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@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@ +NOTE: As of version 1.0 KKBSwitch has online documentation, so refer to it for +more information. This README file will no longer be maintained, but the +documentation will instead. + + + KKBSwitch + by Leonid Zeitlin <[email protected]> + Version 1.0 + +KKBSwitch is a keyboard layout indicator for KDE 2. It is useful when you have +configured the XKeyboard extension of your X Server to have more than one +keyboard group, for example US/ASCII and Russian. KKBSwitch displays an icon +in the system tray that indicates which layout is currently active. Note that +KKBSwitch does not help you configure XKeyboard, it merely serves as the +indicator of the current group. You still have to configure XKeyboard by +editing XF86Config file. + +KKBSwitch features: +- displays an icon in the KDE's system tray indicating the active keyboard group +- you can switch keyboard groups by clicking the icon or selecting the +desired group from the icon's menu +- icons corresponding to different groups are configurable (chosen from country +flag pixmaps that ship with KDE) +- "Toggle mode" (see below for more). + +Using KKBSwicth. + +The most basic usage is simply to let it sit in the system tray and show you +which keyboard group is currently active. You can also click the KKBSwicth +system tray icon to switch keyboard layouts. When right-clicked, the system +tray icon displays a menu with the following entries: + +- one or more entries corresponding to the configured keyboard groups (XKeyboard +can have up to 4 groups configured). The currently active group will be checked. +Selecting a menu entry corresponding to a group will make that group active. +- "Configure Keyboard Switch..." entry lets you configure KKBSwitch +- "About Keyboard Switch" displays a standard "About" dialog +- "Quit" quits KKBSwitch. + +Configuring KKBSwicth. + +In the KKBSwitch configuration dialog you can do the following: +- set the icons corresponding to the available keyboard groups. Note that +KKBSwitch will try hard to guess the correct icon based on the name of the +keyboard group (the names are configured in XKeyboard). For example, it will +display the US flag for US/ASCII group, German flag for German group, Russian +flag for Russian group, etc. If it cannot guess an icon, it will display the +"default" icon, which simply shows the group's number. Use the configuration +dialog to customize the icons: select a group in the "Available keyboard groups" +listbox, and click "Change icon..." button. You will be able to select from the +list of country flag pixmaps that is shipped with KDE. +- turn the "Toggle mode" on and off. "Toggle mode" is a convient feature of +KKBSwitch, which is useful if you have more than 2 groups. When "Toggle mode" +is on, pressing the XKeyboard's group switch key or clicking KKBSwitch's tray +icon will toggle between the two most recently used groups. To activate the +third or the fourth (if available) group you'll need to right-click KKBSwitch's +tray icon and select the desired group from the menu. For example, I have +US/ASCII, Russian and Ukrainian layouts configured. Most of the time I use +either US/ASCII or Russian layout and switch back and forth between them without +activating the rarely needed Ukrainian layout. But sometimes I need to write +something in Ukrainian, so I select this layout from the tray icon's menu. When +"Toggle mode" is on, the two most recently used groups will be marked with an +asterisk in the KKBSwitch tray icon's menu. + + +DCOP Bindings + +As of version 0.2, KKBSwitch can be manipulated programmatically with DCOP. +It exports an interface named KBSwitchIntf. The interfaces offers the following +methods: +- int getNumKbdGroups() - returns the number of configured keyboard groups +(layouts) +- ASYNC selectNextGroup() - does the same thing as clicking on the KKBSwitch's +tray icon, i.e. makes the next keyboard group active. If in "toggle mode", toggles +between the two recently used ones, just like clicking on the tray icon does. +- ASYNC selectGroup(int groupno) - makes the group whose number is groupno active +(like selecting a group from the tray icon popup menu) +- QStringList getGroupNames() - returns the list of the keyboard group names, +as configured in XKeyboard. + + |