How do I query the current icon state of the mouse?

How do I query (from code) the current icon/state of the mouse?

The mouse could be hovering over a link in a browser, or showing an I-beam from a terminal.
I don't care about the actual position of the mouse, or what application it is on-- just its visual state.

How can I query ubuntu for what my mouse currently looks like?

I'm on the following version of Ubuntu:

lsb_release --all
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial

using gnome flashback:

$echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
GNOME-Flashback:Unity
$echo $GDMSESSION
gnome-flashback-metacity

(not sure if any of that is relevant).

I was going to take a 32x32 screenshot starting from my mouse location, and then do a basic image recognition to see what the state is, but that doesn't work either! When you take a screenshot (with say, gnome-screenshot, or shutter), it automatically shows the mouse in its normal icon state despite its icon state when the screenshot is taken.

1 Answer

Known Bug

It seems to be a known bug:

According to the thread we need to install the package gnome-utils which actually doesn't help.

Solution

Using shutter and xdotool command line, I have been able to get a working solution:

1. The script:

 #!/bin/bash # Get current cursor position using xdotool and eval them as variables eval $(xdotool getmouselocation --shell) # We need the X and Y coordinates. Minus 10 pixels to create some padding around the cursor xc=$(($X-10)) yc=$(($Y-10)) # Use shutter to capture a screenshot of the area around the cursor 32px by 32px and save it in the current directory shutter -s=$xc,$yc,32,32 -c -e -o './%y-%m-%d_$w_$h_$RRRR.png'

2. This took the screenshot but using the default cursor pointer. BUT it gave me an error message:

   WARNING: XFIXES extension not found - using a default cursor image

3. With that error, I had a direction. I quickly did an apt-cache search xfixes and this came up:

   subroot@subroot:~$ apt-cache search xfixes
   libxcb-xfixes0 - X C Binding, xfixes extension
   libxcb-xfixes0-dbg - X C Binding, xfixes extension, debugging symbols
   libxcb-xfixes0-dev - X C Binding, xfixes extension, development files
   libxfixes-dev - X11 miscellaneous 'fixes' extension library (development headers)
   libxfixes3 - X11 miscellaneous 'fixes' extension library
   libxfixes3-dbg - X11 miscellaneous 'fixes' extension library (debug package)
   libx11-protocol-other-perl - miscellaneous X11::Protocol helpers
   subroot@subroot:~$

4. I just installed everything:

   subroot@subroot:~$ sudo apt install libxcb-xfixes0 libxfixes3 libxcb-xfixes0-dbg libxfixes-dev libxfixes3-dbg libxcb-xfixes0-dev libx11-protocol-other-perl
   . . .
   subroot@subroot:~$

5. I then tried again and it worked: :)

   subroot@subroot:~$ sh cursor.sh

The result:

Just play around with the dimensions, and screenshot size to get the perfect cursor pointer image. Cheers.