Enabling arrow-key-navigation with QtVirtualKeyboard on Qt 5.15.1

Joseph Keene

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to enable arrow-key-navigation with QtVirtualKeyboard on Qt 5.15.1. However, it doesn't seem to do anything when I launch the Basic VirtualKeyboard Example. I press on my arrow keys and I don't see anything happening on the VirtualKeyboard. All I see is the cursor moving left and right in the Input box. Does anyone else have this issue?

Here are the steps that I performed:

Run qmake on the qtvirtualkeyboard.pro with the arrow-key-navigation and disable-desktop option

qmake Qt/5.15.1/Src/qtvirtualkeyboard/qtvirtualkeyboard.pro CONFIG+=arrow-key-navigation CONFIG+=disable-desktop

Run make and make install in the qtvirtualkeyboard directory

cd Qt/5.15.1/Src/qtvirtualkeyboard/
make
make install

After it finished installing, I imported the qtvirtualkeyboard basic example from what was installed into QtCreator.
I configured the project in QtCreator to use the Kit that includes what was just rebuilt.
I edited the basic.pro file to include the arrow-key-navigation and disable-desktop

TARGET = basic
QT += qml quick charts
SOURCES += main.cpp
CONFIG += link_pkgconfig
CONFIG += disable-desktop
CONFIG += arrow-key-navigation
static {
    QT += svg
    QTPLUGIN += qtvirtualkeyboardplugin
}
...

Finally, I ran the project. I clicked on a text field. Typed in a letter. And starting pressing left and right on my keyboard, but I don't see anything happening on the VirtualKeyboard. Instead, I just see the cursor moving left and right on the text field. What did I miss?

Joseph Keene

Fixed my issue. There were two parts to this issue.

First, I needed to be inside of the directory where the .pro file is kept when regenerating the Makefile.

cd Qt/5.15.1/Src/qtvirtualkeyboard/
Qt/5.15.1/gcc_64/bin/qmake qtvirtualkeyboard.pro CONFIG+=arrow-key-navigation

Second, I also had to rerun qmake on another .pro file as well to get it to update.

cd Qt/515.1/Src/qtvirtualkeyboard/src/virtualkeyboard/
Qt/5.15.1/gcc_64/bin/qmake virtualkeyboard.pro CONFIG+=arrow-key-navigation

I then ran make and make install.

cd Qt/515.1/Src/qtvirtualkeyboard/src/virtualkeyboard/
make
cd Qt/5.15.1/Src/qtvirtualkeyboard/
make
make install

After importing the updated virtualkeyboard module, I was able to use my arrow-keys to navigate the keyboard. Hopefully this is helpful for someone else!

UnknownCollegeCoder

Hello @Joseph-Keene. I am fairly new to Qt and I am creating a UI for an embedded application that will be using only push buttons mapped as keyboard inputs. I want to do a similar thing with the keyboard with what you have worked out here except I have had no luck so far. I am working out of Qt 6.8.2 and I am struggling with turning the configuration for the arrow key navigation on. I am working out of Qt creator on a windows machine and I can't get qmake to work. And I also don't understand the step of configuring the project in Qt creator. If you get this and understand a quick and easy fix to this problem please let me know.
Thank You

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder said in Enabling arrow-key-navigation with QtVirtualKeyboard on Qt 5.15.1:

I can't get qmake to work

How about providing more details? What exactly does not work? What did you try?

UnknownCollegeCoder

On my Windows machine I don't have the .pro files anywhere. So when I try to run the qmake commands as shown up above there is no .pro. Is this something I have to generate? But on my linux machine when I run the qmake command I get an error saying "fatal error: QtVirtualKeyboard/private/abstractinputpanel_p.h: No such file or director #include <QqtVirtualKeyboard/private/abstractinputpanel_p.h>

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder Is this your own project? If you're using Qt6 then you most probably have a CMake based project, not QMake. In this case there is at least one CMakeLists.txt file and you have to use cmake instead of qmake.
And this has absolutely nothing to do with Windows or Linux. A Qt project either uses qmake or cmake, it does not matter on which OS.

Regarding private Qt headers: why do you need them? If you really need them then take a look at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72416098/configure-qmake-project-file-to-include-private-header

UnknownCollegeCoder

@jsulm Yes this is my own project. I am fairly new to both qt as well as cmake and qmake stuff. As for the private header I am not trying to include that private header. I am getting an error when I try to make the .pro file. I am not sure why the private header is being included.

My overall goal is to have a virtual keyboard that I can navigate and hit enter to type the text in. I would much rather use the defined library that way I don't have to create my own keyboard but I don't understand enough to get the variable "[-no]-vkb-arrow-keynavigation" enabled. I have tried adding this to the configuration of the project without any luck. Regarding the library and reference that I am looking at, I have attached a link below.

