Files
Alex SouthwellandClaude Opus 5.5 e702adbd77 Live view: a Desktop view that stays still, and Control to tap on the Frame (#46)
* Live view: a Desktop view that stays still, and Control to tap on the Frame

The live view gets a second source and a way to use the Frame from it:

- Desktop: the app panel in use in the headset, streamed from its own window
  (x11grab of gamescope's redirected window), so it doesn't move as the
  wearer looks around. A picker shows any other panel, view only.
- Control: on the Desktop view a tap or click lands exactly where you put it;
  drag is a mouse drag, press and hold right-clicks, two fingers scroll, and
  on a computer the mouse, wheel and keyboard work directly. On the headset
  view the view is a trackpad. A text field and key row type from a phone.

Input goes through gamescope's own EIS socket (the way Steam feeds Remote
Play input) with the libei already on the image: ui/frame_touch.py, over
the same long-lived ssh machinery as the keyboard agent, nothing to
install. It reaches the panel that has focus on either X display, which
the KDE Connect route can't. Verified on the Frame and from the iPhone app
in the Simulator.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Control: fixes from review

- Keys held on the Frame are released with buttons when Control stops or
  the view loses focus; keys for the Frame no longer trigger Frame Control's
  own shortcuts.
- Taps only act when the picture on screen is the panel in use; positions,
  presses, keys, text and scrolls name their panel (display and window: ids
  repeat across :0 and :1, told apart by pid), and the Frame drops them if
  focus has moved on. Releases always go.
- While connecting, a tap keeps its position; on an error only releases wait
  and retries back off; trimming a long queue never drops a release.
- Lifting one of two scrolling fingers ends the scroll; a cancelled touch
  isn't a tap; clicks and holds on the bars around the picture do nothing.
- A capture loop from before a Live restart can't stop the new video.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Control: close the targeting gaps from the second review

- The focused panel's display comes from GAMESCOPE_FOCUS_DISPLAY (gamescope
  packs ":1" into the first value), so a window id repeated across :0 and :1
  can't be mistaken; the pid is only the fallback.
- Presses, keys, text and scrolls read focus afresh on the Frame; only moves
  use a reading up to a second old.
- A gesture remembers the panel it started on and does nothing more if that
  stops being the one in use; a press with no panel to aim at isn't sent.
- Opening a screenshot clears the panel Control would act on; switching to
  another app releases held keys and buttons.
- Trimming keeps a click with its position; the error backoff holds for new
  input too.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Control: fixes from the SWE-2 Max review

- The Frame side tracks keys as well as buttons and lets go of both when the
  session ends.
- A stale tap tells the page, which re-reads the panels at once.
- A paused input device waits instead of ending the session; only a
  disconnect does. An OS error on one event skips it.
- Presses check focus with two property reads and do the full lookup only
  when it changed.
- Writes to an agent's stdin are serialized, so two devices sending at once
  can't tear a line (the keyboard agent too).
- Connecting gives up with a message after 15 s instead of hanging on
  "Connecting…"; text goes in 100-character pieces so releases don't wait
  behind a long paste; a cancelled mouse gesture releases what's held.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Control: stale clears, pauses reconverge, pastes split per request

- The Frame says it has caught up as soon as an aimed event lands after a
  stale one, so the page stops re-reading the panels.
- After a device pause it lets go of everything it holds (releases that
  arrived while paused were dropped), and waits for the device once per
  batch, not once per event.
- The quick focus check no longer freshens the panel geometry's age.
- Each request carries at most about 100 characters of text.
- Turning Control off while it connects doesn't report an error.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* frame_touch: build the socket path on the Frame, so Windows can import it for tests

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* frame_touch: any event that goes through clears the stale flag

A trackpad move names no panel, so waiting for an aimed event could leave
the page re-reading panels for the rest of the session; a release still
aimed at the old panel doesn't count.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-29 11:13:21 +10:00

