implement keymap switching application

[diver]

Haiku should have a keymap switcher application in R1.

There is already one with bsd license: ​http://sourceforge.net/projects/switcher

[korli]

Obviously a keymap switcher should integrate well with switching input methods.

[fyysik]

Replying to korli:

Obviously a keymap switcher should integrate well with switching input methods.

This is bit unclear sentence. IMHO, from user POV, deskbar replicant for switching keymaps for "phonetical" alphabets, shoudln't contain choice for input methods. Maybe only in additional advanced section which allows to set different shorcuts to activate this or that InputMethod. But in this case deskbar idndicator would contain second display field, separate from base keymap field. Keymap is primary thing in relation to Input Methods. To be more clean - user of input methods need ability to set basic "phonetical" keymap (variation of latin in simplest case) to that which suits his/her "physical" keyboard better. And Input Method - to use just that keymapping. Only thing I can propose for better integration is keymap locking (by blocking switcher) while input method is activated.

[koki]

I write in three languages: English, Spanish and Japanese. For the first two, a keymap switcher does the job. The latter uses an input method that is enabled/disabled using a toggle key combination (alt-space in BeOS/Haiku). If my memory does not fail, I think the keymap switch only works when the input method is disabled, and when the input method is enabled, the keymap always returns to whatever system-wide keymap has been chosen as default (which usually is whatever matches your physical keyboard).

As it is now, the keymap switching and the input method toggling are independent one from the other, so they would require separate separate deskbar replicants. I guess they could be combined into one replicant, but I am not sure what that would mean under the hood. FWIW.

[fyysik]

As it is now, the keymap switching and the input method toggling are independent one from the other, so they would require separate separate deskbar replicants. I guess they could be combined into one replicant, but I am not sure what that would mean under the hood. FWIW.

With single input method situation is not so complicated, but I imagine situation when users utilize several input methods. E.g. Hebrew and Japanese, besides, to say, english, german and russian keymaps:) (I know users, who really have need for that!). But from your talk I got understanding that switcher keymap-locking feature with activated input method is already automagically present in BeOS. So we just need to check that it wouldn't be broken in Haiku.

[aldeck]

If someone would like to work on that, note that i'm working on a new keymap management system that would ease implementing this enhancement. Just send me a mail or comment here so there's no wasted effort :)

[diver]

Some links: ​http://switcher.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/switcher/keymapswitcher(haiku)/ ​http://siarzhuk.dyndns.org/switcher-h.zip

I would suggest to add "Show keymap switcher in Deskbar" option to Keymap preflet to trigger deskbar replicant on/off.

[siarzhuk]

Note that mentioned keymap switcher is pending now to be added as optional 3rd party package. See #3681 for details.

[aldeck]

Thanks for the note. I don't have plans to work on my keymap system replacement in the near future, it's fine to use that 3rd party switcher for now :)

[siarzhuk]

Shouldn't this issue be closed as soon as KeymapSwitcher is available as 3rd party app?

[diver]

I would like to have keymap switcher preinstalled. I think that such functionality is a mandotary for an OS.

[axeld]

Indeed, this functionality should be added to the Keyboard preferences in the future (which this ticket is about). For now, using the KeymapSwitcher is fine, though.

[diver]

Even though we have ​KeymapSwitcher in HaikuDepot now, we need something much more integrated. Here is discussion ​http://www.freelists.org/post/haiku-development/About-native-keymap-switching-solution-Was-Looking-for-feedback-on-enhancements-for-dealing-with-Mac-keyboards-with-Haiku

[bitigchi]

Why not bundle this application with the system for the moment? This is real core functionality that's missing. Maybe it will be an incentive for a newcomer to pick this and integrate it into the system in a better way.

[diver]

Yes, this makes sense. When a newcomer installs Haiku and comes to Telegram group asking how to switch keymaps and we have to answer this question again and again and again to get it from HaikuDepot. Current code is at ​https://github.com/HaikuArchives/KeymapSwitcher.

[waddlesplash]

It is already bundled with release images, but not nightlies, I believe.

[bitigchi]

A small but useful hack: Add a button to Keymap preference pane to trigger the Switcher. This way there won't be any confusion about which pane to start with.

[diver]

Yes, this is a good idea.

[pulkomandy]

So, here's the mailing list comment from Siarzhuk Zharski about the KeymapSwitcher design:

It's design is rather eccentrical - the input filter watches for key events and send corresponding switch messages to the replicant in Deskbar that overwrites the ~/config/settings/Key_map file and forces input_server to reload current keymap. Because of such "unoptimal" design it has no chance ever to settle in the Haiku tree.

Another problem this package tries to solve is shortcuts mapping. Haiku has inherited from BeOS the character-based shortcuts and user have to press different keys combinations on different keymaps for the same shortcut. Many people found this annoying - because this breaks the whole idea of shortcuts as "muscle memory using". And needless to say that cyrillic keymaps have no latin characters at all so russian guys are not just annoyed but in the great fury. To calm them, KeymapSwitcher select one of configured keymaps as "base" one and use it to substitute shortcut characters on the fly in the input filter so they looking like from latin-based keymap.

Indeed it would be nice for input_server to be able to switch keymaps without having to rewrite the settings file everytime.