Multilingua virtual keyboard - C# Discussion Boards

7-May-16 19:44

Hello friends,

I'm working on a keyboard application for a small community. Their alphabets are as shown below.
Basically, the application will allow users to either type on the pc keyboard, or the virtual onScreen keys.
It should be noted that their alphabet do not have letter Q, F, X, Z and this will be replaced with Unicode chars.

I've managed to get the onScreen working using the SendKeys.send() method of C#.
However, I'm having trouble getting this working with keyboard input using KeyDown method.
When someone type Q, I wanted Unicode character say "Ɣ" to appear, and not the letter "Q".
A partial part of my code is as below. The keyDown event doesn't seem to fire at all.

Appreciate any help please.
Alphabets

Quote:
Quote:
Majuscules
A A̱ Ä B C D Dh E E̱ Ë Ɛ Ɛ̱ Ɛ̈ G Ɣ H I I̱ J
K L M N Ŋ Nh Ny O O̱ Ö Ɔ Ɔ̱ P R T Th U W Y
Minuscules
a a̱ ä b c d dh e e̱ ë ɛ ɛ̱ ɛ̈ g ɣ h i i̱ j
k l m n ŋ nh ny o o̱ ö ɔ ɔ̱ p r t th u w y

protected override CreateParams CreateParams
          {
               get
               {
                    CreateParams param = base.CreateParams;
                    param.ExStyle |=0x08000000;
                    return param;
               }
          }
private void Form1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
          {
               switch (e.KeyCode)
               {
                    case Keys.Q:
                        SendKeys.Send("Ɣ");
                         break;
                     //The rest of the code here.........
               }
          }

Peter_in_27807-May-16 21:00

Peter_in_2780

7-May-16 21:00

As I recall, the KeyDown event is sent to the control which currently has the keyboard focus. That is quite likely not your form. You may need to attach your handler to the KeyDown events of multiple controls to achieve your aim, or otherwise ensure that focus is on the control you choose.

Cheers,
Peter

Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012

kelkeel7-May-16 22:00

7-May-16 22:00

Peter, thanks so much for your response.

That seems to be my problem at the moment.

How do I do that please?

Thanks,
dotComex.

OriginalGriff7-May-16 22:22

OriginalGriff

7-May-16 22:22

Try setting the Form.KeyPreview property to true - if you don't, then the other controls get "first dibs" on the keyboard data.
If that doesn't work, then override the Form ProcessCmdKey method - you should be able to detect it there.

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

kelkeel7-May-16 23:21

7-May-16 23:21

Hey buddy! Thanks.
Here is what I have tried. It's not working though except that it sends Ö and close the program. However, when I comment out this.Close(), the program does not put the above character on ms word. Is there anything I'm not doing right? I intent to use switch & cases if I can get it working this way.

protected override bool ProcessCmdKey(ref Message msg, Keys keyData)
         {
              if (keyData == Keys.Escape)
              {
                   this.Close();
                   SendKeys.Send("Ö");
                   return true;
              }
              else
              {
                   return base.ProcessCmdKey(ref msg, keyData);
              }
         }

OriginalGriff7-May-16 23:32

OriginalGriff

7-May-16 23:32

You aren't sending anything to Word - you are sending it to your application...

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

kelkeel7-May-16 23:59

7-May-16 23:59

Hello OriginalGriff,
My intention is to send something to applications such as word, notepad etc. etc.
In my code, i have the SendKeys.Send() to send out relevant to the above applications. I'm not sure if it's right in this case, but it works for sending characters when buttons are clicked.
Here below are the main methods. What should I really do here? How should I send it to the Ms Word please?

 protected override CreateParams CreateParams
          {
               get
               {
                    CreateParams param = base.CreateParams;
                    param.ExStyle |=0x08000000;
                    return param;
               }
          }
protected override bool ProcessCmdKey(ref Message msg, Keys keyData)
          {
               switch (keyData)
               {
                    case Keys.Q:
                        SendKeys.Send("Ɣ");
                        //NiloticBtn1.PerformClick();
                         break;
               }

                    return base.ProcessCmdKey(ref msg, keyData);
          }

modified 8-May-16 6:08am.

OriginalGriff8-May-16 0:15

OriginalGriff

8-May-16 0:15

SendKeys sends to the active application - which if your app is receiving the keyboard input is your app, not Word or Notepad.
Providing an onscreen keyboard that "interfaces" between the user and any other app is a much more complex job - and not one I have any experience with. I suspect that you will need to look at Global Hooking to "preview" the keyboard and intercept things, which is not a job for the faint hearted (get it slightly wrong, and your dev system will become very unstable).
I'd be tempted to look at "custom" keyboard layouts instead of hooking: The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator[^]

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

Peter_in_27808-May-16 12:00

Peter_in_2780

8-May-16 12:00

With your link, I can see a whole lot of pranks in the offing. Poke tongue | ;-P

Cheers,
Peter

Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012

Mycroft Holmes8-May-16 22:32

Mycroft Holmes

8-May-16 22:32

You know you have a low and crude sense of humour!

I feels sorry for the next bloke who does not lock his PC before dissappearing out the door Laugh | :laugh:

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH

kelkeel8-May-16 23:04

8-May-16 23:04

Hi, I finally got something working with keyboard Hooks. However, now both unicode character and the key value of the pressed are being sent. For example, when I pressed Q, I expect to see Ɣ on word, notepad etc. However, I'm getting both i.e. QƔ at the moment. How should I remove the Q and display only the sent character?

  private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
          {             
               ghook = new GlobalKeyboardHook();
               ghook.KeyDown +=new KeyEventHandler(ghook_KeyDown);
               foreach (Keys key in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Keys)))
                    ghook.HookedKeys.Add(key);
               ghook.hook();
          }

private void ghook_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
          {
               //throw new NotImplementedException();
               textBox1.Text += ((char)e.KeyValue).ToString();
               processKeyPressed((char)(e.KeyCode));
               if((char)(e.KeyCode)=='Q')
                    SendKeys.Send("Ɣ");
          }

kelkeel8-May-16 17:37

8-May-16 17:37

I thank you for your response, Original.

