DLL Exports
The DLL is called from Keyman with LoadLibrary(). All functions are
then found with GetProcAddress(). You must ensure that the function
exports do not have ordinals encoded in the names. The best way to
accomplish this in C/C++ is to use a .def file.
DLL group function exports
The function declaration for the DLL group function is:
BOOL WINAPI KeyEvent(HWND hwndFocus, WORD KeyStroke, WCHAR KeyChar, DWORD ShiftFlags);Note that KeyEvent() is a placeholder for any name that you wish to
use. You can have multiple exports for Keyman use in a single DLL.
| hwndFocus | The currently focused window. You will probably never have a need to use this. |
| KeyStroke | The virtual key code for the current key. |
| KeyChar | The character code for the current key (based on US English layout). This will be 0 if KeyStroke does not generate a character (e.g. function keys). |
| ShiftFlags | The shift state for the current key. The following shift states are possible: (see the table below) |
| Flag | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| LCTRLFLAG | 0x0001 |
Left Control Flag |
| RCTRLFLAG | 0x0002 |
Right Control Flag |
| LALTFLAG | 0x0005 |
Left Alt Flag |
| RALTFLAG | 0x0008 |
Right Alt Flag |
| K_SHIFTFLAG | 0x0010 |
Shift flag |
| K_CTRLFLAG | 0x0020 |
Ctrl flag (unused here; see l/r flags) |
| K_ALTFLAG | 0x0040 |
Alt flag (unused here; see l/r flags) |
| CAPITALFLAG | 0x0100 |
Caps lock on |
| NUMLOCKFLAG | 0x0400 |
Num lock on |
| SCROLLFLAG | 0x1000 |
Scroll lock on |
| ISVIRTUALKEY | 0x4000 |
It is a Virtual Key Sequence |
Optional DLL Exports
Keyman recognises a number of other exports, if they are defined in the DLL. None of these are required. These functions will be called when a keyboard that references the DLL is manipulated. They will not be called for keyboards that do not reference the DLL.
The following exports are available:
KeymanIMInit
BOOL WINAPI KeymanIMInit(PSTR keyboardname);KeymanIMInit() is called once when the keyboard identified by
keyboardname is loaded for a given process. It is called for each
process in which the keyboard is loaded.
KeymanIMDestroy
BOOL WINAPI KeymanIMDestroy(PSTR keyboardname);This is called once when the keyboard identified by keyboardname is
unloaded in a given process. It is called when the process exits
normally, or when Keyman refreshes its keyboard list after keyboards are
added or removed. If the keyboard is subsequently reloaded,
KeymanIMInit() will be called again.
KeymanIMActivate
BOOL WINAPI KeymanIMActivate(PSTR keyboardname);This function is called whenever the user or a program activates the
keyboard. It is never called before KeymanIMInit() (unless
KeymanIMInit() is not exported). This is an appropriate place to
switch on permanently-visible IMC windows. KeymanIMActivate() can also
be called when switching processes and the target process has a related
keyboard already active.
KeymanIMDeactivate
BOOL WINAPI KeymanIMDeactivate(PSTR keyboardname);This function is called when the user or a program switches off a
related keyboard. It is always called before KeymanIMActivate() for
the next keyboard. It will also be called when the user activates
another process, to give the DLL a chance to hide top-most IMC windows.
KeymanIMConfigure
BOOL WINAPI KeymanIMConfigure(PSTR keyboardname, HWND hwndParent);KeymanIMConfigure() is called when the user clicks the Configure
button in Keyman Configuration to configure the DLL-specific
functionality for the keyboard. The appropriate behaviour is to display
a dialog box, and save the settings in the registry.
This function is separate from all the other functions. It can be called when there are no keyboards loaded, or even if Keyman itself is not loaded. You should not attempt to call Keyman32.dll from this function.
