[comp.windows.x] ClientMessage to root window

davidto@siesoft.co.uk (David Tollow) (03/13/91)

In the course of working on a (highly non-standard) drag-and-drop
scheme I came across what seems to me a paradox associated with
ClientMessages.

ClientMessages are always selected on all windows, so there is no
event mask associated with them. However if I don't know a window
id belonging to the intended recipient of the message then I 
can't send it.

What I can do is send a client message to the root window and have
the receiving client select for client messages on root, but I can't
because there isn't an event mask for ClientMessage...

Actually I can overcome this problem by associating a property with
the root window and having the sender change it. The recipient who
has selected the PropertyChangeMask then receives PropertyNotify events
with the embedded data.

So, accepting that what I am doing is potentially bad practice
and counter to all standards, can someone explain the philosophy
behind the asymmetry between ClientMessage and other event types ?

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davidto@siesoft.co.uk			Siemens Nixdorf
					Bracknell
					UK