Related
Bluetooth Keyboard Shortcuts on Samsung Vibrant
(And Possibly for Samsung Galaxy Tab)
Smartphones now come in bigger screens of up to 4 inches or more. It is no longer uncommon for a phone to have a 1 Ghz processor with storage of up to 32 GB on an external sd card. With these improved features, it is now convenient to use the smartphone as a replacement for the desktop PC or a laptop.
There is, however, one drawback. The built-in buttons and keyboards, whether slide-out hardware keyboard or screen keyboard on the phone, are too small to allow for easy typing. This is where a Bluetooth keyboard becomes a very useful tool. With the upswell of tablets and tablet wanabees on the market recently, this could also be possibly applied on tablets.
In my case, I have a Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard which I am using with a Samsung Vibrant, aka Galaxy S or Samsung T959. I originally used the keyboard with a Nokia N82. When I bought the keyboard, it required drivers specific for the Nokia phone. Luckily, I was able to download a driver from the iGo website (iGo bought Think Outside). With that, I was able to use all the features of the keyboard. Although I haven’t had the chance to try it, these shortcuts might also be usable on a Galaxy Tab.
It is important to note that, even without an installer, the keyboard will work with other devices but this will be limited to simple typing of text. When my Vibrant phone was updated to Android 2.2, I was able to use my Bluetooth keyboard. While tinkering with it, I was able to devise some shortcuts to replace what operations would have been possible only with an installer. Please see the following:
First of all, observe that the keys in the Think Outside or iGo keyboard are color coded. If you press any of the keys, what appears on the screen re the default applications. For example, if you press “Q”, what appears is the letter “Q”. But if you press the blue “Fn” key and press “Q”, what appears is the number “1” which is color blue under the letter “Q” key. And when you press the green “Fn” key and “Q”, what you get is “!” which is color green on the “Q” key. And so on. But not everything works right. That’s what this piece is about. We will discuss some workarounds.
A word of caution. I cannot guarantee that this will work with other devices. Let us be clear about what hardware I am using: Samsung Vibrant and Think Outside Stowaway ultraslim Bluetooth keyboard. The keyboard is also known as the iGo Bluetooth keyboard. My phone is on Android 2.2. As for software, I am using Documents to Go v3 for document creation and editing. Being done with that, let’s get underway.
Most important shortcut: Green Fn key+Home.
These two keys are beside each other. This replaces the “home” button on the phone. Wherever you are on the phone, pressing these two keys brings you to the default home screen. You will find why this is the most important shortcut in the following.
Add applications shortcuts to the home screen. You will see that on the keyboard, highlighted in blue, are the following applications: Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, Notes, Word, Excel, IE. Simply pressing on these keys won’t work. What you do is press green Fn+home. If you have already placed shortcuts of the said applications on the home screen, press the direction arrows on the keyboard to get to the application you want to launch and press enter.
Illustration: Let’s say you’re browsing a webpage and you want to open the calendar. Press green Fn+home and you’re at the home screen. Scroll to calendar and it will launch. This presumes that you had earlier placed a calendar shortcut on the home screen. Of course, you can cut it anyway you like to suit your taste.
Home Screen Menu. On the phone, you press the menu button to get to settings, set wallpaper, add item etc. On the Bluetooth keyboard you press blue Fn+A, press the arrows where you want to go and press “enter”
Google Search. Press Alt+A or press green Fn+A
Call log. Press blue Fn+D
Put phone on sleep mode immediately or to wake from sleep mode. Press blue Fn+F or press green Fn+end
To reboot phone. Press together Ctrl+Alt+Delete
To bring up the symbols table. Press Alt THEN press space bar. Do not press both keys at the same time.
Documents to Go shortcuts. With Documents to Go open, you can perform the following operations:
Blue Fn+A = open menu
Blue Fn+Esc = save, discard or cancel document
Press shift twice = all caps
To highlight text to cut, copy or edit etc, press shift while Pressing the arrow button in the desired portion to be highlighted.
Miscellaneous.
