[Bug 23569] New: Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Summary: Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using
                    VNC
           Product: Wine
           Version: 1.2-rc6
          Platform: x86
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: minor
          Priority: P1
         Component: -unknown
        AssignedTo: [e-mail]
        ReportedBy: [e-mail]

Bug: While connected to a computer via VNC, certain keys that work perfectly
fine in native programs on the remote computer are not picked up in Wine
programs on the remote computer.

Example: Holding shift and pressing the keys 1234567890 in gedit produces
"!@#$%^&*()", but typing the same into Wine Notepad produces "12345678",
showing that the shift key and curved brackets are not getting from VNC to
Wine.

Speculation: Keys should be sent VNC Client --> VNC Server --> Wine, but
somewhere along the line the process is broken. But when keys are sent VNC
Client --> VNC Server --> Generic GNOME App it works fine.

Reproduction: The VNC Client is RealVNC on Windows XP SP3, and the VNC Server
is x11vnc on Ubuntu 10.04 (previously tried Ubuntu's built in VNC server, same
bug occured) (this may not matter, but try an Ubuntu -> Ubuntu VNC connection
and see if the bug occurs). Try holding shift and typing capital text, curved
brackets, symbols etc into a simple Wine app like Notepad running on the Ubuntu
computer, then try typing the same into a simple GNOME app like gedit.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Dmitry Timoshkov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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           Priority|P1                          |P2

--- Comment #1 from Dmitry Timoshkov   2010-07-09 04:45:04 ---
How does 'xev' output look like?

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #2 from [e-mail]  2010-07-10 07:51:15 ---
Created an attachment (id=29500)
 --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=29500)
xev output

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

[e-mail] changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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           Priority|P2                          |P1
           Severity|minor                       |trivial

--- Comment #3 from [e-mail]  2010-07-10 07:52:09 ---
Update: Sorry, I have cleared a few things up and apparently most of the keys
work fine, the only keys that remain broken in Wine but not in other apps are
brackets (these things), which don't appear at all but work fine in other apps
when typed through VNC.

xev output reports the shift key and ( ) keys being pressed, I've attached a
snippet of the output where I press the keys in the VNC client, no other output
seems relevant (all mouse events, nothing strange).

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Dmitry Timoshkov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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           Priority|P1                          |P2

--- Comment #4 from Dmitry Timoshkov   2010-07-10 12:00:00 ---
Please generate a +event,+key,+keyboard,+xim log, and attach it here.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #5 from [e-mail]  2010-07-10 21:31:35 ---
Not sure what you mean, what would you use to generate this log, would it just
be xev with a few more options?

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #6 from Andrew Nguyen   2010-07-10 21:36:45 ---
(In reply to comment #5)
> Not sure what you mean, what would you use to generate this log, would it just
> be xev with a few more options?

See http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-16da35b6327024d6ea576e3678488b16862d0f5e
for instructions.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #7 from [e-mail]  2010-07-11 06:09:58 ---
Created an attachment (id=29522)
 --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=29522)
Wine debug trace output

(In reply to comment #4)
> Please generate a +event,+key,+keyboard,+xim log, and attach it here.

A log of me writing a text file and attempting to use brackets in Wine Notepad
from VNC.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

[e-mail] changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Priority|P2                          |P1

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Dmitry Timoshkov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Priority|P1                          |P2

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work in Wine when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #8 from Dmitry Timoshkov   2010-07-11 23:24:15 ---
(In reply to comment #7)
> A log of me writing a text file and attempting to use brackets in Wine Notepad
> from VNC.

It would be much better if you would press just the problematic key(s).
Please generate another log.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Dmitry Timoshkov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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            Summary|Certain keyboard keys don't |Certain keyboard keys don't
                   |work in Wine when using VNC |work when using VNC

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Dmitry Timoshkov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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  Attachment #29522|application/x-itunes-itlp   |application/octet-stream
          mime type|                            |

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

[e-mail] changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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  Attachment #29522|0                           |1
        is obsolete|                            |

--- Comment #9 from [e-mail]  2010-07-12 03:06:42 ---
Created an attachment (id=29553)
 --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=29553)
Wine debug trace output

(In reply to comment #8)
> It would be much better if you would press just the problematic key(s).
> Please generate another log.

OK, a log of starting notepad, pressing the left bracket, pressing the right
bracket, closing notepad.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #10 from Dmitry Timoshkov   2010-07-12 03:40:10 ---
(In reply to comment #9)
> OK, a log of starting notepad, pressing the left bracket, pressing the right
> bracket, closing notepad.

