xvkbd - virtual keyboard for X window system

[ English | Japanese ]

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.

Screenshot of xvkbd

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.

Environment
Operation
Screen Shot
Download
Install
Customization
Miscellaneous Informations
- Notes
- Additional Informations
Change Log
Author

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.

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.

Word Completion panel

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

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-6004), Norwegian, Portuguese, 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.
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.
Lock Shift?: Toggle locking/momentary of Shift keys
Lock Control, Alt and Meta?: Toggle locking/momentary of Control, Alt and Meta keys.

Connect to Remote Display...: Open a panel to specify the name of a remote display to be connected, 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.

Options

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

-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-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.

-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

Set window geometry.

When you are attempting to set window position with the distance from right/bottom of the screen, 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)
\C - Control (modify the next character)
\A - Alt (modify the next character)
\M - Meta (modify the next character)
\[keysym] - the keysym keysym

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.

-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.

-window window

Specify the ID (hexadecimal value leaded with `0x', or decimal value) or name (instance name or class name) of the window to set input focus. 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.

-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 dictionary (list of words) file to be used for word completion.

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

Screen Shot

Default (US): http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-normal.gif
Belgian: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-belgian.gif
Danish: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-danish.gif
French: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-french.gif; http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-french2.gif
German: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-german.gif
Icelandic: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-icelandic.gif
Italian: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-italian.gif
Japanese (JIS-X-6004): http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-jisx6004.gif
Norwegian: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-norwegian.gif
Portuguese: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-portuguese.gif
Spanish: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-spanish.gif
Swedish: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-swedish.gif
Swiss/German: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-swissgerman.gif
United Kingdom: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-uk.gif
Latin-1: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-latin1.gif
Small Keyboard (maybe suitable for PDAs): http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-small.gif
Hebrew: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-hebrew.gif
(app-default: XVkbd-hebrew.ad)
Greek: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-greek.gif
(app-default: XVkbd-greek.ad)
Turkish: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-turkish.gif
(app-default: XVkbd-turkish.ad)
Slovene: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-slovene.gif
(app-default: XVkbd-slovene.ad)

Download

Latest Official Release: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-2.4.tar.gz
- source of version 2.4 (2002-10-02), 56kB
previous release: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-2.3.tar.gz
- source of version 2.3 (2002-04-05), 52kB http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/xvkbd-2.2.tar.gz
- source of version 2.2 (2002-03-17), 49kB

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

Install

untar the source in a directory, and move to the directory
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.
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:

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

Here, application default directory can be either of:

directories specified with $XUSERFILESEACHPATH, $XAPPLRESDIR or else $HOME environment variable
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.

[ New (2002-10-02) ] If the first character of the assigned string is `!', the string will be used as command to be executed when the key is clicked. String starting with `!' can be assigned by putting `\' before `!'.

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

[ New (2002-10-02) ] 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.

Edit Function Keys

Miscellaneous Informations

Notes

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.
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.
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.

Additional Informations

FAQ - Possible Problems and Solutions: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/faq.html
Making your own completion dictionary: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tsato/xvkbd/make-dic.html
Note about how to send key events: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/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.

Author

xvkbd was written by Tom Sato, and it is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Please send any feedback (such as bug reports, requests or comments) to Tom Sato <VEF00200@nifty.ne.jp>.

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

by Tom Sato, 2002-10-02
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