rdesktop/doc/keymapping.txt

Keyboard mapping
================
This release of rdesktop uses a new, portable keyboard mapping
implementation. It should hopefully work on all X11 systems. This new
implementation only looks at X11 keysyms: Not on (nonportable)
keycodes or modifier status. This means that rdesktop will obey your
local keyboard configuration. For example, if you have swapped
CapsLock and Control, rdesktop will use this mapping. 

XKB is currently not used. It seems like a good idea to me, but since
some X servers (like Xvnc) does not support XKB, we still need to use
the plain old interface as well, at least. 

There are still some small problems.

* CapsLock: CapsLock changes are never sent to the RDP
  server. rdesktop does not know which keys that are modified by
  CapsLock and which are not. So, the CapsLock indicator in Wordpad
  etc will always be off.

Composing/Multi_key is supported. For more information, see:

  MIT:              $SRC/xc/nls/X11/locale/Compose/iso8859-1
  XFree86:          /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/*/Compose
  Solaris' Openwin: /usr/openwin/include/X11/Suncompose.h
                    /usr/openwin/lib/locale/*/Compose
  Irix6:            compose(5)


Keymap files
============
The names of the keymaps follows RFC1766. 

(You can find a translation from Windows keyboard layout numbers to
keymap names by looking at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\MIME\Database\RFC1766 in the
registry.)


Contents of keymap files
========================
The keymaps are line based. There are four different types of lines:

1) include lines
Syntax:
include <another-map-file>

Example:
include common


2) map lines
Syntax:
map <hex-number>

Example:
map 0x41d

Map-lines specifies how the remote RDP server should interpret the
sent scancodes. 


3) Translation lines
Syntax:
<keysym-name> <scancode> [flags..]

Example:
onehalf 0x29 shift

The scancode can be found in scancodes.h. Note: The scancode value for
extended keys can be calculated by OR:ing with 0x80. Example: The
Delete key have the scancode sequence 0xe0, 0x52. You can get the
scancode value to put into the map file by running:

python -c "print hex(0x80 | 0x52)"

If flags are "altgr", "shift", the scancode sent for this keysym will
be prefixed with AltGr, or Shift.

If flags includes "addupper", a translation for this keysyms uppercase
name will be added as well, in addition to the non-uppercase
name. Example:

x 2d addupper

...will add an translation for "X" automatically, just like if you
would specify:

X 2d shift

If flags include "localstate", the modifier to send will be determined
by the local modifier state. 

If flags is "inhibit", nothing will be sent to the server. 


4) enable_compose

If any line starts with the keyword "enable_compose", rdesktop will
enable local Compose/Multi_key handling. Enabling this will often make
it impossible to compose characters with dead keys (on the remote
side). This is because when local compose support is enabled, dead
keys will not be sent to the remote side. 


5) sequence lines
Syntax:
sequence <event-keysym-name> <keysym-name1> <keysym-name2> ...

Examples:
sequence eacute dead_acute e
sequence F12 f o o at e x a m p l e period c o m

Sequence lines allows you to specify that multiple scancodes should be
sent to the RDP server, in response to one X11 keyboard event. Note:
The sequence is sent at the X11 KeyPress event. Nothing is sent at
KeyRelease.


6) keyboard_type lines
Syntax:
keyboard_type <hex-number>
 
keyboard_type lines specifies the keyboard type. Default value is 0x4
(en-us 101/104 keys keyboard).


7) keyboard_subtype lines
Syntax:
keyboard_subtype <hex-number>

keyboard_subtype lines specifies the keyboard subtype. Default value
is 0x0 (en-us 101/104 keys keyboard).


8) keyboard_functionkeys lines
Syntax:
keyboard_functionkeys <hex-number>

keyboard_functionkeys specifies the number of keyboard function
keys. Default value is 0xc (12, for standard 101/104 keys keyboard).


Suggested X11 keysym mapping on PCs
===================================
Unfortunately, there is no standard for which keysyms a given key
should generate. If you have a PC-keyboard with Windows keys, I suggest this mapping:

Keyboard keys:
CtrlLeft WinLeft AltLeft Space AltGr WinRight Menu CtrlRight

...should generate keysyms:
Control_L Super_L Alt_L space Mode_switch Super_R Menu Control_R

Additionally:
Shift-Alt should produce Meta_L
Shift-AltGr should produce Multi_Key. 

