IMG's Blog - Recorded Keystrokes

Some background - for those who are not developers, the API (or Application Programming Interface) is the set of code that allows programs to interact with the underlying operating system. When code is deprecated, it means it is being removed or replaced - it may still be supported, or it may be phased out over time. So when facing this, code must be refactored to move forward with the API. So due to changes in the Android API, the operation of My-T-Soft changed when running in Android 9. In earlier versions of Android, a custom board that stretched from top to bottom could still operate with applications and not obscure the application. Due to code that was deprecated and no longer available, when My-T-Soft ran on Android 9, the area reserved for the Input Method (IME) stretched to the top of the screen, and effectively pushed the application view away (resulting in non-functional situation). To resolve this within the API 28 (Android 9) environment, a new feature, the undocked (or floating) keyboard was added. This provided a completely different approach to the screen, and allowed the My-T-Soft keyboard to be positioned anywhere, and not change the underlying application's view. Because of the infinite possibilities using Build-A-Board and the flexibility needed to create the optimal user interface, this feature/capability that worked in previous version of Android needed to be carried forward, and the best way to handle this was with this new, optional feature.

For those not yet familiar with My-T-Soft for Android, key features include the ability to customize layouts with IMG's Build-A-Board, tie layouts together into sets, position layouts anywhere on the screen, and customize key actions with keystroke macros and internal commands (Launch Apps, Open New Keyboard File, etc.). The software installs as another input method, and can be swapped in & out with other methods. My-T-Soft for Android can tie into accounts at Build-A-Board.com, so favorite boards can be quickly brought onto any device, and provides access to the ever growing online database of onscreen keyboard layouts. Because layouts are customizable, key sizes are flexible, and both text and images can be used on keys, the possibilities for optimizing the user input interface are endless.

It is unfortunate that Microsoft has chosen a path that can create issues such as this, where you can wake up one day and have your carefully configured, totally operational system become a useless pile of electronic components that leads to frustration, loss of productivity, and loss of the precious moments of your life. Today, most people just want things to work, and certainly don't want a third party to be able to take away a working system. While there are valid reasons for performing updates, it is unfortunate that proper care and testing are not handled by Microsoft, and problems such as these end up as a burden on the paying customer.

We will continue to monitor and review this situaton, and update this blog entry if anything subtantial is discovered.

Update (additional update below): We put our development team on this, and they discovered the Joystick messages MM_JOY1MOVE, MM_JOY1BUTTONDOWN, etc. were no longer being received after a joySetCapture call, as has happened for 20+ years. In checking Microsoft's API documentation, there is no indication these are deprecated or being phased out. However, there is a newer alternative API option, and with several modifications to the main JOY2MSE.EXE, a patched download for Windows 10 is now available. You can download the r5 patch install here:
jtm280r5patch_810.exe for Windows 10 v2004 (3.23MB) 9/9/2020 (MD5: 4360F9FBFF485B4619F9DF5387F6A817)

It is recommended that with Joystick-To-Mouse closed/not running, you download and run through install to update/overwrite the Joystick-To-Mouse executables, and then test with this patch.

Update: Joystick-To-Mouse 2.80 Release 6 is now available - this is the preferred update for Windows 10/11. You can download the latest Joystick-To-Mouse here:
Joystick-To-Mouse Downloads

It is recommended that with Joystick-To-Mouse closed/not running, you download and run through the install of the current download.

Additional updates include better minimize handling for some specific desktop environments (GNOME/Cinnamon), support for PNG image libraries (1.2 and 1.6), and some new capabilities to be rolled into other platforms. One important aspect of the My-T-Soft family has been the ongoing customizable capabilities to address specific customer needs and the flexibility this brings to the software - the ongoing evolution of the user interface...

Now that the libpng 1.6 is more common than libpng 1.2, updates to allow either version have been added. Linux and its various distros are going through a "backwards compatibility" reality, and this is being addressed in various ways by different groups. Things like Snap, Flatpak, and Appimage include required libraries packaged with the app vs. relying on the underlying system, but then these pre-packaged software sets then require an environment able to handle these packaged versions of code. Along those lines, My-T-Soft for Linux has always been built at a "lowest common denominator" level, and dynamically links to the PNG image library, so even though the 1.6 was on a system, earlier versions of My-T-Soft simply reported the issue, but ran normally (without image support). With this update, it will handle image display whether the 1.2 or 1.6 version is available.

