Difference between revisions of "Create a keyboard layout"

From ReactOS Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(Minor formatting and a note.)
Line 73: Line 73:
 
There is a list of virtual key codes available at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winui/WinUI/WindowsUserInterface/UserInput/VirtualKeyCodes.asp
 
There is a list of virtual key codes available at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winui/WinUI/WindowsUserInterface/UserInput/VirtualKeyCodes.asp
  
 +
== Example ==
  
 +
Here's a short example of what is needed to be done to add a new keyboard layout:
  
----
+
First make sure you have got a working build environment: http://reactos.com/wiki/index.php/Build_Environment
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here's a short example of what is needed to be done to add a new keyboard layout:
 
  
First make sure you have got a working build environment.  
+
You will need to know the correct descriptions and abbreviations for your keyboard (EG. American English, en-US, etc).
http://reactos.com/wiki/index.php/Build_Environment
 
  
 
The easiest way of creating a new keyboard layout is to copy and then modify an existing layout. The existing layouts can be found in the sources under /lib/kbd*.  
 
The easiest way of creating a new keyboard layout is to copy and then modify an existing layout. The existing layouts can be found in the sources under /lib/kbd*.  
 
For the rest of this HOWTO let’s imagine we want to create a Swiss German keyboard layout (kbdsg.dll) based on the German kayboard layout.
 
For the rest of this HOWTO let’s imagine we want to create a Swiss German keyboard layout (kbdsg.dll) based on the German kayboard layout.
  
   Copy /lib/kbdgr (=the German layout) to /lib/kbdsg.
+
   Copy /lib/kbdgr (the layout you're modifying (In this example the German layout)) to /lib/kbdsg.
  
 
In '''/lib/kbdsg''' rename the following files:
 
In '''/lib/kbdsg''' rename the following files:

Revision as of 21:50, 19 February 2005

The keyboard layouts are dlls loaded in kernel space. The keyboard layouts are a bit strange since the constants used in them have no standard definitions, so the keyboard files have some preprocessor cruft. You can find this stuff in the existing keyboard layouts.

They have a data payload and a single entry point that returns a pointer to the keyboard tables.

The structure has these members:

 modifiers -> modifier_keys -> zero terminated mapping from vk to mod bit
ROSDATA VK_TO_BIT modifier_keys[] = {
  { VK_SHIFT,   KSHIFT },
  { VK_CONTROL, KCTRL },
  { VK_MENU,    KALT },
  { 0,          0 }
};
           -> number of bit combinations listed in modifier bits
   6
           -> modifier_bits 
 { 0, 1, 3, 4, SHFT_INVALID, SHFT_INVALID, 2 } /* Modifier bit order, NONE, SHIFT, CTRL, ALT, MENU, SHIFT + MENU, CTRL + MENU */

Each entry in this list is indexed by a shift state (some combination of bits from the modifier keys table), and tells what column in the VK_TO_WCHARS tables that shift state applies to.

 vk_to_wchar_master -> null terminated list of vk_to_wchar tables of varying widths.  the numberpad
 is a special table and is listed last.

Each vk_to_wchar table is identified by a width, telling how many of the columns indexed by the modifier list are present.

Put the new key-to-char entry in the key_to_chars_Xmod, where X is the number of functions the key has in the particular language. The values of the columns other than column 2 are from the ISO10646 unicode standard. See the tables at http://www.unicode.org/charts/.

ROSDATA VK_TO_WCHARS3 key_to_chars_3mod[] = {
  /* Normal, Shifted, Ctrl */
  /* Legacy (telnet-style) ascii escapes */
  { '3', CAPS, '3', 0xa7, 0xb3 },
  { '7', CAPS, '7', '/', '{' },
  ...
The vitrual key '3' responds to capitalization in this language, produces:
  '3'  unshifted (column 2)
  0xa7 Section sign  Shifted      (1) in the modifier bits
  0xb3 Superscript 3 Ctrl+Shift   (3) in the modifier bits (Alt+Gr)

 dead_key -> most languages have keys on the keyboard which have more than one meaning depending on 
             which key is pressed next.  The dead key table tells which keys these are and what the
             outcomes will be.
 ROSDATA DEADKEY dead_key[] = {
   { DEADTRANS(L'a', L'^', 0xe2, 0x00) },
 In this language, '^' followed by 'a' yields 0xe2, "Latin small letter a with circumflex"

Dead keys are marked in the vk_to_wchar table by a WCH_DEAD and then are searched by first and second keypress in the dead chars table.

