Help to create a custom Korean keyboard layout

Question

Help to create a custom Korean keyboard layout

I know it's possible to use Ukelele to create a custom keyboard layout saved in a .keylayout or .bundle file. But it doesn't work for languages using input methods... so it doesn't work with Korean.

I recently saw it is also possible to create a custom input method saved in a .inputplugin file. However, I don't see anything to assign the input method to a specific keyboard. And so the .inputplugin file is by default always used with the system default keyboard layout.

So my question is: is it possible to associate a inputplugin file to a specific custom keyboard layout?

Or is developping a Input Method macOS app with InputMethodKit the only solution to create a custom Korean Layout? Because that would be far beyond my skills and the end of the idea.

Posted on Dec 5, 2024 7:21 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,052 points

Dec 5, 2024 8:31 PM in response to KeyboardEnthusiast

KeyboardEnthusiast wrote:

is developping a Input Method macOS app with InputMethodKit the only solution to create a custom Korean Layout?

I would say yes, because .inputplugin files are hard to design properly and in my experience do not work that well. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "is by default always used with the system default keyboard layout." You should be able to use any layout which produces the characters listed in the VALIDINPUTKEY field.

If you would explain exactly what you want to accomplish with a custom Korean input method which is not possible with Apple's existing IM, I might have some ideas.

Korean (Hangul) Input Method User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

Create and use your own input source on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,052 points

Dec 6, 2024 4:51 PM in response to KeyboardEnthusiast

Thanks for all the details. Have a look at the .cin format instead of .inputplugin. Examples

https://github.com/chinese-opendesktop/cin-tables/blob/master/hangul.cin

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,052 points

Dec 6, 2024 2:27 PM in response to KeyboardEnthusiast

KeyboardEnthusiast wrote:

What I mean it that when selecting the input method created with my custom .inputplugin file, it uses the AZERTY layout of my computer (used before opening my session), not the Korean 2-set that is also enabled.

Have you tried putting Hangul in the Validinputkey field of your .inputplugin?

What I want to do is move letters in the 2-set keyboard that are available using MAJ* to have them directly available on the right of the keyboard where there is currently punctuation characters.

Could you provide an exact description of what you mean by that, using the picture below?

*Apparently I can't type these Korean characters here. These are the ones accessible by doing QWERTOP on a qwerty keyboard.

Yes, unfortunately Korean script is not allowed here, we need to use pictures.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,052 points

Dec 8, 2024 5:34 PM in response to KeyboardEnthusiast

Have you tried customizing one of the .cin files to get the layout you want, for example by replacing Q everywhere in the first table with / ?

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Answer 5

Dec 6, 2024 1:51 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

What I mean it that when selecting the input method created with my custom .inputplugin file, it uses the AZERTY layout of my computer (used before opening my session), not the Korean 2-set that is also enabled.

What I want to do is move letters in the 2-set keyboard that are available using MAJ* to have them directly available on the right of the keyboard where there is currently punctuation characters. But it seems compromised.

*Apparently I can't type these Korean characters here. These are the ones accessible by doing QWERTOP on a qwerty keyboard.

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Answer 6

Dec 6, 2024 3:20 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom Gewecke wrote:

Have you tried putting Hangul in the Validinputkey field of your .inputplugin?

Yes I think my file is correct:

But like I was trying to say in my first message, when I select it as an input method (it've called it hangul_KO) the keyboard displayed is azerty, not Korean, even if a switch from the korean 2-set keyboard:

The more I think of it the less I think it's resolvable.

What I want to do is move letters in the 2-set keyboard that are available using MAJ* to have them directly available on the right of the keyboard where there is currently punctuation characters.

Could you provide an exact description of what you mean by that, using the picture below?

Yes, unfortunately Korean script is not allowed here, we need to use pictures.

This was my little goal:

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