Camera – You can use the keyboard as a remote camera shutter for self portrait. Set the phone on a tripod etc. Go in front of the phone bringing your Bluetooth keyboard. Press enter to click the shutter.
On a webpage, pressing the spacebar scrolls down.
In Android Market home page, simply type what you're looking for; it automatically goes to the search bar.
Searching for other shortcuts is still a work in progress. Your contributions will be most welcome. I hope this contribution is helpful to you and others.
larrisa12002 said:
In my case, I have a Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard which I am using with a Samsung Vibrant, aka Galaxy S or Samsung T959. I originally used the keyboard with a Nokia N82. When I bought the keyboard, it required drivers specific for the Nokia phone. Luckily, I was able to download a driver from the iGo website (iGo bought Think Outside). With that, I was able to use all the features of the keyboard. Although I haven’t had the chance to try it, these shortcuts might also be usable on a Galaxy Tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgive me, I'm very curious but a little unclear how you created these shortcuts in Android. I am using a Dsi Mini Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse (WKB-1500) so it may not apply. However, if you are referring to an Android App/driver, then perhaps I'll find something similar for my keyboard. Regardless, thanks for the post. I'm looking forward to seeing the Galaxy S replace my laptop.
I didn't actually do any technical stuff, just trial-and-error punching keys and combinations of keys and observing results. I also tried copying keyboard presses of a phone with a hardware keyboard. Thats how I discovered that double pressing shift brings up all caps.
Understood. Trial and error often provides the first documentation. Thanks for the effort.
Any chance you could tell us what, if anything, the keyboard suggests the Fn+ buttons normally represent (shown in blue above the normal character). For instance, on my keyboard Fn-Left sends the Home key and Fn-A sends the ~ character. These should be the keystrokes being received by Android and then mapped to the results you found.
I tried find that driver on the iGo site but all I saw was drivers for Pocket PC and Blackberry. Do you have a url for the driver?
Thanks
Working driver for Stowaway
hlwilliams (and anyone else trying to use Stowaway keyboard with Android devices):
I had given up all hope and found BlueKeyboard JP. It's available in the Market.
Follow the instructions on the developer's blog site. (sotolog.net SLASH bluekeyboard SLASH 2010 SLASH 06 2010 07 2010 log3 DOT html) and you can probably go to work within minutes. (Sorry but I am not yet allowed to post URL's. The developers's blog is also specified in the Market page for BlueKeyboard JP.)
I have gotten it working on the Galaxy Tab running 2.2 and Nexus One running 2.3.3. And they worked exactly as documented immediately.
Caution: My partner tried with the HTC Desire and it seems to have had bad interactions with his Motorola Bluetooth stereo headset. (Headset now only plays music in phone headset mono mode.) We have not (yet) narrowed down whether this is an interaction with HTC Sense, the Android ROM version, this particular Motorola model, etc.
So I got my Nexus 7, and think its awesome! I got mine so I can install it in the dashboard of my car to use as media player/navigation, all that good stuff.
I thought it would be great to use a bluetooth media remote attached to the steering wheel to control basic functions. I purchased the Satechi Media Remote, and for the most part it works perfect! There is only one main issue and one minor issue.
Main Issue:
The remote has a button on the bottom middle that has a square on it. It works just like pushing the Home button.
While it is in my dashboard, it will be rare that I need to go to the actual home screen, and instead i would like it to take me to the car dock app I use. I have been trying many things to get it to work and I can not get it to function as anything else!
I tried using the app "External Keyboard Helper" and it worked for remapping the other 2 lower buttons on the remote (which is part of question 2), but I can not get it to remap the middle button. When I use the degugger in External keyboard helper, if I push that button it doesnt log the keypress and goes to the home screen like it is supposed to. I tried manually setting the keycode (102) to run an app and it still just goes to the home screen.
The next thing I tried was to edit the actual keylayout files like what is outlined here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695936
Doing it this way I can not seem to get it to change any of the three buttons to anything else. At first I couldnt figure out which .kl file to edit, so I searched and replaced all instances of HOME and MOVE_HOME in all the files, and moved them back to the device, still no change.
