Hey! Does it possible to catch raw keyboard events in textfield including ENTER / DELETE in Jetpack?...

# compose

[יעקב]

Hey!
Does it possible to catch raw keyboard events in textfield including ENTER / DELETE in Jetpack? I need to get the raw pressed key codes

I tried

TextField(
                value = "",
                onValueChange = {

                },
                label = { Text("Label") },
                modifier = Modifier.onKeyEvent { event ->
                    println(event)
                    true
                }
            )

But it doesn't print event when I type

[Sean Proctor]

Are you sure that the TextField is focused? .onKeyEvent should work. If you want to prevent the event from being handled elsewhere, use .onPreviewKeyEvent

[יעקב]

I'm pretty sure it's focused, I simply tap it in my phone and the keyboard opens, but then when I type .onKeyEvent doesn't being called at all

[יעקב]

@Composable
fun MainScreen() {
    TextField(
        value = "",
        onValueChange = {},
        modifier = Modifier
            .onKeyEvent {
                println("on key event")
                true
            }
    )
}

This is how it looks like, the event never printed in logcat

[Zach Klippenstein (he/him) [MOD]]

You’re using the software keyboard? onKeyEvent is for hardware key events

[Zach Klippenstein (he/him) [MOD]]

The only way to get soft keys is to see how the text changed in onValueChange. In the new text field apis you can use an InputTransformation to see exactly what changed

[יעקב]

I use the software keyboard.
my app is heavily based on this feature,
I send the keycodes (as scanCodes) which I type to remote device.
Is there a workaround for getting the event similar to onKeyEvent so I can access the scanCode / keyCode and also get event also for Backspace / Enter?

[Mofe Ejegi]

onKeyEvent is for hardware key events

I'm currently working on a Compose Multiplatform project and I noticed that onKeyEvent works fine for the software keys on Android. I'm trying to detect the backspace key event.

On iOS however, onKeyEvent is only triggered via a physical keyboard

[Mofe Ejegi]

I believe this is what I'm experiencing: https://kotlinlang.slack.com/archives/C0346LWVBJ4/p1701878945502919

[יעקב]

@Mofe Ejegi
Did you found a workaround?
I paused my project because of it, I need to get the event and know which keys pressed in the virtual keyboard in reliable way