isabella232 / node-native-keymap

Provide OS keyboard layout functionality as a nodejs module

OS key mapping node module

Returns what characters are produced by pressing keys with different modifiers on the current system keyboard layout.

Installing

• On Debian-based Linux: sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxkbfile-dev
• On Red Hat-based Linux: sudo yum install libx11-devel.x86_64 libxkbfile-devel.x86_64 # or .i686
• On SUSE-based Linux: sudo zypper install libX11-devel libxkbfile-devel
• On FreeBSD: sudo pkg install libX11

npm install native-keymap

Using

var keymap = require('native-keymap');
console.log(keymap.getKeyMap());

Example output when using standard US keyboard layout (on Windows):

[
  ...
  Space:        { vkey: 'VK_SPACE',      value: ' ',  withShift: ' ', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Minus:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_MINUS',  value: '-',  withShift: '_', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Equal:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_PLUS',   value: '=',  withShift: '+', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  BracketLeft:  { vkey: 'VK_OEM_4',      value: '[',  withShift: '{', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  BracketRight: { vkey: 'VK_OEM_6',      value: ']',  withShift: '}', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Backslash:    { vkey: 'VK_OEM_5',      value: '\\', withShift: '|', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Semicolon:    { vkey: 'VK_OEM_1',      value: ';',  withShift: ':', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Quote:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_7',      value: '\'', withShift: '"', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Backquote:    { vkey: 'VK_OEM_3',      value: '`',  withShift: '~', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Comma:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_COMMA',  value: ',',  withShift: '<', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Period:       { vkey: 'VK_OEM_PERIOD', value: '.',  withShift: '>', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Slash:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_2',      value: '/',  withShift: '?', withAltGr: '', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  ...
]

Example output when using German (Swiss) keyboard layout (on Windows):

[
  ...
  Space:        { vkey: 'VK_SPACE',      value: ' ',  withShift: ' ', withAltGr: '',  withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Minus:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_4',      value: '\'', withShift: '?', withAltGr: '´', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Equal:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_6',      value: '^',  withShift: '`', withAltGr: '~', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  BracketLeft:  { vkey: 'VK_OEM_1',      value: 'ü',  withShift: 'è', withAltGr: '[', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  BracketRight: { vkey: 'VK_OEM_3',      value: '¨',  withShift: '!', withAltGr: ']', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Backslash:    { vkey: 'VK_OEM_8',      value: '$',  withShift: '£', withAltGr: '}', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Semicolon:    { vkey: 'VK_OEM_7',      value: 'ö',  withShift: 'é', withAltGr: '',  withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Quote:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_5',      value: 'ä',  withShift: 'à', withAltGr: '{', withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Backquote:    { vkey: 'VK_OEM_2',      value: '§',  withShift: '°', withAltGr: '',  withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Comma:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_COMMA',  value: ',',  withShift: ';', withAltGr: '',  withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Period:       { vkey: 'VK_OEM_PERIOD', value: '.',  withShift: ':', withAltGr: '',  withShiftAltGr: '' },
  Slash:        { vkey: 'VK_OEM_MINUS',  value: '-',  withShift: '_', withAltGr: '',  withShiftAltGr: '' },
  ...
]

Supported OSes

• linux (X11)
• windows
• mac
• freebsd

Known issues

• only tested from the Electron Main process

Developing

• npm install -g node-gyp
• node-gyp configure (for debugging use node-gyp configure -d)
• node-gyp build
• npm test (for debugging change index.js to load the node module from the Debug folder and press F5)

License

MIT