man xvkbd (1): virtual keyboard for X window system

DESCRIPTION

xvkbd is a virtual (graphical) keyboard program for X Window System which provides facility to enter characters onto other clients (softwares) by clicking on a keyboard displayed on the screen. This may be used for systems without a hardware keyboard such as kiosk terminals or handheld devices. This program also has facility to send characters specified as the command line option to another client.

The standard keyboard layout is based on the traditional US layout, but some other keyboard layout (see "Screen Shot") are also supported. The default window size may be too large for systems with small screen, but it can be configured to use smaller space (220x90 pixels, for example). For details, see also "Screen Shot" and "How to Customize xvkbd" below, and resouce files in the distribution.

xvkbd version 2.1 and later support word completion, which may make it easier to enter long words with xvkbd.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When invoking xvkbd from display managers such as XDM, GDM, etc., always use xvkbd with -secure option or you will have serious security risk.

Environment

xvkbd will work on X11R5 or X11R6. It is tested on redhat Linux and Solaris, and it will work also on most UNIX-like systems.

This program uses Xaw (use of Xaw3d is recommended) and no special library is required.

Operation

Input Keys

When xvkbd is started, the image of a keyboard will be displayed on the screen. Clicking any key on the xvkbd window will send the character to the focused window as if the key had been actually typed with the hardware keyboard.

If you want to input upper-case alphabets or other characters on the upper position on the keyboard, you should click the key after selecting Shift by clicking it, or click the key with mouse button 3 (maybe right button) or mouse button 4. In the similar manner, if you want to input Controled characters, you should click the key after clicking Control, or click the key with mouse button 2 (maybe middle button). Alt and Meta can be used in the similar manner with Control, but there are no shortcuts with mouse buttons.

``Quick Modifiers''

xvkbd 2.5 and later support another way to input characters with modifiers such as Shift, Control, AltGr, etc., which may be useful especially for machines with touch panels such as PDAs - we would call it "Quick Modifiers".

Quick Modifiers can be enabled/disabled by the ``Enable "Quick Modifiers?'' entry on the property panel. If Quick Modifiers is enabled, it will be activated by pressing a key on the xvkbd window, move the pointer outside of the key, and then release the mouse button or equivalent.

The direction of the pointer motion will select the modifier:

  up        - Shift
  right     - AltGr
  right-up  - Shift AltGr
  left      - Control
  left-up   - Shift Control
  down      - Meta
  left-down - Alt

Setting Input Focus

If you are using a window manager and clients where you can set input focus by clicking mouse button on the window (and you don't have to keep pointer in the window after that), you can simply set input focus in the normal way and then click keys on the xvkbd window - the character will be sent to the selected position.

If you are using a window manager or clients where you must keep the pointer in the input field to input from the keyboard, or if the input focus is switched to the xvkbd window when you clicked on the key on the xvkbd window, you must make xvkbd to set input focus explicitly by clicking the Focus button on the xvkbd window and then click on the input field. This input focus can be cleared by clicking Focus button with mouse button 3, or simply clicking Focus button twice.

Word Completion

Choosing ``Word Completion...'' in the main menu will popup the Word Completion panel.

When you entered characters by clicked keys on the xvkbd window as usual while the Word Completion panel open, words started with the characters will be listed in the panel, and you can enter the remaining characters of the selected word by clicking one of the words in the list.

The dictionary (list of words) file is /usr/share/dict/words by default, but it can be changed by -dict option or xvkbd.dictFile resouce, or on the Property panel.

Main Menu

Pressing the ``xvkbd'' logo on the main keyboard (placed near left-bottom corner in the default configuration) will popup the main menu.

The menu contains following items:

About...: Show short description of this program.
Manual...: Launch manual page reader.
Keypad...: Open the Keypad panel.
Sun Function Keys...: Open the Sun Function Keys panel.
Dead Keys...: Open the Dead Keys panel which can be used to enter Latin characters with accent symbol in double stroke.
Word Completion...: Open the Word Completion panel.