Do I need to make a cutom .kl with the vendor name and id in the title?
Where do I get that information from?
I tried editing the file Vendor_05ac_Product_0239.kl since in its comments it says its for a "Apple Wireless Keyboard", which this device is supposed to emulate to work with ipods/ipads, still nothing.
I am at my witts end trying to find the right way to remap this one button on this little remote hahaha
The second issue which is very minor, which might not be solved in here. I want to map one of those other lower buttons to google voice search. When I run the setup for "External Keyboard Helper" it has a section for mapping the running of an app to a key, which worked for car dock and a car music player. The problem is, when I go to the Application shortcuts portion of the app, the only thing I see listed in there is "com.google.android.voicesearch". If I set that as the app to run when I press a key I see this..
"com.google.android.voicesearch is not installed"
Is there a way to launch google voice search without having to click on the microphone in the search bar?
I got the thing working! I had to make a new KL file for the "keyboard"
I found this thread that told me how to get the vendor and product id, that seemed to be what was missing.
http://www.thriveforums.org/forum/toshiba-thrive-development/9626-how-create-customized-keylayout-any-usb-bluetooth-keyboard-rooted.html
The file name needs to match those.. its information is
Vendor ID 05ac
Product ID 023c
so the kl file is named
Vendor_05ac_Product_023c.kl
The scan codes for the three lower buttons are
161 (bottom left with the keyboard logo)
172 (middle bottom with the square)
113 (bottom right with the mute logo)
I changed the one for the bottom middle to SEARCH, and from that point on I could remap the key with the app External Keyboard Helper.
Next thing I need to do is figure out how to run a app from a keypress without using that remapper.. and how to start google search from a keypress
ShreddinPB said:
I got the thing working! I had to make a new KL file for the "keyboard"
I found this thread that told me how to get the vendor and product id, that seemed to be what was missing.
http://www.thriveforums.org/forum/toshiba-thrive-development/9626-how-create-customized-keylayout-any-usb-bluetooth-keyboard-rooted.html
The file name needs to match those.. its information is
Vendor ID 05ac
Product ID 023c
so the kl file is named
Vendor_05ac_Product_023c.kl
The scan codes for the three lower buttons are
161 (bottom left with the keyboard logo)
172 (middle bottom with the square)
113 (bottom right with the mute logo)
I changed the one for the bottom middle to SEARCH, and from that point on I could remap the key with the app External Keyboard Helper.
Next thing I need to do is figure out how to run a app from a keypress without using that remapper.. and how to start google search from a keypress
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you made any progress on this? i'm interested in this as well...
I got one of these remotes as well to use as a music/gps remote in my vehicle mounted Nexus 7. It works well, but let's hope a smart developer will make a better "external keyboard helper".
Hi can someone share his .kl file.
The Satechi device doesn't work at all with my MK888b box.
Interesting in this too
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Know this is an old post, but this helped me immensely. Got a Satechi remote and this quick tutorial helped me a ton. Seemed a little pain in the ass-ish at first, but realistically only took 5 minutes to get situated. Now to figure out how to bind a key to a specific app.
You probably don't even have this device anymore, if you change the keycode for whatever button you want to have open Google search to look like
key XXX VOICE_ASSIST
It'll open up Google voice search for you.
I am trying to setup my Flirc with the Nexus Player, for both native NP keys and the full spectrum of XBMC/kodi keys. I have all of the kodi keys working properly and the UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, SELECT and PLAY/PAUSE buttons work just fine on the main Nexus Player interface. However, the mapped BACK and MENU keys are not working. For those that don't know, a Flirc USB devices presents itself as a standard keyboard to the Nexus Player and can be programmed on your PC to learn remote control commands to activate specific generic keyboard combinations.
If anyone has a standard keyboard hooked up to their NP either via Blutooth or USB OTG, can you tell me which keys correspond to the BACK and HOME functions on the Nexus Player or if those functions are working at all on your keyboard?
Thanks.
