Prevent application from grabbing some keys.

I have media keys for volume control on my keyboard and use them. I have mapped them with KDE hotkeys control module. All work fine. However, some applications, for example, SDL-based ones, grab all keyboard input, including media keys. I lose ability to change audio volume until I stop the application.
The question is: How can I protect some keys from being grabbed by applications? I mean, how to make sure that some key events always reach target app, even when another app tries to grab all input. For example, Ctrl-Alt-F1 still works in all apps. Is there X server config to protect another key?
Last edited by Barafu Albino Cheetah (2011-09-16 20:20:31)

I've made two AUR packages for this:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php? … _Search=Go
I'm just using libx11-nokeyboardgrab now, so I let the sdl one go unmaintained.
libx11-nokeyboardgrab is incompatible with dmenu (edit: and password screensavers), but works with everything (also dialog pop-ups).
sdl-nokeyboardgrab doesn't grab non-sdl programs (Virtualbox, maybe Wine, I haven't tested it).
It doesn't prevent mouse grab, because that's necessary for FPS games and Virtualbox mouse mode.
I have thought of adding in a mechanism where the mouse is only grabbed on some condition. Like the existence of a "/tmp/grabmouse" file. But I've been fine without it.
One problem that occurs even with mouse grab enabled is that when the game loses focus, it loses the mouse grab too. When you switch back to the game, you need to do something to make it re-grab the mouse.
For instance in Urban Terror (FPS), when you switch back to the game, the mouse behaves erratic until you press ~ for Console (which normally ungrabs the mouse) and then press it again.
Last edited by Procyon (2012-01-23 20:14:08)

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Prevent games from grabbing every key & mouse button

I've been gaming a lot of native linux games (especially the Humble Bundle ones), and a great deal of them tend to grab the all the keyboard and mouse keys/buttons.
This means that NO keys work; for example, I've a mouse with lots of buttons, and some of these control my volume (via xbindkeys). Some media keys on my keyboard do this as well, and control vlc play/stop (also via xbindkeys), and some other switch desktop, minimize, etc (via compiz keybinds).
Is there a way to keep these games for grabbing these keys/mouse-buttons? I kind of lose control of my desktop while they're running. I belive they grab the mouse entirely somehow, though I must admit, I'm not an expert on this area.

I've made two AUR packages for this:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php? … _Search=Go
I'm just using libx11-nokeyboardgrab now, so I let the sdl one go unmaintained.
libx11-nokeyboardgrab is incompatible with dmenu (edit: and password screensavers), but works with everything (also dialog pop-ups).
sdl-nokeyboardgrab doesn't grab non-sdl programs (Virtualbox, maybe Wine, I haven't tested it).
It doesn't prevent mouse grab, because that's necessary for FPS games and Virtualbox mouse mode.
I have thought of adding in a mechanism where the mouse is only grabbed on some condition. Like the existence of a "/tmp/grabmouse" file. But I've been fine without it.
One problem that occurs even with mouse grab enabled is that when the game loses focus, it loses the mouse grab too. When you switch back to the game, you need to do something to make it re-grab the mouse.
For instance in Urban Terror (FPS), when you switch back to the game, the mouse behaves erratic until you press ~ for Console (which normally ungrabs the mouse) and then press it again.
Last edited by Procyon (2012-01-23 20:14:08)

Prevent application from stealing all input

Some applications grab all keyboard keys in such a way, that my window manager (i3) does not get the keys any more that are meant for it. Until recently, I only came across dosbox and the qemu window with this behavior. But both of them offer a way to stop grabbing every input of the X server (by default, dosbox uses the key binding CTRL+F10, QEMU uses CTRL+ALT). But then I ran OgreSampleBrowser for which I could not find such a key binding (did I miss something). Thus, now I'm interested in a general way to prevent applications to grab every key event if they are part of a key binding of my window manager. Is there some way to only whitelist the ones, which may grab all keys? Additionally to that, OgreSampleBrowser also unconditionally grabbed all mouse input, but I could live with that.
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How can I prevent Applications from being copied to external drive?

Hello,
Just a quick one...
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cd /
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Prevent application from quitting

Does anyone know a program that can disapple the "quit" option in programs??
I need it because i run one of my macs as an iTunes "server", and running on a miniMac i also have an n-wifi application running, that i will prevent from accidential quitting...
Does this make any sense??
Message was edited by: Beeker2Beeker

motech29 wrote:
would that slow down the mac if something was constantly checking to see if app was running ?
It may be possible to write the application in a way that would constantly "poll" the system to see if iTunes was running, but that's a very bad idea. An application like that would waste cycles like you're thinking.
However, Apple provides ways to accomplish the same thing without constant polling and with minimal impact on performance. Instead of polling, you simply tell the system you're interested in receiving a notification any time an application quits, at which point you see if it's iTunes. If it isn't, you just ignore it, and if it is, you force iTunes to launch again. So, nothing happens until applications quit.
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Hope this helps....
Message was edited by: MarkDouma®

