Is it possible to play around with windows touch keyboard using javascript?

Question

I'm developing a Kiosk application using Electron. But when I tested the app on an actual kiosk with windows 8 OS, the on screen key board is not launching. Is it possible I can manually enable keyboard by using JavaScript? I searched along for the answer but didn't got any proper answer. Also I would like to change the language of the keyboard with users preference? Can I do these using windows on screen keyboard?

Answer 1

How exactly you create kiosk mode? By replacing shell or/and use full screen application? If so - you need to use own internal keyboard. Windows keyboard available only if explorer running and no full screen application running.

Answer 2

I ran across this while researching a similar issue. If you are using a Windows Shell Launcher (details here), then you may still be in luck. The "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Service" service is still available using this method. You can test that the keyboard is accessible by opening Task Manager and trying to run a new task. If the keyboard pops when you tap the input field there, the keyboard is working at the OS level.

If the keyboard is not opening at the OS level, it may require starting the Touch Keyboard service or setting a couple registry keys like: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\TabletTip\1.7\EnableDesktopModeAutoInvoke = 1 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\TabletMode = 1

All of this said, there have been some issues with how Chrome interacts with the Touch Keyboard starting sometime around Chrome 49-50. Updating to the latest Chrome fixed the issue for me (51.0.2707.106m). I imagine there would also be some overlap since Electron uses Chromium from what I understand.

PS - I just realized this question was for Windows 8. Although my experiences were with Windows 10, I believe the same advice should apply.