447 lines
19 KiB
Python

"""Touch and direct input for the Steam Frame's panels. Frame Control's server runs this ON the Frame.
gamescope, the Frame's compositor, serves Valve's own input injection: an EIS
socket (libei's server side), which Steam uses to feed it Remote Play input.
This connects to it with libei, which is on the SteamOS image, and points,
clicks, scrolls and types into the panel that has focus in the headset: the
one the wearer last used. No install, and it reaches every panel, on either
of gamescope's X displays (see docs/streaming.md).
python3 frame_touch.py focus print the focused panel as JSON
python3 frame_touch.py panels print every app panel as JSON, and which has focus
python3 frame_touch.py read events on stdin, one JSON object (or list) per line:
{"fx": 0.5, "fy": 0.2, "window": 123, "display": ":1"}
pointer to that fraction of that panel; any event can
name its panel, and goes nowhere if another has focus
{"dx": 4, "dy": -2} pointer by that much
{"button": "left", "down": true} left, right or middle; "down" false releases
{"scroll": [0, 120]} by pixels; positive y scrolls down
{"key": 30, "down": true} a Linux (evdev) key code, as the page maps KeyboardEvent.code
{"text": "hello"} printable ASCII, typed on a US layout
Status goes to stdout, one JSON object per line: {"state": "ready" | "error", ...}.
Standard library only (ctypes for libei), like the rest of what runs on the Frame.
"""
import ctypes
import json
import os
import select
import subprocess
import sys
import time
SOCKET = "/run/user/{uid}/gamescope-0-ei" # filled in on the Frame (Windows has no getuid; the tests import this)
BUTTONS = {"left": 0x110, "right": 0x111, "middle": 0x112} # BTN_LEFT, BTN_RIGHT, BTN_MIDDLE
SHIFT = 42 # KEY_LEFTSHIFT
# Printable ASCII on a US layout: character -> (evdev key code, shifted).
ROWS = [("1234567890-=", "!@#$%^&*()_+", 2), ("qwertyuiop[]", "QWERTYUIOP{}", 16),
("asdfghjkl;'`", 'ASDFGHJKL:"~', 30), ("\\zxcvbnm,./", "|ZXCVBNM<>?", 43)]
ASCII = {" ": (57, False), "\n": (28, False), "\t": (15, False)}
for plain, shifted, first in ROWS:
for i, (a, b) in enumerate(zip(plain, shifted)):
ASCII[a], ASCII[b] = (first + i, False), (first + i, True)
# libei's event types and device capabilities (libei.h, libei 1.4).
EV_CONNECT, EV_DISCONNECT, EV_SEAT_ADDED, EV_DEVICE_ADDED, EV_DEVICE_REMOVED = 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
EV_DEVICE_PAUSED, EV_DEVICE_RESUMED = 7, 8
CAP_POINTER, CAP_ABSOLUTE, CAP_KEYBOARD, CAP_SCROLL, CAP_BUTTON = 1, 2, 4, 16, 32
def say(state, **more):
print(json.dumps({"state": state, **more}), flush=True)
# ---- which panel has focus -----------------------------------------------------
def xprop_root(display, name):
try:
out = subprocess.run(["xprop", "-root", name], env=dict(os.environ, DISPLAY=display),
capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=5).stdout
except (OSError, subprocess.SubprocessError):
return []
values = out.split("=", 1)[1] if "=" in out else ""
return [int(v) for v in values.replace(",", " ").split() if v.isdigit()]
def window_info(display, window):
"""Name and geometry of a window on one X display, or None if it isn't there."""
try:
which = ["-root"] if window == "root" else ["-id", str(window)]
out = subprocess.run(["xwininfo", *which], env=dict(os.environ, DISPLAY=display),
capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=5).stdout
except (OSError, subprocess.SubprocessError):
return None
if "IsViewable" not in out:
return None
info = {}
for line in out.splitlines():
line = line.strip()
if line.startswith("xwininfo: Window id:"):
info["name"] = line.split('"', 1)[1].rsplit('"', 1)[0] if '"' in line else ""
for key, field in (("Absolute upper-left X:", "x"), ("Absolute upper-left Y:", "y"),
("Width:", "width"), ("Height:", "height")):
if line.startswith(key):
info[field] = int(line.split(":", 1)[1])
return info if "width" in info else None
def displays():
return sorted(f":{n[1:]}" for n in os.listdir("/tmp/.X11-unix") if n[1:].isdigit())
def window_pid(display, window):
try:
out = subprocess.run(["xprop", "-id", str(window), "_NET_WM_PID"], env=dict(os.environ, DISPLAY=display),
capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=5).stdout
