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I have Blackberry Z30 (OS ver.10.3.3) and external BT keyboard.

The problem is that in this model and OS version it is not possible to assign several layouts and a switch key between them for the external keyboard. The layout for an external keyboard can only be changed through the settings (Input and Languages -> External Keyboard), which is extremely inconvenient.

Actually the question is - is it possible to write a program that will intercept the pressing of a certain key combination (Ctrl-Space, Ctrl-Shift, Ctrl-Alt, Alt-Shift, etc.) and change the layout of the external keyboard for this event?

Is interception of the event by pressing the keys available in the program in the first place, and is a keyboard layout change available in the second from the program?

I have never encountered development on the platform Blackberry OS10. There is experience (25+ years) of development on the MS-Windows platform (C/C ++) and three years of development on the AS/400 platform (RPG, C/C++).

I am sure that I can deal with Blackberry if the solution to my problem is possible and it makes sense to spend time on this.

Sincerely, Victor

Victor Pomortseff
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1 Answers1

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Unfortunately, it’s not possible for both : there is no way to intercept key presses (except from within your own app) and there’s no way to change the keyboard layout programmatically.

I’m the developer behind the BlackBerry 10 App “Silent Keys”, you can check its capabilities in BlackBerry World, that’s the farthest you’ll be able to go with the BlackBerry 10 APIs.

Roger Leblanc
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  • Roger, thanks for the answer. I correctly understood that the application does not have access to changing system settings such as changing the layout of the external keyboard? I tried Silent Keys. Unfortunately, your application on my phone (Z30) only works with a virtual keyboard. It does not see the external keyboard and does not respond to input from it. Dealing with Blackberry 10 API would be interesting for me, but since time is sorely lacking, very strong motivation is needed :-) – Victor Pomortseff Jun 11 '20 at 05:43
  • Roger, what about Native SDK? I see Bluethooth Human Interface Device functions in libbtapi. I didn’t go into details, but there is something about "responce to human input, such a mouse movement or a key press" – Victor Pomortseff Jun 11 '20 at 12:04
  • My bad, I thought by external keyboard you were talking about the “non-physical” keyboard, the touchscreen keyboard. You might have a chance to intercept the keys using the BT API, I have worked with the BTLE API on BB10, but not the standard BT API, and never tried to connect an external keyboard to my BB10. Even if key presses would be intercepted, I don’t know any way to programmatically change the external keyboard layout, even using the [UnexposedAPIs](https://github.com/RodgerLeblanc/TheUnexposedAPIs). – Roger Leblanc Jun 12 '20 at 10:31
  • Roger, thanks for the link. I’ll definitely look carefully, maybe I will find something useful for myself – Victor Pomortseff Jun 13 '20 at 10:47