[maemo-developers] rx-51 xkb file: how does FOUR_LEVEL type work?

[From: Matan Ziv-Av]

On Sun, 31 Jan 2010, Denis DeLaRoca wrote:

>
> My understanding of xkb configuration files is that the type FOUR_LEVEL, or 
> its variants FOUR_LEVEL_ALPHABETIC and FOUR_LEVEL_SEMIALPHABETIC, allow for 
> programming characters at the 4th level. For example, the following 
> definition of my US keyboard,
>
> partial alphanumeric_keys
> xkb_symbols "us" {
>    include "nokia_vndr/rx-51(english_base)"
>    include "nokia_vndr/rx-51(arrows_4btns)"
>
>    name[Group1] = "U.S. English";
>    key.type[Group1] = "FOUR_LEVEL";
>
>    // 1. row
>
>    // 2. row
>    key <AC06>	{ [h, H, parenleft,  bracketleft  ] };
>    key <AC07>	{ [j, J, parenright, bracketright ] };
>
>    // 3. row
> };
>
>
> Ought to give me bracket chars when pressing Fn + Shift... but such is not 
> the case. The definitions behave rather as type THREE_LEVEL. The only 
> exception being when the character slotted at the 3rd level can be shifted, 
> in which case the upercase version of the char is output. I tried using the 
> type FOUR_LEVEL_SEMIALPHABETIC but no change.
>
> Is there a problem as to how I am interpreting the use of the LEVEL types... 
> or is it the case that the hildon layer code is enforcing this observed 
> THREE_LEVEL behaviour?

This is a bug in hildon-input-method-framework. Patch and compiled 
binary package with this patch here:

http://my.arava.co.il/~matan/770/n900/himf.diff
http://my.arava.co.il/~matan/770/n900/hildon-input-method-framework_2.1.41-1+0m5_armel.deb


The F4,F6,F7,F8 keys appear to work, since they do not go through 
context translation.

-- 
Matan.