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Map a Function Key

You can use these steps as a guideline for mapping any key that is listed in the Explicitly mapped keys on the Map Key tab in the Keyboard Maps dialog box.

Suppose that your X client requires a function key (such as F23) that you don't have on your keyboard. You can map one of your function keys (such as F10) to send the F23 X Keysym.

note

An X Keysym is an encoding of a symbol on the cap of a key. The set of defined X Keysyms includes the ISO Latin character sets, Katakana, Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Technical, Publishing, APL, Hebrew, Thai, Korean, and other keys found on keyboards such as Return, Help, and Tab.

A list of X Keysyms is associated with each keycode. The list is intended to convey the set of symbols on the corresponding key. Standard rules for obtaining an X Keysym from a KeyPress event make use of only the first four X Keysyms associated with a keycode. Depending on the state of the Shift and ModeSwitch (AltGr) modifiers, one of the first four keysyms will be selected.

To map the unshifted F10 to send the F23 X Keysym

  1. In X Manager or X Manager for Domains, click Tools > Keyboard Maps.

  2. For Select Keyboard Map, select an editable keyboard map.

    note

    The default keyboard maps are not editable. Click Clone to create a new custom keyboard map based on an existing keyboard map.

  3. Use the Map Key tab (displayed by default).

  4. In the list of Explicitly mapped keys on the left side of the tab, select the F10 key. (As an alternative, you can click the + sign in Explicitly mapped keys to open the Add or Find Key dialog box. With your cursor in the Press a key field, press F10, then click OK.)

  5. With the F10 key selected, click the first Change Mapped X Keysym button (next to the Unshifted key description).

  6. In the Change Mapped X Keysym dialog box, use the following steps to select F23. (Since this is not a physical key on your keyboard, you must select it from the list.)

    1. Set Filter X Keysym list by category to Function Keys.

    2. In Select X Keysym from list, select F23.

  7. Click OK.

  8. The Map Keys tab now shows that the F10 key is mapped to the F23 X Keysym.

note

Administrators can also configure Keyboard Maps from the Domain Definitions tab

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