One interesting aspect of Linux is the ability to have different desktop environments and window managers, X servers, etc., etc. These are identified by names like GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, LXDE, LXQt, Budgie, and others. It would be awesome if there was a standard way to create a program that relies on the graphical environment and have it work flawlessly in all of these disparate environments, but that is becoming increasingly difficult. My-T-Soft, by relying on the XLib interface (which goes back to the beginning of graphical environments for Unix/Linux), runs properly on all of these, with some exceptions based on specific environments. Now with the 2.20 R8 update, a system inquiry is used to determine which environment is in use, and if needed, code to accommodate these differences will be used. One notable exception is the GNOME 3 interface, where in their default environment, My-T-Soft will not type. This is due to the decision not to support the X Lib based interface for allowing virtual keystrokes due to design implementations made by the GNOME 3 development team. As one option, they provide GNOME 3 on the XOrg server, where My-T-Soft then operates properly. So this backwards compatibility issue means that My-T-Soft would have to accommodate GNOME 3 vs. GNOME 3 handling an interface that has worked for decades, and works on every other environment we have tested on. This compatibility issue seems to be becoming more prevalent, which is unfortunate, because it either means writing exception code, redoing code to accommodate problematic environments, or living with incompatible systems. None are truly acceptable to the world view as seen by My-T-Soft, but it is the reality which seems to be upon us. To the average user, having to deal with something like this is confusing and certainly not conducive to "ease of use" concerns.

To see some sample layouts and the run-time for Linux that allows layouts built by Build-A-Board to run in Linux and Raspberry Pi systems, see the My-T-Soft for Linux Downloads page.

About IMG

Since 1995, Innovation Management Group has been the primary supplier of onscreen keyboard user interfaces and designer utilities to major corporations, manufacturers, integrators, and users worldwide. IMG's products run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on some of the most secure, advanced, and critical systems in the world.

The My-T-Soft^® Family along with IMG's Build-A-Board Keyboard Designer offers a consistent cross-platform onscreen user interface that is fully customizable and programmable for various hardware / software platforms. It allows customers to control user input in any field or any application and maintain a higher level of security than with a traditional physical keyboard or membrane panel. The My-T-Soft product family is ideal for use in environments such as automation, field service, food and beverage, instrumentation, in-vehicle, kiosk, laboratory, logistic, medical, military, mobile, pharmaceutical, ruggedized, utility, warehousing, whiteboard, or other extremely clean, dirty, or hazardous interactive user environment.

One thing of note - for images, the current default PNG library on the latest raspbian is version 16, while the current build targets the older version 12. The PNG lib 12 is available on the Pi, so if using images with My-T-Soft, you will want to redo the symbolic link libpng.so to the 12 version vs. the default 16. For further information on image support and the PNG libraries in Linux, see the Help page here.

As is typical with the My-T-Soft family, development moves forward in various steps, and some of the new features required for this project will roll into the main released software for all currently supported platforms. Stay tuned for exciting and interesting features in My-T-Soft!

About IMG

Since 1995, Innovation Management Group has been the primary supplier of onscreen keyboard user interfaces and designer utilities to major corporations, manufacturers, integrators, and users worldwide. IMG's products run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on some of the most secure, advanced, and critical systems in the world.

The My-T-Soft^® Family along with IMG's Build-A-Board Keyboard Designer offers a consistent cross-platform onscreen user interface that is fully customizable and programmable for various hardware / software platforms. It allows customers to control user input in any field or any application and maintain a higher level of security than with a traditional physical keyboard or membrane panel. The My-T-Soft product family is ideal for use in environments such as automation, field service, food and beverage, instrumentation, in-vehicle, kiosk, laboratory, logistic, medical, military, mobile, pharmaceutical, ruggedized, utility, warehousing, whiteboard, or other extremely clean, dirty, or hazardous interactive user environment.