XLIB Programming Manual, Rel. 5, Third Edition

11.5 XIC Functions

An input context is to an input method almost as a Window is to a Display. Each independent internationalized text input stream requires an IC, and the attributes of an IC define the behavior and appearance of the IM for that input stream. The sections below describe how to choose an input style for an IC, how to create and destroy an IC, how to set and get the attribute values of an IC, how to reset an IC, and how to set focus to an IC. The attributes of an IC are documented in 11.6 Input Context Attributes.

11.5.1 Choosing an Interaction Style

The input or interaction style to be used by an input context must be specified when the input context is created. The style chosen must be one of those supported by the input method, and must also be supported by the client. The simplest of applications may choose to provide only minimal interaction with the input method, and may support only the XIMPreeditNothing and XIMStatusNothing interaction styles, forcing the input method to display its information in the root window. More complicated applications will probably support at least XIMPreeditArea and XIMStatusArea styles, as well as the “do nothing” styles. Generally, the right choice of interaction style is the most complicated (and therefore most user-friendly) style supported both by the application and the input method. An application may also choose to provide a resource so that the user can specify a desired style. Note that the choice of Preedit interaction style ...