Is there a separate way I should approach this? Or what do you recommend I do?

https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qtvirtualkeyboard-build.html#configuration-options

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder So, do you have a *.pro file in your project or or CMakeLists.txt?
If I understood you correctly you can run qmake on your project on Linux. That means you have a pro file. In this case you should be able to run qmake also on Windows. How did you copy your project to Windows? "I can't get qmake to work" - this does not tell much, so please provide more details on what you did and what exactly did not work (error messages?).

UnknownCollegeCoder

@jsulm On my windows computer I have cmake and on my linux setup I have .pro. I have a git repo setup but I only push the main project files and let Qt creator setup the project kit for me.

From what I understand now, I should be using cmake instead of qmake on my windows laptop and trying this same setup?

I would add a screenshot of the error that I am getting on the linux setup but I don't have that accessible at the moment.

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder I'm confused now: do you use QMake or CMake for your project?
"I have a git repo setup but I only push the main project files" - the pro or CMakeLists.txt files are part of the project and should also be pushed to your repo.
It is really simple: if you have a pro file in your project then simply use qmake on Windows and Linux. If you have CMakeLists.txt file then use cmake on Windows and Linux. It has nothing to do with the operating system!

UnknownCollegeCoder

For my project I use Cmake I believe. Sorry for the confusion.

The main thing I want to understand is how to enable the arrow-keynavigation for the virtual keyboard in my project.

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder Then I don't know why you're trying to run qmake?
If you get error messages when compiling please post them, especially the very first one.

Btw. qmake does not generate compiler errors, so the error you posted did not come from qmake, but from the C++ compiler.

UnknownCollegeCoder

@jsulm Sorry for the confusion. I have my project on both a Windows computer and a Linux computer but on each machine I have downloaded the compilers and their respective libraries. In @Joseph-Keene's example he accessed the VirtualKeyboard library to add CONFIG+=arrow-key-navigation. From my understanding to do these steps you need to have the .pro files in the respective libraries as mentioned above. However, on my windows machine there are no .pro files in these locations. Would I instead have to do something with cmake?

On my linux machine I tried to follow the steps shown above but when I use make after doing qmake I get this error.

Should I continue with the linux machine or is there an easier way to change this config on my windows machine?

If you need more context on what I am trying to do, I created a post as well. Here's the link if you want to check it out.

https://forum.qt.io/topic/160947/how-to-use-arrow-key-navigation-with-qtvirtualkeyboard
Thank You

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder Are you aware that @Joseph-Keene was building virtualkeyboard from Qt source code, not his own application?
To do this you have to download Qt source code first. If you're using Qt6 you will have to use cmake to build virtualkeyboard.
Here is official documentation how to build Qt (but you don't have to build everything, only virtualkeyboard): https://wiki.qt.io/Building_Qt_6_from_Git

UnknownCollegeCoder

@jsulm No this is not what I want to. I did not realize this.

I will try to give you a better explanation. I am creating a project on a Windows computer using QtCreator and cmake. I want to use the virtualKeyboard library but I only have the option of using arrow keys to navigate the keyboard. So when the keyboard comes on the screen I want a letter to be highlighted which can be moved around using the arrow keys. I noticed the virtualKeyboard library has a configuration for the arrow keys to be enabled but it is initially set to disabled. I am fairly new to this so I don't quite understand how to actually enable this configuration.

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder said in Enabling arrow-key-navigation with QtVirtualKeyboard on Qt 5.15.1:

I don't quite understand how to actually enable this configuration.

Like @Joseph-Keene shown. But that requires that you build virtualkeyboard by yourself.

UnknownCollegeCoder

@jsulm Ok. On my Linux machine I went to my Qt main directory and did ./configure -vkb-arrow-keynavigation which now in my configure list it has "Key navigation ..........................yes" which I believe means it is enabled.

Would you happen to know how I get this configuration to my current project? I am just trying to use the basic keyboard example that Qt provides. I have added an input panel which sets the focus to itself once completed. I know the keyboard has the focus but arrow keys aren't showing up yet. So I am pretty sure that this configuration isn't making it to my project. But I am unsure how to get this to my project.

jsulm

@UnknownCollegeCoder said in Enabling arrow-key-navigation with QtVirtualKeyboard on Qt 5.15.1:

Would you happen to know how I get this configuration to my current project?

You don't! Again: this instruction is to BUILD Qt virtualkeyboard itself, not your project! After calling configure you call make and then "make install" (just like @Joseph-Keene shown already).