Send keyboard scancodes instead of characters for RDP connections

[gabriel sztejnworcel <ga...@gmail.com>]

Hi,

Is it technically possible to modify the Guacamole client and server to
work with keyboard scancodes instead actual characters for RDP connections?
The way it works today, you have to specify the keyboard layout of the RDP
server you are connecting to, which is a problem if (for example) there are
several layouts on the server and you switch between them.

Thanks,
Gabriel

Re: Send keyboard scancodes instead of characters for RDP connections

[gabriel sztejnworcel <ga...@gmail.com>]

OK, I understand. Thanks!

On Sun, 10 May 2020 at 00:05, Mike Jumper <mj...@apache.org> wrote:

> On Sat, May 9, 2020, 12:36 gabriel sztejnworcel <ga...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for you answer Mike!
> >
> > What if the server has 2 layouts, for example French (azerty) and Hebrew,
> > and the user wants to switch between them during the session? Won't that
> be
> > a problem?
> >
>
> Yes. The user should switch layouts on the client side, not within the
> server.
>
> If the client can send the key scancodes, won't that solve the problem in
> > this scenario?
>
>
> It would shift the location of layout switching to the server. Doing so
> would make things behave the way you specifically want, but may be a step
> backwards from the goal of making things as seamless as possible.
>
> Is it technically possible to implement this?
>
>
> With recent changes to JavaScript key events, possibly, but not across the
> board. Not all input devices have scancodes.
>
> The biggest concerns here would be:
>
> 1) Loss of seamlessness. Keyboard behavior *should* be dictated by the
> behavior of the client's keyboard.
>
> 2) Loss of compatibility. Not all platforms will have scancodes, let alone
> ones that correspond to Windows.
>
> 3) Loss of functionality. Not all keys produce key events, and some keys do
> so only unreliably.
>
> It may be reasonable to provide the option at the connection level, to
> allow the administrator to choose whether to favor the client-side layout
> (and translate to a known server layout) or the server-side layout (and
> entirely ignore client-side key identity).
>
> Philosophically, I don't like it. If such a change is implemented, I would
> be concerned that it might be used as a crutch on the admin side (to avoid
> having to think about what layout is selected), to the detriment of users.
>
> It is something that may be necessary in the case that keyboard layout MUST
> be changeable within the remote desktop. Direct connections to VM consoles
> come to mind.
>
> Even if implemented, I don't think that is the solution you should look
> toward. It would be better to allow your users to transparently use their
> keyboard as it is locally configured, without having them worry about
> manually configuring things again within the remote desktop. This is the
> way things are already designed.
>
> - Mike
>

Re: Send keyboard scancodes instead of characters for RDP connections

[Mike Jumper <mj...@apache.org>]

On Sat, May 9, 2020, 12:36 gabriel sztejnworcel <ga...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks for you answer Mike!
>
> What if the server has 2 layouts, for example French (azerty) and Hebrew,
> and the user wants to switch between them during the session? Won't that be
> a problem?
>

Yes. The user should switch layouts on the client side, not within the
server.

If the client can send the key scancodes, won't that solve the problem in
> this scenario?


It would shift the location of layout switching to the server. Doing so
would make things behave the way you specifically want, but may be a step
backwards from the goal of making things as seamless as possible.

Is it technically possible to implement this?


With recent changes to JavaScript key events, possibly, but not across the
board. Not all input devices have scancodes.

The biggest concerns here would be:

1) Loss of seamlessness. Keyboard behavior *should* be dictated by the
behavior of the client's keyboard.

2) Loss of compatibility. Not all platforms will have scancodes, let alone
ones that correspond to Windows.

3) Loss of functionality. Not all keys produce key events, and some keys do
so only unreliably.

It may be reasonable to provide the option at the connection level, to
allow the administrator to choose whether to favor the client-side layout
(and translate to a known server layout) or the server-side layout (and
entirely ignore client-side key identity).

Philosophically, I don't like it. If such a change is implemented, I would
be concerned that it might be used as a crutch on the admin side (to avoid
having to think about what layout is selected), to the detriment of users.

It is something that may be necessary in the case that keyboard layout MUST
be changeable within the remote desktop. Direct connections to VM consoles
come to mind.

Even if implemented, I don't think that is the solution you should look
toward. It would be better to allow your users to transparently use their
keyboard as it is locally configured, without having them worry about
manually configuring things again within the remote desktop. This is the
way things are already designed.

- Mike

Re: Send keyboard scancodes instead of characters for RDP connections

[gabriel sztejnworcel <ga...@gmail.com>]

Thanks for you answer Mike!

What if the server has 2 layouts, for example French (azerty) and Hebrew,
and the user wants to switch between them during the session? Won't that be
a problem?
If the client can send the key scancodes, won't that solve the problem in
this scenario? Is it technically possible to implement this?

Gabriel

On Fri, 8 May 2020 at 06:52, Mike Jumper <mj...@apache.org> wrote:

> On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 2:09 PM gabriel sztejnworcel <gabriel.560@gmail.com
> >
> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Is it technically possible to modify the Guacamole client and server to
> > work with keyboard scancodes instead actual characters for RDP
> connections?
> > The way it works today, you have to specify the keyboard layout of the
> RDP
> > server you are connecting to, which is a problem if (for example) there
> are
> > several layouts on the server and you switch between them.
> >
>
> The intent of the design is that the user will switch keyboard layouts on
> the client side if they need to use a different keyboard layout, and that
> the user should not concern themselves with the keyboard configuration
> within the remote desktop (which would be purely the administrator's
> concern). So long as the server layout is correctly configured at the
> connection level, users should be able to choose whichever local layout
> they desire and have things work as expected.
>
> - Mike
>

Re: Send keyboard scancodes instead of characters for RDP connections

[Mike Jumper <mj...@apache.org>]

On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 2:09 PM gabriel sztejnworcel <ga...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Is it technically possible to modify the Guacamole client and server to
> work with keyboard scancodes instead actual characters for RDP connections?
> The way it works today, you have to specify the keyboard layout of the RDP
> server you are connecting to, which is a problem if (for example) there are
> several layouts on the server and you switch between them.
>

The intent of the design is that the user will switch keyboard layouts on
the client side if they need to use a different keyboard layout, and that
the user should not concern themselves with the keyboard configuration
within the remote desktop (which would be purely the administrator's
concern). So long as the server layout is correctly configured at the
connection level, users should be able to choose whichever local layout
they desire and have things work as expected.

- Mike