German umlaut Ä -> no key action

[NovemberUniform]

Hi John,

beeing german I use a german QWERTZ keyboard which has umlauts Ä, Ö, Ü (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_keyboard_layout).

I want to use these keys (among many others) to assign FSUIPC controls - lua scripts in this case. Ö and Ü work just fine, but Ä will not trigger the assigned action. You can assign something to Ä in the FSUIPC key assignments window, it is shown there as #~key, but the action is not triggered in the sim. There is also no log entry if I enable key logging. Ö and Ü actions are listed in the log. I also crosschecked the lua script, using it with Ö or Ü is working fine.

It seems, the umlaut Ä is not working. I know it was working in earlier versions of FSUIPC like FSUIPC5. I'm even pretty sure it was working with FSUIPC7, some versions before this last. I've just updated to the latest version of FSUIPC7 today and it's not working.

I know a keyboard has many keys and it's not high priority, but maybe there is an easy fix for this.

Thanks in advance!

[John Dowson]

Keyboard input in FSUIPC7 is (usually) received from MSFS via SimConnect. The only keys supported by SimConnect are shown here: https://docs.flightsimulator.com/flighting/html/Programming_Tools/SimConnect/API_Reference/Events_And_Data/SimConnect_MapInputEventToClientEvent.htm - see the section Valid Input Strings. Unfortunately it does not look like these keys are available. You can raise this with Asobo - if they add input events for these, I can make them available to FSUIPC7.

There is one possible way to get these keys in FSUIPC7, which is to switch from using SimConnect for key input events, and enable a global keyboard hook to be used instead. To do this, set the following in the [General] section of your FSUIPC7.ini file:
    UseKeyboardHook=Yes
See the Advanced User guide for details on this parameter.

John
 

[NovemberUniform]

46 minutes ago, John Dowson said:

Keyboard input in FSUIPC7 is (usually) received from MSFS via SimConnect. The only keys supported by SimConnect are shown

Thanks for letting me know. If there is nothing you can do about it, I will work around this by using different key. Strange though, that Ö and Ü are indeed working.

[John Dowson]

Did you read my original comment? Did you look at the valid key input strings I referenced? If they are there, I can add them - I can't see them, but then neither can I see Ö and Ü...
And there is something I have already done about this - allowing ALL keys to be recognised by switching to the keyboard hook method, as I said. There is no way that I can add key input strings via SimConnect that are not recognised by MSFS - surely you must understand that.

So, in effect. I do not understand your last comment. and I have already provided an alternative solution.

John

[NovemberUniform]

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. You are right, you provided an alternative solution and I thank you for that. 

40 minutes ago, John Dowson said:

I can't see them, but then neither can I see Ö and Ü...

That was what I was wondering about. Nothing more, nothing less. 

[John Dowson]

You didn't offend me - sorry if it came across that way. I was just puzzled by your reply...

Anyway, there are still quite a few MSFS key input strings I am not requesting, and it could be one of them, although it is strange that the key is registered as #~ by FSUIPC. Could you run FSUIPC7 without MSFS running. activating logging for Buttons & Keys, press the Ö, Ü & Ä keys (in that order), then close FSUIPC7 and show me what was logged - either paste the lines logged for each key or attach your FSUIPC7.log file.

I will also see if I get emulate using a virtual keyboard (as I don't have a German layout keyboard!).

[NovemberUniform]

9 hours ago, John Dowson said:

Could you run FSUIPC7 without MSFS running. activating logging for Buttons & Keys, press the Ö, Ü & Ä keys (in that order), then close FSUIPC7 and show me what was logged - either paste the lines logged for each key or attach your FSUIPC7.log file.

I needed to assign the keys without an active profile first (because I usually use profiles). Makes sense, I guess.

my ini: (order is Ö, Ü, Ä)

[Keys]
2=N192,8,1061,0     -{'@key: Press=engine 1 autostart }-
4=N186,8,1062,0     -{;:key: Press=engine 2 autostart }-
6=N222,8,1063,0     -{#~key: Press=engine 3 autostart }-

Here is the log. Seems all keys were registered.

      375 LogOptions=40000000 00000001
    17500 *** Entered Keys option page ***
    66985 *** Exiting Keys option page ***
   136797 KEYDOWN: VK=192, Waiting=0, Repeat=N, lParam=2555905 (0x270001), Shifts=0
   136797 FSUIPC Control Action: Ctrl=1061, Param=0
   136797 .. This key is programmed in FSUIPC7 'Keys' options
   136891 KEYUP: VK=192, Waiting=0, Shifts=0, lparam=3223781377 (0xC0270001)
   136891 .. KeyUp received from FS but not programmed
   137969 KEYDOWN: VK=186, Waiting=0, Repeat=N, lParam=1703937 (0x1A0001), Shifts=0
   137969 FSUIPC Control Action: Ctrl=1062, Param=0
   137969 .. This key is programmed in FSUIPC7 'Keys' options
   138063 KEYUP: VK=186, Waiting=0, Shifts=0, lparam=3222929409 (0xC01A0001)
   138063 .. KeyUp received from FS but not programmed
   139110 KEYDOWN: VK=222, Waiting=0, Repeat=N, lParam=2621441 (0x280001), Shifts=0
   139110 FSUIPC Control Action: Ctrl=1063, Param=0
   139110 .. This key is programmed in FSUIPC7 'Keys' options
   139188 KEYUP: VK=222, Waiting=0, Shifts=0, lparam=3223846913 (0xC0280001)
   139188 .. KeyUp received from FS but not programmed
   154391 === Hot key unregistered
   154391 === Stop called ...
   154407 === Closing external processes we started ...

 

[John Dowson]

14 hours ago, NovemberUniform said:

I needed to assign the keys without an active profile first (because I usually use profiles). Makes sense, I guess.

my ini: (order is Ö, Ü, Ä)

[Keys]
2=N192,8,1061,0     -{'@key: Press=engine 1 autostart }-
4=N186,8,1062,0     -{;:key: Press=engine 2 autostart }-
6=N222,8,1063,0     -{#~key: Press=engine 3 autostart }-

Ok, thanks. Then it seems that Ö is using VK_TILDE and Ü is using VK_SEMICOLON. As Ä has VK 222, I expect this is using VK_QUOTE. This VK is not currently handled. I have enabled this key, plus two others (VK_0xDF and VK_0xE0), in the attached version, 7.3.16a, if you could try it.

Thanks,

John

FSUIPC7.exe

[NovemberUniform]

Hi John, 

I can confirm, that Ä key is working now in the sim, too. 👍

[John Dowson]

👍