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Special characters view

The special characters view (SCV) is the symbol table that appears when typing Fn+Ctrl (Sym) on the slideout keyboard of the N810 or N900.

The set of symbols offered depends on the hardware keyboard layout chosen in the "Text input" settings. For users who type in a language different from the layout of the hardware keyboard, customization of the SCV is useful. The SCV layout is defined in the *.vkb files located under /usr/share/scv_layouts/ on the device's filesystem. The pre-installed files are contained in package hildon-im-keyboard-assistant-scv (closed-source). vkb files are in a binary format and generated from a text file using a vkb file compiler.

A vkb file compiler can be found on Upir's Maemo Pages. Download the ukeyboard sources and compile them (make) on a desktop Linux installation (Maemo scratchbox not necessary). Compilation of Maemo dependent parts will fail, but the vkb compiler should succeed to be compiled.

There are sample def files in the sub-directory keyboards-scv which you can adapt to your needs: Copy the file to the name matching your hardware keyboard, for example us.def, edit it to meet your needs and run

../vkb_compiler us.def us.vkb

On the device, make a backup copy of the existing /usr/share/scv_layouts/us.vkb for the case that you want to go back to the original layout. Then copy your new us.vkb to /usr/share/scv_layouts/ on the device.

You will need to go to the "text input" settings and select the hardware keyboard type again. After that, the new SCV table should show up.

Remark: I had ukeyboard installed on the device when doing this, but I expect these instructions working also without it.

For people with an English keyboard typing in German language, I attach my customized us.def file. I would also offer the compiled vkb file but I don't know how to attach it to the wiki page.

Related bug report: #2892

See also how to remap the hardware keyboard.

Make sure, the def file is in UTF-8 encoding before running vkb_compiler on it! Use recode l1..u8 your.def if necessary.

# German, English scv keyboard layout
# Created by Tilman Vogel <tilman vogel web de> (insert: dot at dot)

header {
name	"German, English"
lang	"German, English"
wc	""

size	0	{ width 110 height 72 textpos 41 left 0 top 0 }
}

kbd_special {
lowercase {
	name ""
	margin 0 0 0 0
	default_size 0
	row {
	key < special
	key > special
	key [ special
	key ] special
	key { special
	key } special
	key | special
	}
	row {
	tab
	key ¥ special
	key § special
	key ½ special
	key ² special
	key % special
	key ‰ special
	}
	row {
	key ` alpha special dead
	key ´ alpha special dead
	key ^ alpha special dead
	key ~ alpha special dead
	key ¨ alpha special dead
	key ° alpha special dead
	key ˇ alpha special dead
	}
	row {
	key ä special
	key ö special
	key ü special
	key ß special
	key á special
	key é special
	key è special
	}
}
uppercase {
	name ""
	margin 0 0 0 0
	default_size 0
	row {
	key < special
	key > special
	key [ special
	key ] special
	key { special
	key } special
	key | special
	}
	row {
	tab
	key ¥ special
	key § special
	key ½ special
	key ² special
	key % special
	key ‰ special
	}
	row {
	key ` alpha special dead
	key ´ alpha special dead
	key ^ alpha special dead
	key ~ alpha special dead
	key ¨ alpha special dead
	key ° alpha special dead
	key ˇ alpha special dead
	}
	row {
	key Ä special
	key Ö special
	key Ü special
	key ß special
	key Á special
	key É special
	key È special
	}
}
}