I'd like to buy one of the recently announced bluetooth keyboards designed for Windows 8, such as the Wedge keyboard or one from Logitech. How does Android handle the extra function buttons, like the windows key or the volume up/down play pause etc buttons? Is support included or will we need to hack the OS / kernel?
A Windows keyboard is going to use the Windows API for the function keys, which usually means they won't work at all in Android. However, you can always make custom bindings. Check out this tutorial: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159538
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Hi guys
while we are waiting for the shift project to become true (its actually closer than ever) why dont we work on mapping keyboard buttons to make specific functions under SnapVue (am going to miss this name very soon) like making thr (F3) key act as answer or calendar and the key (F9) work as reject or contacts, and the windows logo to open the start menu?
also if anyone now if there is a software that would make the touchpad act like mouse with cursor under snapvue!
when shift is ready soon those will become needed to complete its fuctions so mine as well we start now
not a single thought guys ??!?!?!?!?!?!?
I've searched around and was amazed that nobody else mentioned this problem before.
I've only just received my Xperia X1 recently and love everything about it except its keyboard. I've used many phones with a hardware keyboard before, and they all have the standard navigation keys/buttons, like the UP, Down, Left and Right keys.
On the Xperia X1 however, it doesn't have that. But there're 4 keys that actually look similar to the navigation keys layout on a typical keyboard. It's the 8, 0, * and # keys. I'm trying to figure out how to map the navigational functions onto those keys......but can't figure out how.
I could use AEButton Plus but I'm looking for something easier, that doesn't use as much memory as AEButton Plus does.
I'm looking for something similar to the X1BC tweak, which basically uses the "TAB" key and assigns Control functions onto it, so that you can use CTRL+C or CTRL+V etc. Again, this is one of the annoying problems using this keyboard, you would think you can use control copy and paste easily but none of the keys on the keyboard does that, that's why X1BC is a tweak that changes the TAB key on the keyboard to use as the Control function as well.......and that's what i'm looking for, a tweak similar to this but for navigational functions instead.
chaoscreater said:
I've searched around and was amazed that nobody else mentioned this problem before.
I've only just received my Xperia X1 recently and love everything about it except its keyboard. I've used many phones with a hardware keyboard before, and they all have the standard navigation keys/buttons, like the UP, Down, Left and Right keys.
On the Xperia X1 however, it doesn't have that. But there're 4 keys that actually look similar to the navigation keys layout on a typical keyboard. It's the 8, 0, * and # keys. I'm trying to figure out how to map the navigational functions onto those keys......but can't figure out how.
I could use AEButton Plus but I'm looking for something easier, that doesn't use as much memory as AEButton Plus does.
I'm looking for something similar to the X1BC tweak, which basically uses the "TAB" key and assigns Control functions onto it, so that you can use CTRL+C or CTRL+V etc. Again, this is one of the annoying problems using this keyboard, you would think you can use control copy and paste easily but none of the keys on the keyboard does that, that's why X1BC is a tweak that changes the TAB key on the keyboard to use as the Control function as well.......and that's what i'm looking for, a tweak similar to this but for navigational functions instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fingerkeyboard though that might be what you don't want (due to memory consumption)
didn't find anything else yet, don't have much time right now...
thanks for the suggestion, but i don't want touch typing. I wanna use the navigational keys on the hardware keyboard....
I have the Official HP TouchPad Wireless Keyboard and I'm running cm9 0.6
Some keys on the Keyboard are non functional with ICS. For example
Brightness Control
Back and Forward Music
Notification Key
Card View Key (Could be used as home button)
Virtual Keyboard Toggle Key
and some others I cant think of
My point is, how can I make these keys functional to actually work
and
Is there any way someone could probably develop a driver that can be flashed via Clockwork Mod Recovery as a ZIP?