Elrondolio said:
I am trying to setup my Flirc with the Nexus Player, for both native NP keys and the full spectrum of XBMC/kodi keys. I have all of the kodi keys working properly and the UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, SELECT and PLAY/PAUSE buttons work just fine on the main Nexus Player interface. However, the mapped BACK and MENU keys are not working. For those that don't know, a Flirc USB devices presents itself as a standard keyboard to the Nexus Player and can be programmed on your PC to learn remote control commands to activate specific generic keyboard combinations.
If anyone has a standard keyboard hooked up to their NP either via Blutooth or USB OTG, can you tell me which keys correspond to the BACK and HOME functions on the Nexus Player or if those functions are working at all on your keyboard?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tested this yet, but typically the Windows key + ESC = HOME (or, depending, sometimes the HOME key itself on a keyboard). BACK is typically the ESC key by itself.
My FLIRC arrived yesterday -- just haven't configured it yet. I'll give it a whirl and get back to you!
PearcePowers said:
I haven't tested this yet, but typically the Windows key + ESC = HOME (or, depending, sometimes the HOME key itself on a keyboard). BACK is typically the ESC key by itself.
My FLIRC arrived yesterday -- just haven't configured it yet. I'll give it a whirl and get back to you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I got the back key working correctly (and, in the NP, it is indeed ESC), but you'll have to go in to XBMC/kodi and add in the keymapper in programs then globally change ESC to be BACKSPACE and BACKSPACE to be ESC. Otherwise the NP back key would be "previous menu" in kodi. Make sure to update your Flirc with the full keyboard template to change the ESC key to your remote button you wish. Once done, both the NP and kodi see ESC as the back key.
I still haven't figured out the HOME key yet... I have a "HOME" special button atop my wireless keyboard that works, but I can't scancode it properly so I'm not sure what it is yet (I've read it may be scancode 57, but thats normally "space", so not sure and haven't tested it yet) I'll see if WIN+ESC works from my keyboard when I get home tomorrow. Hope to hear your experiences as well... thanks.
Elrondolio said:
I'll see if WIN+ESC works from my keyboard when I get home tomorrow. Hope to hear your experiences as well... thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested the following three keyboard commands -- WIN + ESC, ALT + ESC, and HOME -- and none work in the Nexus Player to take you home. Grr. I've got everything working but the HOME key as well.
PearcePowers said:
I tested the following three keyboard commands -- WIN + ESC, ALT + ESC, and HOME -- and none work in the Nexus Player to take you home. Grr. I've got everything working but the HOME key as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a topic about this over on the Flirc forums that you may want to follow:
http://forum.flirc.tv/index.php?/topic/1219-flirc-and-android-tv-adt-1/
I have a wireless keyboard that has extra media keys including a Home key (not the regular Home, End, etc). It works just like the Home key on the NP remote. I'm not at home right now, but had hooked it up to one of my laptops and that special Home key sends key code 172.
We just need to figure out how to teach Flirc that key code then map one of our remote buttons to that key.
Elrondolio said:
There is a topic about this over on the Flirc forums that you may want to follow:
http://forum.flirc.tv/index.php?/topic/1219-flirc-and-android-tv-adt-1/
I have a wireless keyboard that has extra media keys including a Home key (not the regular Home, End, etc). It works just like the Home key on the NP remote. I'm not at home right now, but had hooked it up to one of my laptops and that special Home key sends key code 172.
We just need to figure out how to teach Flirc that key code then map one of our remote buttons to that key.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck with the home key and Flirc? I noticed no one has responded over in the Flirc forums yet.
PearcePowers said:
Any luck with the home key and Flirc? I noticed no one has responded over in the Flirc forums yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not as yet. It seems more complicated than I first thought... the record_api function of flirc_util.exe can map HID commands to remote control buttons, but finding the correct HID for "Home" is difficult. There are thousands of HID commands as referenced in this document:
http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/Hut1_12v2.pdf
We're looking at the ones in the Consumer Page starting on page 75. There is a special modifier in the second argument of Firc's record_api, 102, that supposedly tells the Flirc to reference that Consumer Page, but finding the "Home" key for the first argument of record_api is difficult. In other words: no. No luck yet, but still trying.