Use a modifier-map like this:

shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
lock        Caps_Lock (0x25)
control     Control_L (0x42),  Control_R (0x6d)
mod1        Alt_L (0x40)
mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3        Mode_switch (0x71)
mod4        Super_L (0x73),  Super_R (0x74)
mod5        Scroll_Lock (0x4e)


Updating / writing keymap files
===============================
When writing new or updating keymap files, please use comments and
blanks, to increase readability. The "sv" keymap is a good template. 

When you need to add a translation to a keymap file, do:

    1. Get the "key number" for this key, by looking at keynums.png. 

    2. Take a look at scancodes.h, and look for
    SCANCODE_KEY_<my-key-number>. The scancode value is at the end of
    the line. If the line contains (SCANCODE_EXTENDED | 0xsomething),
    then you should OR 0x80 to this value. For example, you can do:
    
    python -c "print hex(0x80 | 0xsomething)"

    3. Put the scancode (from step 2) and keysym name (found in the
    error message) into the keymap file. 


Special keys
============

* The combination Ctrl-Alt-Enter toggles between fullscreen and
  non-fullscreen mode. 

* Meta, Hyper and Super are treated as windows keys. RDP4 does not
  support the windows keys though, so if you are running RDP4, these
  keys will translate to Ctrl-Esc. 


