RFR: 8273743: KeyCharacterCombination for "+" does not work on US QWERTY keyboard layout

[Kevin Rushforth]

On Mon, 13 Dec 2021 19:46:27 GMT, Martin Fox <duke at openjdk.java.net> wrote:

> The algorithm in `KeyCharacterCombination.match` relies on the call `Toolkit.getKeyCodeForChar` which is difficult to implement correctly. It defies the way most keyboard API’s work and no platform has got it right yet. In particular the Mac and Linux implementations have to resort to a brute-force approach which monitors keystrokes to learn the relationship between keys and characters.
> 
> This PR introduces an alternative mechanism which directly asks the platform whether a given key can generate a specific character. It also allows the platform to attach identifying key information to each KeyEvent to make it easier to answer the question (much, much easier).
> 
> This is mostly dumb plumbing. On the front-end there’s a new call `View.notifyKeyEx` that takes an additional platform-specific `hardwareCode` parameter. It also returns a boolean indicating whether the event was consumed or not so I can fix JDK-8087863. If you want to follow the path visit the files in this order:
> 
> 	View.java
> 	GlassViewEventHandler.java
> 	TKSceneListener.java
> 	Scene.java
> 
> The `KeyEvent` class has been expanded with an additional `hardwareCode` member that can only be accessed internally. See KeyEvent.java and KeyEventHelper.java.
> 
> On the back-end `KeyCharacterCombination.match` calls a new routine `Toolkit.getKeyCanGenerateCharacter` which unpacks the `KeyEvent` information and sends it on to the Application. The default implementation falls back to the old `getKeyCodeForChar` call but platform specific Applications can send it on to the native glass code.
> 
> 	KeyCharacterCombination.java
> 	Toolkit.java
> 	QuantumToolkit.java
> 	Application.java
> 	GtkApplication.java
> 
> The glass code can use the `hardwareCode` to answer the question directly. It also has enough information to fall back on the old `getKeyCodeForChar` logic while also enabling the keypad (a common complaint is that Ctrl+’+’ only works on the main keyboard and not the keypad, see JDK-8090275).
> 
> This PR improves the situation for key events generated by keystrokes. Manually constructed key events won’t work any better or worse than they already do. Based on the bug database I don't think this is an issue.

I see from your comment in PR #635 that you propose to withdraw that PR in favor of this one. Given that, why don't you change that one to "Draft" and we'll focus on this one. As a first pass, it does seem a reasonable approach.

I do have a few high level questions:

1. What are the drawbacks of this approach?
2. I see that the new mechanism has a Linux implementation. Do you plan to propose this for the other platforms (particularly macOS)? It seems like you would need to in order to solve [JDK-8090275](https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8090275)
3. Would this PR help address any of the other in-flight PRs? (e.g., PR #672) presuming we eventually do this on all platforms)?
4. Can you add the manual test from PR #635 ?

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PR: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jfx/pull/694