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Short URL: http://scripts.sil.org/keylayoutmaker

KeyLayoutMaker:
Perl script to create Mac OS X keyboard layouts

Jonathan Kew, 2006-06-01; 19758 reads

Introduction

The Perl script KeyLayoutMaker.pl is intended to provide a quick way to create at least a first draft of an XML keyboard layout file (.keylayout) for Mac OS X version 10.2 or later. Further adjustment, either using an editor such as Ukelele or by hand-editing the resulting XML file, may often be helpful.

This script is not a general-purpose tool for creating all types of keyboard layouts; it is designed specifically for situations where many multi-key sequences are required to generate single Unicode characters. This is one way in which syllabic scripts can be keyboarded: the keystrokes can be based on a simple romanization, such as that used in the Unicode character name. The keyboard layout created by this script will use dead key states (multiple levels, if necessary) to implement such layouts.

Usage

KeyLayoutMaker is a Perl script intended to be run from the Mac OS X command line (i.e., within a Terminal window or similar shell):

All three parameters are required; if any are missing, the script will simply print a usage message and terminate.

• layoutID is a "unique ID" for the layout. For Unicode layouts (as created by this script), this must be a negative number.
• layoutName is the name that will appear in the Input menu.
• keystrokeFile contains a list of key sequence<tab>Unicode character (in hex), specifying the character to be generated by each supported key sequence; see example files.

The XML keylayout definition is written to standard output (so it is normal to use redirection to send it to a file).

Thus, a typical command line might be:

perl KeyLayoutMaker.pl -i -200 -n "Cree Syllabics" -k Cree.keystrokes > Cree.keylayout

where the Cree.keystrokes file begins:

a    140a
aa   140b
aai  1402
ai   141c
an   142e
c    14a1
ca   1490

The resulting .keylayout file can be installed in Library/Keyboard Layouts or a personal ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts folder. It is necessary to log out of OS X and log in again before it will be available; then use System Preferences / International / Input Menu to add the new layout to the Input menu list.

Download

KeyLayoutMaker script for Mac OS X 10.2 and later (release 4) Jonathan Kew, 2006-06-01 Download "KeyLayoutMaker-20060601.zip?entry=__MACOSX/KeyLayoutMaker-20060601/._Cypriot.keystrokes", ZIP archive, 26KB [1748 downloads]

The KeyLayoutMaker distribution includes several example "keystroke files" based either on Unicode character names or on key sequences used in older legacy systems for particular languages.

For other resources related to Mac OS X keyboard layouts (tools, documentation, and available layouts), see the Input Resources page.

The KeyLayoutMaker.pl script and associated sample files and documentation are written by Jonathan Kew and copyright ©2004-2006 SIL International. They are made available with no warranty or support under  SIL's standard freeware license.

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