The XXHighEnd dedicated On Screen Keyboard (OSK) can be invoked by means of XXOSK.exe in your XX folder (the folder where your XXHighEnd.exe sits).
The XXHighEnd OSK has been designed explicitly to operate Tablets and Smartphones and tapping the buttons. It is NOT to be used with a normal mouse or tracking mousepointer because the mousepointer is always moved out of sight after tapping a button. You can try it with a normal mouse though, but don't get mad.
In your XX folder you will find it named XXOSK.exe with this icon :
When it is started it looks like this :
When we use the button the mouse pointer is at in the above picture, we see this :
The sizing, which scales all the buttons as well, is done by means of dragging the edges to the left/right. More easily this can be done by dragging the top corners, and the area (for width where to grab/drag it) is about the size of a normal button. See the mouse pointer in above picture; it is in the drag area.
The below has been taken from the XXHighEnd version 2.00 Release Notes :
- The On Screen Keyboard (OSKXX.exe) now has different colours for the shortcut keys (Like Alt-u) and the grouping of them is now intuitive.
Additionally a "command" key has been added, so groups of keys can be selected (two of them).
See the "command" button in the bottom left corner;
You can easily see when you're in Cmd-2 by means of the blue coloured texts in the button itself, *and* in the buttons which apply to Cmd-2.
- The OSK (On Screen Keyboard) now retains its set shape from the previous session (like bar, phone, tablet and full keyboard).
Also, changing the layout now expands downwards (previously this was upwards so the "title bar" could not be grabbed for repositioning).
- From the OSK we can decide to start XXHighEnd in the usual "Playlist Area" mode, or to directly jump to the Library Area;
The normal startup to the Playlist Area is the Alt-XP you see above (or Alt-x for normal keyboard command) and the startup to the Library Area is the Alt-XL you see (or the new Ctrl-Alt-y normal keyboard command).
- In the Settings Area (Services and OSD section) there's a button "Use Touch Facilities". Next to that there is a button "Use Std Win OSK" (Use Standard Windows On Screen Keyboard). We take it that you activate these both;
What the latter button does is popping up the built-in Windows On Screen Keyboard when any field is clicked that requires keyboard input.
Notice : This Standard Windows OSK is dealt with hereunder .
- Although the XXOSK can be changed into a normal keyboard (layout) this is not the most convenient. Therefore the normal Windows OSK can be used as well now, and it looks like this :
Notice : This is the OSK from Windows 8 (the OSK from Windows 7 looks slightly different and is also less functional) but take care that you indeed have this one, which is not the standard one. The one you see here can be activated (if not automatically already) like this (Metro Desktop assumed to be active) :
Settings (in bottom right corner) - Change PC Settings (bottom right corner) - Eas of Access (in the left pane) - Keyboard (in the left pane) - slide On-Screen Keyboard to On.
From now on the one you see above will be active (don't ask how to revert to the unuable big standard one).
This OSK will pop up automatically when in Settings (Services and OSD Section) the new "Use Standard WIN OSK" is switched On and when you use any field (click etc.) where the keyboard can be useful.
Watch out : This has been made for those situations that the (whatever) OS does not bring forward her own OSK. And the most stupid example is this one : Windows 8(.1) on a Windows Surface Tablet using RDC to your Audio PC; although it contains an OSK all right, it will *not* start that when in RDC Mode. But this solves that.
Crucial :
You must be the most careful to *not* start the OSK yourself on e.g. the Windows 8(.1) Tablet or the intermediate PC which can also be in order (like Tablet -> Intermediate PC with e.g. file storage -> Audio PC) because when all are Windows 8(.1) they will all look the same and they will all work. There's one difference though : the OSK on the Audio PC will also give the functionality of the Ctrl and Alt keys as intended. For example, Alt-x will bring up XXHighEnd and supposed the OSK runs on the Intermediate PC it may also start XXHighEnd but *there*. And this is not what you want. But the most prominent and important example is this :
When you're done with the OSK for the moment, you can cross is away, but you can also tap anywhere on the brown-ish surface you see in the picture above.
The Fade button you see in the bottom-right corner (not available on Windows 7) will make the OSK very faint and almost invisible. This may look convenient but in the end is not; what happens is that unlike the XXOSK this OSK stays on top and while it may overlay the Stop button etc. etc., clicking stop will actually bring forward the OSK and no Stop (etc.) was applied. So "click it away" when done is always more convenient and in the end requires one tap only.
The OSK is resizeable in width, independent of height (drag the borders as normally). Important : Do not have the illusion that you can set/drag its size on the tablet itself, because it has too thin borders for that (too hard to grab, even with a small pen). So this, sadly, has to be part of some preparation on the normal desktop.
Under the Options key (see right part) you can switch off "use Text Prediction" which for our application is a requirement (to be switched off). Be careful when you apply this over the Tablet itself (onto the Audio PC !) because the the Options screen is fairly high and under the "Use Text prediciton" checkbox you'll see in there is an OK button which may be outside of the screen. But not use it means don't apply the changes you just made. So put your Tablet upright for this so the screen will be visible in full.
Edit May 30, 2015 : The below is not really obsolete (all you see still works) but the outlay above is the better applicable one today (XXHighEnd version 2.00).
The XXHighEnd dedicated On Screen Keyboard (OSK) can be invoked by means of XXOSK.exe in your XX folder (the folder where your XXHighEnd.exe sits).
Only QWERTY (UK) is supported at this time.