It'd probably be useful if you were to post a thread over there asking for help with the Home key on the Nexus Player as well. I'd imagine the higher the request for it the more eyes it'll receive.
Could be something that could be setup in llama or tasker? Set NP to listen for XYZ key command and then "Go Home". Just a thought.
Elrondolio said:
Not as yet. It seems more complicated than I first thought... the record_api function of flirc_util.exe can map HID commands to remote control buttons, but finding the correct HID for "Home" is difficult. There are thousands of HID commands as referenced in this document:
http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/Hut1_12v2.pdf
We're looking at the ones in the Consumer Page starting on page 75. There is a special modifier in the second argument of Firc's record_api, 102, that supposedly tells the Flirc to reference that Consumer Page, but finding the "Home" key for the first argument of record_api is difficult. In other words: no. No luck yet, but still trying.
It'd probably be useful if you were to post a thread over there asking for help with the Home key on the Nexus Player as well. I'd imagine the higher the request for it the more eyes it'll receive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you manage to map a true home function to your Flirc device, Elrondolio? The ALT + ESC key combination works okay for me in most cases although it doesn't work when I use Kodi. It's still better than no home functionality at all, though, so at least I won't always have to use the original Nexus Player remote when I need that feature. There's another thread at the Flirc forum which discusses this topic at http://forum.flirc.tv/index.php?/topic/1462-flirc-with-android-tv/.
ALT + TAB seems to be the ideal key combination to use for the home button. It works no matter which app you're in and although it causes the Nexus Player to display "your recent screens appear here" when you use that key combination, the on-screen message disappears as soon as you release the button.
Now if I can just figure out how to use the Nexus Player's Leanback keyboard with my universal remote so that I can select on-screen keys for searches instead of having the ENTER button close the keyboard off, that would make things just about perfect.
I was the one that posted in Flirc forum about the alt+tab for home.
For search using on-screen, map flirc to window key using command. then combine this key with navigation right key using your universal remote, such as logitech. so WIN + Right will launch search with on screen keyboard to type.
Thanks for posting your solution in the Flirc forum. I'm not trying to map a command to launch an on-screen keyboard but I'm trying to see if I can find a way to press the keys on the Leanback keyboard using my universal remote. This isn't a problem with some apps like Netflix or Kodi that have their own keyboards but for the Leanback keyboard that's used in apps like Google Play and YouTube, pressing the ENTER button on a universal remote causes the keyboard to close off. This problem does not exist with the original Nexus Player remote's select button because it is context-sensitive.
Elrondolio said:
If anyone has a standard keyboard hooked up to their NP either via Blutooth or USB OTG, can you tell me which keys correspond to the BACK and HOME functions on the Nexus Player or if those functions are working at all on your keyboard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back: Esc
Home: Alt+Esc
Unfortunately, the ALT + TAB key combination is not an ideal option for use with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It actually brings up the recent apps screen and doesn't give the user easy access to the home screen (unless the recent apps screen is empty). I'll have to reprogram my Flirc back to ALT + ESC for the home screen function until someone finds a better solution for Android 6.0.
I don't have a nexus player but these issues sound similar to the shield tv.
To fix the Enter key issue with the onscreen keyboard, us the flirc_util to record the keypad's enter key (a different dev id than the other enter/return key):
HTML:
flirc_util.exe record_api 0 88
To record the Home button (that works from Kodi too), record Windows Key + Enter (the main Enter key works fine for this). Again, I don't have a nexus player but I assume it will work for it as well.
whiskaz77 said:
I don't have a nexus player but these issues sound similar to the shield tv.
To fix the Enter key issue with the onscreen keyboard, us the flirc_util to record the keypad's enter key (a different dev id than the other enter/return key):
HTML:
flirc_util.exe record_api 0 88
To record the Home button (that works from Kodi too), record Windows Key + Enter (the main Enter key works fine for this). Again, I don't have a nexus player but I assume it will work for it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried out these key combinations with my Flirc on the Nexus Player and am happy to report that everything now works perfectly! Thank you kindly for sharing that useful information here with the rest of us.