 Followed in the main table by three key name tables (zero terminated)
 1. normal key names
 2. extended key names
 3. dead key names

The tables following these are the meat of the system, scancode to virtual key translation tables. Since there are more keys in the unenhanced key table (the 'beige keys') these are listed as 0x80 entries, indexed by scan code. Empty entries are marked VK_EMPTY.

The e0 and e1 scan code to vk tables are zero-terminated lists of scan codes that follow the special e0 and e1 extended keyboard codes. The first column is the scan code and the second column is an 8-bit virtual key code along with any required modifier bits in the upper byte (normally KEXT). The ext-bit is used by various parts of the keyboard system (for example to distinguish left and right shift and control, and to distinguish the windows keys from the alt keys).

Following these are:

 Layout version (1.1 here)
 

And ligature tables, which we don't currently support. These tables are used in languages that use scripts such a devangari, which have special opening character sequences for the beginning of a sentence. As far as I'm aware, languages based on cyrillic or roman alphabets don't use this. It would be great if somebody could help me describe this more fully.

There is a list of virtual key codes available at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winui/WinUI/WindowsUserInterface/UserInput/VirtualKeyCodes.asp

Example

Here's a short example of what is needed to be done to add a new keyboard layout:

First make sure you have got a working build environment: http://reactos.com/wiki/index.php/Build_Environment

You will need to know the correct descriptions and abbreviations for your keyboard (EG. American English, en-US, etc).

The easiest way of creating a new keyboard layout is to copy and then modify an existing layout. The existing layouts can be found in the sources under /lib/kbd*. For the rest of this HOWTO let’s imagine we want to create a Swiss German keyboard layout (kbdsg.dll) based on the German kayboard layout.

 Copy /lib/kbdgr (the layout you're modifying (In this example the German layout)) to /lib/kbdsg.

In /lib/kbdsg rename the following files:

 kbdgr.c to kbdsg.c
 kbdgr.def to kbdsg.def
 kbdgr.map to kbdsg.map
 kbdgr.rc to kbdsg.rc.

Change kbdsg.rc so that it looks like this:

 #define REACTOS_VERSION_DLL
 #define REACTOS_STR_FILE_DESCRIPTION	"ReactOS Swiss German Keyboard Layout\0"
 #define REACTOS_STR_INTERNAL_NAME	"kbdsg\0"
 #define REACTOS_STR_ORIGINAL_FILENAME	"kbdsg.dll\0"
 #include <reactos/version.rc>

in kbdsg.map, kbdsg.def, makefile and Jamfile

 Search for kbgr and change it to kbdsg

Change kbdsg.c according to the keyboard specifications (yes, this is the main part of the work)

Now we want to make sure that the keyboard layout dll gets compiled (and set as the default layout so we can test it). We therefore need to change the following files:

bootdata/hivesys.inf

 Search for "Keyboard Layouts" and add an entry for your new layout. 
 As for the number you need there (like "0x409" for US), I think 
 it's 0x807 (LANG_GERMAN with SUBLANG_GERMAN_SWISS). You probably need 
 to add an entry below "NLS Language settings" too, no idea what that 
 does, I'd just copy an existing entry and adjust. Then change "Default" 
 and "InstallLanguage" to 0807. 

bootdata/hivedef.sys

 near the top, "Control Panel\International", "Locale" change "0409" to "0807". 

Makefile (the one in the source root directory)

 Add your layout to the following line:
 DLLS_KBD = kbdda kbddv kbdes kbdfr kbdgr kbdse kbduk kbdus kbdsg

bootdata/packages/reactos.dff

 Just follow the example of the other lib/kbd* stuff in there. 

if you now build a livecd your keyboard layout should be the default layout.