Using dvp under Win32

In a previous blog I posted, I mentioned I was using dvp under Win32 with a custom AutoHotKey (AHK) script I wrote. Now I have abandoned that script. For 2 reasons:

  • It does not work on some programs/input boxes, not sure why, but google suggests maybe because they are run in SYSTEM account…
  • It fails to translate key presses occasionally. This is because the low level KeyboardHook/SendInput Win32 mechanism it employs is a half-baked buggy system itself.

Now I have switched to the kbddvp.dll provided by dvp creator Roland Kaufmann, and also solved the Chinese IME problem, turns out I only need to point the "Layout File" of my IME to "kbddvp.dll" in the registry: 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts\E0350804]
"Ime File"="ywbhj35.dll"
"Layout File"="kbddvp.dll"
"Layout Text"="Chinese (Simplified) - YWB35"

There comes another problem through: cygwin-x does not work with my new solution. In fact, cygwin-x has nothing to do with Win32 keyboard layout/IME. Xwindows has its own keyboard layout mechanism. Sadly, dvp is not part of cygwin-x yet.

But I can live with that, since the 2 most fundamental GUI programs I use, terminal emulator and emacs, both I can do without X. I use mintty and emacs-nt, both of which are not X programs.