Change Keyboard Layout...: Open a popup window to change the keyboard layout. In the default configuration, Default (US), Belgian, Danish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese (JIS-X-6002), Japanese (JIS-X-6004), Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss/German, United Kingdom and Latin-1 are available.
Edit Function Keys...: Open a popup window to edit string assigned to function keys. See also "Assigning Text to Function Keys".
Show Keypad?: Toggle show/hide of the keypad on the main window.
Show Function Keys?: Toggle show/hide of the function keys on the main window.
Property...: Popup the Property panel.
Connect to Remote Display...: Open a panel to specify the name of a remote display (in the meaning of the X Window System) to connect, so that following key events will be sent to windows on the remote display.
Revert to Local Display: Disconnect from the remote display so that following key events will be sent to windows on the local display.

Property Panel

Enable "Quick Modifiers"?: Toggle enable/disable of the Quick Modifiers feature.
Lock Shift?: Toggle locking/momentary of Shift keys.
Lock AltGr?: Toggle locking/momentary of AltGr key.
Lock Control, Alt and Meta?: Toggle locking/momentary of Control, Alt and Meta keys.
Always on Top?: If this entry is set ON, xvkbd attempts to keep the xvkbd window always on the top of the display (i.e. not to be hidden by other windows). This feature is experimental, and care should be taken as this feature can cause problem in some situations.
Behave as Toolbar Window?: xvkbd attempts to be a toolbar window when it is used with some kind of window managers such as Matchbox window manager.
Use XTEST Extension?: XTEST extension will be used if this entry is checked. If this entry is set inactive, the X server does not support XTEST extension.
Jump Pointer?: If this entry is set ON, xvkbd will temporary jump the pointer to the focused window, if XTEST extension is to be used to simulate keyboard events.
Key-Click Sound: Set on/off and duration of key-click sound.
Automatic Click: Set on/off of the automatic click feature and the delay before automatic click is activated. If this feature is set, xvkbd will work as if left mouse button is clicked when mouse pointer is moved on a button and stays long enough. You may want to set Jump Pointer? to OFF to avoid auto-repeating.
Completion Dictionary: Set the filename to be used for word completion. This setting take precedence over the `xvkbd.dictFile' resource and the -dict option.

Options

xvkbd accept following command line options, in addition to general options such as `-display'.

-version

Display version information and exit.

-xsendevent

Make xvkbd to use XSendEvent() to simulate keyboard events, as it was in xvkbd version 1.0. xvkbd version 1.1 and later will try to use XTEST extension instead in the default configuration.

If XTEST extension is not supported by the X server, xvkbd will automatically switch to this mode.

Resource `xvkbd.xtest: false' has the same function.

-no-sync

Normally, xvkbd attempts to synchronize with the destinating client step by step. This can cause problem when the client (or the X server) responded too slow. In such situation, maybe this -no-sync can solve the problem.

Resource `xvkbd.noSync: true' has the same function.

-no-jump-pointer

Make xvkbd not to jump the pointer when sending events. In the default, xvkbd will temporary jump the pointer to the focused window, if input focus is set explicitly via Focus button, and XTEST extension is to be used to simulate keyboard events.

Resource `xvkbd.jumpPointer: false' has the same function.

-no-back-pointer

Make xvkbd not to jump the pointer back to the original position after events has been sent. Maybe this can be useful when using xvkbd to move the pointer position.

Resource `xvkbd.jumpPointerBack: false' has the same function.

-modal

Make labels on keys in the xvkbd window to be set independently for each of four shift states, not shifted, Shift, AltGr and Shift-AltGr. This is useful when you want to make the xvkbd window very small.

See also "Customizing Keyboard Layout" and resouce files in the distribution.

Resource `xvkbd.modalKeytop: true' has the same function.

-geometry [widthxheight][+xoff+yoff]

Set window geometry (size and position).

You can use form like -geometry 400x130 to specify the window size, -geometry +100+100 to specify the window position from left/top edge of the screen, and -geometry 400x130+100+100 to specify both the size and the position. You can specify position from right/bottom edge of the screen by using - instead of +, but please note that you must take account of size of the window border. (If you specify `-geometry -0-0', the window will not fit in the screen.)

