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Appendix C - Keyboard Resources

Keyboard-Layout Resource (Type 'KCHR')

The keyboard-layout resource (resource type 'KCHR') specifies the mapping of virtual key codes to character codes. Each installed script system has one or more keyboard-layout resources; there may be one or more for each language or region to suit the preference of the user. The resource ID for each keyboard-layout resource is within the range of resource ID numbers for its script system. The ID number of the default 'KCHR' resource for a script system is specified in the itlbKeys field of the script's international bundle ('itlb') resource.

U.S. keyboard-layout resource

Specific features of the U.S. keyboard-layout resource (ID = 0) are described in the appendix "Built-in Script Support" in this book.

Keyboard-layout resources for 2-byte script systems

Keyboard-layout resources for 2-byte script systems have the same size and function as those for 1-byte script systems; they generate 1-byte character codes only. It is the input method that is responsible for producing the final 1-byte or 2-byte character codes.

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Subtopics

Resource Format

The KeyTranslate Function and the Keyboard-Layout Resource

Special Uses for the KeyTranslate Function