except (OSError, subprocess.SubprocessError):
return None
value = out.rsplit("=", 1)[-1].strip() if "=" in out else ""
return int(value) if value.isdigit() else None
def locate(window, pid):
"""The display a focusable window is on, with its name and geometry.
Window ids are per X server, so :0 and :1 can both have one; the pid gamescope
lists with it (GAMESCOPE_FOCUSABLE_WINDOWS) tells them apart.
"""
found = []
for display in displays():
info = window_info(display, window)
if info:
found.append((display, info))
if len(found) > 1 and pid:
found = [f for f in found if window_pid(f[0], window) == pid] or found
if not found:
return None
display, info = found[0]
root = window_info(display, "root") or {}
return {"window": window, "display": display, **info,
"root": [root.get("width", info["width"]), root.get("height", info["height"])]}
def focusable():
"""gamescope's focusable windows as (window, app id, pid)."""
t = xprop_root(":0", "GAMESCOPE_FOCUSABLE_WINDOWS")
return [tuple(t[i:i + 3]) for i in range(0, len(t) - 2, 3)]
def focus_display():
"""The display of the focused window, from GAMESCOPE_FOCUS_DISPLAY on :0's root.
gamescope writes the name (":1") as 32-bit items, so its first four bytes land,
little-endian, in the first value: 12602 is 0x313A, ":1" (steamcompmgr.cpp;
seen 2026-09-29).
"""
values = xprop_root(":0", "GAMESCOPE_FOCUS_DISPLAY")
if not values:
return None
name = (values[0] & 0xFFFFFFFF).to_bytes(4, "little").split(b"\0", 1)[0].decode("ascii", "replace")
return name if name[:1] == ":" and name[1:].isdigit() else None
def focus_now():
"""Just which window and display have focus: two property reads, for checking a press."""
window = (xprop_root(":0", "GAMESCOPE_FOCUSED_WINDOW") or [0])[0]
return (window or None, focus_display() if window else None)
def focus():
"""The panel that has focus in the headset: window, display, name and sizes (gamescope
publishes the window and its display on :0's root)."""
window = (xprop_root(":0", "GAMESCOPE_FOCUSED_WINDOW") or [0])[0]
if not window:
return {"window": None}
app, pid = next(((a, p) for w, a, p in focusable() if w == window), (None, None))
display = focus_display()
info = window_info(display, window) if display else None
if info:
root = window_info(display, "root") or {}
panel = {"window": window, "display": display, **info,
"root": [root.get("width", info["width"]), root.get("height", info["height"])]}
else:
panel = locate(window, pid) # no display published: tell them apart by pid
return {**panel, "app": app} if panel else {"window": None}
def panels():
"""Every app panel (gamescope's focusable windows), for watching one that hasn't focus."""
now = focus()
found = []
for window, app, pid in focusable():
panel = locate(window, pid)
if panel and panel["width"] > 1 and panel["height"] > 1 and \
not any(f["window"] == window and f["display"] == panel["display"] for f in found):
panel.pop("root", None)
found.append({**panel, "app": app, "focused": (window, panel["display"]) ==
(now.get("window"), now.get("display"))})
return {"focus": now.get("window"), "focus_display": now.get("display"), "panels": found}
def to_root(panel, fx, fy):
"""A point given as a fraction of the panel, in the root coordinates gamescope's pointer uses.
gamescope fits each panel's window to its display, so a 1920x1080 window on a
1280x720 display takes pointer positions at two thirds scale (verified 2026-09-29).
"""
rw, rh = panel["root"]
w, h = panel["width"], panel["height"]
s = min(rw / w, rh / h)
ox, oy = (rw - w * s) / 2, (rh - h * s) / 2
fx, fy = min(max(fx, 0.0), 1.0), min(max(fy, 0.0), 1.0)
return ox + fx * (w * s - 1), oy + fy * (h * s - 1)
# ---- gamescope's input socket ----------------------------------------------------
def libei():
L = ctypes.CDLL("libei.so.1")
vp, c = ctypes.c_void_p, ctypes
sig = {
"ei_new_sender": (vp, [vp]), "ei_configure_name": (None, [vp, c.c_char_p]),
"ei_setup_backend_socket": (c.c_int, [vp, c.c_char_p]), "ei_get_fd": (c.c_int, [vp]),
"ei_dispatch": (None, [vp]), "ei_get_event": (vp, [vp]), "ei_event_get_type": (c.c_int, [vp]),
"ei_event_unref": (vp, [vp]), "ei_event_get_seat": (vp, [vp]), "ei_event_get_device": (vp, [vp]),