This can be set by xvkbd.windowGeometry resource (note that it is not xvkbd.geometry), too.

-no-repeat

Do not auto-repeat even if key is depressed long time.

If auto-repeat is enabled (this is the default), time before start auto-repeat can be set as `xvkbd*Repeater.initialDelay: 600', and period of repeat can be set as `xvkbd*Repeater.minimumDelay: 100' (unit of there parameters are milli-seconds).

Resource `xvkbd.autoRepeat: false' has the same function.

-no-functionkey

Do not display function keys.

Resource `xvkbd.functionkey: false' has the same function.

-no-keypad

Do not display keypad.

Resource `xvkbd.keypad: false' has the same function.

-compact

Do not display function keys nor keypad.

Resource `xvkbd.compact: true' has the same function.

-keypad

Display only keypad. This option will be ignored if `-no-keypad' or `-compact' is specified.

Resource `xvkbd.keypadOnly: true' has the same function.

-text string

Send the string to the focused window (see also `-window' option).

If this option is specified, xvkbd will not open its window and terminate soon after sending the string.

The string can contain:

-

\r - Return

-

\t - Tab

-

\b - Backspace

-

\e - Escape

-

\d - Delete

-

\S - Shift (modify the next character; please note that modify with ``\S'' will be ignored in many cases. For example, ``a\Cb\ScD\CE'' will be interpreted as a, Control-b, c, Shift-D, and Control-Shift-E.)

-

\C - Control (modify the next character)

-

\A - Alt (modify the next character)

-

\M - Meta (modify the next character)

-

\[keysym] - the keysym keysym (e.g., \[Left]), which will be processed in the similar matter with other general characters

-

\{keysym} - the keysym keysym (e.g., \{Left}), which will be processed in more primitive matter and can also be used for modofier keys such as Control_L, Meta_L, etc.; also, \{+keysym} and \{+keysym} will simulate press and release of the key, respectively

-

\Ddigit - delay digit * 100 ms

-

\xvalue - move mouse pointer (use "+" or "-" for relative motion)

-

\yvalue - move mouse pointer (use "+" or "-" for relative motion)

-

\mdigit - simulate click of the specified mouse button

-file filename

Send the contents of the specified file to the focused window (see also `-window' option). If ``-'' was specified as the filename, string to be sent will be read from the standard input (stdin).

If this option is specified, xvkbd will not open its window and terminate soon after sending the string.

-delay value

Put value ms of delay for evey characters when sending characters with -text or -file. Maybe this is useful when problem arises when characters are entered too fast.

-window window

Specify the ID (hexadecimal value leaded with `0x', or decimal value), the name (instance name or class name) of the window, or the title of the window to set input focus. It is possible to use wildcard characters `*' and `?' to match the window name or the window title.

If this is not specified, xvkbd will use input focus under control of the window manager, unless focus is specified explicitly via Focus button. Even if this option is specified, you can set input focus to other windows using Focus button, or clear the input focus.

If there are two or more windows which have the name specified with this option, the window which was found first will be selected.

-widget widget-name

Specify the name of the widget to set the input focus. To use this feature, the client must support Editres protocol. In general, this option will be used with `-window' option.

If you want to set input focus to the widget foo.bar.zot, you can write zot, bar.zot or foo.bar.zot as widget-name. To avoid confusion, the widget-name should match with a single widget of the client.

For example,

xvkbd -window xarchie -widget searchText -text "\Ca\Ckabc\r"

will enter the string ``abc'' to the ``Search Term'' field of a xarchie window.

-remote-display display

Specify the display (in the meaning of the X Window System) to connect;
see also Connect to Remote Display....
.TP 4 -true-keypad If this option is specified, xvkbd will attempt to use keysyms such as XK_KP_1 instead of XK_1.

Resource `xvkbd.keypadKeysym: true' has the same function.

-dict filename

Specify the default dictionary (list of words) file to be used for word completion. The `Completion Dictionary' filename set on the Property panel takes precedence over this.