Notice that this is partly based on the available Remote Commands :
AutoHotKeys (Remote Commands) Listing.
The XXHighEnd OSK has been designed explicitly to operate Tablets and Smartphones and tapping the buttons. It is NOT to be used with a normal mouse or tracking mousepointer because the mousepointer is always moved out of sight after tapping a button. You can try it with a normal mouse though, but don't get mad.
In your XX folder you will find it named XXOSK.exe with this icon :
When it is started it looks like this :
When the button is used where the mouse pointer is in above picture, it will look like this :
The last picture could be the typical setting for Tablet operation, since it contains all the shortcuts to use in Unattended Mode (no Uster Interface present).
The button where the mouse pointer is at in above picture, always returns to the starting format. This button is available in al formats (except the starting format).
When we use the button the mouse pointer is at in the above picture, we see this :
This is the format which can be used on a smart phone. This will normally cover the full screen of the phone - but size it like that yourself. The sizing, which scales all the buttons as well, is done by means of dragging the edges to the leeft/right. More easily this can be done by dragging the top corners, and the area is about the size of a normal button. See the mouse pointer in above picture; it is in the drag area.
Addendum :
At further investigation it seems that there is no real reason to use this format for a smart phone at all. The long horizontal format (above) can just be used with tapping. But more importantly, even the normal XXHighEnd remote interface can be used quite all right. One thing : don't forget to put off your glasses for sight seeing (read : all is too small to really read, but the controls can be used just all right).
In combination, notice that the upright keyboard won't suffice when the XXHighEnd control UI is there too, because this bases itself on "landscape" format. And, even when you don't want to use that interface and just the On Screen Keyboard instead, there is still no reason to not show the Coverart WallPaper during playback. That too is oriented landscape.
The remainder of the top bar (notice this is transparent) can be used to reposition the keyboard. Grab the top bar (see above picture and drag it to a new position (see below picture).
All the formats can be resized and repositioned like this :
Put your finger on a position near a top corner (see mouse pointer in above picture) and now drag to left or right. With your finger on the left corner and dragging to the left, the keyboard will grow larger. Drag to the right and it will shrink.
At the other top corner it will work the other way around.
Back at the starting format, the button where the mouse pointer is at now (above) will show a full keyboard :
On it are all the keys which can be useful for XXHighEnd usage.
The [ X ] button available on all formats will remove the keyboard from memory.
General working of the full keyboard- The Shift key is to be used, followed by the key you want in capitals. It will show purple when it is active (pressed).
The shift key will only be active for the next first key you "press".
You can deactivate the Shift key by pressing it another time.
The Shift key will show the "upper-bar" keys as you see them on a normal (QUERTY-UK) keyboard.
- The CapsLock key acts like the Shift key, but it remains active untill you depress it. Notice though that the CapsLock key will *not* show the upper-bar keys. Only Shift does that, and Shift can be used when CapsLock is active.
- Ctrl and Alt work the same as Shift : they remain active until a first next key is pressed.
- Warning : Shift, Ctrl and Alt are mutually exclusive. This means that when one of them is used while another is active, that other will deactivate. Look at the purple color (of being active) and you will get it.
- Although obvious, where the smaller formats of the OSK show Alt-x etc. explicitly, here Alt followed by x (etc.) will behave exactly the same.
General features and constraints- The OSK contains a not al all obvious additional feature : it will not allow you to mix up commands in XXHighEnd. For example, when you use Alt-u for Volume-Up, the keyboard is only available again when the command has been processed. This additionaly means that you now can *see* whether the command has been processed (look at the key's hover color).
Keep in mind : this is different from when it really is applied to the sound engine, which is related to buffer sizes and more.
The exception to this "wait for availability" is Alt-x which makes the OSK available again right away.
- When XXHighEnd is visible on the screen, no OSK remote commands will be passed on to XXHighEnd.
- The OSK Remote Commands are not taken from the Autohotkey Configuration file. So notice that when you e.g. overruled Alt-u with Alt-h in there (to raise the volume), with the OSK this will be Alt-u.
- Although not appreciated as a feature perhaps, once a key has been pressed, the mousepointer originally following your tapping, will be moved outside the keyboard area after the tap.
This is not a bug or difficult to solve technicallity or something - it is on purpose.
- Not only from the above follows that the OSK is *not* to be used in trackpad mode (like the pad on a laptop) - it is not to be used at all like that, because that mode can't work conveniently. So, the OSK is there to tap the keys, and not to position a mousepointer that tracks your finger to next at last tap and press the key concerned. That does NOT work, so DO NOT TRY IT. Well, you can of course, as long as this has been said.
- The OSK is fairly easy adjustable by us (developers), and if you have wishes for the better, please say so on the forum.
However, whatever it is you may come up with, please think about the *real* solution to whatever it is you want to change. For example, when you'd want a full numerical part on the right side like a normal keyboard, imagine that you can only want this if you also want the keys to be so small that you can't tap them anymore - because otherwise it won't fit the width of the tablet (what this really is about for the full size version). So, please don't want things which can't be done in practice.
Possible issue :
The OSK
should only work for XXHighEnd and assumed that XXHighEnd is the only program (with text fields) active, there can't be a problem. But, in the hardly imaginable situation that you are using the OSK with more than XXHighEnd active (which should alreadly be quite impossible on a Tablet), and you quit XXHighEnd but let the OSK stay, the typing you do can end up in that other program. This is not intentional and can be called an unwanted feature (we call it a bug, but alas).
