I have used many Arduino typed boards in the past, such as Leonardo, Nano, Mini, Pro Micro, ESP. I don't like a breadboard because of possible weak connections to build a experiment/prototype, so I use dupont female to female jumper cables. Especially buttons, the configuration of it can be a little mess, so mostly I emulate the buttons with software to start with. It is also very easy to add a (temporarily) button, no need to mess with wires and buttons.
When developing, you can use the serial monitor of the IDE to switch an internal functionality however it doesn't feel like a button. It also doesn't look very friendly when using it with at a (quick) demo session. You have to enter a value and press enter to submit. To switch it off you have to do it again, with the same value (toggle) or other value. An example is a volume control or enter/browse a menu, very difficult to do without physical buttons.
I like to have a quick prototype tool that acts like full featured virtual keyboard with keyUp, keyDown, keyPress events and not only a true or false (pressed/released) state, so it possible to easily click (with PC mouse) or press a key (on PC physical keyboard), hold a key, for example arrow keys to navigate thru a menu. Just like a normal physical button. The virtual keyboard uses the USB serial connection, the USB serial connection normally to program or debug a microcontroller. The Virtual Keyboard also supports command input so you are able to type commands or other strings.
I can make this however don't want reinvent the wheel. I searched for this for years and didn't found it. Found some libraries/solutions to use a PS/2 keyboard however is not as easy like a pure software solution and you need a real keyboard. Found also some other libraries/solutions to do opposite, control the PC by keyboard or mouse emulation with a microcontroller, however is not what I want.
Also a nice feature will be a key recorder, so you can record a key sequence. This is very useful when using enhanced menu's so don't you need to repeat those steps again and again (to debug/fix a specific problem), you can repeat it by clicking on a macro. With this, it also possible to create an automated demo, which could be very nice.
My question is, does this tool (or similar) exist? I think this will be a very nice tool to have. Like to find a name or link.
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To give you some idea, I add an attachment. Code used to program the microcontroller could be something like this (in C or C++, doesn't matter):#include <PCSerialVirtualKeyboard.h>
..........
..........
bool onToggleLed( uint8_t* aKeyCodes )
{
if( .... )
{
........
........
return true;
}
return false;
}
bool omSubmitCommand( uint8_t* aKeyCodes )
{
if( vkb.compStr( aKeyCodes, "Hello world" ))
{
// do something
........
........
return true;
}
return false;
}
// setup
vkb.addHotkey( VK_RETURN, onSubmitCommand );
vkb.addHotkey( VK_F1 , onToggleLed, VKE_BUTTON_UP );
//etc.
When developing, you can use the serial monitor of the IDE to switch an internal functionality however it doesn't feel like a button. It also doesn't look very friendly when using it with at a (quick) demo session. You have to enter a value and press enter to submit. To switch it off you have to do it again, with the same value (toggle) or other value. An example is a volume control or enter/browse a menu, very difficult to do without physical buttons.
I like to have a quick prototype tool that acts like full featured virtual keyboard with keyUp, keyDown, keyPress events and not only a true or false (pressed/released) state, so it possible to easily click (with PC mouse) or press a key (on PC physical keyboard), hold a key, for example arrow keys to navigate thru a menu. Just like a normal physical button. The virtual keyboard uses the USB serial connection, the USB serial connection normally to program or debug a microcontroller. The Virtual Keyboard also supports command input so you are able to type commands or other strings.
I can make this however don't want reinvent the wheel. I searched for this for years and didn't found it. Found some libraries/solutions to use a PS/2 keyboard however is not as easy like a pure software solution and you need a real keyboard. Found also some other libraries/solutions to do opposite, control the PC by keyboard or mouse emulation with a microcontroller, however is not what I want.
Also a nice feature will be a key recorder, so you can record a key sequence. This is very useful when using enhanced menu's so don't you need to repeat those steps again and again (to debug/fix a specific problem), you can repeat it by clicking on a macro. With this, it also possible to create an automated demo, which could be very nice.
My question is, does this tool (or similar) exist? I think this will be a very nice tool to have. Like to find a name or link.
--------------
To give you some idea, I add an attachment. Code used to program the microcontroller could be something like this (in C or C++, doesn't matter):#include <PCSerialVirtualKeyboard.h>
..........
..........
bool onToggleLed( uint8_t* aKeyCodes )
{
if( .... )
{
........
........
return true;
}
return false;
}
bool omSubmitCommand( uint8_t* aKeyCodes )
{
if( vkb.compStr( aKeyCodes, "Hello world" ))
{
// do something
........
........
return true;
}
return false;
}
// setup
vkb.addHotkey( VK_RETURN, onSubmitCommand );
vkb.addHotkey( VK_F1 , onToggleLed, VKE_BUTTON_UP );
//etc.
Attachments:
