Ubuntu Manpage: SDL_CaptureMouse - Capture the mouse and to track input outside an SDL window.

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synopsis
description
function parameters
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thread safety
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NAME

       SDL_CaptureMouse - Capture the mouse and to track input outside an SDL window.

       Defined in SDL3/SDL_mouse.h

SYNOPSIS

       #include "SDL3/SDL.h"

       bool SDL_CaptureMouse(bool enabled);

DESCRIPTION

Capturing enables your app to obtain mouse events globally, instead of just within your window. Not all
video targets support this function. When capturing is enabled, the current window will get all mouse
events, but unlike relative mode, no change is made to the cursor and it is not restrained to your
window.

This function may also deny mouse input to other windows--both those in your application and others on
the system--so you should use this function sparingly, and in small bursts. For example, you might want
to track the mouse while the user is dragging something, until the user releases a mouse button. It is
not recommended that you capture the mouse for long periods of time, such as the entire time your app is
running. For that, you should probably use

SDL_SetWindowRelativeMouseMode () or

SDL_SetWindowMouseGrab (), depending on your goals.

While captured, mouse events still report coordinates relative to the current (foreground) window, but
those coordinates may be outside the bounds of the window (including negative values). Capturing is only
allowed for the foreground window. If the window loses focus while capturing, the capture will be
disabled automatically.

While capturing is enabled, the current window will have the

SDL_WINDOW_MOUSE_CAPTURE flag set.

Please note that SDL will attempt to "auto capture" the mouse while the user is pressing a button; this
is to try and make mouse behavior more consistent between platforms, and deal with the common case of a
user dragging the mouse outside of the window. This means that if you are calling SDL_CaptureMouse ()
only to deal with this situation, you do not have to (although it is safe to do so). If this causes
problems for your app, you can disable auto capture by setting the

SDL_HINT_MOUSE_AUTO_CAPTURE hint to zero.

FUNCTION PARAMETERS

       enabled
              true to enable capturing, false to disable.

RETURN VALUE

       Returns true on success or false on failure; call

       SDL_GetError () for more information.

THREAD SAFETY

       This function should only be called on the main thread.

AVAILABILITY

       This function is available since SDL 3.2.0.