Resource `xvkbd.dictFile: filename' has the same function.

See also ``Making your own completion dictionary''.

-minimizable

Make xvkbd window can be minimized (iconified) even if no window manager is in use. When this feature is enabled, small triangle will be displayed at left ot the xvkbd main menu, and xvkbd window will be minimized when the triangle is clicked.

Resource `xvkbd.minimizable: true' has the same function.

-secure

Disable invocation of external commands, including user assigned command and the online manual reader. Connection to another displays would also be disabled. This option may be useful when xvkbd is to be run with some kind of privileges.

Resource `xvkbd.secure: true' has the same function.

-nonexitable

Disable termination of the xvkbd program. This option may be useful when xvkbd is to be run automatically for systems with no keyboards and users should not terminate the xvkbd.

Resource `xvkbd.nonexitable: true' has the same function.

-xdm

Same as -secure -nonexitable. When xvkbd is to be run for login screen, it would be suggested to use this option.

-modifiers modifiers

Normally, xvkbd will activate modifiers (control, shift, etc.) only while sending characters. If modifiers were specified with this option, the specified modifiers will be activated while corresponding key on the xvkbd window is in active. For example, you can specify -modifiers shift,control,meta,alt to apply this for those four modifiers. Maybe this can be useful when attempting to decorate the mouse operations with the modifiers. Please note that the modifiers will also be applied when attempting to click on the xvkbd window and which can prevent the correct operation in some situations.

Resource `xvkbd.positiveModifiers: modifiers...' has the same function.

-debug

Make xvkbd to output debug information. It also disable keyboard width adjustment, to help adjusting key size when making keyboard layout file.

<!--

-version

Output version information and exit. -->

Screen Shot

Default (US): http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-normal.gif
Belgian: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-belgian.gif
Danish: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-danish.gif
French: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-french.gif
http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-french2.gif
German: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-german.gif
Icelandic: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-icelandic.gif
Italian: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-italian.gif
Japanese (JIS-X-6002): http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-jisx6002.gif
Japanese (JIS-X-6004): http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-jisx6004.gif
Norwegian: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-norwegian.gif
Portuguese: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-portuguese.gif
Spanish: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-spanish.gif
Swedish: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-swedish.gif
Swiss/German: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-swissgerman.gif
United Kingdom: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-uk.gif
Latin-1: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-latin1.gif
Small Keyboard (maybe suitable for PDAs): http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-small.gif
Hebrew: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-hebrew.gif
Greek: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-greek.gif
Turkish: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-turkish.gif
Slovene: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-slovene.gif
Korean: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-korean.gif
Russian (Cyrillic): http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-russian.gif

Download

Latest Official Release: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-3.3.tar.gz
- source of version 3.3 (2012-03-03)
previous release: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-3.2.tar.gz
- source of version 3.2 (2010-03-14)
http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-3.1.tar.gz
- source of version 3.1 (2010-01-17)

xvkbd is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Install

o: untar the source in a directory, and move to the directory
o: If you wish to use genuine Xaw insead of Xaw3d, edit Imakefile and remove (or comment-out) `#define XAW3D'.
When you are installing xvkbd (for example) in very old systems, you may also want to remove `#define XTEST' and `#define I18N' to disable XTEST and internationalization facility respectively.
o: Run xmkmf; make install install.man

Customization

How to Customize xvkbd

Some degree of customization of xvkbd is possible by setting resources. Some resources are already described above, and resources to customizing keyboard layout are described below.

To set resources, you can:

o: put them in your $HOME/.Xdefaults file, or
o: load them via xrdb(1), or
o: set the filename to the $XENVIRONMENT environment variable, or
o: put them in application default directory as `XVkbd-suffix' and set resource ``xvkbd.customization: -suffix'', or
o: put them in application default directory as XVkbd.

Here, application default directory can be either of:

o: directories specified with $XUSERFILESEACHPATH, $XAPPLRESDIR or else $HOME environment variable
o: system's application default directory specified with $XFILESEACHPATH environment variable, or else the directory specified when compiling the X (e.g., /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults)

When the application default file is to be stored in the system's application default directory, the file must contain ``#include "XVkbd-common"'' near top of the file.

xvkbd is distributed with some application default files, and they will be installed in the system's application default directory.

