Add new keyboard input emulation mode based on clipboard

[devnoname120]

• I have checked that a similar feature request does not already exist.

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I use a custom keyboard layout on my Mac. Some characters are UTF-8 and so I can't input them. This is an inconvenience because these characters are required to type proper French.

Describe the solution you'd like

Add a keyboard emulation that uses the clipboard. You could paste a single character every time I press a key on my keyboard. This would help support all the characters seamlessly.

Describe alternatives you've considered

I can't use --hid-keyboard because I'm not running Linux.

Additional context
N/A.

[rom1v]

This is an inconvenience because these characters are required to type proper French.

Note that French characters are properly input via scrcpy --prefer-text (see text injection preference).

Add a keyboard emulation that uses the clipboard.

I already tried: #1426
But globally, that's a failure, too many quirks.

I can't use --hid-keyboard because I'm not running Linux.

FYI, on Windows, it will not work while mirroring (while adb is enabled), but it will work with --otg (#3011).

And on macOS, it will work in a future release, there is just a remaining bug in SDL which prevents HID mouse to work properly (libsdl-org/SDL#5340).

[devnoname120]

Thank you for your reply!

I remember trying --prefer-text. It didn't work properly, but I can't recall why. I'll try again and report back.

[devnoname120]

@rom1v I can't input « using --prefer-text. Any ideas if this would be possible ?

❯ scrcpy --turn-screen-off --stay-awake --prefer-text
scrcpy 1.22 <https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy>
/opt/homebrew/Cellar/scrcpy/1.22_1/sha...ped. 56.3 MB/s (40955 bytes in 0.001s)
[server] INFO: Device: Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite (Android 11)
2022-02-18 17:37:09.989 scrcpy[56486:741333] INFO: Renderer: metal
2022-02-18 17:37:10.007 scrcpy[56486:741333] INFO: Initial texture: 1080x2336
[server] INFO: Device screen turned off
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00ab
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00ab
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00ab
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00bb
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00a0
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+00a0
[server] WARN: Could not inject char u+202f

[rom1v]

If you change your Android keyboard, does it work?

[devnoname120]

@rom1v Which keyboard would you recommend me to use? I currently use Gboard.

[devnoname120]

@rom1v Friendly bump. 🙇‍♂️

[rom1v]

I don't know, it should work with Gboard. You could also try OpenBoard or Simple Keyboard (in F-droid).

[rom1v]

I can't input « using --prefer-text. Any ideas if this would be possible ?

Oh, for « that's expected. Only ASCII and some accented characters could be injected: https://blog.rom1v.com/2018/03/introducing-scrcpy/#handle-accented-characters

[devnoname120]

@rom1v Thanks. I can confirm that AirDroid uses paste emulation and I haven't had any issues using it (except that it's commercial and screen streaming is very laggy). What kind of quirks does it have?

The main downside of using the HID method (apart from the fact it's not available yet on macOS) is that it requires me to port QWERTY-fr to Android. I'm not sure that configuring custom dead keys is possible at all on Android so this is a significant issue for advanced usage.

[rom1v]

(apart from the fact it's not available yet on macOS)

It is available since v1.23: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/releases/tag/v1.23

[devnoname120]

@rom1v Awesome! I just need to port QWERTY-fr to Android, and it will be mostly okay (without proper dead keys support though).