[Q] Can the hardware keys be redefined on the Droid 3? - Motorola Droid 3

After downloading and playing with a basic vt100 terminal emulator I soon noticed that there is no ctrl key on the hardware keyboard. In order to get a ctrl-c, for example, I have to press and release the volume lowering button to get "ctrl" and then the "c". This is very awkard. Especially with the keyboard fully extended! I later downloaded the hackers keyboard which has a ctrl key but it was not working at the time and I have reported it as a bug. Regardless, I would like the option to use the hwkb to do this. Perhaps this is premature as we don't have root yet, but is there a way to define say alt-shift, or the "ok" key or what ever to be ctrl. Also, while it is nice to have a fifth row of keys with numbers, I would think that these keys should have other functions too. Whatever one likes, i.e. alt 1 for F1 and so forth.

It is possible, there are apps in the Market, or you could hard code it into a ROM, but all of this requires root to my best knowledge, unless we have that I do not believe it is possible, but would be great if root wasn't needed, so if someone knows more hopefully they can let you know, but that's what I know.
search for Button Remapper, it is also on XDA: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=850464
mscion said:
After downloading and playing with a basic vt100 terminal emulator I soon noticed that there is no ctrl key on the hardware keyboard. In order to get a ctrl-c, for example, I have to press and release the volume lowering button to get "ctrl" and then the "c". This is very awkard. Especially with the keyboard fully extended! I later downloaded the hackers keyboard which has a ctrl key but it was not working at the time and I have reported it as a bug. Regardless, I would like the option to use the hwkb to do this. Perhaps this is premature as we don't have root yet, but is there a way to define say alt-shift, or the "ok" key or what ever to be ctrl. Also, while it is nice to have a fifth row of keys with numbers, I would think that these keys should have other functions too. Whatever one likes, i.e. alt 1 for F1 and for forth.
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Related

