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International keyboard support (Developers)

posted by bretjohn Homepage E-mail, Rio Rancho, NM, 14.02.2023, 04:51

>> Creating a custom keyboard layout is not a big deal, but having it
>> automatically be able to notify other programs that may need to know
>> what it's doing can be a very big deal.

> I think we discussed that before, and my feeling is still the same.
Indeed we did, and my opinion hasn't changed, either.

> a) there is no API for that. forget it as no one else would be watching a
> newly invented API.
This is not a newly invented API. It's been around for decades and has been documented in RBIL (both the MS-DOS KEYB identification API and the PC-DOS KEYB sub-mapping API).

> b) there is no need for this. no one else should bother by which scancode
> 'Y' or 'Z' is produced. just process 'Z' or 'Y'. and this API IS
> available.
You're correct that programs _usually_ don't care how the ASCII character got entered, at least for the letters. But some programs care very much about how non-letter characters got entered. For example, some programs do care whether the number "2" got entered via the top row of the keyboard or whether it got entered via the number pad and some particular combination of the NumLock and/or Shift keys. Similarly, some programs care very much whether Enter (ASCII 13) was entered via the regular Enter key, the Enter key on the number pad, Alt-013, or Ctrl-M. With your statement that, "no one else should bother" you are being pretty bold with your opinion.

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