Key Identifiers

WebApps ⇨ DOM3Events ⇨ Key Identifiers

Currently, section A.1.5, Guidelines for defining key identifiers is non-normative, and could provide more details.

Cameron McCormack provides a proposal:

If these are equivalent to U+0030 to U+0039 then they certainly
shouldn't be prefixed with Dial, since that's not appropriate for
computer keyboards.  If you wanted to avoid the "U+...." naming scheme
for the key identifiers altogether, the "Guidelines for defining key
identifiers" section could be rewritten to achieve this.  Actually, I
would prefer this.  Currently the only requirement is that the
identifier not include any whitespace.  I don't see any problem with
using the actual characters (for those keys that map to non-control
Unicode characters and aren't combining characters).

 A.1.5 Guidelines for defining key identifiers

 The list of key identifiers contained in this appendix is not
 exhaustive and input devices may have to define their own key
 identifiers. Here is a algorithm to determine which key identifier to
 use:

   1. Consider the primary function of the key (i.e., without
      modifiers), taking into consideration the keyboard layout mapping
      in use, to determine if a corresponding Unicode character exists
      from which a key identifier may be derived.  If there exists
      multiple Unicode characters that correspond to the primary
      function of the key, the Unicode character with the lowest
      codepoint must be used.

      1.1. If the primary function of the key is to generate a
           character, and that character is in one of the Unicode
           general categories Lu, Ll, Lt, Lm, Lo, Nd, Nl, No, Pc, Pd,
           Ps, Pe, Pi, Pf, Po, Sm, Sc, Sk or So, then the key
           identifier is a string consisting of just that character.
           If the primary function of the key is to generate a
           character in class Ll for which there exists an equivalent,
           single character in class Lu, the uppercase character should
           be used instead.
        
      1.2. If the primary function of the key is to generate a
           character that is not in one of the above general
           categories, or if the primary function of the key is a
           function for which there exists a corresponding Unicode
           character that is not in one of the above general categories, then:

           1.2.1. If there exists an appropriate key identifier in the
                  list in section A.2 below, that key identifier must
                  be used.

           1.2.2. If there is no appropriate key identifier in A.2, 
                  then the key identifier is a string beginning with
                  "U+" and followed by the Unicode codepoint of the
                  character in hexadecimal, using at least four digits.
                  Leading zeroes must be omitted unless they are
                  required to make the codepoint use at least four
                  digits.

   2. For keys with no corresponding Unicode character, a key
      identifier can be devised.  The key identifier should be as human
      friendly as possible and must not contain whitespace.  The
      identifier must be composed only of characters in the ranges
      U+0030..U+0039, U+0041..U+005A, U+0061..U+007A and must begin
      with a character in the range U+0041..U+005A.

 Examples:

   * On a PC/AT US keyboard with a US keyboard mapping, the primary
     function (unmodified) of the 'Q' key is to generate the character
     U+0071.  Since this character is in general category Ll, and there
     is a single corresponding character in Lu, U+0051, this character
     is used instead.  Thus, the key identifier is "Q".

   * On a PC/AT US keyboard with a two-handed Dvorak keyboard mapping,
     the 'Q' key maps to the '5/%' key.  The primary function of this
     key is to generate the character U+0035.  Since this character is
     in general category Nd, the key identifier is "5".

   * On a French PC keyboard with a standard French mapping, the primary
     function of the '^' key is as a dead key for the circumflex
     diacritical mark.  This corresponds to the combining Unicode
     character U+0302.  Since this character is in general category Mn,
     the key identifier is "U+0302".

   * On a Korean PC keyboard with a standard Korean mapping, the
     primary function of the 'Ha/En' key is to switch between Hangul
     and English input.  The predefined key identifier list has an
     appropriate entry for this key, "HangulMode", so this is the key
     identifier.

   * On some models of PDAs, the primary function of the key with a
     picture of a calendar on it is to launch the calendaring program.
     Since there is no Unicode character that corresponds to this
     function, and there is no appropriate entry in the predefined key
     identifier list, an new identifier can be devised, such as
     "Calendar".

It may be a good idea to survey recent phone and PDA models and include
some extra key identifiers in the list to avoid different names being
invented for the same key.

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