I wish we could get this working.

Still believe someone out there would help.

Thanks.

Overloading default member in a C# class

Bernhard Hiller8-May-16 20:48

Bernhard Hiller

8-May-16 20:48

Far too complicated. There is an easy to use solution available since several years: The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator[^]

Kenneth Haugland7-May-16 19:25

Kenneth Haugland

7-May-16 19:25

So I basically have a Complex Matrix class like so:

public struct ComplexMatrix
{
    private int Rows;
    private int Cols;

    private Complex[,] matrix;
    public ComplexMatrix(int Rows, int Cols)
    {
        this.Rows = Rows;
        this.Cols = Cols;
        Complex[,] temp = new Complex[Rows, Cols];
        this.matrix = temp;
        for (int i = 0; i <= Rows - 1; i++)
        {
            for (int j = 0; j <= Cols - 1; j++)
            {
                matrix[i, j] = new Complex(0, 0);
            }
        }
    }

    public Complex this[int Row, int Col]
    {
        get { return matrix[Row, Col]; }
        set { matrix[Row, Col] = value;}
    }
...

However, Im a bit lazy so I would really like to set matrix items as follows:

MyMatrix[1, 1] = new Complex(1, 0);
MyMatrix[0, 1] = 1;
MyMatrix[1, 0] = 5d;

But I found no easy way of doing this. I basically want the setter of the property to be able to take an object, but the get function will always return a Complex.

I could of curse do this:

public object this[int Row, int Col]
{
    get { return matrix[Row, Col]; }
    set
    {
        if (value is Complex)
        {
            matrix[Row, Col] = (Complex)value;

        }
        else if (value is double)
        {
            matrix[Row, Col] = new Complex((double)value, 0);
        }
        else if (value is int)
        {
            matrix[Row, Col] = new Complex((double)((int)value), 0);
        }
        else
        {
            throw new NotSupportedException("Not supported");
        }

    }
}

But that is really cumbersome when you want to get the value. Is there any tricks I could use to make this work properly?

Kenneth Haugland7-May-16 20:34

Kenneth Haugland

7-May-16 20:34

I think I need some Coffee here. The complex class takes care of that for me Blush | :O

Peter_in_27807-May-16 20:50

Peter_in_2780

7-May-16 20:50

Just beat me. I was going to suggest looking at Complex constructors taking other numeric types and promoting.

Cheers,
Peter

Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012

BillWoodruff8-May-16 5:18

BillWoodruff

8-May-16 5:18

I don't know if this type of structure (using a List of Lists instead of an Array) is relevant to your concerns, it's something I experimented with some time ago:

public class ComplexMatrix : List<List<Complex>>
{
    public ComplexMatrix() { }

    public ComplexMatrix(List<List<Complex>> list)
    {
        foreach(var lst in list) this.Add(lst);
    }

    public ComplexMatrix(IEnumerable<IEnumerable<Complex>> lstenum)
    {
        foreach (var lst in lstenum.ToList())
        {
            this.Add(lst.ToList());
        }
    }

    public ComplexMatrix(int rows, int cols)
    {
        List<Complex> complexrow;

        for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
        {
            complexrow = new List<Complex>(cols);
            this.Add(complexrow);

            for (int j = 0; j < cols; j++)
            {
                complexrow.Add(0.0d);
            }
        }
    }

    public Complex this[int row, int col]
    {
        set { this[row][col] = value; }

        get { return this[row][col];  }
    }

    public void SetValue(int row, int col, double real, double imaginary)
    {
        this[row][col] = new Complex(real, imaginary);
    }
}

Sample use:

public void Test1()
{
    var repeated1 = Enumerable.Repeat(Enumerable.Repeat(new Complex(1, 1), 5), 5);
    
    var repeated2 = Enumerable.Repeat(Enumerable.Range(1, 6).Select(i => new Complex(i,i)), 6);
    
    ComplexMatrix cmatrix0 = new ComplexMatrix(repeated1);
    
    ComplexMatrix cmatrix1 = new ComplexMatrix(repeated2);
    
    ComplexMatrix cmatrix2 = new ComplexMatrix(4,4);
    
    cmatrix2.SetValue(0,0, 34.5, 666.4);

    cmatrix2[2,2] = 4.0;

    Complex c22 = cmatrix2[2,2];
    
    ComplexMatrix cmatrix3 = new ComplexMatrix
    {
        //{new List<Complex>{0.0, 1.0}},
        //{new List<Complex>{1.1, 1.2}}
    
         {Enumerable.Repeat(new Complex(0.0,0.0), 2).ToList()},
         {Enumerable.Repeat(new Complex(0.0,0.0), 2).ToList()}
    
        //{Enumerable.Range(1,5).Select(i => new Complex(i,0)).ToList()},
        //{Enumerable.Range.(1,5).Select(i => new Complex(i,0)).ToList()}
     };
    
     cmatrix3[1, 1] = new Complex(3.4, 45.66);
    
     Complex cmplx = cmatrix3[1, 1];
}

Other than an interesting experiment in self-education re Enumerable.Repeat, Enumerable.Range, auto-initializers, and Indexers, etc.: meaning of-it-all is left up to you Smile | :)

«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008