Code Editor: [Mac/Ubu IDE] Certain keyboard shortcuts do not work when using specific non-Roman language keyboard layouts

[iampremo]

In the Mac and Ubuntu IDEs, certain keyboard shortcuts will not work in any Code Editor when using various non-Roman character keyboard layouts through Input Sources.

Affected:
Russian
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
Persian

Steps To Reproduce

1. Open your Mac's System Preferences and open Keyboard > Input Sources (or the Ubuntu equivalent)
2. Add all of the languages listed above and check "Show input menu in menu bar"
3. Use the new icon in the top left of the menu bar to switch your keyboard layout to one of the newly-installed languages
4. Start GM and open/create any project
5. Create a new Note or Script
6. Type some letters and attempt to copy and paste them from the IME to the code editor
7. Observe the issue
   Repro: 100%

[yerumaku]

This appears to affect all keyboard shortcuts expect for undo/redo.

Undo/redo also does not work.

[MahradH]

Same on Ubuntu. When I open GameMaker and my language is not English (in my case Persian), no keyboard shortcut will work. changing the language to English will not fix the problem. I should close the GameMaker and reopen it while my keyboard language is English

[SmithTom6304]

Will take a look at this one for the June release - thanks guys

[yerumaku]

Is there any information about how difficult it is to fix this problem?

[yerumaku]

@stuckie @SmithTom6304
Will it be shifted to 2024.10?

[SmithTom6304]

Sorry @yerumaku, didn't see your last comment.
It's still planned for 2024.8. Haven't had a chance to look into yet, so not sure how hard it'll be to fix.

[SmithTom6304]

The problem stems from the fact that our hotkey system is based on KeyCode values, rather than ScanCode values.
ScanCode values can be thought of as the physical key on the keyboard, whereas KeyCode values are mapped to the layout of the keyboard (the language source).
For example, on a Russian keyboard the key Ч replaces the key X on an english keyboard. With the russian language source active pressing this key would produce a KeyCode of Ч, but still produce a Scancode of X.
Since our hotkeys are currently tied to the KeyCode values, it is impossible to press Ctrl + X (cut) on a russian keyboard as there is no X KeyCode on a russian keyboard.

Fixing this will require reworking our internal hotkey handling to instead use scancodes. This is fairly straightforward, but unfortunately is too much of a rework to go into 2024.8 and so will go into 2024.10 to give our QA team enough time to verify the change.

[yerumaku]

Thank you for your reply, I hope that I will be able to see the results in Beta in September-October, and hopefully this fix will apply to LTS.

[yerumaku]

@SmithTom6304

Was there any information about whether replacing the methods of getting from the keyboard helps?

until we know it works it is unlikely to get into LTS

As far as I understand, LTS is already close enough, but LTS is unpleasant to use on macOS/Linux due to input difficulties.

Is it possible to make some kind of wrapper over the input, and a flag to be able to switch the method of getting the key code?

[YYDan]

There is no Ubuntu IDE LTS.

[yerumaku]

Is there any information about the feature?

[SmithTom6304]

No new information I'm afraid - other work has taken a priority.

[yerumaku]

I hope this feature gets into LTS, despite the postponement to next year.

[yerumaku]

This is good news for the GameMaker community from all over the world!
❤️
Good luck with the task!

[Emc1923]

Unable to reproduce this issue on Windows as of IDE v2024.1100.0.703 Runtime v2024.1100.0.719

[mgeddesGM]

unable to reproduce on windows IDE v2024.1100.0.703 Runtime v2024.1100.0.719, additionally i used an external keyboard

[yerumaku]

@mgeddesGM @Emc1923
But the problem is on Unix systems, not on Windows.

About KeyCode/ScanCode in comment

[SmithTom6304]

@yerumaku I'd asked QA to take a look on Windows as well.
I have a fix that should be ready to go in soon. The fix won't be in v2024.11, but will be in the v2024.13 betas

[SmithTom6304]

Fix has now gone in, and should appear in the first 2024.13 beta.
This fix has also led to a change in the hotkey and remap file formats, which now support upgrading / downgrading of versions. The IDE now contains tests to check that old remap files can be loaded in current versions of the IDE.