Workstation Keyboard Layouts

Perspective Workstation includes a built-in on-screen keyboard for touchscreen HMIs, panel PCs, and other workstations that don't have a physical keyboard. When a user selects an input component in a running Session, such as a Text Field, the on-screen keyboard opens so the user can enter text by touch.

The keys, labels, and languages on the on-screen keyboard come from keyboard layouts that you configure using the Touchscreen Keyboard Layouts editor. Layouts use a common JSON structure and are stored on the Gateway, so the same layouts are shared across all projects. Ignition includes several default layouts, and you can create your own, import and export layouts as JSON files, and preview a layout before you save it.

Workstation Keyboard Layouts Editor

To open the Touchscreen Keyboard Layouts editor, select Tools > Workstation Keyboard Layouts in the Designer.

The editor has two sections:

• Keyboard Layouts: Lists the available keyboard layouts. Use the Add , Duplicate , and Remove icons to manage layouts, and the Export Schema icon to save the keyboard layout JSON schema.
• Keyboard Definition: Shows the properties of the selected layout. Use the Export , Import , and Preview icons on the right side of this section to export, import, or preview a layout.

Select a layout in the Keyboard Layouts list to view its definition. Click OK to save your changes, or Cancel to discard them.

Default Keyboard Layouts

The keyboard layouts described in the table below are included by default.

Layout	Description
en_us	English keyboard layout.
en_us_compat	English keyboard layout kept for compatibility with the legacy layout.
de_qwertz	German QWERTZ keyboard layout.
es_qwerty	Spanish QWERTY keyboard layout.
fr_azerty	French AZERTY keyboard layout.
it_qwerty	Italian QWERTY keyboard layout.

The en_us and en_us_compat layouts are built in and can't be edited or removed. To customize one of them, select it and click the Duplicate icon, then edit the copy. The international layouts can be edited, or removed with the Remove icon if your system doesn't need them.

Keyboard Definition Properties

Property	Description
alias	The 2-3 character string that appears on the keyboard's language selector key to identify this layout, such as EN.
id	The fixed UUID for the keyboard layout. IDs are generated automatically and are used to track layouts as they're updated on the Gateway.
labels	Localized strings for the text on system keys. Available labels are BACKSPACE, CANCEL, SHIFT, SPACE, and SUBMIT.
name	The name of the keyboard layout, as it appears in the Keyboard Layouts list.
rows	An array of keyboard rows. Each row is an array of keys, and each key can be defined in any of the following ways: A string literal that creates a system key at that location: "BACKSPACE", "SUBMIT", "SHIFT", "CANCEL", "CAPSLOCK", or "NUMERIC_LAYOUT". An object with at least a lowercase member, such as { "lowercase": "a" }. Add an uppercase member to define the character used when Shift or Caps Lock is active. To add accent options that appear on long press, use the full object pattern: { "lowercase": { "character": "e", "accents": ["ê", "é", "è", "ë", "ė"] }, "uppercase": { "character": "E", "accents": ["Ê", "É", "È", "Ë", "Ė"] } }. An alias, so the typed character can differ from the key's label: { "character": "\t", "alias": "Tab" }.
supportedLanguages	An array of IETF language tags for the languages this layout supports, such as en. When the keyboard opens, Ignition looks for a layout that supports the user's locale, and falls back to the English layout if none is found.
title	The name presented to the user when selecting this layout, such as English.

Adding Custom Keyboard Layouts

You can create a keyboard layout from scratch, or duplicate an existing layout to use as a starting point.

1. In the Touchscreen Keyboard Layouts editor, click the Add icon.

   A new layout named keyboard_1 is added to the Keyboard Layouts list. The layout name appears in italics with an asterisk until you save it. New layouts start with the alias KB, default English labels, the title Custom Keyboard, and empty rows and supportedLanguages arrays.

   

   tip

   To start from an existing layout instead, select the layout and click the Duplicate icon.

2. In the Keyboard Definition section, update the name, alias, title, and labels properties as needed.

3. Under rows, click Add Array Element to add each keyboard row, then add the keys for each row. See Keyboard Definition Properties for the supported key formats.

4. Under supportedLanguages, click Add Array Element and enter a language tag for each language the layout supports.

5. Click the Preview icon to check the layout. See Previewing Keyboard Layouts for details.

6. Click OK to save the layout.

Exporting Keyboard Schemas

The keyboard layout JSON schema describes the structure every keyboard layout follows. Export the schema to validate layouts or autocomplete results when you build layouts in an external JSON editor.

1. In the Touchscreen Keyboard Layouts editor, click the Export Schema icon at the bottom of the Keyboard Layouts section.

   

2. In the Save popup, choose a location and click Save. The file is saved as keyboard_schema.json by default.

   

Exporting Keyboard Layouts

Export a keyboard layout to back it up, edit it in an external JSON editor, or move it to another Gateway.

1. In the Touchscreen Keyboard Layouts editor, select the layout you want to export.

2. Click the Export icon.

   

3. In the Save popup, choose a location and click Save. The file is named after the layout by default, such as en_us.json.

   

Importing Keyboard Layouts

Import a keyboard layout that was exported from another Gateway or built in an external JSON editor. Imported layouts must be JSON files.

1. In the Touchscreen Keyboard Layouts editor, click the Import icon.

   

2. In the Open popup, select the keyboard layout JSON file and click Open.

   

3. Click OK to save the imported layout.

Previewing Keyboard Layouts

You can preview a keyboard layout in the Designer before you save it. The preview popup includes a text field so you can test the keys, shift behavior, and accent options.

1. In the Touchscreen Keyboard Layouts editor, select the layout you want to preview.

2. Click the Preview icon.

   

   The Keyboard Preview popup opens and displays the selected layout.

   

3. Type in the preview text field to test the layout, and then close it when you're done.

note

Long press any key that has accent characters defined to open a popup with the alternate characters. For more information about long press, accent keys, and navigating within the text field, see Keyboard Layouts.