GetKeyboardLayout() and LoadKeyboardLayout() difficulty

Question

GetKeyboardLayout() and LoadKeyboardLayout() difficulty

Ioann 61

Hello guys,

What i want to do is GetKeyboardlayout(0) that returns a HKL object and i want to use this HKL as input for the first parameter of LoadKeyboardLayout() which is LPCWSTR. Is this possible ?

Thanks in advance

RLWA32 29,851 Reputation points

2022-01-29T10:36:34.657+00:00

From a cursory test it doesn't appear that there is a direct correlation between the HKL returned from GetKeyboardLayout(0) and the input locale identifier name parameter passed to LoadKeyboardLayout. GetKeyboardLayoutName returns a copy of the string passed to LoadKeyboardLayout.

On my US-English keyboard the default value returned by GetKeyboardLayoutName was string "00000409" while the HKL returned from GetKeyboardLayout(0) was 0x04090409 (32-bit) test. After changing the keyboard layout to US-Dvorak by passing string "00010409" to LoadKeyboardLayout the HKL returned by GetKeyboardLayout was 0xF0020409.

So on the surface, it doesn't seem like the HKL would be a suitable parameter to pass to LoadKeyboardLayout.
Ioann 61 Reputation points

2022-01-29T10:50:47.31+00:00

Is it possible to convert is somehow to be usable within LoadKeyboardLayout ?
Viorel 88,236 Reputation points

2022-01-29T11:37:18.197+00:00
Maybe you can use an approximation:

HKL h = GetKeyboardLayout( 0 ); WORD w = LOWORD( DWORD_PTR( h )); WCHAR n[KL_NAMELENGTH]; swprintf_s( n, L"%08X", w ); . . . HKL h2 = LoadKeyboardLayoutW( n, 0 );

Do you want to duplicate the HKL for some different process?
RLWA32 29,851 Reputation points

2022-01-29T11:55:19.55+00:00

The low word of the HKL will provide language but that approximation does not provide for the physical layout. Using the example that I mentioned earlier passing the approximation based on language alone could reset the physical layout of the keyboard, probably an unintended side effect.
RLWA32 29,851 Reputation points

2022-01-29T12:00:21.27+00:00

Also, there are keyboard identifiers documented at windows-language-pack-default-values for which the high order word is not 0x0000.
Igor Tandetnik 1,101 Reputation points

2022-01-29T15:18:08.737+00:00

Why do you want to load a keyboard layout that is already loaded, that you already have a handle for? This sounds like an XY problem. What are you really trying to achieve?

RLWA32 29,851 Reputation points

2022-01-29T10:36:34.657+00:00

From a cursory test it doesn't appear that there is a direct correlation between the HKL returned from GetKeyboardLayout(0) and the input locale identifier name parameter passed to LoadKeyboardLayout. GetKeyboardLayoutName returns a copy of the string passed to LoadKeyboardLayout.

On my US-English keyboard the default value returned by GetKeyboardLayoutName was string "00000409" while the HKL returned from GetKeyboardLayout(0) was 0x04090409 (32-bit) test. After changing the keyboard layout to US-Dvorak by passing string "00010409" to LoadKeyboardLayout the HKL returned by GetKeyboardLayout was 0xF0020409.

So on the surface, it doesn't seem like the HKL would be a suitable parameter to pass to LoadKeyboardLayout.
Ioann 61 Reputation points

2022-01-29T10:50:47.31+00:00

Is it possible to convert is somehow to be usable within LoadKeyboardLayout ?
Viorel 88,236 Reputation points

2022-01-29T11:37:18.197+00:00

Maybe you can use an approximation:

HKL h = GetKeyboardLayout( 0 ); WORD w = LOWORD( DWORD_PTR( h )); WCHAR n[KL_NAMELENGTH]; swprintf_s( n, L"%08X", w ); . . . HKL h2 = LoadKeyboardLayoutW( n, 0 );

Do you want to duplicate the HKL for some different process?
RLWA32 29,851 Reputation points

2022-01-29T11:55:19.55+00:00

The low word of the HKL will provide language but that approximation does not provide for the physical layout. Using the example that I mentioned earlier passing the approximation based on language alone could reset the physical layout of the keyboard, probably an unintended side effect.
RLWA32 29,851 Reputation points

2022-01-29T12:00:21.27+00:00

Also, there are keyboard identifiers documented at windows-language-pack-default-values for which the high order word is not 0x0000.
Igor Tandetnik 1,101 Reputation points

2022-01-29T15:18:08.737+00:00

Why do you want to load a keyboard layout that is already loaded, that you already have a handle for? This sounds like an XY problem. What are you really trying to achieve?

GetKeyboardLayout() and LoadKeyboardLayout() difficulty

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