"ei_device_has_capability": (c.c_bool, [vp, c.c_int]), "ei_now": (c.c_uint64, [vp]),
"ei_device_start_emulating": (None, [vp, c.c_uint32]), "ei_device_stop_emulating": (None, [vp]),
"ei_device_frame": (None, [vp, c.c_uint64]),
"ei_device_pointer_motion": (None, [vp, c.c_double, c.c_double]),
"ei_device_pointer_motion_absolute": (None, [vp, c.c_double, c.c_double]),
"ei_device_button_button": (None, [vp, c.c_uint32, c.c_bool]),
"ei_device_scroll_delta": (None, [vp, c.c_double, c.c_double]),
"ei_device_keyboard_key": (None, [vp, c.c_uint32, c.c_bool]),
"ei_unref": (vp, [vp]),
}
for name, (res, args) in sig.items():
f = getattr(L, name)
f.restype, f.argtypes = res, args
return L
class Gamescope:
"""One connection to gamescope's EIS socket and its virtual input device."""
def __init__(self):
self.L = L = libei()
self.ei = L.ei_new_sender(None)
L.ei_configure_name(self.ei, b"Frame Control")
if L.ei_setup_backend_socket(self.ei, SOCKET.format(uid=os.getuid()).encode()) != 0:
raise RuntimeError("Couldn't reach gamescope's input socket. Is the headset on?")
self.fd = L.ei_get_fd(self.ei)
self.device, self.sequence, self.held, self.keys, self.alive = None, 0, set(), set(), True
def pump(self, wait=0.0):
"""Handle gamescope's events; False once it has disconnected."""
select.select([self.fd], [], [], wait)
self.L.ei_dispatch(self.ei)
alive = True
while True:
ev = self.L.ei_get_event(self.ei)
if not ev:
return alive
kind = self.L.ei_event_get_type(ev)
if kind == EV_SEAT_ADDED:
seat = self.L.ei_event_get_seat(ev)
# Variadic, ending in 0 (NULL): ask for everything we send.
self.L.ei_seat_bind_capabilities(ctypes.c_void_p(seat), *map(ctypes.c_int, (
CAP_POINTER, CAP_ABSOLUTE, CAP_BUTTON, CAP_SCROLL, CAP_KEYBOARD, 0)))
elif kind == EV_DEVICE_RESUMED:
device = self.L.ei_event_get_device(ev)
if self.L.ei_device_has_capability(device, CAP_ABSOLUTE):
self.sequence += 1
self.L.ei_device_start_emulating(device, self.sequence)
self.device = device
# Releases that arrived while it was paused were dropped: let go of
# everything now, so the headset and this agent agree nothing is held.
if self.held or self.keys:
self.release_all()
elif kind in (EV_DEVICE_PAUSED, EV_DEVICE_REMOVED):
if self.L.ei_event_get_device(ev) == self.device:
self.device = None
elif kind == EV_DISCONNECT:
self.device, alive, self.alive = None, False, False
self.L.ei_event_unref(ev)
def wait_ready(self, timeout=5):
end = time.time() + timeout
while self.device is None and time.time() < end:
if not self.pump(0.1):
break
if self.device is None:
raise RuntimeError("gamescope closed its input socket" if not self.alive
else "gamescope didn't offer an input device")
def frame(self):
self.L.ei_device_frame(self.device, self.L.ei_now(self.ei))
self.L.ei_dispatch(self.ei)
def move_to(self, x, y):
self.L.ei_device_pointer_motion_absolute(self.device, x, y)
self.frame()
def move_by(self, dx, dy):
self.L.ei_device_pointer_motion(self.device, dx, dy)
self.frame()
def button(self, name, down):
code = BUTTONS[name]
if down == (code in self.held):
return # already in that state
self.L.ei_device_button_button(self.device, code, down)
self.frame()
(self.held.add if down else self.held.discard)(code)
def scroll(self, dx, dy):
self.L.ei_device_scroll_delta(self.device, dx, dy)
self.frame()
def key(self, code, down):
self.L.ei_device_keyboard_key(self.device, code, down)
self.frame()
(self.keys.add if down else self.keys.discard)(code)
# Paced: a burst of keys can reach the app out of order (seen 2026-09-29).
time.sleep(0.008)
def text(self, text):
for ch in text:
if ch not in ASCII:
continue
code, shifted = ASCII[ch]
if shifted:
self.key(SHIFT, True)
self.key(code, True)
self.key(code, False)
if shifted:
self.key(SHIFT, False)
def release_all(self):
"""Let go of every button and key still down, so nothing stays held in the headset."""
for code in list(self.held):
name = next(n for n, c in BUTTONS.items() if c == code)
self.button(name, False)
for code in list(self.keys):
self.key(code, False)
# ---- events from the server --------------------------------------------------------
def events(line):
try:
data = json.loads(line)
except ValueError:
return []