Thanks.

The problem starts here:
trace:keyboard:X11DRV_InitKeyboard keycode 187 => vkey 0000

then once there is a KeyPress even:

trace:event:call_event_handler 47 KeyPress for hwnd/window 0x10052/5200001
trace:key:X11DRV_KeyEvent type 2, window 5200001, state 0x0011, keycode 187
trace:keyboard:X11DRV_KeyEvent XmbLookupString needs 1 byte(s)
trace:key:X11DRV_KeyEvent nbyte = 1, status 4
trace:key:X11DRV_KeyEvent KeyPress : keysym=28 (parenleft), # of chars=1 / "("
trace:key:EVENT_event_to_vkey e->keycode = 187
trace:key:X11DRV_KeyEvent keycode 187 converted to vkey 0xFC

keycode 187 actually gets converted to vkey 0, and the code assumes that's
the special case and converts it to VK_NONAME (0xFC), which is an internal
trick to handle dead keys.

Keyboard detection code is to blame here.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #11 from [e-mail]  2010-07-12 04:38:13 ---
So, it's a problem with Wine itself or... ? I hope I'm helping to improve Wine
in some way.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Dmitry Timoshkov  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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             Status|UNCONFIRMED                 |NEW
     Ever Confirmed|0                           |1

--- Comment #12 from Dmitry Timoshkov   2010-07-12 04:43:14 ---
(In reply to comment #11)
> So, it's a problem with Wine itself or... ?

Yes, it's the problem in Wine keyboard detection code.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Josh  changed:

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                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #13 from Josh  2012-03-09 06:57:07 CST ---
Still a problem.  I'd say the severity should be bumped to minor, while the
priority can be whatever to reflect the probably small fraction of affected
users.  I prefer Notepad++, which needs Wine to work.  Try coding without the
use of parens (having to copy and paste them in when needed)!  It gets really
tiring and is a large disruption to productivity.  I find myself not using
Notepad++ more and more, which is no better than if the program crashed
regularly.  The only thing that keeps me from suggesting a severity of normal
is that there is indeed a straight-forward workaround.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #14 from Josh  2012-04-01 09:44:50 CDT ---
Same problem with TeamViewer.  Actually worse with TeamViewer, as I'm now
unable to type any symbols other than >.  And > only comes out when I try to
type <.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

vidya sagar  changed:

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                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #15 from vidya sagar  2012-05-15 12:09:08 CDT ---
(In reply to comment #13)
> Still a problem.  I'd say the severity should be bumped to minor, while the
> priority can be whatever to reflect the probably small fraction of affected
> users.  I prefer Notepad++, which needs Wine to work.  Try coding without the
> use of parens (having to copy and paste them in when needed)!  It gets really
> tiring and is a large disruption to productivity.  I find myself not using
> Notepad++ more and more, which is no better than if the program crashed
> regularly.  The only thing that keeps me from suggesting a severity of normal
> is that there is indeed a straight-forward workaround.

Could you please tell me what is that "straight-forward workaround" we have for
this problem ?

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #16 from Josh  2012-07-17 08:55:43 CDT ---
The easiest workaround is to not mix VNC or teamviewer with Wine.  So either
have a backup editor or use x11 forwarding on the side or edit the file with a
local editor and saving to a network location.

2 years though...  I assume the delay is because dead key support is awkwardly
integrated and would be a pain to tweak?  Are dead keys really more
beneficially to users than parens and other symbols over remote connections? 
Both seem like they could be small compared to the entire userbase, but...

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

Psy[H[]  changed:

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--- Comment #17 from Psy[H[]  2013-06-27 11:53:29 CDT ---
Just stumbled upon this. 
Using VNC, about a half of cyrillic symbols in russian layout, mostly the right
part of the keyboard affected.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

[e-mail] changed:

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                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #18 from [e-mail] ---
Just noticed this bug as well. Using TeamViewer 9 and Wine 1.7.15 on Ubuntu
14.04 (development branch), en_US.UTF8, and any symbols above the keyboard
numbers (e.g. !@#$%) or any of the symbols that require a shift key press do
not show up under wine notepad or Office 2010 apps.

Capital letters with shift key do work, however. Would be nice to see this
fixed eventually.

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

--- Comment #19 from Austin English  ---
This is your friendly reminder that there has been no bug activity for over a
year. Is this still an issue in current (1.7.51 or newer) wine?

[Bug 23569] Certain keyboard keys don't work when using VNC

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23569

[e-mail] changed:

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                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #20 from [e-mail] ---
see bug 1181 comment 1.