fix: direct typing

[johnmalek312]

fixes #439 by using xdotool if available

[cjpais]

Hey @johnmalek312 could you give my updates to this PR a check and see if it works for you?

Mainly I wanted to refactor all of the Linux support, both for direct typing as well as for simulating key presses. I'm probably going to bring in some more Linux testers after you confirm, if you're able, just to make sure we can give this build a try and hopefully solve a fair deal of the Linux input issues.

I think in the future we might even want to add UI to the application to suggest to install certain utilities on Linux to make sure that paste works properly generally and broadly across the application. This would be pre-1.0.0 requirement

[johnmalek312]

Will test in 40min

[github-actions]

🧪 Test Build Ready

Build artifacts for PR #493 are available for testing.

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[cjpais]

Pinging some Linux testers. If you could make sure that 'pasting' works properly that would be massively helpful. Both the 'direct' method and 'ctrl+v' or similar methods there. If you are a wayland user and have wtype or dotool installed would be very curious if things work as expected for you. Similar for X11 users making sure things still work nicely. Especially if xdotool is installed.

@BerthalonLucas
@bustozoni
@tanshkoul
@MikeTheGreat

Please check out the test build above. I hope that this PR when complete will have at least some workaround for most Linux users to ensure paste generally works. Especially if specified tools are installed on the system.

[johnmalek312]

I am on x11, with xdotool:
direct typing works everywhere
ctrl+v works well outside the terminal
ctrl + shift + v works well in terminal but not well outside terminal
shift + insert works well outside terminal

Ig this is standard behaviour. so its working.

[cjpais]

Thanks @johnmalek312 that is great news. Would be especially curious if the other folks I've pinged have the similar results on X11/Wayland as well. If so let's go. Thank you!

[MikeTheGreat]

I tried to test this, but I'm not sure that I'm running the right version.
My version says "0.6.9" for the version number if that helps.

I first tried to build the entire project (successfully!) which involved cloning the current repo + building it. That ran although it then occurred to me that this PR hasn't been merged in yet so I wouldn't see the fix even if I got it to run.

Next I noticed the "Test Build Ready" entry, above (duh 😁), downloaded that an installed it. I ran Handy via my Start menu (Whisker menu? I forget what XUbuntu calls it). I think this should be the new, test install because I didn't have it installed before, but honestly I'm not sure.

For me the bug is still happening (again, keep in mind I might be running the wrong version). Repro steps I followed:

0. Make sure that I'm using the 'Direct' method in Handy's Advanced options
1. Change keyboard layout to "German", variant is "Lower Sorbian (QWERTZ)"
2. Open up nano in WezTerm.
3. I said "very zebra" in English, and this is what shows up in the Handy history.
4. In Nano I see "verz yebra", confirming that the z and y are still being swapped
5. I also tried the Control+V option in Handy and nothing appeared in Nano.

Is there a walkthrough for how I can make sure that I'm running the test version?

P.S. When I tried pasting stuff into LibreWriter (direct method) it worked great the first time, but the second time it seemed to be using menu options (it ended with an 'open file' dialog on screen and nothing pasted). I think that's a separate issue but I gotta go do other stuff on my TODO list :)

[MikeTheGreat]

Nvm - about 30 seconds after posting that I realized how to ensure I'm running the test version provided in the list above, in this thread.

Yes, the bug is still happening for me.

I followed the repro steps i listed in my previous post.

P.S. - I notice that Handy seems to have trouble pasting the first letter into Nano. Notice that the history is "Very, very zebra" but the text in Nano is "erz, verz yebra" with that first 'v' missing

[cjpais]

@MikeTheGreat do you have the appropriate cmdline tool installed on your system?? xdotool, dotool, or wtype?

This will only help if you have the appropriate one installed

[VorpalBlade]

Works for me, both direct and clipboard modes. KDE Plasma 6.5.4 (Wayland) on Arch Linux. Using dotool. I tested the AppImage.