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nw_keyboard.md

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+---
+tagline: native windows key codes
+---
+
+## Using the keyboard
+
+Keyboards are used differently depending on purpose, which can be text input,
+navigation, editing, shortcuts and other functions.
+
+For text input it's a combination of physical layout, logical layout
+input method, capslock state, numlock state, shift state, key pause
+and repeat intervals that determines what is being typed.
+Since all this is very complex and involves various user settings,
+this is entirely serviced by OS: we just get an event with one or more
+unicode code points representing what is being typed.
+
+For navigation the physical location of the keys matters. WASD games use
+keys normally used for text input (thus layout-dependent) for the purpose
+of navigation, so there needs to be a way to identify character and
+punctuation keys based on their physical positon on the standard
+US keyboard regerdless of the keyboard's actual layout. This also
+creates the need to get the keycap name for those keys. Games also want
+to ignore the numlock and capslock states, and may want to distinguish
+between left and right modifier keys.
+
+Editing keys (tab, enter), as well as function, control and modifier keys
+are universal, but not all of them are available between PC, Mac and laptop
+keyboards.
+
+Shortcuts involving character and punctuation keys must use layout-dependent
+keys so there needs to be a way to query the pressed state of character
+and punctuation keys based on the the current layout. Most shortcuts don't
+distinguish between left and right modifiers but some do.
+
+For shortcuts there's also the issue of certain key combinations being
+used by the OS and what these are is different beteween Windows,
+OSX and Linux so care must be taken not to use those. And then
+there's cultural differences that need to be accounted for like how
+Windows' Ctrl+C needs to be Command+C on a Mac.
+
+## Key names
+
+~~~
+key				vkeys									comments
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
+; 															US keyboard
+=
+,
+-
+.
+/															US keyboard
+`															US keyboard
+[															US keyboard
+\\															US keyboard
+]															US keyboard
+'															US keyboard
+
+backspace
+tab
+space
+esc
+
+F1-F10
+
+F11														taken on mac (show desktop)
+F12														taken on mac (show dashboard)
+
+F13														osx only
+F14														osx only; taken (brightness down)
+F15														osx only; taken (brightness up)
+F16														mac keyboard
+F17														mac keyboard
+F18														mac keyboard
+F19														mac keyboard
+
+capslock													no key-up timing on osx
+numlock													windows only; light always off on OSX
+printscreen												windows only; taken (screen capture)
+scrolllock												windows only
+break														windows only
+
+num0-num9
+
+num.
+num*
+num+
+num-
+num/
+numclear													separate key on mac keyboard
+
+lwin														windows only
+rwin														windows only
+menu														win keyboard
+num=														osx only
+
+0-9
+A-Z
+
+ctrl				lctrl				rctrl
+alt				lalt				ralt
+command			lcommand			rcommand			osx only
+
+left				left!				numleft			num... variants are windows only
+up					up!				numup
+right				right!			numright
+down				down!				numdown
+
+pageup			pageup!			numpageup
+pagedown			pagedown!		numpagedown
+end				end!				numend
+home				home!				numhome
+insert			insert!			numinsert
+delete			delete!			numdelete
+enter				enter!			numenter
+
+help														osx only; no keydown event
+
+mute
+volumedown
+volumeup
+~~~
+
+> Note: ctrl+numlock doesn't change the numlock state. Same with ctrl+scrolllock.
+
+## Crossing cultures
+
+Windows keyboards can be used on OSX and Mac keyboards can be used on Windows.
+Each OS will try to simulate its own keyboard on the foreign keyboard.
+For example, the numlock key on the Windows keyboard is mapped to numclear
+in OSX, because that's where the typical Mac user expects numclear to be,
+regardless of what is written on the key cap.
+
+Here's how the mappings go:
+
+
+### Windows Keyboard on OSX
+
+~~~
+win keyboard		key on OSX
+----------------------------------
+lwin					lcommand
+rwin					rcommand
+menu					menu
+
+numlock				numclear
+
+printscreen			F13
+scrolllock			F14
+break					F15
+
+insert!				help
+~~~
+
+
+### Mac Keyboard on Windows
+
+If you have a Mac keyboard on a Windows box, please fill these up.
+
+~~~
+mac keyboard		key on Windows
+----------------------------------
+F13					?
+F14					?
+F15					?
+F16					?
+F17					?
+F18					?
+F19					?
+
+num=					?
+help					?
+numclear				?
+~~~