Making Window Small

Size (and position) of xvkbd window can be set by `xvkbd.windowGeometry' resource. When making window small, you may need to choose the smaller font, too.

  xvkbd.windowGeometry: 220x90
  xvkbd.compact: true
  xvkbd*Font: 6x12

You may also want to set:

  xvkbd.modalKeytop: true

to display only the labels for the current shift state, instead of trying to always display all of them in the small keytop.

See also XVkbd-small.ad in the xvkbd distribution.

Removing Unwanted Keys

Keys on xvkbd window can be removed by setting its width to 1.

To remove Compose key and make Shift key larger, you can write:

  xvkbd*Multi_key.width: 1
  xvkbd*Shift_R.width: 75

To remove right Alt and Meta key, you can write:

  xvkbd*Alt_R.width: 1
  xvkbd*Meta_R.width: 1

Customizing Keyboard Layout

Layout of keys on the xvkbd window can be customized with following resources:

xvkbd.NormalKeys: list of keys available when neighter of Shift and AltGr are selected
xvkbd.ShiftKeys: list of keys available when Shift is selected
xvkbd.AltgrKeys: list of keys available when AltGr is selected
xvkbd.ShiftAltgrKeys: list of keys available when both AltGr and Shift are selected
xvkbd.KeyLabels: list of labels displayed on the keys
xvkbd.NormalKeyLabels: list of labels displayed on the keys
when neither of Shift and AltGr are selected.
xvkbd.ShiftKeyLabels: list of labels displayed on the keys
when Shift is selected
xvkbd.AltgrKeyLabels: list of labels displayed on the keys
when AltGr is selected
xvkbd.ShiftAltgrKeyLabels: list of labels displayed on the keys
when both AltGr and Shift are selected

Four resources to set labels on the keys (xvkbd.NormalKeyLabels, xvkbd.ShiftKeyLabels, xvkbd.AltgrKeyLabels and xvkbd.ShiftAltgrKeyLabels) will be used instead of xvkbd.KeyLabels when xvkbd.modalKeytop resoruce is set true.

In all of those resources, each keys are separated by spaces, and rows of keys are terminated with ` \n\' (note that `\n' must have space before it). Please refer XVkbd-german.ad and XVkbd-latin1.ad in the xvkbd distribution for more about these resources.

XVkbd-german and XVkbd-latin1 will be installed in the system's application default directory, and setting the resource ``xvkbd.customization: -german'' will make xvkbd to use the German layout. For another method to activate those settings, please refer "How to Customize xvkbd" above.

Assigning Text to Function Keys

Text can be assigned to each function keys (and, actually, to most other keys). If text is assigned to the function key, clicking on the key will send the assigned text instead of the function key itself. When pointer is on a key where text is assigned, the text will be displayed near the key.

The setting will be read from a text file which contains text for each function keys as:

  F1 text for F1
  F2 text for F2
  s:F1 text for Shift-F1
  c:F1 text for Control-F1
  m:F1 text for Meta-F1
  a:F1 text for Alt-F1
  ...

`s:', `c:', `m:' and `a:' before the keys name indicates four modifiers (Shift, Control, Meta and Alt) respectively.

If the first character of the assigned string is `!', the string will be used as command to be executed when the key is clicked. To assign string starting with `!' or `\', put `\' before the string.

The file is $HOME/.xvkbd in default, and it can be changed by setting the filename with xvkbd.keyFile resource.

For F1 to F12 with or without Shift modifier, it is possible to edit the assigned string on a panel popped up via "Edit Function Keys..." in the main menu.

Miscellaneous Informations

Notes

o: On XFree86, resolution switch with Ctrl + Alt + Keypad-Plus and Ctrl + Alt + Keypad-Minus may be simulated. However, Ctrl + Alt + Backspace will not be simulated.
o: Shift is used to decide key to be sent and it will not used to set modifier bit when sending the event. You can use xev command to check what is actually sent.
o: If Alt or Meta is not defined as modifier, the key can't be used as modifier. You can use `xmodmap -pm' to check how modifiers are defined.
o: Num Lock (and maybe other modifiers) on the physical keyboard may not work correctly when xvkbd is in use.

