk/tile, Xft fonts), this is not the case of cursors, where they are still limited to bitmaps. Some people (see http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_thread/thread/0a995c5b3198f0db/69e1ca696aa28bbb?lnk=raot#69e1ca696aa28bbb%|%this post%|%) wants to use colored, animated cursors in their applications. This bare-bones extension interfaces with the xcursor library allowing Tk developers use modern cursors on X11. It consist of three files: a .c file, a .tcl file for high level access and the pkgIndex.tcl library index. ====== /* file tkxcursor.c */ #include #include static int SetCursorCmd(clientData, interp, objc, objv) ClientData clientData; Tcl_Interp *interp; int objc; Tcl_Obj *objv[]; { Tk_Window tkwin, mainw; long xid; Cursor cursor; if (objc != 3) { Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "window cursor"); return TCL_ERROR; } if (Tcl_GetLongFromObj(interp, objv[2], &xid) != TCL_OK) return TCL_ERROR; cursor = (Cursor) xid; mainw = Tk_MainWindow(interp); if (NULL == mainw) return TCL_ERROR; tkwin = Tk_NameToWindow(interp, Tcl_GetString(objv[1]), mainw); if (NULL == tkwin) return TCL_ERROR; if (None == Tk_WindowId(tkwin)) Tk_MakeWindowExist(tkwin); XDefineCursor(Tk_Display(tkwin), Tk_WindowId(tkwin), cursor); return TCL_OK; } static int GetThemeCmd(clientData, interp, objc, objv) ClientData clientData; Tcl_Interp *interp; int objc; Tcl_Obj *objv[]; { const char *theme; Display *display = Tk_Display(Tk_MainWindow(interp)); if (objc != 1) { Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, NULL); return TCL_ERROR; } theme = XcursorGetTheme(display); Tcl_SetObjResult(interp, Tcl_NewStringObj(theme, -1)); return TCL_OK; } static int LoadCursorFromFileCmd(clientData, interp, objc, objv) ClientData clientData; Tcl_Interp *interp; int objc; Tcl_Obj *objv[]; { Cursor cursor; if (objc != 2) { Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "filename"); return TCL_ERROR; } cursor = XcursorFilenameLoadCursor(Tk_Display(Tk_MainWindow(interp)), Tcl_GetString(objv[1])); if (cursor) { Tcl_SetObjResult(interp, Tcl_NewLongObj((long)cursor)); return TCL_OK; } Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "Can't load cursor from file \"", Tcl_GetString(objv[1]), "\"", NULL); return TCL_ERROR; } static int FreeCursorCmd(clientData, interp, objc, objv) ClientData clientData; Tcl_Interp *interp; int objc; Tcl_Obj *objv[]; { long xid; Cursor cursor; if (objc != 2) { Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "cursorid"); return TCL_ERROR; } if (Tcl_GetLongFromObj(interp, objv[1], &xid) != TCL_OK) return TCL_ERROR; cursor = (Cursor) xid; XFreeCursor(Tk_Display(Tk_MainWindow(interp)), cursor); return TCL_OK; } static int IsARGBSupportedCmd(clientData, interp, objc, objv) ClientData clientData; Tcl_Interp *interp; int objc; Tcl_Obj *objv[]; { Tk_Window tkwin = Tk_MainWindow(interp); if (objc != 1) { Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, NULL); return TCL_ERROR; } Tcl_SetObjResult(interp, Tcl_NewIntObj(XcursorSupportsARGB(Tk_Display(tkwin)))); return TCL_OK; } int Xcursor_Init (interp) Tcl_Interp * interp; { if (Tcl_InitStubs(interp, "8.5", 0) == NULL) return TCL_ERROR; if (Tk_InitStubs(interp, "8.5", 0) == NULL) return TCL_ERROR; if (Tcl_PkgProvide(interp, "xcursor", "0.1") == TCL_ERROR) return TCL_ERROR; /* these are "private" commands */ Tcl_CreateObjCommand(interp, "xcursor::DefineCursor", SetCursorCmd, NULL, NULL); Tcl_CreateObjCommand(interp, "xcursor::LoadFromFile", LoadCursorFromFileCmd, NULL, NULL); Tcl_CreateObjCommand(interp, "xcursor::FreeCursor", FreeCursorCmd, NULL, NULL); /* these two are safe enough */ Tcl_CreateObjCommand(interp, "xcursor::argbsupported", IsARGBSupportedCmd, NULL, NULL); Tcl_CreateObjCommand(interp, "xcursor::gettheme", GetThemeCmd, NULL, NULL); return TCL_OK; } ====== ====== # file tkxcursor.tcl namespace eval xcursor { variable cursors [dict create None 0] } proc xcursor::setcursor {window cursor} { variable cursors if {![winfo exists $window]} { return -code error "bad window path name \"$window\"" } if {![dict exists $cursors $cursor]} { return -code error "cursor \"$cursor\" unknown" } DefineCursor $window [dict get $cursors $cursor] } proc xcursor::loadcursor {filename} { variable cursors if {![file exists $filename]} { return -code error "could not read \"$filename\":\ no such file or directory" } set cursor [lindex [file split [file rootname $filename]] end] if {[dict exists $cursors $cursor]} { FreeCursor [dict get $cursors $cursor] } dict set cursors $cursor [LoadFromFile $filename] return $cursor } proc xcursor::names {} { variable cursors return [dict keys $cursors] } proc xcursor::deletecursor {cursor} { variable cursors if {![dict exists $cursors $cursor]} { return -code error "cursor \"$cursor\" unknown" } if {$cursor eq "None"} { # don't delete the "None" cursor return } FreeCursor [dict get $cursors $cursor] set cursors [dict remove $cursors $cursor] return } ====== ====== # file pkgIndex.tcl package ifneeded xcursor 0.1 [list apply {{dir} { load [file join $dir libxcursor.so] source [file join $dir tkxcursor.tcl] }} $dir] ====== Compile with ====== $ gcc -shared -fPIC -Wall -I/usr/local/include tkxcursor.c -o libxcursor.so \ -DUSE_TCL_STUBS -DUSE_TK_STUBS \ -L/usr/local/lib -ltkstub8.6 -ltclstub8.6 \ -L/usr/lib -lXcursor ====== In this case my Tcl (8.6) installation is on /usr/local/lib and the Xcursor library resides on /usr/lib. Adjust the paths and version numbers accordingly, compile and you're ready to go. Simple usage: ====== $ tclsh8.6 % lappend auto_path . /usr/local/lib/tcl8.6 /usr/local/lib . % package require xcursor ; # also loads Tk 0.1 % xcursor::names None % xcursor::loadcursor ./PolarCursorTheme/cursors/watch ; # animated watch cursor watch % xcursor::setcursor . watch % xcursor::names None watch % xcursor::setcursor . None ; # equivalent to [. configure -cursor {}] % xcursor::deletecursor watch % xcursor::names None % xcursor::argbsupported ; # does this display support ARGB cursors? 1 % xcursor::gettheme ; # default theme, in my case empty % ====== To set the default cursor theme see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X11_Cursors#Configuring_Cursor_Themes%|%this wiki entry%|%. For cursor themes, see http://gnome-look.org%|%Gnome-Look%|%or http://kde-look.org%|%KDE-Look%|% <>GUI