Capture events

Capture events inform you of the changes in the mouse capture state. UI(User Interface) Allows a user to interact with your application. Unity currently supports three UI systems. More info
See in Glossary Toolkit has two types of capture events:

• Mouse capture events
• Pointer capture events

When an element captures the mouse or pointer, it’s the only element that receives events from the pointing device until the device releases or loses the capture.

For example, if you click in a text box, the text box captures the mouse. The mouse can still move around the screen, but it won’t trigger events outside of the text box. As long as the text box has your mouse captured, it won’t trigger other events. When the user presses a button on the mouse outside of the text box, the box releases its mouse capture.

Behavior

Mouse capture

Mouse capture events refer to events on a physical mouse, or a virtual mouse emulating a physical mouse. Capturing a mouse will also result in a PointerCaptureEvent for the mouse pointer.

When an element releases a mouse capture, the corresponding MouseCaptureOutEvent triggers, with the target being the element that requested the release of the capture.

There can never be two elements that capture the mouse at the same time. If another visual element triggers a MouseCaptureEvent, the element that sent the original MouseCaptureEvent loses the capture. This also triggers a MouseCaptureOutEvent on the original element.

Pointer capture

Pointer events precede mouse events in UI Toolkit. If the pointer type is a mouse, capturing it will also trigger the corresponding mouse capture events. Capturing the pointer will also capture the mouse.

Event list

MouseCaptureEvent

A MouseCaptureEvent event is sent when an element takes the mouse capture.

target: The element that takes the capture.

MouseCaptureOutEvent

A MouseCaptureOutEvent event is sent when an element releases, or loses the mouse capture.

target: The element that loses the capture.

PointerCaptureEvent

A PointerCaptureEvent event is sent when an element takes the pointer capture.

target: The element that takes the capture.

PointerCaptureOutEvent

A PointerCaptureOutEvent event is sent when an element releases, or loses the pointer capture.

target: The element that loses the capture.

Examples

The following example demonstrates the behavior of the capture events, and capturing and releasing pointers.

To see the example in action, do the following:

1. Under Assets > Scripts > Editor, create a new C# file called CaptureEventsTestWindow.cs
2. Copy the example into the C# script.
3. From the Editor Toolbar, select Window > UI Toolkit > Capture Events Test Window.
4. Click on the various labels in the dialog window, and watch the console for the output.

using UnityEditor;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.UIElements;

public class CaptureEventsTestWindow : EditorWindow
{
    [MenuItem("Window/UI Toolkit/Capture Events Test Window")]
    public static void ShowExample()
    {
        var wnd = GetWindow<CaptureEventsTestWindow>();
        wnd.titleContent = new GUIContent("Capture Events Test Window");
    }

    private bool m_IsCapturing = false;

    public void CreateGUI()
    {
        // Add a few clickable labels that print a message to the console when clicked
        for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
        {
            Label clickableLabel = new Label($"Label {i} - Click Me!");
            clickableLabel.RegisterCallback<MouseDownEvent>((evt) => { Debug.Log($"Clicked on label '{(evt.target as Label).text}'"); });
            rootVisualElement.Add(clickableLabel);
        }

        // Now add a label that captures the pointer
        Label capturingLabel = new Label("Click here to capture mouse");
        capturingLabel.RegisterCallback<MouseDownEvent>((evt) =>
        {
            if (!m_IsCapturing)
            {
                capturingLabel.text = "Click here to release mouse";
                MouseCaptureController.CaptureMouse(capturingLabel);
                m_IsCapturing = true;
            }
            else
            {
                capturingLabel.text = "Click here to capture mouse";
                MouseCaptureController.ReleaseMouse(capturingLabel);
                m_IsCapturing = false;
            }
        });
        rootVisualElement.Add(capturingLabel);

        // Register callbacks to print a message when the mouse is captured or released
        rootVisualElement.RegisterCallback<MouseCaptureEvent>((evt) =>
        {
            Debug.Log("Mouse captured");
        });
        rootVisualElement.RegisterCallback<MouseCaptureOutEvent>((evt) =>
        {
            Debug.Log("Mouse captured released");
        });
    }
}