Links
=====
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/scancodes.html
1	astrand	104	Keyboard mapping
2			================
3			This release of rdesktop uses a new, portable keyboard mapping
4			implementation. It should hopefully work on all X11 systems. This new
5			implementation only looks at X11 keysyms: Not on (nonportable)
6			keycodes or modifier status. This means that rdesktop will obey your
7			local keyboard configuration. For example, if you have swapped
8			CapsLock and Control, rdesktop will use this mapping.
9
10			XKB is currently not used. It seems like a good idea to me, but since
11			some X servers (like Xvnc) does not support XKB, we still need to use
12			the plain old interface as well, at least.
13
14			There are still some small problems.
15
16	astrand	543	* CapsLock: CapsLock changes are never sent to the RDP
17			server. rdesktop does not know which keys that are modified by
18			CapsLock and which are not. So, the CapsLock indicator in Wordpad
19			etc will always be off.
20	astrand	104
21			Composing/Multi_key is supported. For more information, see:
22
23			MIT: $SRC/xc/nls/X11/locale/Compose/iso8859-1
24			XFree86: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/*/Compose
25			Solaris' Openwin: /usr/openwin/include/X11/Suncompose.h
26			/usr/openwin/lib/locale/*/Compose
27			Irix6: compose(5)
28
29
30	astrand	167	Keymap files
31	astrand	272	============
32			The names of the keymaps follows RFC1766.
33	astrand	167
34			(You can find a translation from Windows keyboard layout numbers to
35			keymap names by looking at
36			HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\MIME\Database\RFC1766 in the
37			registry.)
38
39
40			Contents of keymap files
41			========================
42	astrand	166	The keymaps are line based. There are four different types of lines:
43	astrand	104
44	astrand	949	1) include lines
45	astrand	104	Syntax:
46			include <another-map-file>
47
48	astrand	949	Example:
49			include common
50	astrand	104
51	astrand	949
52			2) map lines
53	astrand	104	Syntax:
54			map <hex-number>
55
56	astrand	949	Example:
57			map 0x41d
58
59	astrand	104	Map-lines specifies how the remote RDP server should interpret the
60			sent scancodes.
61
62
63	astrand	949	3) Translation lines
64	astrand	104	Syntax:
65			<keysym-name> <scancode> [flags..]
66
67	astrand	949	Example:
68			onehalf 0x29 shift
69
70	astrand	104	The scancode can be found in scancodes.h. Note: The scancode value for
71			extended keys can be calculated by OR:ing with 0x80. Example: The
72			Delete key have the scancode sequence 0xe0, 0x52. You can get the
73			scancode value to put into the map file by running:
74
75			python -c "print hex(0x80 \| 0x52)"
76
77	astrand	949	If flags are "altgr", "shift", the scancode sent for this keysym will
78			be prefixed with AltGr, or Shift.
79	astrand	104
80	astrand	949	If flags includes "addupper", a translation for this keysyms uppercase
81			name will be added as well, in addition to the non-uppercase
82			name. Example:
83	astrand	104
84			x 2d addupper
85
86			...will add an translation for "X" automatically, just like if you
87			would specify:
88
89			X 2d shift
90
91			If flags include "localstate", the modifier to send will be determined
92			by the local modifier state.
93
94	astrand	116	If flags is "inhibit", nothing will be sent to the server.
95	astrand	104
96	astrand	116
97	astrand	104	4) enable_compose
98
99			If any line starts with the keyword "enable_compose", rdesktop will
100			enable local Compose/Multi_key handling. Enabling this will often make
101			it impossible to compose characters with dead keys (on the remote
102			side). This is because when local compose support is enabled, dead
103			keys will not be sent to the remote side.
104
105
106	astrand	949	5) sequence lines
107			Syntax:
108			sequence <event-keysym-name> <keysym-name1> <keysym-name2> ...
109
110			Examples:
111			sequence eacute dead_acute e
112			sequence F12 f o o at e x a m p l e period c o m
113
114			Sequence lines allows you to specify that multiple scancodes should be
115			sent to the RDP server, in response to one X11 keyboard event. Note:
116			The sequence is sent at the X11 KeyPress event. Nothing is sent at
117			KeyRelease.
118
119
120	astrand	964	6) keyboard_type lines
121			Syntax:
122			keyboard_type <hex-number>
123
124			keyboard_type lines specifies the keyboard type. Default value is 0x4
125			(en-us 101/104 keys keyboard).
126
127
128			7) keyboard_subtype lines
129			Syntax:
130			keyboard_subtype <hex-number>
131
132			keyboard_subtype lines specifies the keyboard subtype. Default value
133			is 0x0 (en-us 101/104 keys keyboard).
134
135
136			8) keyboard_functionkeys lines
137			Syntax:
138			keyboard_functionkeys <hex-number>
139
140			keyboard_functionkeys specifies the number of keyboard function
141			keys. Default value is 0xc (12, for standard 101/104 keys keyboard).
142
143
144
145
146	astrand	104	Suggested X11 keysym mapping on PCs
147			===================================
148			Unfortunately, there is no standard for which keysyms a given key
149			should generate. If you have a PC-keyboard with Windows keys, I suggest this mapping:
150
151			Keyboard keys:
152			CtrlLeft WinLeft AltLeft Space AltGr WinRight Menu CtrlRight
153
154			...should generate keysyms:
155	astrand	752	Control_L Super_L Alt_L space Mode_switch Super_R Menu Control_R
156	astrand	104
157			Additionally:
158			Shift-Alt should produce Meta_L
159			Shift-AltGr should produce Multi_Key.
160
161			Use a modifier-map like this:
162
163			shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e)
164			lock Caps_Lock (0x25)
165			control Control_L (0x42), Control_R (0x6d)
166			mod1 Alt_L (0x40)
167			mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d)
168			mod3 Mode_switch (0x71)
169	astrand	752	mod4 Super_L (0x73), Super_R (0x74)
170	astrand	104	mod5 Scroll_Lock (0x4e)
171	astrand	272
172
173			Updating / writing keymap files
174			===============================
175			When writing new or updating keymap files, please use comments and
176			blanks, to increase readability. The "sv" keymap is a good template.
177
178			When you need to add a translation to a keymap file, do:
179
180			1. Get the "key number" for this key, by looking at keynums.png.
181
182			2. Take a look at scancodes.h, and look for
183			SCANCODE_KEY_<my-key-number>. The scancode value is at the end of
184			the line. If the line contains (SCANCODE_EXTENDED \| 0xsomething),
185			then you should OR 0x80 to this value. For example, you can do:
186
187			python -c "print hex(0x80 \| 0xsomething)"
188
189			3. Put the scancode (from step 2) and keysym name (found in the
190			error message) into the keymap file.
191	astrand	434
192
193	astrand	454	Special keys
194			============
195
196			* The combination Ctrl-Alt-Enter toggles between fullscreen and
197			non-fullscreen mode.
198
199	astrand	455	* Meta, Hyper and Super are treated as windows keys. RDP4 does not
200	astrand	454	support the windows keys though, so if you are running RDP4, these
201			keys will translate to Ctrl-Esc.
202
203
204	astrand	434	Links
205			=====
206			http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/scancodes.html