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Input and Shortcut Events ​

Subscribe to input gestures, tablet-pad help, shortcut activations, and operation completion in a Lua configuration.

These events are available when the session supports the relevant input source and API. For socket subscriptions, see the compositor bridge.

Touchpad gestures ​

gnoblin.input.gesture reports a touchpad swipe, pinch, or hold. Each event has gesture, phase, fingers, sequence, and monotonic time fields. The phase is begin, update, end, or cancel.

Swipe updates include dx and dy. Pinch updates include scale and angle_delta. Hold events have no movement fields. Deltas are per update, so add them in a callback when a total movement is needed.

lua
gnoblin.on("gnoblin.input.gesture", function(event)
    if event.gesture == "swipe" and event.phase == "update" then
        print(event.fingers, event.dx, event.dy)
    end
end)

Tablet-pad help ​

When a configured tablet-pad help action runs, Gnoblin sends gnoblin.input.pad-help-requested to Lua listeners. The event describes zero-based buttons, mode groups, and rings, strips, or dials. Labels are included when available and localized by the input stack.

Subscribe in a Lua file and run it with gnoblinctl lua pad-help.lua:

lua
gnoblin.events.on("gnoblin.input.pad-help-requested", function(event)
    print(event.device.name)
    for _, button in ipairs(event.buttons) do
        print(button.button, button.label or "")
    end
end)

The event supplies data only. The shell draws and dismisses its own overlay. Each press sends a new event; without a listener, no overlay appears. See the tablet-pad help reference for all payload fields.

Shortcut sessions ​

gnoblin.shortcut.session.key reports the key value, key code, modifiers, phase, and time. Its phase is press or release.

Real, non-repeated input may include focus_context. Synthetic and input-method events do not carry authority. The context expires after five seconds and authorizes one focus-sensitive compositor operation.

For configured command shortcuts, gnoblin.shortcut.activated reports the shortcut name and trigger. Dynamic bindings use gnoblin.shortcut.binding-activated; held bindings also send session events. Event order depends on the binding's trigger:

  • press activates on key-down and deactivates on key-up.
  • release activates on key-up and has no later deactivation event.

Lua callbacks can subscribe to events and register dynamic shortcuts. See Keyboard shortcuts for accepted Lua options.

Operation completion ​

Use gnoblin.operation.completed to observe asynchronous operations. The event contains operation_id, method, and boolean ok. Success includes value; failure includes an Error record with code and message. In Lua, operation_id matches the returned operation handle's id.