Input Events

Input events are messages about input from the keyboard or from the mouse.

Distribution

All input events are stored in a central queue. The events are automatically sent to GeDialog.InputEvent() if the user area is in focus. They can also be intercepted in GeDialog.Message(). Further, any code can either poll the event queue with GetInputEvent() or get the current input state with GetInputState().

Structure

Input events are stored in BaseContainer objects. The ID of the container is BFM_INPUT (this is also the ID to look for in GeDialog.Message()). This is the contents of the container:

Container ID	Type	Description
BFM_INPUT_QUALIFIER	LONG	A bitmask with the qualifiers at the time when the event occured.
QSHIFT Shift. QCTRL Control. QALT Alt. QALT2 Alt Gr.
BFM_INPUT_MODIFIERS	LONG	Same as BFM_INPUT_QUALIFIER but also contains bits > 0xf. Private.
BFM_INPUT_DEVICE	LONG	Device. One of the following types:
BFM_INPUT_MOUSE Mouse. BFM_INPUT_KEYBOARD Keyboard.
BFM_INPUT_ASC	String	Contains the unicode-text.
BFM_INPUT_CHANNEL	LONG	The channel contains the key or button ('A' means A, KEY_F1 means F1):
BFM_INPUT_MOUSELEFT Left mouse button. BFM_INPUT_MOUSERIGHT Right mouse button. BFM_INPUT_MOUSEMIDDLE Middle mouse button. BFM_INPUT_MOUSEX1 Fourth mouse button. BFM_INPUT_MOUSEX2 Five mouse button. BFM_INPUT_MOUSEWHEEL Mouse wheel message.
BFM_INPUT_VALUE	LONG	Channel value flag. Normally True or False. The actual value can be found in BF_INPUT_VALUE_REAL.
BFM_INPUT_VALUE_REAL	Real	Channel value (e.g. pressure) as a float.
BFM_INPUT_X	LONG	X value.
BFM_INPUT_Y	LONG	Y value.
BFM_INPUT_Z	LONG	Z value.
BFM_INPUT_TILT	LONG	Pen tilt.
BFM_INPUT_ORIENTATION	Real	Pen rotation.
BFM_INPUT_FINGERWHEEL	LONG	Finger wheel.
BFM_INPUT_P_ROTATION	Real	Pen rotation around its own axis.
BFM_INPUT_DOUBLECLICK	Bool	Double click.
BFM_ACTION_ID	LONG	Contains the ID of the dialog element that triggered the action.
BFM_ACTION_VALUE	ANY	Action value.
BFM_ACTION_INDRAG	Bool	Slider in dragging mode (not finished).
BFM_ACTION_STRCHG	Bool	String in Textfield changed.
BFM_ACTION_VALCHG	Bool	NumberEdit/SliderChg.
BFM_ACTION_ESC	Bool	Action escaped.
BFM_ACTION_RESET	Bool	Action escaped.
BFM_ACTION_UPDATE	Bool	Update without verify.
BFM_ACTIVE	Bool	Flag, if window is active.
BFM_DRAW_LEFT	LONG	Left clipping.
BFM_DRAW_TOP	LONG	Top clipping.
BFM_DRAW_RIGHT	LONG	Right clipping.
BFM_DRAW_BOTTOM	LONG	Bottom clipping.
BFM_DRAW_HASRECT	Bool	Flag for a existing redraw rectangle.
BFM_DRAW_REASON	BaseContainer	Message which started the redraw.
BFM_DRAW_OGL	Bool	OpenGL flag.
RESULT_CURSOR	LONG	Cursortype:
MOUSE_HIDE Hide cursor. MOUSE_SHOW Show cursor. MOUSE_NORMAL Normal cursor. MOUSE_BUSY Busy cursor. MOUSE_CROSS Cross cursor. MOUSE_QUESTION Question cursor. MOUSE_ZOOM_IN Zoom in cursor. MOUSE_ZOOM_OUT Zoom out cursor. MOUSE_FORBIDDEN Forbidden cursor. MOUSE_DELETE Delete cursor. MOUSE_COPY Copy cursor. MOUSE_INSERTCOPY Insert copy cursor. MOUSE_INSERTCOPYDOWN Insert copy down cursor. MOUSE_MOVE Move cursor. MOUSE_INSERTMOVE Insert move cursor. MOUSE_INSERTMOVEDOWN Insert move down cursor. MOUSE_ARROW_H Horizontal arrow cursor. MOUSE_ARROW_V Vertical arrow cursor. MOUSE_ARROW_HV Horizontal and vertical arrow cursor. MOUSE_POINT_HAND Point hand cursor. MOUSE_MOVE_HAND Move hand cursor. MOUSE_IBEAM I-beam cursor. MOUSE_SELECT_LIVE Live selection cursor. MOUSE_SELECT_FREE Free selection cursor. MOUSE_SELECT_RECT Rectangle selection cursor. MOUSE_SELECT_POLY Polygon selection cursor. MOUSE_SPLINETOOLS Spline tools cursor. MOUSE_EXTRUDE Extrude cursor. MOUSE_NORMALMOVE Normal move cursor. MOUSE_ADDPOINTS Add points cursor. MOUSE_ADDPOLYGONS Add polygons cursor. MOUSE_BRIDGE Bridge cursor. MOUSE_MIRROR Mirror cursor. MOUSE_PAINTMOVE Paint move cursor. MOUSE_PAINTSELECTRECT Paint select rectangle cursor. MOUSE_PAINTSELECTCIRCLE Paint select circle cursor. MOUSE_PAINTSELECTPOLY Paint select polygon cursor. MOUSE_PAINTSELECTFREE Paint select free cursor. MOUSE_PAINTMAGICWAND Paint magic wand cursor. MOUSE_PAINTCOLORRANGE Paint color range cursor. MOUSE_PAINTFILL Paint fill cursor. MOUSE_PAINTPICK Paint pick cursor. MOUSE_PAINTBRUSH Paint brush cursor. MOUSE_PAINTCLONE Paint clone cursor. MOUSE_PAINTTEXT Paint text cursor. MOUSE_PAINTCROP Paint crop cursor. MOUSE_PAINTLINE Paint line cursor. MOUSE_PAINTPOLYSHAPE Paint polygon shape cursor.
RESULT_HELP1	String	Help 1.
RESULT_HELP2	String	Help 2.
RESULT_HELP3	String	Help 3.
RESULT_HELP4	String	Help 4.
RESULT_BUBBLEHELP	String	Bubblehelp text.
RESULT_SUPPRESSBUBBLE	Bool	Suppress bubble help.

The values for BFM_INPUT_DEVICE and BFM_INPUT_CHANNEL are used with GetInputState() and GetInputEvent() to get specific events only.

Continuous polling

There are no events for things like mouse-up or mouse-leave in C4D. The reason is that there is no reliable way to get such messages that is completely portable. Therefore it is sometimes necessary to enter a manual while loop that ends when the mouse is released. For example, to track how the user drags something with the left button down you would do:

state=c4d.BaseContainer()
while gui.GetInputState(c4d.BFM_INPUT_MOUSE, c4d.BFM_INPUT_MOUSELEFT, state):
    if state.GetLong(c4d.BFM_INPUT_VALUE)==0: break

    x=state.GetLong(BFM_INPUT_X)
    y=state.GetLong(BFM_INPUT_Y)

    #x, y

Note

Needless to say, try not to get caught in any infinite loops during such polls! If you’re sending BFM_ACTION messages, for example if you’re writing a custom slider control, be sure to set the BFM_ACTION_INDRAG flag to True in those messages while in the loop.