


XANCUR(1)                USER COMMANDS                  XANCUR(1)



NAME
     xancur - root cursor animation program for X

SYNOPSIS
     xancur [-help] [-display _d_i_s_p_l_a_y] [-usleep _m_i_c_r_o_s_e_c_o_n_d_s]  [-
     fg  _c_o_l_o_r]  [-bg  _c_o_l_o_r]  [-rv]  [-script _s_c_r_i_p_t_n_a_m_e] [-iter
     _i_t_e_r_a_t_i_o_n_s] [_c_u_r_s_o_r_f_i_l_e _m_a_s_k_f_i_l_e]...

DESCRIPTION
     The _x_a_n_c_u_r program allows the user to animate the background
     ("root")  cursor  on  a workstation display running X.  Nor-
     mally, one experiments with _x_a_n_c_u_r until one finds a  pleas-
     ing,  personalized  look,  then puts the _x_a_n_c_u_r command that
     produces it into an X  startup  file.   If  no  options  are
     specified,  _x_a_n_c_u_r  will  attempt to read a scriptfile named
     ._x_a_n_c_u_r  in  the  user's  home  directory  for  a  list   of
     cursor/mask filenames.  Failing that, xancur will look for a
     system scriptfile  defined  at  compilation  ---  see  _F_I_L_E_S
     below.
     _x_a_n_c_u_r can also be used for  program-to-user  communication,
     by  using  a  meaningful  batch  animation  through a finite
     number of iterations to indicate, for example,  the  comple-
     tion  of a batch job.  It can also run until the xancur pro-
     cess is killed by a catch on the end of a task.  The program
     will  not, however, pause another invocation of itself while
     running, so improper use could be less than esthetic.

OPTIONS
     The various options are as follows:

     -help
          Print a usage message and exit.

     _c_u_r_s_o_r_f_i_l_e _m_a_s_k_f_i_l_e
          Filename pairs in this form are used to  set  the  root
          cursor  animation frame sequence.  The enables the user
          to specify the complete animation cycle  with  standard
          cursor  and mask bitmaps as used by _x_s_e_t_r_o_o_t(_1). Cursor
          and mask files are bitmaps (little pictures),  and  can
          be  made with the _b_i_t_m_a_p(_1) program.  One usually wants
          the mask files to be all black until one  becomes  more
          familiar with the way masks work.

     -script _s_c_r_i_p_t_n_a_m_e
          File _s_c_r_i_p_t_n_a_m_e contains  commands  (similar  to  those
          used  on  the  the command line) and either cursor/mask
          filename pairs or merely the name of the  cursor  files
          to  which  .mask  will  be added to create the maskfile
          names.

     -iter _i_t_e_r_a_t_i_o_n_s
          This option sets  the  number  of  iterations  for  the



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          complete  animation  loop.   If left unset, the program
          will loop until interrupted.

     -fg _c_o_l_o_r
          Use _c_o_l_o_r as the foreground color.

     -bg _c_o_l_o_r
          Use _c_o_l_o_r as the background color.

     -rv  This exchanges the foreground  and  background  colors.
          Normally  the  foreground  color is black and the back-
          ground color is white.

     -display _d_i_s_p_l_a_y
          Specifies the server to which to connect; see _X(_1).

     For convenience, xancur interprets the ~  (tilde)  character
     in  the  same  way as that seen in the _c_s_h(_1).  This is also
     true within scripts.

     It is not currently known precisely how many frames long  an
     animation loop can be.  User should probably be warned that,
     like many other aspects of customization, many days  can  be
     lost in exploring such limits.

EXAMPLE
     To have _x_a_n_c_u_r cycle through the two cursor/masks pairs  for
     frames _b_m_1 and _b_m_2 one might run the following command.

          xancur -usleep 400000 bm1 bm1.mask bm2 bm2.mask

     More commonly, one might run the  following  in  the  _x_a_n_c_u_r
     source directory.

          xancur -script animations/fourpoints/Script

SCRIPTS
     The scriptfiles may contain image/mask filename pairs, image
     filenames  with  assumed  .mask suffixes for mask filenames,
     and command switches.  The command switches comprise a  sub-
     set of the command line options, and include:

     -script _s_c_r_i_p_t_n_a_m_e

     -fg _c_o_l_o_r

     -bg _c_o_l_o_r

     -rv

     It is important to note that the dash-commands  do  _n_o_t  get
     saved  or re-executed, but rather merely affect a particular



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     cursor construction.  One should also note that  the  script
     below  will  only work with the requisite X bitmaps resident
     in the same directory as the script file.

     A variation of the default pointer, showing color reversal:


          -bg white
          -fg black
          fourpoints0
          fourpoints15
          fourpoints30
          fourpoints45
          fourpoints60
          fourpoints75
          -rv
          fourpoints0
          fourpoints15
          fourpoints30
          fourpoints45
          fourpoints60
          fourpoints75

     It should be noted that any pathname within  a  script  file
     which  is not a fully-rooted pathname will be resolved rela-
     tive to the script file's location rather than  relative  to
     the current working directory.

NOTES
     Running xancur tends to prevent one's X  server  from  being
     swapped  out as often.  This has been known to significantly
     improve response time on some machines.

FILES
     /usr/lib/X11/xancur/Script                  default (system) script.
     $HOME/.xancur                      default (personal) script.
     $HOME/.xinitrc        typical place for first xancur command.

SEE ALSO
     csh(1),  X(1),  xinit(1),  xset(1),  xsetroot(1),   xrdb(1),
     XDefineCursor(3X11)

BUGS
     This version probably can't handle individual files of  over
     64K in length.

     The program makes no use of the X resources for anything.

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (c) 1990, M.C.C.
          (Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation)




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     Author's  credit  must  be  retained  in  binaries,   manual
     entries, sources, and derived code.

     This software may be freely copied,  distributed,  compiled,
     altered,  and  sold,  provided  the  above  restrictions are
     observed.

     This software is provided "as is", with no warranty, guaran-
     tee,  support,  maintenance, update schedule, claims to fit-
     ness for any purpose,  or  anything  else  from  either  the
     author  or  the  author's employer.  See the source code for
     additional copyright and limitation information.

AUTHOR
     Christopher Alexander North-Keys
     Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation

     erlkonig@gnu.ai.mit.edu
     north-keys@pkg.mcc.com
     erlkonig@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu

     Special thanks to Mark Lillibridge, MIT Project Athena,  for
     having  written  the  code  for  _x_s_e_t_r_o_o_t(1),  thanks to the
     members of group Talisman (UT@Austin CCWF) for beta  testing
     this  program  and  offering  comments,  and  thanks  to Mic
     Kaczmarczik (UT@Austin CCWF) for proofreading this  documen-
     tation,  checking the installation process, and checking the
     spelling of his surname.



























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