It would be a great help to us TouchPad Users running CM9 ICS
BUMP!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
I'm actually very curious about this as well, I own the HP touchpad keyboard too and I really like it, it works really well on WebOS but when it came to android, many of the buttons don't work and it would be really great if these buttons could be remapped in some form or another.
Yeah, I would be interested in this too.
Some of the keys are easily fixable by editing /system/usr/keylayout/qwerty.kl - such as the media back/forward buttons. There's a keytest app out there which will capture keystrokes and spit out the numerical codes. You can then edit these codes in together with the desired commands into the kl file.
Other keys (keyboard toggle, brightness toggle etc...), however, do not trigger numerical keycodes at all when pressed; they seem to be using some WebOS specific command, or the Android driver simply is not written to recognise these codes. It looks like the driver would need to be modified for those keys to work - but I am no expert.
I'll try and post an edited kl file with all the keys which are recognised working later.
I have no idea on Android inputs work, but in Linux/X server there was a command line command that allowed you to directly capture keystrokes/events from a keyboard. Does android use X?
Just so you know, this thread will probably get moved, but I thought I would provide a link before it does.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1379863
I havent applied this to CM9, but I would imagine that it shouldn't be too different.
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Try using this app:
External Keyboard Helper
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...id.hwkeyboardhelperdemo&feature=search_result
You can use it to remap keys into android. Please report back if it works, as I want to buy a keyboard for my tablet, but dont want to deal with useless keys
I did find this review in the UK that mentions this app does help remap and get those uesless keys working:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0058CZX70?pageNumber=2
Quote:
This high quality Bluetooth keyboard measures 28.5cm by 13cm and weighs about 360g, including the two AA batteries that are supplied with it: slightly longer than my tablet is wide, but still small and light enough to carry round.
It is solidly made, matt black metal rather than plastic, with a stylish curving shape firmly supported on rubber feet - no wobble even on slightly uneven surfaces. The slope is perfect for fast typing. The keys are low profile and short-travel, full size, responsive and quiet. No sign that any of them is likey to come loose. There is no numeric keypad, but there is a row of function keys at the top to control the tablet - search, brightness, volume, on/off etc. Battery life is claimed to be about six months as the keyboard powers down when not in use and comes back to life as soon as you press a key.
The keyboard paired with my Sony S and with my Galaxy (both Android devices) without fuss and worked immediately, although three or four key mappings needed adjusting to match the GB layout. For this the External Keyboard Helper app is highly recommended - you just press "autodetect keyboard" and everything comes right.
As other reviewers have mentioned, there is no on/off indicator. The light next to the on/off switch on the underside of the keyboard seems to show that the device is visible for pairing, rather than that it is on. Again, the External Keyboard Helper is useful here because it flashes up a discreet message when a keyboard is not detected. I only found the lack of a light a problem on one occasion - the second time I used it. The batteries supplied were flat, so nothing worked. Fortunately, before hurling it at the wall, I remembered the old principle "check the simplest explanation first".
The lack of a caps lock light I did not find a problem - this probably depends on your style of typing.
Excellent value for money.
Use your Phone or Tablet as a Game Controller for your favorite PC Games over your local WiFi network. Simple to use and very configurable for each of your PC Games!
Feature packed with the features you come to expect in a Game Controller (Plus a few extras). TouchPad and Gyro Mouse functionality allow you to control your PC Mouse movements fast and easy. Use your device Gyroscope for mouse movement and also key assignment with Tilt Buttons!
Assign any WiFi PC Game Controller button to a keyboard key!
Save your Game Button configurations for each Game you have. Allows for multiple controller layouts!
Keep one of the Color Buttons Pressed by holding the Volume Up or Volume Down Key
Turn On or Off vibration
Square button button layout mode (TouchPad supported)
Tilt and TouchPad style Mouse modes. Tilt your device forward, backward, left, or right to move the Mouse or use the Finger TouchPad!
Tilt Buttons allow you to configure any keyboard key to tilt forward, tilt backward, tilt left, and tilt right. This is a great feature for Shooter and Racing games to move around.
