This article contains instructions for configuring keyboard mapping and creating customized mapped key functions in TTerm Connect.
What is Keyboard Mapping?
Keyboard mapping describes the process of linking the keys on your physical device keyboard (or on-screen keyboard) with keys on the emulation keyboard.
The physical keys are the keys on the keyboard associated with your device, such as a Windows® keyboard or an Apple® keyboard or even the on-screen keyboard on your phone or tablet.
Emulation keys are the keys found on the terminal being emulated. As an example, emulation keys include keys such as the GOLD PF1 key on a VT220 terminal. By creating a keyboard mapping in TTerm Connect you can decide which physical device key will send a GOLD PF1 keypress to your host system.
In TTerm Connect, keyboard maps are created by administrators to be used by end users when they login to the web-based client.
How to Map a Key
To create keyboard mapping in TTerm Connect follow these steps:
- Login to TTerm Connect Administrator Portal (Dashboard). Typically this will be located at https://www.yourhost.com:8090.
- Navigate to Profiles Configuration.
- Choose the profile you want to edit and click on the Edit button.
- Select the Keyboard Mapping tab.
- Click New to create a new keyboard mapping or Edit if you have an existing keyboard mapping you wish to modify. Note that a read only Default keyboard mapping is supplied for each terminal type.
- When editing a keyboard mapping, you’ll see two columns displayed. The left-hand side column shows physical keys and a Keyboard drop-down list of physical or device keyboards that are available for mapping , for example Windows and Apple keyboards and TTerm Connect's built in on-screen keyboard. Underneath is a list of keys available for the currently selected physical keyboard.
The right-hand side column shows emulation keys for the terminal that the profile is configured for.
Tip: Creating Maps for Different Devices
If there are users of different devices within your organization such as Apple Mac and Windows PCs, you can toggle between physical keyboards to view how a keyboard mapping will affect users of that device or system. There are keys on device keyboards that are not shared across all systems, for example keyboards manufactured for Apple devices do not include a traditional Num Lock key. To resolve this, it is possible to map the same emulation key to multiple physical keys to ensure the mapping is available to all your users across different devices.
- To map a physical key to an emulation key, select the physical from the left-hand side list first. Alternately click the Type to Map button and this will prompt you to press a key which will then be selected automatically in the Physical Keys list. You can also map to key combinations such as SHIFT, ALT, CTRL or OPTION and COMMAND for Apple keyboards.
If the physical key has an existing mapping to an emulation key, that emulation key will automatically be selected from the list on the right-hand side column. To set or change a mapping simply choose the desired emulation key from the Emulation Keys list and click Map Key to update. - To map an emulation key to a device key perform the operation in reverse. Select an emulation key from the right-hand column. Choose a physical key from the left-hand side column and click Map Key. Note that you may have to click the Deselect All button first. See the section on auto-selection modes below for more information.
- Repeat the mapping process for each key you wish to map.
- Once all mappings are completed, click the Save Settings button.
Mapping A String Or Macro
As an alternate to mapping an emulation key to a physical key you can instead assign an ASCII data string, an escape sequence or a macro to a physical key or key combination. To map to a string select String/Macro from the Map To drop down option. The string or macro can be typed manually, or the Macro Assistant can be used to generate a macro. Click or tap the lightbulb icon to launch the Macro Assistant.
Hints and Tips
Auto-Selecting a Key
After selecting an item from the Physical Keys list a green outline is displayed around the list box. This is to indicate that auto selecting by physical keys is enabled, meaning any physical key selected from the list will automatically update the display with the current emulation key mapping.
To work the other way around, remove the auto-select by clicking or tapping the Deselect All button. The green highlight will disappear. Now select a key from the Emulation Keys list on the right and note that the Emulation Keys list is highlighted with a green outline. In this mode, any emulation key selected will automatically update the display with its current physical key mapping.
To change back, simply click Deselect All again and reselect from the desired list.
Key Sorting
The Sort Keys drop down list contains a number of options for sorting the list of Physical Keys:- Alphabetically
- Alphabetically (grouped) - Alphabetically listed within logical groups, for example function keys, alphanumeric keys, number pad keys.
- By Keyboard Layout - in order of layout beginning at the top left of the keyboard.
View and Print a Keyboard Mapping List
To view the key mapping for the selected physical keyboard in its entirety, click on List All mappings to display a table showing all physical keys and their mapped equivalents in a simple format. This can be useful when checking that your mapping matches requirements and can also be printed for later reference or distribution.
Remove an Individual Keymap
To remove a keymap simply select the mapping (see step 6 above) and click the Remove Mapping button.
Deleting a Keyboard Mapping
To delete an entire keyboard mapping click or tap the Delete button on the Select a Keyboard Mapping item. Be aware that keymaps can be shared between profiles. Should an attempt be made to delete a keymap that is in use elsewhere, TTerm Connect will notify you with a list of other profiles currently using the keymap. To delete the keymap you must first edit those profiles to remove the shared keymap.