I want to summarize the role of function keys in Windows Mobile, former Pocket PC, as I got several questions each week on how to use or enable Function keys in this or that application.

Here is a simple information about how function keys work in Windows Mobile.

As example you have a web application which shows F3 and F4 as shortcuts to previous/next page:

SAP ITS Mobile screen Intermec Browser

Without some prepare this screen will not react on function keys! As the screen shows Intermec Browser (IB) with a SAP ITS Mobile form, you are able to define settings in IB to be able to really use the Function Keys.

Windows Mobile uses Function Key values for its own purpose. The usage can be retrieved by looking at winuserm.h of a Windows Mobile SDK:

Source code

//winuserm.h
...
#define VK_TSOFT1   VK_F1               // Softkey 1
#define VK_TSOFT2   VK_F2               // Softkey 2
#define VK_TTALK    VK_F3               // Talk
#define VK_TEND     VK_F4               // End
...
#define VK_TRECORD      VK_F10          // Record
#define VK_TFLIP        VK_F17          // Flip
#define VK_TPOWER       VK_F18          // Power
#define VK_TVOLUMEUP    VK_F6           // Volume Up
#define VK_TVOLUMEDOWN  VK_F7           // Volume Down
...
#define VK_TSPEAKERPHONE_TOGGLE VK_F16
#define VK_END_ALL_DATA_CALLS   VK_F15
...
#define VK_TSTAR    VK_F8               // *
#define VK_TPOUND   VK_F9               // #
...
#define VK_SYMBOL   VK_F11              // Symbol (SYM) key
 
#define VK_REDKEY   VK_F19              // Sent by a keypad that has a special red function key
#define VK_ROCKER   VK_F20              // Arrow keys came from a Rocker
#define VK_DPAD     VK_F21              // Arrow keys came from a DPAD
#define VK_ACTION   VK_F23              // Sent with VK_RETURN when doing Action on PPC rockers
 
#define VK_VOICEDIAL  VK_F24            // Key used to kick off voice dial recognition
#define VK_KEYLOCK    VK_F22            // Key used to lock the device
#define VK_KEYUNLOCK  VK_F25             // Key used to unlock the key lock
 
// Chorded keys.  DONE is VK_RWIN + VK_F6 and MOJI is VK_RWIN + VK_F7
#define VK_DONE     VK_F6                 // <OK/Close> hotkey code
#define MOD_DONE    (MOD_WIN | MOD_KEYUP) // <OK/Close> hotkey modifiers
 
#define VK_MOJI     VK_F7                  // Key used to switch between FE language layouts
#define MOD_MOJI    (MOD_WIN | MOD_KEYUP)  //Modifiers so MOJI goes to the shell
...

You see that many FunctionKey values are assigned to OS specific functions like Phone, END, Volume Up/Down etc.

So, you can normally not use Function Keys in your application to provide shortcuts to function calls. This is also true for client applications like Terminal Emulators (TE) like NaurTechTE and Intermec TE (ITE), browser based applications like Internet Explorer Mobile or Intermec Kiosk Mode Browser (IB), thin clients like Java client apps (ie. SAP ITS Mobile) or Remote Desktop client apps (ie Remote Desktop Mobile, zaDesktop).

Some of the kiosk mode apps provide a way to enable you to use Function Keys (see example at top). They can do so, as they use API calls like UnregisterFunc1 or AllKeys(TRUE) or GXOpenInput (deprecated!). These APIs instruct Windows Mobile OS to NOT catch and use Function Keys but handle them like ‘normal’ keys.

If you are the coder of an application using CPP, CSharp (C#), VB.NET, CPP or JAVA, you can use the Microsoft API function AllKeys(TRUE) in your code and Windows Mobile will not tamper the function keys.

If you are not the coder you may use UnregisterFunc1 (see my post “Freedom for Function Keys“). But be warned, there are applications that even then will not process Function Keys or do not forward them. For example Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) will NOT process Function Keys except for internal functions like help or full-screen. Another bad example is Remote Desktop Mobile (RDM). It does not support Function Keys, even if you un-register them before you launch RDM, Function Keys will NOT be processed or transmitted to the host application. An alternative to RDM with function key support is rdesktopCE.

When you use UnregisterFunc1, you can check the Function Keys using a tool like KeyTest3AK. It will show the keydown and keyup values of keys and shows what happens if you use AllKeys():

More posts about AllKeys

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REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"ShowScriptErrors"=dword:00000001

With this setting you will get message boxes if something is wrong with your JavaScript code or the way IEM handles Javascript.

Without this setting IEM will not display any script error and you just get a page that does not work as programmed.

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As you know (or should know), Internet Explorers before 6.1.4 ? did not handle key events. Although this may be not a problem with consumer devices, for rugged devices used in a professional environment, this was bad. Although there are more and more consumer windows mobile devices providing a keyboard with more than 6 keys. Industrial devices have much more keys:

The companies had to design around using a keyboard interface in there web application or use special browsers that support key events. Now a new area starts with IEM 6.1.4.

I tested IEM on a ITC device with a numeric input and the test page (see here) works fine:

The screen shows the test page after I pressed the ’2′ key on the keyboard. Unfortunately I was not yet able to test against function keys yet.

have fun

Josef

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As I wrote about Internet Explorer Mobile 6.1.4 it would be of interest, when this is part of the OS image on your device. With ‘when’ I mean the AKU number, when IEM is part of the OS image.

Adaption Kit Updates are described here.

A list of AKU s is posted here and here

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I did a short test and will still recommend Access Netfront for professional use. IEM runs slow and I can not see the ((un-)documented) enhancements for web programmers.

Josef

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