Remapping the two small keyboard buttons

There are two small buttons (each marked with a small horizontal line) on the keyboard. The left is over the letters R and T. It is assigned to the "Send" button for email. The trouble is that it is very easy to hit by accident when typing R or T, and then the email flies off prematurely! The right one is assigned to the Menu and if you hit it by accident, it is easy to correct (just hit the OK button). Is there a way of remapping these two buttons? Except for this issue, the email with Kaiser is perfect. Does the AT&T Tilt have the same problem?
See my thread here. Those are the same as the softkeys on the font keypad (so remapping one remaps the other). I ended up using AE Button Plus to remap those (and other keys) to other functions, which I like because of the additional functionality that can be assigned to double clicks, triple clicks, etc. But if you just want to remap it to something else, check that thread for some alternatives.
dscline said:
See my thread here. Those are the same as the softkeys on the font keypad (so remapping one remaps the other). I ended up using AE Button Plus to remap those (and other keys) to other functions, which I like because of the additional functionality that can be assigned to double clicks, triple clicks, etc. But if you just want to remap it to something else, check that thread for some alternatives.
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Click to collapse
Err... I don't think this addresses the problem the OP has. I too suffer from this problem (must be big fingers!).
When using Outlook the soft keys change function so remapping the Today Calendar softkey, for example, doesn't help.
Anyone else got a solution to this problem, I'm fed up with sending half-finished e-mails!
I haven't played with AE Button Plus, but if you can assign "No Action" to a button (which some of the add-ons let you do) and do that for the messaging app specifically, then that would be a solution to the problem of large fingers/thumbs. The you could remap one of the FN keys you never use to the context menu or send...
TexasPenguin said:
Err... I don't think this addresses the problem the OP has. I too suffer from this problem (must be big fingers!).
When using Outlook the soft keys change function so remapping the Today Calendar softkey, for example, doesn't help.
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Click to collapse
As PerfAlbion pointed out, you can just remap them to nothing. I remapped these keys, not because of the problem with the keyboard, but simply because I never used them since it's just as easy to use the touch screen. But if you want to maintain the softkey functionality on those buttons, use AE button to map a single press to nothing, and a double-click (or even a click-hold) to the softkey function. You would then still be able to use them for their original purpose, but they wouldn't be as easy to accidentally activate.
dscline said:
As PerfAlbion pointed out, you can just remap them to nothing. I remapped these keys, not because of the problem with the keyboard, but simply because I never used them since it's just as easy to use the touch screen. But if you want to maintain the softkey functionality on those buttons, use AE button to map a single press to nothing, and a double-click (or even a click-hold) to the softkey function. You would then still be able to use them for their original purpose, but they wouldn't be as easy to accidentally activate.
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I'm sorry, I must be missing something obvious here.
Any of the soft button remappers will NOT work on application-specific softkeys - AE ButtonPlus specifically says this in it's FAQ. Remapping the "send" key is application-specific - it only becomes the Send key when you launch Outlook. So how did you manage to re-map this key?
TexasPenguin said:
I'm sorry, I must be missing something obvious here.
Any of the soft button remappers will NOT work on application-specific softkeys...
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Click to collapse
The distinction is between remapping the softkey, or remapping the hardkey that correlates to the softkey. What the remappers can't do is change the function of the softkey... if, for example, Outlook is coded to make the left softkey the send key, you can't change that. That's programmed in to Outlook. But what you CAN change is whether or not the hard button that corresponds to the left softkey is recognized as the left softkey. For example, I've remapped the single press of the hard keys that correspond to the L & R softkeys to copy and paste, respectively. If I open Outlook, the soft softkey (the button on the touchscreen) is still going to be send. But my hard button is no longer mapped to be a softkey, it's mapped to be copy.
I used all the programs from the thread that you pointed out, including the cab file that was mentioned. This allowed me to change the left front soft key but does not affect the assignment of the left keyboard soft key as "Reply" when in email mode and with the keyboard slided out. Is there a way to change the left soft key assignment only for the email (eliminate the reply option) or just inactivate the left soft key altogether? I have installed the SoftKey applet form your thread in my Settings.
I sent my reply to one of the earlier messages wihout having read all the answers that came after it....I was out of the office for a couple of hours..my apologies. I will find the AE button plus and give it a try, but is there any registry solution? they usually work the best.
I downloaded and used the AE Button Plus, and it worked! I set it to double press and that did the trick. The program is very good by the way, the only one that allows multiple pressing options, etc.Many thanks!
I have benefited from this thread!
Thanks everybody.
Adequate description on the issue provided, and adequate solutions and then a follow up post.
A really appealing solution would be to isolate the keyboard softkeys from the front ones. I tried the double press method but it turned out to be incredibly annoying and I'm not sure that constant annoyance is outweighed by an accidental softkey hit on the keyboard. What I'd like to do is disable the keyboard softkeys while leaving the front ones completely intact on a single press.
I find it surprising that you even need to use the softkeys, period. I came to the Kaiser from a Smartphone edition phone (no touchscreen), which I had for for over two years. So I was completely accustomed to using the smartkeys. Yet, surprisingly, once I got the Kaiser, I found myself immediately and instinctually accessing their functionality from the touchscreen rather than the hard buttons. Perhaps because the hard buttons aren't directly under the screen like they were on my smartphone, so the tie betwee the label and the button wasn't as obvious as it was on the smartphone.
dscline said:
See my thread here. Those are the same as the softkeys on the font keypad (so remapping one remaps the other). I ended up using AE Button Plus to remap those (and other keys) to other functions, which I like because of the additional functionality that can be assigned to double clicks, triple clicks, etc. But if you just want to remap it to something else, check that thread for some alternatives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, AE Button Plus worked great. I just deactivated the "Left Softkey" and now I don't have to take care of that damned button anymore.
dscline said:
I find it surprising that you even need to use the softkeys, period. I came to the Kaiser from a Smartphone edition phone (no touchscreen), which I had for for over two years. So I was completely accustomed to using the smartkeys. Yet, surprisingly, once I got the Kaiser, I found myself immediately and instinctually accessing their functionality from the touchscreen rather than the hard buttons. Perhaps because the hard buttons aren't directly under the screen like they were on my smartphone, so the tie betwee the label and the button wasn't as obvious as it was on the smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using touchscreen pocket pc's for a while and no such instinct has kicked in.
so no one has an answer besides installing that AE button plus prog on the phone?
try removing the actual key. i wouldn't try it but it may work.
I'm really glad I found this thread, I keep sending half written and blank sms messages because of the left soft and keep doing weird things because of the right one. It's gonna cost me a fortune in text messages so I'm gonna go try that prog mentioned.
It would be better for a solution more specific to the application but this is certainly better than nothing!
the best solution I can think of is:
- remove the sender name whilst creating email.
if you accidently hit send it will prompt for sender info. when you are ready to send, simply insert the contact details in and all is well.
hope this helps some of you
firstbuddha said:
the best solution I can think of is:
- remove the sender name whilst creating email.
if you accidently hit send it will prompt for sender info. when you are ready to send, simply insert the contact details in and all is well.
hope this helps some of you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we have a WINNER SOLUTION

