[Copied to the VNC list since this should be archived, and distributed to the world.]
Background: Marius is using a VNC server on a *nix system, and has a non-US (Norwegian?) keyboard. He wishes to change the keyboard layout so that the 'Aring' key, when pressed, acts as the 's' key. The standard X method of changing this does not work. Analysis: This is a deficiency, at best; at worst, it's a bug. VNC in general sends keystrokes as key names (due to its Unix heritage, these are the names used in Unix, referred to as keysyms). The Unix VNC server has a compiled-in list of a basic set of key names; this is, essentially, the U.S. 'qwerty' keyboard. If you press a key on the viewer that's not in the static list, the VNC server looks for a key definition, locally, that when pressed will correspond to the key name. It then uses that definition, suitably modifed by the Shift/Shift Lock keys, to report the key to the Unix applications. As a result, it is impossible to redefine the key completely - the physical key name (in this case Aring) must be present on the logical key. In detail, the first time you press the 'aring' key Xvnc will add a key mapping that assigns keycode 91, say, to 'aring'. Subsequently, it will search its mappings when you press the 'aring' key, and find that entry #91 contains 'aring'. It will then send code 91 to the application - which will use the *same* entry to translate it back to a key name: that is, 'aring'. If you remap 'aring' to 's': xmodmap -e 'keysym aring = s' this changes entry #91 to contain only 's'. As a result, when Xvnc searches its mappings for 'aring', it won't find it - and will create a *new* mapping! However, since the VNC server (and all X servers, in fact) allow multiple key definitions for each physical key, there is a trick you can use to get the effect you want. The first two definitions on the key are the normal state, and the shifted state. The second two are for the 'AltGraph' or "Mode Switch" key, in combination with the shift key. Subsequent definitions are possible but usually serve no pratical purpose. However, since Xvnc uses the key definition when *any* of the set of mappings correspond to the physical key, you should be able to do this trick: xmodmap -e 'keycode 127 = s S aring' Then, Xvnc will find this mapping for when the viewer sends the aring key; since the 'aring' key name appears as the _third_ symbol the application (and you) will see 's' (or 'S') when you press the key. Of course, if you're using a 'mode switch' type key you'll have to extend the mapping to five entries; but it should still work. (original message follows) According to Marius Kotsbak: > On Wed, 2002-03-20 at 16:44, Grant McDorman wrote: > > According to Marius Kotsbak: > > > On Wed, 2002-03-20 at 16:02, Grant McDorman wrote: > > > > According to Marius: > > > > > Grant McDorman wrote: > > > I am NOT using xmodmap with keycodes myself, just keysyms. The keycodes > > > are preconfigured for vnc (havent't changed anything in vnc), just as in > > > normal X session. > > > > > > The opposite work though, i can use keysym "s = aring" and i get the > > > norwegian character "aring" when i press s. But mapping from the > > > aring-button to s is impossible. xmodmap does not complain, but it has > > > no effect. > > > > > > Could it be that vnc is not handling keycodes outside the US keyboard > > > right? > > > > VNC doesn't include non-U.S. keysyms in its static keymap. Any keysym that > > it receives outside of this static keymap is dynamically added. > > > > What happens is the VNC client sends the keysym. If the server finds it in > > its keymap, it uses that; otherwise, it creates a new entry which, of > > course, maps the incoming keysym to itself. > > > > I'm not sure how one could manage to remap a keysym outside the static > > keymap at startup. However, to see if it works, try this: Press your aring > > key; then do 'xmodmap -e "keysym aring = s"'. > As I said; I have tried exactly that one. It is accepted, but has no > effect. > > > > > I'll look at the source for 3.3.3 and see if there is something that can be > > cooked up. > > > > -- > > > > Grant McDorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Sr. Software Design Consultant > > Cedara Software Corp. <URL:http://www.cedara.com> > > (formerly I.S.G. Technologies Inc.) > > Mississauga, Ontario, Canada > > > -- Grant McDorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Sr. Software Design Consultant Cedara Software Corp. <URL:http://www.cedara.com> (formerly I.S.G. Technologies Inc.) Mississauga, Ontario, Canada [demime 0.97b removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line: 'unsubscribe vnc-list' in the message BODY See also: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/intouch.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------
