Enhancing XKB Configuration

How to further enhance XKB configuration : Enhancing XKB Configuration
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## 3. Enhancing XKB Configuration

Most of xkb enhancements concerns a need to define new output symbols for the some input key events. In other words, a need to define a new symbol map (for a new language, standard or just to feel more comfortable when typing text).

What do you need to do? Generally, you have to define following things:

- the map of symbols itself
- the rules to allow users to select the new mapping
- the description of the new layout

First of all, it is good to go through existing layouts and to examine them if there is something you could easily adjust to fit your needs. Even if there is nothing similar you may get some ideas about basic concepts and used tricks.

### 3.1. Levels And Groups

Since XFree86 4.3.0 you can use multi-layout concept of xkb configuration. Though it is still in boundaries of xkb protocol and general ideas, the keymap designer must obey new rules when creating new maps. In exchange we get a more powerful and cleaner configuration system.

Remember that it is the application which must decide which symbol matches which keycode according to effective modifier state. The X server itself sends only an input event message to. Of course, usually the general interpretation is processed by Xlib, Xaw, Motif, Qt, Gtk and similar libraries. The X server only supplies its mapping table (usually upon an application startup).

You can think of the X server's symbol table as of a irregular table where each keycode has its row and where each combination of modifiers determines exactly one column. The resulting cell then gives the proper symbolic value. Not all keycodes need to bind different values for different combination of modifiers. `<ENTER>` key, for instance, usually doesn't depend on any modifiers so it its row has only one column defined.

Note that in XKB there is no prior assumption that certain modifiers are bound to certain columns. By editing proper files (see keytypes) this mapping can be changed as well.

Unlike the original X protocol the XKB approach is far more flexible. It is comfortable to add one additional XKB term - group. You can think of a group as of a vector of columns per each keycode (naturally the dimension of this vector may differ for different keycodes). What is it good for? The group is not very useful unless you intend to use more than one logically different set of symbols (like more than one alphabet) defined in a single mapping table. But then, the group has a natural meaning - each symbol set has its own group and changing it means selecting a different one. XKB approach allows up to four different groups. The columns inside each group are called (shift) levels. The X server knows the current group and reports it together with modifier set and with a keycode in key events.

To sum it up:

- for each keycode XKB keyboard map contains up to four one-dimensional tables - groups (logically different symbol sets)
- for each group of a keycode XKB keyboard map contains some columns - shift levels (values reached by combinations of Shift, Ctrl, Alt, ... modifiers)
- different keycodes can have different number of groups
- different groups of one keycode can have different number of shift levels
- the current group number is tracked by X server

It is clear that if you sanely define levels, groups and sanely bind modifiers and associated actions you can have simultaneously loaded up to four different symbol sets where each of them would reside in its own group.

The multi-layout concept provides a facility to manipulate xkb groups and symbol definitions in a way that allows almost arbitrary composition of predefined symbol tables. To keep it fully functional you have to:

- define all symbols only in the first group
- (re)define any modifiers with extra care to avoid strange (anisometric) behaviour

How to further enhance XKB configuration : Enhancing XKB Configuration
Previous: The Basics
Next: Defining New Layouts