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>


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

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


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

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 prefix with AltGr, or Shift. 

If flags include "addupper", an translation for this keysyms uppercase
name will 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. 


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 Hyper_L Alt_L space Mode_switch Hyper_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        Hyper_L (0x73),  Hyper_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	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	* 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
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	Keymap files
31	============
32	The names of the keymaps follows RFC1766.
33
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	The keymaps are line based. There are four different types of lines:
43
44	1) include-lines
45	Syntax:
46	include <another-map-file>
47
48
49	2) map-lines
50	Syntax:
51	map <hex-number>
52
53	Map-lines specifies how the remote RDP server should interpret the
54	sent scancodes.
55
56
57	3) Translation-lines
58	Syntax:
59	<keysym-name> <scancode> [flags..]
60
61	The scancode can be found in scancodes.h. Note: The scancode value for
62	extended keys can be calculated by OR:ing with 0x80. Example: The
63	Delete key have the scancode sequence 0xe0, 0x52. You can get the
64	scancode value to put into the map file by running:
65
66	python -c "print hex(0x80 \| 0x52)"
67
68	If flags are "altgr", "shift", the scancode sent for this
69	keysym will be prefix with AltGr, or Shift.
70
71	If flags include "addupper", an translation for this keysyms uppercase
72	name will as well, in addition to the non-uppercase name. Example:
73
74	x 2d addupper
75
76	...will add an translation for "X" automatically, just like if you
77	would specify:
78
79	X 2d shift
80
81	If flags include "localstate", the modifier to send will be determined
82	by the local modifier state.
83
84	If flags is "inhibit", nothing will be sent to the server.
85
86
87	4) enable_compose
88
89	If any line starts with the keyword "enable_compose", rdesktop will
90	enable local Compose/Multi_key handling. Enabling this will often make
91	it impossible to compose characters with dead keys (on the remote
92	side). This is because when local compose support is enabled, dead
93	keys will not be sent to the remote side.
94
95
96	Suggested X11 keysym mapping on PCs
97	===================================
98	Unfortunately, there is no standard for which keysyms a given key
99	should generate. If you have a PC-keyboard with Windows keys, I suggest this mapping:
100
101	Keyboard keys:
102	CtrlLeft WinLeft AltLeft Space AltGr WinRight Menu CtrlRight
103
104	...should generate keysyms:
105	Control_L Hyper_L Alt_L space Mode_switch Hyper_R Menu Control_R
106
107	Additionally:
108	Shift-Alt should produce Meta_L
109	Shift-AltGr should produce Multi_Key.
110
111	Use a modifier-map like this:
112
113	shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e)
114	lock Caps_Lock (0x25)
115	control Control_L (0x42), Control_R (0x6d)
116	mod1 Alt_L (0x40)
117	mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d)
118	mod3 Mode_switch (0x71)
119	mod4 Hyper_L (0x73), Hyper_R (0x74)
120	mod5 Scroll_Lock (0x4e)
121
122
123	Updating / writing keymap files
124	===============================
125	When writing new or updating keymap files, please use comments and
126	blanks, to increase readability. The "sv" keymap is a good template.
127
128	When you need to add a translation to a keymap file, do:
129
130	1. Get the "key number" for this key, by looking at keynums.png.
131
132	2. Take a look at scancodes.h, and look for
133	SCANCODE_KEY_<my-key-number>. The scancode value is at the end of
134	the line. If the line contains (SCANCODE_EXTENDED \| 0xsomething),
135	then you should OR 0x80 to this value. For example, you can do:
136
137	python -c "print hex(0x80 \| 0xsomething)"
138
139	3. Put the scancode (from step 2) and keysym name (found in the
140	error message) into the keymap file.
141
142
143	Special keys
144	============
145
146	* The combination Ctrl-Alt-Enter toggles between fullscreen and
147	non-fullscreen mode.
148
149	* Meta, Hyper and Super are treated as windows keys. RDP4 does not
150	support the windows keys though, so if you are running RDP4, these
151	keys will translate to Ctrl-Esc.
152
153
154	Links
155	=====
156	http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/scancodes.html