Additional Informations

FAQ - Possible Problems and Solutions: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/faq.html
Making your own completion dictionary: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/make-dic.html
Hints to use xvkbd -text: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-text.html
Note about how to send key events: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/events.html

Change Log

Version 0.1 (2000-05-13)
-: The first release, not announced anywhere.
Version 0.2 (2000-09-15)
-: Compose key is added. In the environments where Compose key is supported, some characters (mainly letters with accent symbol) which can't be entered directly from keyboard can be entered using dedicated key combinations.
-: Make keyboard layout not to be disturbed when window size if specified with -geometry option.
-: Sample app-defaults file is added.
Version 0.3 (2000-10-05)
-: -text option can now accept some modifiers (\S, \C, etc.) and any keysyms (\[keysym]).
-: In addition to the window ID, -window option can now accept window name.
-: New -widget option to specify the widget to set the input focus.
Version 1.0 (2000-11-03)
-: Keyboard layout can be now configured with resources. See "Customizing Keyboard Layout" above, and XVkbd-german.ad in the distribution.
-: xvkbd can now send keys with Mode_switch (AltGr) modifier, which enables those characters in the position to be entered.
-: xvkbd now support AltGr key so that German (and some other) keyboard layout can be used. See XVkbd-german.ad in the distribution.
-: XVkbd-german and XVkbd-latin1 are included in the distribution, which modifies keyboard layout and put some non-ASCII keys on the xvkbd window.
-: CapsLock key is supported now.
Version 1.1 (2000-12-23)
-: xvkbd can now use XTEST extension to simulate keyboard events. It can still use XSendEvent(), as it was in the older release. (thanks, Bjoern)
-: Labels on keys can now be set independently for each of four shift states, not shifted, Shift, AltGr and Shift-AltGr. (thanks, Jim)
-: -kterm option and xvkbd.kterm resource are removed.
Version 1.2 (2001-02-18)
-: Focus button is now placed in the main keyboard, too, so that it will be available also in compact mode. If you don't need it, it can be removed by setting ``xvkbd*row5.Focus.width: 1''.
-: Input focus set by Focus button can now be cleard by clicking Focus button twice. Clicking Focus button with mouse button 3 will still clear the input focus, too.
-: Text can now be assigned to function keys (and, actually, to most other keys).
-: It is now possible to assign keys modified with Shift, Control, Alt and Meta on the main keyboard, by putting `s:', `c:', `a:' and `m:' before those keysym name when customizing the keyboard layout.
-: xvkbd now ignores SIGINT and SIGQUIT so that it will not terminated accidently.
Version 1.3 (2001-03-19)
-: New app-defaults file for Swiss-German layout, XVkbd-swissgerman.ad. (contributed from Marcel Portner)
-: xvkbd now catches MappingNotify event and reload the new mapping. This allows users to use xmodmap while xvkbd is running.
-: NumLock key is supported now. (I'd removed Print, ScrLk and Pause from keypad - somebody need them?)
Version 1.4 (2001-04-22)
-: Auto-repeat didn't work when focus was set explicitly via Focus button. It is now fixed.
-: When required keysym was not defined in the keymap table, xvkbd will now add it on-the-fly. This means that we don't have to add them via xmodmap.
-: Keypad panel can now be popped up from the main keyboard as a separate window.
-: Sun function keys is now supported. It can be popped up from the main keyboard as a separate window.
-: Manual page is now available.
Version 1.5 (2001-10-08)
-: Key events can now be sent to windows on a remote display (i.e. windows on other X servers) - use "Connect to Remote Display..." in the main menu to connect to remote display.
-: Shift, Control, Alt and Meta can now be locked - use "Lock Shift?" and "Lock Control, Alt and Meta?" in the main menu. Those initial settings can be set by xvkbd.shiftLock and xvkbd.modifiersLock resource.
-: If the first keysym for a key is an alphabet and the second keysym is NoSymbol, it is now interpreted as if the first keysym is lowercase alphabet and the second keysym is uppercase alphabet. Keymap may be defined in this way in some systems including Solaris, and older xvkbd may not work correctly in such situation.
