Xterm.js: Always send mousemove data

[skerit]

Xterm.js only outputs mousemove data during a mouse click. I understand that's a decent default, but could it be possible to add it as an option to make xterm always output the mousemove data?

Btw: I didn't directly find any information in the docs about how to enable mouse support, but setting normalMouse and mouseEvents on the terminal object fixed that.

Details

• Browser and browser version: Firefox 57
• OS version: Ubuntu 17.04
• xterm.js version: 2.9.2

[Tyriar]

@skerit the terminal application (eg. tmux) is the thing that sets mouse events.

What's the purpose for wanting to send mousemove data? Is this covered by http://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html ?

[skerit]

Yes, I believe it's the SET_ANY_EVENT_MOUSE event (CSI ? 1003 h)

Here's an example of it being used in an application I wrote using blessed under gnome-terminal:

[mofux]

AFAIK if the application supports mouse pointer integration, the mouse coordinates are sent all the time while moving the mouse. See #998 that demonstrates this pretty well. On the other hand, I may have to check the code, maybe they are only sent between mousedown -> mouseup...

[mofux]

At least this comment confirms what is stated above:
https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/blob/v3/src/InputHandler.ts#L881

[Tyriar]

Perhaps what @skerit's app is sending is not the exact format we're expecting or something?

[skerit]

In version 2.9.2 I'm only seeing 2 event listeners being added for mousemove:

One in Terminal.ts, being added in response to a mousedown event:
https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/blob/2e8410da4bf4ccc44b7277ec22a0d473565c9d13/src/Terminal.ts#L939-L960

And one in the SelectionManager.ts file, also in response to a mousedown event:
https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/blob/3c2614ade72ea5f80624ef834524bb9afc54c97b/src/SelectionManager.ts#L363-L365

So xterm.js is just not listening for mousemove events, until a mousedown event happens.

I see a new file has been added last month, MouseZoneManager.ts, that does seem to listen to mousemove all the time:
https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/blob/5bf81934cd48cbdfca55108393972a89b0a3de44/src/input/MouseZoneManager.ts#L80

Would that fix this issue, or is it meant for something else?

[vincentwoo]

If we enable constant mousemove data, can we have an option to disable it? I can see this being traffic-heavy for applications not using xterm for applications that require live pointer integration.

[Tyriar]

MouseZoneManager only listens when there are links in the viewport.

Here is the code that listens to mousemove:

https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/blob/8ece306dbe9c7aee13cce9c60fae74202f8660ee/src/Terminal.ts#L960

Perhaps this is relevant to why it's not working for you?

https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/blob/8ece306dbe9c7aee13cce9c60fae74202f8660ee/src/Terminal.ts#L962

[skerit]

@Tyriar Line 960 happens inside a callback to a mousedown event, so the mousemove is only listened to when actually clicking.

[Tyriar]

Looks like other terminals implement this and it's documented here so this would be a nice to have. Opening it up for PRs, I'm don't think we would want a (api) setting to drive this but rather when we see CSI ? 1003 h turn it on.

I found this which is relevant to the implementation: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/41567993-mouse-mode-1003-is-unlike-xterm

[mofux]

How can we test this? I mean, is there any app we could use to test this behaviour if we implement it?

[Tyriar]

@skerit do you have an example application that could be used to develop the feature against?

[skerit]

@Tyriar I have a node.js terminal application that you could use this with: https://github.com/skerit/janeway

By default there's only a hover button on the top left, but I could add some indicators on the right.