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Alphanumeric remote incl. shift, alt, etc.


dihu

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Hi,

 

I like to use an alphanumeric remote control (shipped with an old Archos 605) with Flirc but run into problems with keys like shift or alt. Flirc assumes that, for instance, CTRL-SHIFT-A is a single keystroke on the remote but this remote has separate keys for CTRL, SHIFT, ALT-L, ALT-R. In contrast to a standard keyboard pushing one of these keys sends a signal by its one. So CTRL-SHIFT-A becomes a sequence (!) of three keystrokes rather than a single one. In order to process this sequence correctly, Flirc would have to store the keystrokes of these buttons internally to change the coding of the next "regular" keystroke (i.e. the "A"). Is that possible?

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Hu dihu, welcome to the forums,

 

You are right, Flirc does send them all at once, it's a similar problem to windows media center () where the buttons need a slight gap between them.

 

Jason is aware of the issue (page-2#entry2362) so hang tight, but as for the timeline of when it will materialise... I couldn't say.

 

Out of curiosity what application are you trying to control?

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Hi Chris,

 

thanks for the response. Just to make sure: my remote will send three signals (one after the other) CRTL, SHIFT and A. Flirc would have to use the modiifier keys to change it's internal state. Seeing the "regular" key "A" would cause Flirc to send the combined key CRTL-SHIFT-A and presumably reset its internal state.

 

Actually, I don't have a particular application in mind but I like the alphanumeric remote e.g. to navigate in my MP3 collection.

 

Cheers dihu

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Hmm. I'm confused - don't worry happens far to easily with me.

 

 Seeing the "regular" key "A" would cause Flirc to send the combined key CRTL-SHIFT-A and presumably reset its internal state.

If your remote sends 3 separate signals then you could map each signal to a different button. Do you press three different keys on your remote?

 

If you mapped CTRL+SHIFT+A in the Flirc GUI to one button on your remote then flirc will send CTRL+SHIFT+A

 

Sorry for my confused state

 

p.s.

Is it this remote?

archos-605-wi-fi-dvr-remote.jpg

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let's make an example:

 

the actual behaviour is:

 

        Remote  -->  Flirc  --->  OS

 

1.               CTRL           some key

2.               SHIFT           some other key

3.                A                 A

 

the desired behaviour of Flirc should be:

 

        Remote  -->   Flirc  --->   OS

 

1.               CTRL        

2.               SHIFT

3.                A                 CTRL-SHIFT-A

 

you see the difference?  Wether pressing "A" on the remote causes Flirc to send an "A", "SHIFT-A", "CTRL-SHIFT-A", etc. depends on the history of previous keystrokes on the remote. The modifier keys sent from the remote to Flirc should determine which of the various alternatives for the next "regular" keystroke is chosen.

 

PS. it is this remote.

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Oh I see. Thanks for the explanation.

 

This isn't possible at the moment.

 

I know i've suggested this before... but:

Could you not map one button on your remote to ctrl+shift+a, or have I missed something in my previous posts?

Why does it need to be three buttons on your remote?

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sure, I can map ctrl+shift+a to a button. The simple point is that adding a modifier key like shift I obtain 2*n different codes (if n was the number of previously available codes). Using your approach I'm stuck with n+1 different codes. That makes a slight diffference if you want to restrict the number of buttons on your remote ;-)

 

Anyway, I can cope with this deficiency by writing a small program catching all the events from Flirc and implementing the required finite automaton.

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Where is the control button on your remote?

 

My understanding was:

If you press left alt + s on the remote you get é

If you press right alt + s on the remote you get +

If you just press s you get s

 

So you would have 26 letters on the keyboard plus additional 2 punctuation buttons (, and .) = 28

3 different permutations of each button = 84

Plus 17 buttons that don't appear to be affected by shift (towards the top of the remote)

 

84+17 = 101 buttons

 

I get the feeling i've missed something again though.

 

Anyhow, remember that flirc can only store 160 keys (http://www.flirc.tv/faq/)

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sorry for the delay in responding, I was busy the last days.

 

You cannot press left-alt + s on this remote because left-alt is a key like any other key and produces a signal by itself! So pressing left alt + s is as useful as pressing, say a + s.

 

Because you cannot press buttons in parallel, you are left with 28 + 17 + "modifier keys" buttons. The only solution to that is to simulate modifier keys on the receiver site, i.e. keeping in the receiver an internal state which modifier keys have been previously pressed on the remote.

 

The remote operates similar to pocket calculators where you have to press a yelllow button first to enable the functions printed in yellow on the keyboard. The same happens here. In the original application you press left-alt first and s second and the application decodes this sequence to left-alt + s.

 

Where is the control button on your remote?

 

My understanding was:

If you press left alt + s on the remote you get é

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