Primary selection
This protocol provides the ability to have a primary selection device to match that of the X server. This primary selection is a shortcut to the common clipboard selection, where text just needs to be selected in order to allow copying it elsewhere. The de facto way to perform this action is the middle mouse button, although it is not limited to this one.
Clients wishing to honor primary selection should create a primary selection source and set it as the selection through wp_primary_selection_device.set_selection whenever the text selection changes. In order to minimize calls in pointer-driven text selection, it should happen only once after the operation finished. Similarly, a NULL source should be set when text is unselected.
wp_primary_selection_offer objects are first announced through the wp_primary_selection_device.data_offer event. Immediately after this event, the primary data offer will emit wp_primary_selection_offer.offer events to let know of the mime types being offered.
When the primary selection changes, the client with the keyboard focus will receive wp_primary_selection_device.selection events. Only the client with the keyboard focus will receive such events with a non-NULL wp_primary_selection_offer. Across keyboard focus changes, previously focused clients will receive wp_primary_selection_device.events with a NULL wp_primary_selection_offer.
In order to request the primary selection data, the client must pass a recent serial pertaining to the press event that is triggering the operation, if the compositor deems the serial valid and recent, the wp_primary_selection_source.send event will happen in the other end to let the transfer begin. The client owning the primary selection should write the requested data, and close the file descriptor immediately.
If the primary selection owner client disappeared during the transfer, the client reading the data will receive a wp_primary_selection_device.selection event with a NULL wp_primary_selection_offer, the client should take this as a hint to finish the reads related to the no longer existing offer.
The primary selection owner should be checking for errors during writes, merely cancelling the ongoing transfer if any happened.
The primary selection device manager is a singleton global object that provides access to the primary selection. It allows to create wp_primary_selection_source objects, as well as retrieving the per-seat wp_primary_selection_device objects.
create_source(id: new_id<zwp_primary_selection_source_v1>)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | new_id<zwp_primary_selection_source_v1> |
Create a new primary selection source.
get_device(id: new_id<zwp_primary_selection_device_v1>, seat: object<wl_seat>)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | new_id<zwp_primary_selection_device_v1> | |
| seat | object<wl_seat> |
Create a new data device for a given seat.
destroy()
Destroy the primary selection device manager.
zwp_primary_selection_device_v1
set_selection(source: object<zwp_primary_selection_source_v1>, serial: uint)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| source | object<zwp_primary_selection_source_v1>allow null | |
| serial | uint | serial of the event that triggered this request |
Replaces the current selection. The previous owner of the primary selection will receive a wp_primary_selection_source.cancelled event.
To unset the selection, set the source to NULL.
destroy()
Destroy the primary selection device.
data_offer(offer: new_id<zwp_primary_selection_offer_v1>)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| offer | new_id<zwp_primary_selection_offer_v1> |
Introduces a new wp_primary_selection_offer object that may be used to receive the current primary selection. Immediately following this event, the new wp_primary_selection_offer object will send wp_primary_selection_offer.offer events to describe the offered mime types.
selection(id: object<zwp_primary_selection_offer_v1>)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | object<zwp_primary_selection_offer_v1>allow null |
The wp_primary_selection_device.selection event is sent to notify the client of a new primary selection. This event is sent after the wp_primary_selection.data_offer event introducing this object, and after the offer has announced its mimetypes through wp_primary_selection_offer.offer.
The data_offer is valid until a new offer or NULL is received or until the client loses keyboard focus. The client must destroy the previous selection data_offer, if any, upon receiving this event.
zwp_primary_selection_offer_v1
A wp_primary_selection_offer represents an offer to transfer the contents of the primary selection clipboard to the client. Similar to wl_data_offer, the offer also describes the mime types that the data can be converted to and provides the mechanisms for transferring the data directly to the client.
To transfer the contents of the primary selection clipboard, the client issues this request and indicates the mime type that it wants to receive. The transfer happens through the passed file descriptor (typically created with the pipe system call). The source client writes the data in the mime type representation requested and then closes the file descriptor.
The receiving client reads from the read end of the pipe until EOF and closes its end, at which point the transfer is complete.
destroy()
Destroy the primary selection offer.
zwp_primary_selection_source_v1
The source side of a wp_primary_selection_offer, it provides a way to describe the offered data and respond to requests to transfer the requested contents of the primary selection clipboard.
offer(mime_type: string)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| mime_type | string |
This request adds a mime type to the set of mime types advertised to targets. Can be called several times to offer multiple types.
destroy()
Destroy the primary selection source.
Request for the current primary selection contents from the client. Send the specified mime type over the passed file descriptor, then close it.
cancelled()
This primary selection source is no longer valid. The client should clean up and destroy this primary selection source.
Compositor Support
Mutter  46 | KWin  6.2 | Sway  1.9 | COSMIC  1.0.0 | Hyprland  0.42.0 | niri 0.1.8 | Weston  13 | Mir  2.18 | GameScope  3.15.14 | Jay 1.7.0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zwp_primary_selection_device_manager_v1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | x | 1 | x | 1 |
Copyright
Copyright © 2015, 2016 Red Hat
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.