X sends many key up events when a key is held

Question

If I hold a key, I get sent many 'key down' events for that key, annoying but workable; the same approach that win32 api uses.

However, I also get sent a 'key up' event after each 'key down'. This means that if I hold a key I get sent:

key down
key up
key down
key up
...
key down
key up

This effectively means there is no way to differentiate between a key being held and a key being pressed really fast.

Is there some cryptic setting somewhere in X that will stop it from sending 'key up' events until the key is actually released. Do I need to 'grab' the keyboard or something first?

Yes, there is a way to differentiate: look at the time stamp of each event. There is physical travel time for the key (and someone's finger) below which is the autokey stuff. — Bob Dalgleish, Jul 07 '13 at 01:23
So you are saying I have check for all key up and key down events, store them into a buffer, and remove any keyup events that have a keydown with the same time stamp? Seems like a very poor solution to me. what about the final *true* keyup event? That will still have a matching keydown with the same time stamp, so how can I know this one is special and should be considered real — thecoshman, Jul 07 '13 at 09:56
It's the auto repeat doing it, you can turn it off with `xset r off` but it will stop auto repeat for all programs — parkydr, Jul 07 '13 at 16:38
well... not really a 'possible' dupe, it is is a dupe. I just didn't happen to phrase my question in such a way as to find that one. Thanks @BobDalgleish — thecoshman, Jul 07 '13 at 22:10

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

3

Here is the more definitive answer, right from these boards. First result on Google:

Ignore auto repeat in X11 applications

edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

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answered Jul 07 '13 at 17:19

Bob Dalgleish

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X sends many key up events when a key is held

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