Arch Linux

tomsk

Member

Registered: 2016-12-17

Posts: 224

Force different input device for application

Hello,

I would like to ask you if there is any way to force some specific application to use different input device (keyboard) than default.

I have virtual keyboard with some modifications (called guest-keyboard), you can see my `ls /dev/input/by-id/` below:

[tomsk@tomsk-PC VMtest]$ ls /dev/input/by-id/
guest-keyboard
usb-Creative_Technology_Ltd_Sound_Blaster_Play__2_000000008582-event-if03
usb-Razer_Razer_BlackWidow_Chroma_V2-event-kbd
usb-Razer_Razer_BlackWidow_Chroma_V2-if01-event-kbd
usb-Razer_Razer_BlackWidow_Chroma_V2-if02-event-mouse
usb-Razer_Razer_BlackWidow_Chroma_V2-if02-mouse
usb-Razer_Razer_Lancehead_Tournament_Edition-event-mouse
usb-Razer_Razer_Lancehead_Tournament_Edition-if01-event-kbd
usb-Razer_Razer_Lancehead_Tournament_Edition-if02-event-kbd
usb-Razer_Razer_Lancehead_Tournament_Edition-mouse

usb-Razer_Razer_BlackWidow_Chroma_V2 is my default physical keyboard and guest-keyboard is my virtual with some modifications, so how can I run some application and force it to use my virtual keyboard and not my physical (I use X11).

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I use several linux distros like: Archlinux, Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint

tomsk

Member

Registered: 2016-12-17

Posts: 224

Re: Force different input device for application

Isn't it possible?

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I use several linux distros like: Archlinux, Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 76,104

Re: Force different input device for application

It is maybe an underspecified https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem
The device puts an event into the system and the display server will forward that to whatever client currently has the input focus.
You can en- and disable input devices and a client could IN THEORY implement XI2 to listen to a specific input device, bypassing the server.

What you seem to be looking for is a client that grabs all keyboard input from the server, listens to the devices using XI2 and then forwards that to specific clients by configurable discrimination.
I guess that's possible to implement, but idk whether that exists and there're of course massive pitfalls when you grab away input devices from things like shortcut daemons.

=> What behavior do you envisionwhen "run some application and force it to use my virtual keyboard and not my physical"?
What problem are you trying to solve? You're probably not typing on two keyboards at the same time?

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