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The devices I'm working with all running iOS 10. I'm pairing them via Bluetooth to a Zebra scanner that simply is doing the same thing as attaching a Bluetooth keyboard. In the google searches I've done usually when you are using a Bluetooth keyboard in iOS they usually come with a key that causes the on screen keyboard on the device to display. If you don't push that key there is no way to get the on screen keyboard to display unless you de-pair the devices or turn off Bluetooth. The Bluetooth keyboard disables the on screen keyboard for every app on the device.

I'm working on an enterprise app for iOS so I don't have to worry about app store restrictions but I'm looking for a way that I can programatically re-enable the on screen keyboard at least for my app.

*As a side note Assigning my entry using BecomeFirstResponder() does not resolve my problem. But that's the only suggestion I can find when I google this.

** The scanner I'm testing does have a button that is supposed to show the virtual keyboard on the iOS device but for some reason it's not working. I'm trying to work with their technical support.

*** I did find this but apparently it stopped working with iOS 8 and I'm working with iOS 10 I want to force keyboard on with bluetooth device

**** A solution using C# Xamarin would be preferential but anything Swift or worst case Objective C will help.

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Jazzeroki
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1 Answers1

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This isn't the answer that I was looking for but after having dealt with multiple bluetooth scanners now on iOS this seems to be what has to be done.

Pretty much every Bluetooth Scanner available has a configuration option that can be set to allow the scanner to trigger the virtual keyboard to appear or disappear. Most scanners seem to use an option that you tap the scan trigger twice. Some do have an alternate function button that you can press. This option pretty much universally though has to be turned on on each scanner individually by scanning a configuration barcode that is unique to that scanner that is usually found in the guides for the scanner.

Pragmatically enabling or disabling the virtual keyboard seems to have to be done via an SDK that can usually be obtained from the vendor. The scanner also has to have a custom to Apple MFI chip installed.

Jazzeroki
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