Re: How to detect user activity (like a screensaver)

[Yann Leydier <yann leydier info>]

If you want to monitor only the activity on your application, you can 
try to  connect a callback on the main window's mouse move or key press 
and store the date in a static variable so that you can compare it with 
the previous call…

On 11/05/11 11:17, michi7x7 wrote:
> Hi,
>
> you might want to take a look at Pidgins-Sourcecode (it's GTK+, so very
> close to GTKmm). They have this functionallity to set the user-status to
> idle.
> However, I believe they use a gnome-library and winapi for this...
>
>
> > Hi all,
> > I have a problem with a gtkmm application I'm writing, and need your
> > help.
> >
> > I need to activate a certain action after the user has been inactive
> > for a given time, very much like a screensaver.
> >
> > Of course I can't simply connect a timeout: if I do that, the
> > connected function will be executed after the specified number of
> > seconds, regardless of any user activity during that time. For it to
> > work as intended, the timeout's clock should be reset every time the
> > user moves the pointer, clicks, and so on. So I should write custom
> > handlers for all relevant events (at least motion_notify and
> > button_click), which would disconnect and reconnect the timeout. I
> > guess that would work, but it's tedious and complicated.
> >
> > Thus I wonder if there is an easier way. Screensavers work without
> > requiring each and every application to send a message whenever they
> > receive an event, so it must be possible. How do they do that? Can I
> > use the same mechanism?
> >
> > P.S. I'm running Debian stable so it's gtkmm 2, not 3.
> >
> > Thank you in advance.
> > Gerardo