Version 1.6 (2001-11-10)
-: New `-file' option to send characters in the specified file. (thanks, Gregory)
-: New entry `Use XTEST Extension?' is added to the main menu, mainly to indicate the availability of the XTEST extension.
-: xvkbd would crash when the window explicitly focused via Focus button becomes was destroyed. This problem is now fixed.
Version 2.0 (2001-12-09)
-: Keyboard layout (default, German, French, etc.) can now be changed after xvkbd is invoked.
-: Show/hide of the keypad and funcion keys on the main window can now be toggled from the main menu.
-: New app-defaults file for French layout, XVkbd-french.ad. (contributed from Jean-Pierre Demailly)
Version 2.1 (2002-01-27)
-: When height of the xvkbd window is smaller than XVkbd.modalThreshold, xvkbd will now automatically switch the keytop as if -modal option was specified.
-: \[keysym] in -text option would send wrong keys - this problem is now fixed.
-: Target distclean in the Imakefile is renamed to avoid the possible confusion on some systems.
-: Word completion is now supported.
Version 2.2 (2002-03-17)
-: String assigned to function keys can now be edited on a panel popped up via "Edit Function Keys..." in the main menu.
-: When ``-'' was specified as the filename parameter for -file option, xvkbd will now read its standard input (stdin) to get the string to be sent.
-: In the previous release, less-portable setenv() function was used instead of putenv() function, may cause compilation error on some systems including Solaris.
Version 2.3 (2002-04-05)
-: New "Dead Keys" panel added. Which can be used to enter Latin characters with accent symbol in double stroke.
-: More localized keyboard layout: Belgian, Danish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese (JIS-X-6004), Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss/German, United Kingdom and Latin-1.
-: -keypad option would crash previous version of xvkbd - this problem is now fixed.
Version 2.4 (2002-10-02)
-: Command can now be assigned to function keys so that clicking on the function key will execute the command instead of sending the string to clients.
-: Assigned string for F1 to F12 with Shift modifier can now be edited on a panel popped up via "Edit Function Keys..." in the main menu.
Version 2.5 (2002-10-12)
-: Quick Modifier feature added - now, it is possible to enter characters with modifiers by pressing a key and then move the pointer. (suggested by Niklas Rokaeus)
-: ``Lock AltGr?'' entry is added in the main menu.
-: Status of ``Lock Shift?'', ``Lock AltGr'', ``Lock Control, Alt and Meta?'' will be recorded in $HOME/.xvkbd file and it will be read when xvkbd is invoked next time.
Version 2.5a (2003-06-25)
-: ``Fitaly'' layout is now supported - may be useful for PDAs.
Version 2.6 (2004-05-04)
-: Code to adding keysyms which were not found in the keymap table is revised. xvkbd now avoid to add keysyms in the shifted position of keys which already have a keysym defined in the non-shifted position, and entries in the keymap table which is modified keys will be redefined rather than redefining the entire keymap table. This change is to avoid possible problem (AltGr key could be effectively disabled) which may caused in some systems where XGetKeyboardMapping() can produce incorrect map when keys have more then two keysyms.
-: If Mode_switch is not defined in the modifier table but ISO_Level3_Shift is defined, xvkbd now attempt to add Mode_switch as the same modifier with ISO_Level3_Shift.
-: Korean layout is now supported. Although Hangul characters will be displayed on the keys, xvkbd will simply generate alphabet characters when those keys are clicked. It is intented to be used with "ami" or similar Hangul input program.
-: URL of the xvkbd main page is now changes to http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/.
Version 2.7 (2005-05-05)
-: Yet another Japanese keyboard layout, JIS X 6002, is now supported.
-: It is now possible to minimize (iconify) the main window even if no window manager is in use. This feature can be activated by -minimizable option or xvkbd.minimizable resource.
