Remapping Keyboard Keys on PocketPC Device

[Honda_trip]

I'm wondering if it is at all possible to remap keys (from an external keyboard) on WinCE 3.0. I know that it is possible on the full Windows versions, but I can't seem to find any information on how to do this on the compact version.

My situation is this: I have recently purchased a foldable external keyboard for my wife's Dell Axim PDA. The keyboard (which is a remarkable feat of engineering) is generally excellent, with one glaring problem: the right shift key is moved over to the right from its typical placement. When my wife tries to reach the right shift key, she ends up pressing the up arrow key instead, and ends up typing her subsequent keystrokes into the middle of the line above. Trying to adapt to the unusual layout continually gives her a serious hand cramp and is making the device essentially unusable.

I'd like to switch the two offending keys, so that when she hits the up arrow it gets translated to a right shift keyboard event and vice versa. Is there a key mapping file that I can edit to accomplish this, or is this logic embedded in the driver? Is there a third-party tool that would let me do this? Will I have to have a custom driver written?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

-- David

[srouleau]

Honda_trip,

I believe it's possible to do this, but I'm not aware of any utility that would let you just change a mapping file and be done with it. If such a beast exists, then great!

Otherwise... You don't necessarly need a custom driver to do this -- at least, not a full-blown driver. What you can do is have a proxy DLL that acts like a driver, but forwards everything to the usual keyboard driver. When it encounters the offending key, it can modify the data before sending letting the data go through. I did something similar for a keylogger project, but only tested it using the regular hardware buttons -- not a full external keyboard.

I know it's not much to go on; if you need more help, don't hesitate to ask. You may also try the keyboard's manufacturer, if they can be bothered... At least I'm sure they'd appreciate knowing about this silly mistake!