The keyboard file

The keyboard file is an XML document that contains information about the keyboard and its extra function keys. Create a new file and open it with your favorite text editor (examples: emacs, vi(m), gedit, nedit, kwrite). Now copy the following text to the file:

<keyboard>
  <file-info>
    <syntax-version>1.0</syntax-version>
    <last-change format="%d-%m-%Y">date</last-change>
    <author>your name</author>
  </file-info>
  <keyboard-info>
    <keyboard-name>
      <manufacturer>your keyboards manufacturer</manufacturer>
      <model>your keyboards manufacturer</model>
    </keyboard-name>
  </keyboard-info>
  <key-list>
    ...
  </key-list>
</keyboard>

Replace "date" by today's date in format "day-month-year". If you want to use the format "month-day-year", you have to replace "%d-%m-%Y" by "%m-%d-%Y". Replace "your name", "your keyboards manufacturer" and "your keyboards model" by your name, your keyboard's manufacturer and your keyboard's model respectively.

The three dots between the "key-list" tags will be replaced by data for every extra function key of the keyboard. Add for every key the following data:

<key>
  <name>key name</name>
  <scancode>key scancode</scancode>
  <keycode>key keycode</keycode>
  <default-action action-type="action type">
    ..
  </default-action>
</key>

Replace "key name" by an appropriate name for the key. Is there for example a text label on the key, use the label as the key's name. Replace "key scancode" by the key's scancode. How to retrieve such code is described in section 4. Replace "key keycode" by one of the keycodes listed in section 5. It actually doesn't matter which keycode you choose. However it is recommended that you choose a keycode that matches the best the function of the key. A keycode may only be used once in a keyboard file.

The "default-action" element will contain the default action for the key. It is important to realize that this is not the action you want to use for this key, but an action that corresponds to the function of the key. You can replace "action type" by "plugin" or "program". If you choose "program" the two dots will be replaced by the name of a program. If you choose "plugin" you will have to replace the two dots by:

<plugin-name>name</plugin-name>
<plugin-function>function</plugin-function>

Replace "name" by the name of the plugin and "function" by the function of the plugin. To get a list of all plugin names, start keyTouch and go to the preferences tab. Select the plugin and click the "Information..." button to get the functions of the plugin. Note that the name and function you fill in are case sensitive.

When your keyboard file is finished you can import it in keyTouch. It is also very important that your keyboard file is available for other people so that they do not need to create a keyboard file. I should be most grateful to you if you send the keyboard file to marvinr (at) users.sourceforge.net .