How to disable inner "soft" keys

How can I disable these?? The keys above and between "I" and "O", and between "R" and "T"? I hate them. I type incredibly fast and happen to blunder on them at least once per message, email, etc...
I've tried to change my typing style, but that isn't 100% effective and only slows me down.
I would like nothing to happen when I push them. I also do not use the "soft" buttons above the IE and Mail buttons. I don't have issues with accidentally hitting them, though. But if they get disabled with the ones in the full keyboard, it won't bother me (not sure if they're tied together).
I only want the actual onscreen soft buttons to work. Can anyone help?
By the way, I went into Settings > Personal > Buttons, but only 6 are shown (not counting "push and hold").
There are a total of 13 buttons on this thing if you include the push button on the wheel, and don't count the keyboard mappings. 11 buttons if you count the front and inside soft buttons as only 2....
I am currently searching for a solution to the same problem for the same issue. I cannot even count how many times I have accidentally hit the send button when all I wanted was the letter.
I am not that an incredibly fast typist, though.
I use AE Button Plus and this allows you to remap all of the keys to other things as well as map one, two and three presses along with long press.
You could use this to remap one press of the softkey to nothing and two presses to activate the softkey. This would mean that you would have to press them twice to make them work, but would stop teh accidental presses.
dryden said:
I use AE Button Plus and this allows you to remap all of the keys to other things as well as map one, two and three presses along with long press.
You could use this to remap one press of the softkey to nothing and two presses to activate the softkey. This would mean that you would have to press them twice to make them work, but would stop teh accidental presses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would that have the same affect on the "onscreen" soft buttons (touch screen).
I've just had a quick play and it appears to only affect the hardware buttons, which, I think, is what was originally wanted.
It's a good program, I use it a lot and it's FREE!
Is there nothing someone maybe found to disable these in the registry. I also hate these buttons too.