return [e for e in (data if isinstance(data, list) else [data]) if isinstance(e, dict)]
def number(value, limit=100000.0):
if isinstance(value, bool) or not isinstance(value, (int, float)) or value != value:
raise ValueError("not a number")
return max(-limit, min(limit, float(value)))
STALE = [False] # whether the last status said a tap went nowhere
def aimed_elsewhere(event, panel):
"""Whether an event names a panel that isn't the one with focus now."""
if "window" not in event:
return False
return (panel.get("window"), panel.get("display")) != (event.get("window"), event.get("display"))
def apply(gs, event, panel):
"""Send one event; returns the focused panel it checked against (looked up at most once a second).
Positions and presses name the panel they were meant for. If focus has moved to
another panel since, they go nowhere, so a tap can't land on the wrong one;
releases always go, so nothing stays held.
"""
# Moves may use a focus reading up to a second old; anything that acts (a press, key,
# text or scroll) reads it afresh, so it can't land on a panel that took focus since.
acts = any(k in event for k in ("button", "key", "text", "scroll")) and event.get("down") is not False
if "window" in event:
if panel and acts and focus_now() == (panel.get("window"), panel.get("display")):
pass # still the same panel (its geometry is re-read on the usual one-second schedule)
elif acts or not panel or time.time() - panel.get("_at", 0) > 1 or aimed_elsewhere(event, panel):
panel = {**focus(), "_at": time.time()}
stale = aimed_elsewhere(event, panel) if "window" in event else False
if stale and not (event.get("down") is False and ("button" in event or "key" in event)):
say("ready", focus=panel.get("window"), display=panel.get("display"), stale=True) # the page re-syncs
STALE[0] = True
return panel
if STALE[0] and not stale:
# Anything that goes through (a trackpad move names no panel) means caught up: stop re-syncing.
STALE[0] = False
say("ready", focus=(panel or {}).get("window"), display=(panel or {}).get("display"))
if "fx" in event and panel and panel.get("window"):
gs.move_to(*to_root(panel, number(event["fx"], 1), number(event["fy"], 1)))
if "dx" in event or "dy" in event:
gs.move_by(number(event.get("dx", 0), 2000), number(event.get("dy", 0), 2000))
if event.get("button") in BUTTONS:
gs.button(event["button"], event.get("down") is not False)
if isinstance(event.get("scroll"), list) and len(event["scroll"]) == 2:
gs.scroll(number(event["scroll"][0], 5000), number(event["scroll"][1], 5000))
if isinstance(event.get("key"), int) and not isinstance(event["key"], bool) and 0 < event["key"] < 768:
gs.key(event["key"], event.get("down") is not False)
if isinstance(event.get("text"), str):
gs.text(event["text"][:500])
return panel
def main():
if sys.argv[1:] == ["focus"]:
print(json.dumps(focus()))
return 0
if sys.argv[1:] == ["panels"]:
print(json.dumps(panels()))
return 0
try:
gs = Gamescope()
gs.wait_ready()
except (OSError, RuntimeError) as e:
say("error", message=str(e))
return 1
say("ready", focus=focus().get("window"))
stdin, pending, panel = sys.stdin.fileno(), b"", None
try:
while True:
ready, _, _ = select.select([stdin, gs.fd], [], [], 30)
if gs.fd in ready and not gs.pump():
say("error", message="gamescope closed its input socket")
return 1
if stdin not in ready:
continue
chunk = os.read(stdin, 65536)
if not chunk:
return 0 # the server went away
*lines, pending = (pending + chunk).split(b"\n")
for line in lines:
waited = False
for event in events(line):
if gs.device is None and waited:
continue # still paused: don't wait again for each event of this batch
if gs.device is None:
waited = True
# Paused (gamescope can pause the device): wait a moment; drop this
# event if it doesn't come back. Only a disconnect ends the session.
try:
gs.wait_ready(2)
except RuntimeError:
if not gs.alive:
raise
continue
try:
panel = apply(gs, event, panel)
except (ValueError, KeyError, TypeError, OSError):
continue # the server checks events; skip anything odd
except RuntimeError as e:
say("error", message=str(e))
return 1
finally:
if gs.device is not None:
gs.release_all() # never leave a button held down in the headset
if __name__ == "__main__":
sys.exit(main())