-: Experimental code to keep the xvkbd window always on the top of the display. This feature can be activated by -always-on-top option, xvkbd.alwaysOnTop resource or the "Always on Top?" entry in the main menu. Care should be taken as this feature can cause problem in some situations.
-: -text option now support combinations of modifiers and a special key. For example, -text '\C\A\d' can be used for Control-Alt-Delete key combination.
-: New options: -secure option (xvkbd.secure resource) which disables invocation of external commands, -nonexitable option (xvkbd.nonexitable resource) which inhibits termination of the program, and -xdm option which is equivalent to -secure -nonexitable and maybe useful when run xvkbd from a display manager.
Version 2.7a (2005-05-07)
-: Fixed a problem that xvkbd could cause segmentation fault on startup.
Version 2.8 (2006-09-10)
-: ISO_Level3_Shift is now to be prefered over Mode_switch so that AltGr can be used on relatively new systems where we must use ISO_Level3_Shift instead of Mode_switch.
-: Reference to the target bitmap is changed from /usr/X11R6/include/X11/bitmaps/target to /usr/include/X11/bitmaps/target.
-: New options: -no-back-pointer, -no-sync, -modifiers.
Version 2.9 (2008-03-30)
-: Russian (Cyrillic) keyboard layout supported. (thanks, Victor)
-: New -delay option.
-: \D special sequence in -text can be used to put a delay in specific position.
-: -text can now simulate mouse operation via \x, \y and \m special sequences.
Version 3.0 (2008-05-05)
-: New Property panel.
-: New automatic click feature.
-: Key-click sounds when key is pressed.
Version 3.1 (2010-01-17)
-: Changed the default setting for automatic click to OFF, which was set ON in the previous release in error and caused confusion.
-: The keypad is now customizable, too (see XVkbd-strip.ad for the example).
-: Up to 25x25 keys can now be supported both for the main keyboard and the keypad.
-: Able to open the keypad panel when startup, by setting `xvkbd.keypad: false' and `xvkbd.keypadOnly: true'.
-: Fixed errors in some keyboard layout files (Korean, Slovene, UK).
-: A new sample layout file XVkbd-strip.ad.
Version 3.2 (2010-03-14)
-: New option `Behave as Toolbar Window?' on the Property panel,
which may make xvkbd works better with some kind of window managers
such as Matchbox window manager. (Thanks, Patrick)
-: `Always on Top' will work rather better with window managers
which support extended window manager hint _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE.
-: -window option can now find window which have title match with
the specified string.
-: -window option now accept wildcard characters
`*' and `?'.
-: Word completion dictionary file to be used with `Word Completion...'
can now be specified on the Property panel.
-: Only the words which have two or more characters will be appeared
in the word completion list.
-: New -version option to display version information.
Version 3.3 (2012-03-03)
-: -text can now accept \{keysym}
  so that the specified key can be processed in more primitive manner,
  and so that modofier keys such as Control_L, Meta_L, etc.
  can also be simulated.
  Also, \{+keysym} and \{+keysym}
  will now simulate press and release of the key, respectively.
-: New option -remote-display to make xvkbd connect to
the specified display when startup.
-: Bug fixed: KP_0 now works.

Author

xvkbd was written by Tom Sato, and it is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License Version 2 or any later version.

Please send any feedback (such as bug reports, requests or comments) to Tom Sato <[email protected]>.

The latest version of this software and more information about it may be available at http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/xvkbd/. Release of the new version will be announced on the Freecode (http://freecode.com), and you can probably receive the announce via e-mail if you wish.

DESCRIPTION

Environment

Operation

Input Keys

``Quick Modifiers''

Setting Input Focus

Word Completion

Main Menu

Property Panel

Options

Screen Shot

Download

Install

Customization

How to Customize xvkbd

Making Window Small

Removing Unwanted Keys

Customizing Keyboard Layout

Assigning Text to Function Keys

Miscellaneous Informations

Notes

Additional Informations

Change Log

Author

LAST SEARCHED