[Resolved] Remap volume control buttons

Sorry if it was already covered elsewhere, - is there any way to remap auctions for these side buttons on Diamond ? I don't change volume level that often, all done through profiles, imho up/down arrow or scroll function would be much more beneficial ...
Update: AEButton Plus does the thing perfectly, thanks to Geekess for the hint
volume up/down is OK but long press may be very useful for Explorer, task manager etc...
In other words configurable .. would be great for camera too, not easy to make pictures with central button, not stable enough ...
I did not follow development news for previous HTCs, so not sure if it was ever done before ...the fact is that these buttons are not available from Settings (
You can use PQZ II for remapping the volume key. Try to google it.
csc0503 said:
You can use PQZ II for remapping the volume key. Try to google it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks mate, you are a star
http://www.nicque.com/PQz/PQzII.htm
no version for diamond yet, will play with WM6 version tonight ...
hertc said:
will play with WM6 version tonight ...
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Click to collapse
well, does not look good at the end, maybe these are hidden features, but I could not find a way of how to use the volume buttons independently (they work as Ctrl or Alt, no problem here, but I wanted to use them as one button - one action, not two buttons - one action). Another problem, Up/Down or Scroll are not available for selection as actions ....
So it should be possible to change that, the matter of finding the right program now ..
Wish there were more buttons on Diamond, or at least proper navigation buttons ...
Hmm... for me it does not work, get the message:
keyboard hook faild
any suggestions?
What works for me is AEButton Plus (payware, no affiliation). I have reconfigured my volume buttons to single press = arrow up/down and long press to volume. The program has a nice function: you can choose to let the volume buttons have their default behavior during a phonecall.
I'm using the trial right now, but if I can't find a freeware program that has the same functionality I will probably buy this.
May I ask how you've gone on with AEButton? I'd be interested to hear your long(er) term experience of having used it as it sounds like exactly what I want/need.
Mathew
all good, does what it says, configured it once and just using since ..
Tried latest HButton 2.3, but think it is not compatible ... anyone else tried it?

Button Mappings on Android for the HTC Vogue

Hello XDA'ers,
I am wondering what the reason behind why the buttons (camera, power, green, red, etc.) in Android on HTC Vogue map to the various tasks they do? For example, the camera button is back, but why not the red button? Is this something hard set in Android and cannot be changed or did someone specifically set it up this way for a reason?
Secondly I am wondering if I create a new "keylayout file" (source.android.com/porting/keymaps_keyboard_input.html) or modify the default one in /system/usr/keylayout/qwerty.kl will I be able to change the mapping of these buttons?
Compared to the Win Mobile mapping, they button layout can take some getting used to,
but once you get used to it, it's actually a very cool layout, especially if you are right handed.
You can hold the phone in your left hand, and use your thumb to access the settings 'top button',
Use your ring-finger to always back-out or end an app
Green button for phone / initiating calls
Red button to end a call, sleep mode, or power off
I wish the d-pad had more use, but I'm always using the stylus, so barely use it.
Would love for the d-pad center key to maybe be the main power-off button.
Does_It_Matter said:
... It's actually a very cool layout.
...
I wish the d-pad had more use, but I'm always using the stylus, so barely use it.
Would love for the d-pad center key to maybe be the main power-off button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree the current layout is a very cool layout indeed, but as I imagine most people on here like to tinker it may be interesting to know how to customize the button bindings.
I am not sure if its just a matter of changing the button layout file.
I looked at that qwerty.kl file in the android.tgz
It looks like its just a mapping file, and if you change the mapping, you change
buttons,
but doesn't that mean you're just re-mapping the button itself?
Not re-mapping its functionality?
I.e., if you remapped the camera button to the d-pad center, for example, then
the d-pad center would do all functions the camera button used to do,
and the camera button would do any functions the d-pad center would?
Seems like you'd actually have to change more code than just the .kl file?
i wrote this application for polaris, and with simple changes you can add the vogue setup...

[Think tank] Map menu long press to keyboard (not search)