GabbyWC said:
I tried out these key combinations with my Flirc on the Nexus Player and am happy to report that everything now works perfectly! Thank you kindly for sharing that useful information here with the rest of us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great! Happy to help. I'm glad it worked. Thanks for reporting back!
Windows Key + Enter => Home worked for me too!!! Kodi, Netflix and other apps now behave fine. Thanks a lot @whiskaz77
I have a Samsung TV and I want to use my TV remote to control Shield TV (over HDMI-CEC). This mostly works with one inconvenient problem. Android Back button is mapped to Samsung Exit button. Regular Samsung remotes have Return and Exit buttons and if you are using this remote then it's ok. But higher end Samsung TVs have Samsung smart remote and it only has Return button. The Return button also works as a Exit button if you hold it down for 2 seconds, but that's really inconvenient.
For me it would make a lot more sense if the Android Back button would be mapped to Samsung Return button and if possible then Android Home to Samsung Exit.
I have no idea why or who (Google, Nvidia or Samsung?) mapped the buttons as they are, but it is not usable for me. So is there any chance we can remap HDMI-CEC buttons?
I'm also looking at this thread. Interested to know if its possible.
if u can block the IR sensor, and just get a FLIRC, u can remap any or all functionality
I did some research and it seems it's Samsung's fault. Samsung has mapped it's Exit button to HDMI-CEC KEY_BACK. And the Return buttun is mapped to HDMI-CEC KEY_EXIT (it appears only Samsung is using it). Some manufacturers have added this Samsung specific button to their devices (PS3 for example) and considering that Samsung has the biggest TV market share, I think Nvidia should have added it too.
It seems it is possible to remap HDMI-CEC buttons by editing .kl files in /system/usr/keylayout/. It appears to be using Generic.kl file if there is no hdmi_cec_keys.kl file in that folder. I don't have root, so i cant test this at the moment.
Unfortunately it seems that we can't map Samsung Return button to anything, because Samsung specific KEY_EXIT is missing in kernel. So we would need to find someone who knows how to modify kernel and compile it for us Samsung TV users. Someone has done this for some other Android box there > https://github.com/hardkernel/linux/pull/178/commits/96e8846f78b077add5fdc8a93235deefd262f71b
Any devs here who could make this fix?
Hi.
Is there any way to do this?
Apparently Call of Duty: Mobile requires a Dual Shock 4 or Xbox One controller in order to work. This defeats the purpose of playing it on a Switch. Which I'm ashamed to say, is a big reason I bought and installed Android on my Switch. To play CoD:M on it during down-time at work (I work night-shifts).
I was wondering, since this is a custom FW anyway, is there any way to trick it into thinking the Joy-Con controllers are actually Xbox One controllers? So it would be registered as such in Android as a whole? The Screenshot-button could be the Xbox-button. Many, if not most/all games with controller support, support Xbox One controllers. I see no downside to that.
If not, is there any working overlay program out there? I tried Mantis Gamepad Pro. l connected it to my PC and activated it. It found the Joy-Cons. I added CoD:M as a game. Started it.
Game started, I went into Practice Room in order to set up my overlay.
There's a semi-transparent green overlay-button in the top left corner, so I press it and try and add a button, and get told to "Press a Button". So I physically press a button on my Joy-Con, and that button pops up as a Virtual Button. I drag the VB over the icon on the screen indicating the action it does (let's say, physical button = RT, VB = dragged over Shoot-icon). Now this is working great, I'm placing the analog sticks, pushing all the buttons and placing them where I want them. It registers my buttons.
But when I close the settings by pressing the semi-transparent icon in the top left corner of my screen (the green icon is still there, but the button layout disappears) and actually try and PLAY the game, none of the buttons are registered when I press them. Nothing happens.
It's like.. so close, yet so far!
I think I have all the settings correct, and I've enabled the app to be on top of other applications or whatever.
If anyone has ANY idea how I can get CoD:M working on my Switch with lineage-17.1-20210510-UNOFFICIAL-foster_tab-signed, that would be awesome!
Thanks for ANY response! Anything helps!