WiFi PC Game Controller on Google Play Store
Please let me know if you have any questions or problems.
Version 1.0.81 brings a great new feature (IMO).
* Keep one of the Color Buttons Pressed by tapping the Volume Up or Volume Down Key once
This new feature allows you to hold any one of the Color Buttons in the down position; leaving your finger to use another button I've found this feature great for Shooter Games to hold zoom on weapon leaving your finger to use the fire button. Great to hold the gas pedal down for Racing Games. As you can imagine. You can use this feature for a lot of different uses in your gameplay.
Thanks and let me know if you have any questions.
Hi,
I am having difficulty getting something I would think easy to work on my Nexus for my car install.
I was wondering how people are getting tasker tasks to be triggered off keyboard hotkeys when using either their Joycon or a standard external keyboard.
It seems from research the way to do this used to be quick launch shortcuts (assigning search key + a letter) to an app or shortcut but it seems these do not work for me in android 4.4?
External keyboard helper lets you launch applications from hotkeys, but seems to give no way of launching tasker tasks.
This is really doing my head in! From youtube it looks like others have no issues doing this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Well, the only thing I can think of right now is to use a Tasker Scene with a focused textbox to detect the keys. You will have to run this scene as a dialog, and deal with all the complications with that... (touch disabled outside of dialog, etc) but here's another idea.
You could use a mobile bluetooth keyboard (or any keyboard that has volume/brightness keys) and have a Tasker profile pick up a change in the ringer volume variable, this would give you 2 or 3 hotkeys (vol up, down, or mute). If you don't have a keyboard like that you could edit the Android keymappings under /system/usr/keylayout/General.kl to incorporate volume changes under some key.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
Good idea with detecting the variable changes! I'm using an Arduino Micro which emulates a keyboard so I will have no problem emulating them via buttons & changing the keyboard layout kl if nessesary. Thanks
I am currently working on the same topic: Here is my workaround for trigger a task with an external bluetooth keyboard.
create a task in Tasker
create an app of this task with Tasker App Factory
remap a key of the keyboard to the new app with External Keyboard Helper
Finish
Maybe this is helpful
Thomas
What are you trying to accomplish?
Lokifish Marz said:
What are you trying to accomplish?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. With a bluetooth remote (Satechi BT MediaRemote) i want to switch between the homescreen by pushing a key. (launcher nova and tasker secure settings are necessary)
2. a tasker scenes (dialog) with different options should open by pushing another key. Navigation in the scene should do also with the Bluetooth remote (not yet finish).
The goal is an intuitive handling of the tablet ui in the car with less touch-input on the screen. Something like Audi MMI or BMW idrive.
In my opinion to find icon on the homescreen while driving is difficult.
Here is my current set up.
Nexus 7 (In dash)
Center console mounted volume dial with push to mute (Tablet>dial>amp)
(Not shown in the screencap is that the media widget is also in the Navbar and accessed via a softkey in the navbar)
The console dial was initially a USB 5 button mouse with key remapping but required the amp gain be cranked up which caused issues.
Now for full control you need the following;
(Some of these things can be eliminated with voice controls)
Media Control (Previous, Play/Pause, Next, Playlist, etc.)
Directional controls (Up, Down, Left, Right)
Action Controls (Select, Home, Back, Recent, Menu)
Phone Control (Answer, Hangup, Dialpad)
SMS Control (Full KB or voice to text using a noise canceling mic)
If you skip voice control and you don't count the dialpad or KB, you need 15 buttons or adaptive input based on what app is running but still need at least 5-6 buttons. I am not sure how involved implementation of adaptive input would be as I gave up after days of trying to get it just right.
With the Satechi BT MediaRemote, you can cover most of this by key remapping but have to remember what keys are what. The advantage of proper key remapping is that it removes the need for additional apps to get it to work.
Seeing that I'm not sure how complete of a setup you are trying to get, it's hard to offer anymore advice.