Since the vibrant doesn't have a secondary input like most android devices, it's even more vital that we have unfettered access to the keyboard and its soft arrow keys. Unfortunately long pressing the menu button in some applications (notably the browser) brings up SEARCH rather than the keyboard by itself. That means no arrow keys for text selection or link highlighting.
This has been discussed previously in general at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=776792
How difficult would it be to remap the long press of the menu key to bring up the keyboard by itself?
After researching it some on my own, it looks like I need to come up with a way to call showSoftInput() from one of the softkeys. It'd be ideal if I could get that to happen on menu long press, but if that's too far buried in proprietary configuration I'd settle for replacing the google voice search app mapped to the Search button long press.
Anyone have any tips on mapping system functions to a hardware key normally used for app launching? The lack of any keyboard in the browser is seriously inhibiting my ability to use this phone.
Dxtop pro does this, and long press back is tasks
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
fit333 said:
Dxtop pro does this, and long press back is tasks
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
yeah, buth then you have to use dxtop. *non fan of dxtop*
fit333 said:
Dxtop pro does this, and long press back is tasks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dxtop takes over the long press of buttons only in the home screen context, and it doesn't use any of them to launch the keyboard. Plus there's no way to configure any of it so it's not really the same at all.
What I'm looking for is to alter one of the long press actions in a system-wide way to launch the soft keyboard.
cbisquit said:
After researching it some on my own, it looks like I need to come up with a way to call showSoftInput() from one of the softkeys. It'd be ideal if I could get that to happen on menu long press, but if that's too far buried in proprietary configuration I'd settle for replacing the google voice search app mapped to the Search button long press.
Anyone have any tips on mapping system functions to a hardware key normally used for app launching? The lack of any keyboard in the browser is seriously inhibiting my ability to use this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried emailing Anderweb? ADW launcher intercepts the home button. You might be able to do something similar. It might only work on the home screen though, as his app is running there. For a system wide thing you might need to mod the underlying OS files, framework maybe? I'm not sure where that stuff launches. You could try asking one of the Cyanogen devs, they might have found it. They add stuff to the power button long press menu at least.
Certain apps (Visual Task Switcher and Itching Thumb) remap the search and home buttons to open themselves. I imagine this same idea could be used for the menu button, but I've never seen it.
I don't always complain, but when I do, I #BlameWes
some success...
Well I got a little app to work at opening the keyboard on long press of the SEARCH key. I don't want to override the home function, which is what ADW for instance does. The only other button that has an available intent as far as I can tell is search. This is my first java anything, so I wouldn't expect much out of it (it may not even work on anyone's phone but mine) but maybe someone with better android chops can use it as a proof-of-concept for what I was thinking. Install it and when you long press the search key you can choose "Search for Keyboard!"
One pretty major caveat... the swype soft cursor doesn't act anything like I'd wanted when I was envisioning this. There's no "execute" button that works like a click, so while you can use the soft arrows to select links it's not gonna do you much good. Also there's no way to effectively use "select text" in the browser. Concept 2, if I ever get around to it, would probably be more like a replacement touchpad area below the current application window.
i would like to see an app to remap long press menu on my i9000, anyone has success? thx
Another reason to ditch Samsung firmware and use AOSP-based ROMs, like CyanogenMod or MIUI.
FYI, nearly every "ROM" made for Galaxy S phones are Samsung firmware. They're not built from source like ROMs for other decent Android phones, they are just original Samsung builds being modified like nuts. And they use the same Samsung framework (though usually customized for themes and removing of annoyances like battery-full popup), and usually still include most of Samsung's stupid fixes that make their Galaxy S system software the most different in structure compared to any other Android system.
By using AOSP firmware like CyanogenMod and MIUI, these problems (like menu-button keyboard binding getting screwed up by Samsung) don't exist, because they were never present in official Android release. When problems do come up for AOSP, they get fixed quick because the source code is actually available.
Summarized process of development:
Samsung-based ROMs: What's broken or runs like ****? Try to fix it. Hack hack hack, hope it works, if it fails try again. Submit to XDA
CyanogenMod (in general): If there is a problem, try to fix it. Write code, build, test. Make sure it works before putting it in "stable" branch. After that think of brand new useful feature to implement, code it, bug test a lot, request it to be used in official releases or just make your own CyanogenMod-based ROM with your own enhancements, like BiffMod for the HTC Dream.
Btw, the reason why Samsung put this keybind is because the original international Galaxy S doesn't have a dedicated search key, so they set the search function up with the menu button. Our problem is that Samsung was a lazyass and forgot to change back that binding to the original for the Vibrant, which does have a dedicated search button and doesn't need the menu binding to search.
But aosp roms have other problems like poor 3d performance and no gps/compass. If the issues get worked out, I suspect many devs will be switching to aosp builds.

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