On Wayland, Upper Case Characters Converted to Lower Case in KDE Connect "Remote Input" Compose

[nazdridoy]

Current Behavior

SUMMARY

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In the latest version of KDE Connect (APK v1.32.11); valent v1.0.0.alpha.46, there is an issue with the "Remote Input" , specifically with the "Compose" functionality. When attempting to send text to my PC using "Remote Input" and "Compose," all uppercase characters are automatically converted into lowercase characters. This occurs consistently, regardless of the text input method used. Interestingly, typing out text using the on-screen keyboard works just fine.

---

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

1. Ensure both the PC and mobile device are connected via KDE Connect.
2. Open the KDE Connect app on the mobile device.
3. Select the "Remote Input" feature.
4. Use the "Compose" functionality to input text containing uppercase characters.
5. Observe that all uppercase characters are converted to lowercase automatically.

Actual Behavior:

All uppercase characters are converted to lowercase when using the "Compose" feature in "Remote Input," resulting in incorrect text transmission to the PC.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS

Linux: Archlinux
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.5 (wayland)
valent v1.0.0.alpha.46
KDE Connect (APK v1.32.11)

Expected Behavior

Expected Behavior:

When using the "Compose" in "Remote Input," uppercase characters should remain unchanged and be transmitted accurately to the PC.

Desktop

Other (please specify)

Other Desktop

KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.5 (wayland)

Operating System

Archlinux

Installed from

Distribution Package

Version

1.0.0.alpha

Devices

KDE Connect (Android), KDE Connect (Desktop Linux), Valent (Desktop Linux)

Plugins

No response

Logs

### ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This issue is consistent across different devices and keyboard input methods. It significantly impacts the usability of the "Remote Input" feature, particularly for tasks requiring the accurate transmission of text with uppercase characters.

### Related Issue
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=483730

Screenshots

[andyholmes]

Thanks for the report, with screenshots and good description :)

I agree this is a clear bug, and I expect it's an result of the compose data looking somewhat like this:

{
  "key": "UPPERCASE inverted to lower-case or something",
  "shift": true,
}

Versus per-key mode:

{
  "key": "s",
  "shift": true,
}

Which is just to say "compose mode" and "per-key mode" work the same, but with compose I'm probably not handling that corner case.

[nazdridoy]

any update on this?

[andyholmes]

Sorry, I dropped the ball on this one; thanks for being patient. Personally, I couldn't reproduce this when I tried just now, but I did experience other bad behaviour.

For context, when using the keyboard the device will send packets like this:

{
  "id" : 1766411110276,
  "type" : "kdeconnect.mousepad.request",
  "body" : {
    "key" : "g"
  }
}

{
  "id" : 1766411109559,
  "type" : "kdeconnect.mousepad.request",
  "body" : {
    "shift" : true,
    "key" : "G"
  }
}

I'm not sure how to address that, since I believe kdeconnect-android should not send the shift modifier if it's passing the key upper-cased already. But anyways, your problem was with the compose mode.

With brief testing (on GNOME Shell), I did encounter related problems like a stuck Shift key, but not the case-sensitivity issue specifically.

{
  "id" : 1766411110276,
  "type" : "kdeconnect.mousepad.request",
  "body" : {
    "key" : "UPPER LOWER Upper Lower"
  }
}

This resulted in the Shift key being stuck on and the output:

UP RE LOUWPPR ER

My best guess is that rapid calls to xdp_session_keyboard_key() are being interleaved, each key requiring two methods calls to simulate press and release. Unfortunately the only way to address that is to rewrite the adapter, which might take me a bit of time.

[andyholmes]

Hi, can you test the latest commit/build from main? I added a quick implementation of libei support in #1003, which seems to fix any keyboard problems for me.

[nazdridoy]

yes all keyboard problems seems to be fixed in the latest nightly flatpak build.

do you plan to address this in the kde-connect issue/bugreport? https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=483730

[andyholmes]

yes all keyboard problems seems to be fixed in the latest nightly flatpak build.

Great, thanks for checking back!

do you plan to address this in the kde-connect issue/bugreport? https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=483730

How do you mean?