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call()


Summary

The call() statement calls an external library.

Syntax

store(callDefinitionStore) "myimx.dll:KeyEvent"

... > call(callDefinitionStore)

Parameters

callDefinitionStore
The store which defines the external library function. The format of the store is discussed below.

Description

The call() statement calls an Input Method Extension (IMX) DLL. Functionally it behaves like the use() statement, and can be used anywhere the use() statement is valid except after the begin statement.

As the call() statement originated on Microsoft Windows, the definition is based on Windows requirements. The store given must be referencing a function in an external DLL, which should be installed as part of a package into the same path as the keyboard.

On Javascript-based platforms, including web, Android and iOS, the callDefinitionStore value is interpreted slightly differently. The DLL filename is ignored, which means each called function must have a unique name (i.e. you cannot reference two DLLs from the same keyboard that have the same function name). The compiler will locate a file with the name of the function and a '.call_js' extension, and will embed the source from this file into the compiled keyboard. In the example above, to compile for KeymanWeb, the file 'KeyEvent.call_js' must exist in the same folder as the .kmn file. The .call_js file must be encoded in UTF-8 (with or without UTF-8 BOM).

The IMX functionality supports both 32-bit and 64-bit DLLs. A 64-bit DLL should be named with a .x64.dll extension, rather than just .dll.

The specification for the Windows DLL is available in the IMX documentation. The specification for Javascript IMX functions is available in the IMX Web documentation.

Examples

Example: Using call()

store(DLLFunction) "myimx.dll:KeyEvent"
+ any(key) > call(DLLFunction)

Platforms

The call() statement can be used in keyboards on the following platforms.

Windows macOS Linux Desktop web Mobile web iOS Android

Version history

Keyman 8.0: Added support for x64.

Keyman 8.0: Added support for web IMX.

The call statement was introduced in Keyman 6.0.

See also