How I manage multiple keyboards

[martinPQ]

After a wide searching I couldn´t find a simple way to manage 2 or more keyboards only with Autohotkey.
Always I found a thrid party app beetwen keyboard and autohotkey, like LuaMacros.
AHKHID seemed the ultimate solution but... didn't work. No like I wanted.
However I didn't give up. I continued researching on my own, and finally my quest paid off.
The key is wait. Yes, waiting for until OS give you the ID for the Keyboard used. So simple, so hard
In my system I have to wait about 50 ms for the response. A very old dual core cpu.

How it works?

Mandatory is AHKHID lib, of course
Then, intercept WM_INPUT message (see AHKHID examples)
Write a rutine with a loop, waiting for identification of the keyboard
And... that's all

The code:

Code: Select all

#include AHKHID.ahk 

Global KEYBOARD_USED  ; a global variable to identify the last keyboard used
    , ID_Keyb_1 := ""\\?\HID#VID_046D&PID_B301&" ; ID for keyboard you want to monitor, first characters enough for me

;Create GUI
Gui +LastFound -Resize -MaximizeBox -MinimizeBox
Gui, Add, Text, , Multiple Keyboards

;Keep handle
GuiHandle := WinExist()

;Show GUI
Gui, Show
  
;Dimension the array
AHKHID_AddRegister(1)

;Add for registration
AHKHID_AddRegister(1, 6, GuiHandle, RIDEV_INPUTSINK) ; intercept keys even if this window is in background

;Register
AHKHID_Register()
 
;Intercept WM_INPUT
OnMessage(0x00FF, "InputMsg")

return

; -----------------------------------------

GuiClose:
ExitApp

;-----------------------------------------

InputMsg(wParam, lParam) 
{ 
    Critical

    ;Get device type
    r := AHKHID_GetInputInfo(lParam, II_DEVTYPE) 
    If (r = -1)
        OutputDebug %ErrorLevel%  
        
    if (r <> RIM_TYPEKEYBOARD)      ; only keyboards
        return

    h := AHKHID_GetInputInfo(lParam, II_DEVHANDLE)
	DeviceName := AHKHID_GetDevName(h,True)

    n := InStr( DeviceName, "&", false, 1, 2 )
    ; In my case, first characters enough
    ; You may need more if 2 keyboards are identical and you need to identify
    ; the USB port to which they are connected to differentiate them
    
    if n
        KEYBOARD_USED := SubStr( DeviceName, 1, n )
    
    Critical, off
}

Which_Keyboard()
{
    KEYBOARD_USED := ""
    while ( KEYBOARD_USED = "")
    {
        ; only wait
    } 
    return KEYBOARD_USED
}

z::      ; your hotkey 
{    
    if (Which_Keyboard() = ID_Keyb_1)  
    {
        ;whatever you want to do
    }
    else
    {
        ;another thing        
    }
    return
}

Look at the AHKHID examples for futher details about how AHKHID works

One last thing
If you use any #IF sentence to create a context-sensitive hotkey, then this method doesn't work. InputMsg() never executed
I don't know why

P.S.: Sorry. English is not my first language

[therry34]

anyone tried this?
it works?
where can I find ahkhid?

[kimiko]

Try this ; https://github.com/TaranVH/2nd-keyboard ... /Intercept

video about this ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3e_ri-vOIo

work pretty well

[Nextron]

If you use any #IF sentence to create a context-sensitive hotkey, then this method doesn't work. InputMsg() never executed
I don't know why

#If directives utilize the keyboard hook to detect and pass or block the native key event. If it's blocked, it won't produce and input messages. That's the crux... AHKHID can be used to differentiate between keyboards, but it prohibits the blocking of its native function, which is something you would want for your extra keyboards.

EvilC is maintaining an AHK implementation of interception drivers to overcome this issue: AutoHotInterception (AHI): Multi-Keyboard / Multi-Mouse support for AHK. Per-device blocking!

Edit: Noticed this is a necro'd thread