Using an Android Tablet as a Macro keyboard

[CrashM]

Hi All,

 

I have been working on a little project after being inspired by the "DIY 87-Key Macro Keyboard" video and was just looking for advice on whether people think it is something that i should continue to develop and possible release.

 

It is basically a macro keyboard (or virtual stream deck) that allow you to run macros on a windows machine using an android tablet as the keyboard.

 

The android app connects the the windows machine and presents a grid (configurable size) of buttons that when pressed will run the macro on the windows machine. The windows app runs in the background and is used to configure the virtual keyboards (multiple tablets(or phones) can be used to control one windows machine).

 

The macros can be configured to run a queue of:

Key Combinations (including separate key up and downs and includes all keys that windows supports, for example F13-24)

Strings (to type strings without having to use individual key presses)

Mouse Clicks

Shell Commands

Plugins (support for .net class dlls that run a function with a string parameter)

 

The keyboard it self allows:

Text Labels (configurable colour for text and background)

Images

Animated Gifs

Plugins (dynamic images can be sent from the windows machine, the example i created sends an image of the current ram/cpu usage once per second)

Separate keyboards per windows app that switches automatically as you switch apps in windows

Multiple pages (navigated using either swiping or buttons that would appear more hierarchical)

 

I have pretty much finished the app(s), but it is in no way polished or properly bug tested, i'm just wondering if you think anyone would be interested in such an app.

 

[SupaKomputa]

Yeah why not?

[Addvilz]

I did something similar quite a few years back, an Android native app that used to connect to a machine running "agent". The agent was basically a small Java application utilizing java.awt.Robot for controls.

 

Unfortunately, there is a pretty significant eventual downside to this - screen burn in. Screens have advanced since then, yet, I would not use this on a tablet that I would not consider disposable. 

 

But the idea has perspective, sure.

[CrashM]

Is the screen burn still a problem when the display is dimmed? The android app does keep the screen on, but allows it to dim. Also i targeted the lowest version of android i could so that it could be used on the really cheap older tablets that could be used for this single purpose.

[Addvilz]

I am certain that dimming is certainly going to help, but it will not entirely prevent the issue. I mean, given the use case, that poor tablet is going to be screen-on for hours and hours, days and days. Something to look out for, but probably not exactly a blocking issue for a device that's supposed to be used only for that purpose.

[totgezockt]

I'm really intrigued by the idea and would certainly think that there will be a lot of applications for this. The featureset seems well thought-out and usability already sounds great. Hit me up if you want some bugtesting done, would really like to help.

[CrashM]

It took me a while, but...

 

http://www.crashm.co.uk/Home/AKE/

[mamapig]

Noob question. How do I add the plugins?

[Jason Sims]

The android app asks for a "Device Name" ,"PC address" and "Port". How do I fill these?

[NitroUK]

Hmm.

[CrashM]

On 7/29/2019 at 4:08 PM, mamapig said:

Noob question. How do I add the plugins?

Copy the DLL into the following path: C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\AKE-PC\Plugins (replace [UserName] with your username)

If you want to create your own you'll need to look at the example plugin and inherit either IPlugin or IInteractivePlugin.

 

On 8/2/2019 at 7:57 PM, Jason Sims said:

The android app asks for a "Device Name" ,"PC address" and "Port". How do I fill these?

The device name is just a friendly name for that Android device that will show up in the PC version for easy identification.

The PC Address is either the IP address or the DNS address of the Windows machine that AKE-PC is installed on.

The port is the TCP port that the AKE-PC was setup on. You might need to allow this on your Windows firewall.

 

I'm afraid i haven't really had time to create a Guide on how to setup/use this, but if i find time it will write something up.

[CrashM]

I have added some instructions to the web page i provided previously on how to install and use AKE. Any other questions asked here will be added to these instructions.

[ReaperFS]

Can you please turn this into an open source project or please provide the source code for us to customize it a little bit more?

[Everbad137]

I tried to use touch portal on Final Fantasy 11 and it doesn't read virtual keys. This might be an issue this program runs into It would work better if it worked the same as a mechanical keyboard.

[codesidian]

I really like this idea. I've been using lua macros with a bunch of individually labelled numpads for a while, so a software solution sounds right up my street. I'll have a fiddle with it later.

Opening up the source would be awesome if you can do that, although there's definitely a market out there for something like this so understandable if you want to keep it close to your chest. 

[sqirt103]

Yes I love the idea, I came here looking for an app like that

 

[Y.Kurai]

Being a graphic designer with limited desk space, my Huion tablet/screen takes up 70% of my desk. I have my macbook pro on a riser above it. I have an old samsung tab pro 12.2 that I have juuuust enough space for it to sit next to the tablet. I'm really looking for this exact type of app for my macbook pro because using the laptop keyboard is painful. Is this something that already exists elsewhere?

[Isuck Assimov]

I've also been using Touch Portal for some time which made it easy to use an old android device as a stream- or macro deck.

It's a cool project to build in your spare time but since there is already an app that seems to do excatly what you're describing here you would probably have to compete for users.

That being said if i remember correctly the GUI for touch portal felt a little clunky, so there's room for improvement there.