Time Capsule preventing me from accessing some sites

Hello,
I've been using a 1TB Time Capsule as a router and external HD in my home network for almost one year and never had this problem, but around 3 days ago I noticed that I couldn't access certain sites like wikipedia.org and last.fm anymore (My browser doesn't get past the "waiting for www.wikipedia.org" when I try) in any of the computers I have connected to the TC.
When I disconnected my modem from the TC and connected it directly to one of my computers I didn't have any problems accessing any sites, so the issue is definitely with the router.
I already tried rebooting the TC and renewing the DHCP on AirPort, but neither worked.
My TC has firmware 7.4.1 and is connected directly to 3 PCs running Windows XP Home with Firefox and wirelessly to 2 MacBooks running 10.5 Leopard with Safari, and they all have the same issue with the same sites.
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buemba,
I have been having the same exact problem--it just started about a week ago. I had gotten the 500gb Time Capsule in December and it has been working flawlessly until now.
I've had numerous conversations with my ISP (Comcast) who swears up and down that it is not their problem to correct. I've come to learn they might be right: I can plug my laptop directly into my cable modem and access the sites which I cannot access behind my TC. It isn't a problem limited to one computer on my network--I have three Apple computers and a Linux box that can't connect to the same sites.
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My wife and I both rely on our Internet to do University coursework, and unfortunately, one of the sites we can't access is our online classrooms. This is a HUGE problem. I've scoured the Internet searching for a solution to this issue but have yet to come across one that applies to the Time Capsule. I really don't want to stop using my TC's router capability but short of getting a new router, I don't have the solution for this problem and nobody else seems too, either.
Apple: help, please?
UPDATE: Searched these forums, found a couple of other threads with other users having the same problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9483141
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9421774
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9254854
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Prevent apps from stealing focus

Is there a general overall setting for preventing applications from stealing focus?

i'm having problems with itunes 6.0.5(20). I set up a playlist to burn, hit the burn button, it asks for a cd, i feed it the cd, it says "checking media...". Then, that's all it needs from me, so I go back to my word processing and while I'm typing in that suddenly the iTunes window pops back to the foreground - not asking for input or anything, it just pops to the foreground once the write process starts on the cd. I've had it steal focus from Firefox, Finder, Word, pretty much everything at one time or another.
EDIT: I've found if I minimize iTunes it won't pop up and steal focus, but if I just switch it to the background instead of minimizing it, it will pop to the foreground

Sandboxd prevents preview from opening images

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Hi Linc,
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This appears to happen randomly. Some directories are affected, some are not, and it appears to happen to all files in certain directories.
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One idea is to use [Java Webstart|http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/desktop/javawebstart/index.jsp] *(<- link)* as your installer. It might not fix the D'n'D problem, but at least if you get to the point of telling Sun about it, they will care (at least) one iota about fixing it.

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Hi. I'm having this problem almost all the time when I do some color correction.
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I already removed FCP X, and all the effects I have installed. But still the issue persists.
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That could have happened. I can't remember though.
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I currently only have 1 open library and 1 event on it. If I move or copy that event into a new library, would that in theory work?
Thanks for the help so far.

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Hi Everybody,
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I am so confusing about this and I hope very much that somebody could help me out this problem, I would greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

+I just restored my MBP from Time Machine, everything went fine. But I feel my MBR start up much slower than before. So now I want to do a clean install Leopard.+
Wait on the erase and install. Launch Disk Utility which is in the Applications > Utilities folder and Verify your disk and repair permissions. If Verify shows any errors boot from the Leopard install DVD by holding the "c" key down until the spinning gear appears. Pick a language and choose Utilities > Disk and run Repair until no errors appear. Repair permissions.
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http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
+Would like to ask you guys who experiences in Time Machine that after installing Leopard, I want to restore some applications from Time Machine such as MS office, Wow, Photoshop...Will they fully function if I restore from TM?+
I don't know about Wow but Photoshop and MS Office install too many files in too many places for it to be practical to restore them from Time Machine backups after doing an erase and install. You need to reinstall those from the original disks for those applications.

Were sorry but "application" has encountered an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Repair now?

Hello
win 7- office prof. 2013
after installation is OK. but every time i restart i get
"Were sorry but "application" has encountered an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Repair now?"
it ask me again for my product key. and than everything is OK until next time i restart my computer.
it happens with all the applications
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Hi,
Uninstall Office and install it again in Clean Boot to determine if background programs are interfering with this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
Regards,
Melon Chen
TechNet Community Support

I have an ancient laptop (from 2005) that has my entire music library. This laptop barely works and some keys don't type anymore. How can I get all this music transferred to another computer, or available to me on the cloud?

I have an ancient laptop (from 2005) that has my entire music library. This laptop barely works and some keys don't type anymore. How can I get all this music transferred to another computer, or available to me on the cloud?

No... do not move programs.
About the iTunes library files
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Windows 7: C:\Users\username\My Music\iTunes\
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== This happened ==
A few times a week
== a couple months ago

I got the same issue.
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... I didn't know that Time Machine was more a last resort back up instead of main back up.
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Hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first backup of the day
Daily backups over 30 days old, except the first backup of the week
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at least thirty days, if they existed on your Mac for at least a day
until you run out of space, if they existed on your Mac for at least a week
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If you are using 250 GB of space on your source disk, its Time Machine backups are likely to require at least twice that much. A good estimate of the minimum required backup volume size would be about three times the size of your source disk - 1.5 TB in your case.
A more thorough explanation would require Pondini since he has plumbed Time Machine's mysteries far more than I have.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

Prevent application from grabbing some keys.

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