Edit Question - KnowledgeHub

Title Body

I have been thinking about this a while now, and I can't figure a way to deal with it. Is there any way to detect if the user uses a virtual (software) keyboard or a traditional (hardware) keyboard? The new Windows Surface has its own keyboard in the cover, and for Android / iPad there are a ton of different bluetooth keyboards. So, do any of you have any input about this? I'm aiming for Android, IOS & Windows Tablet/Phone. Motivation: (very subjective) When developing web applications for tablet/smartphone I have come to the understanding that it's easier - in many situations - to use a JavaScript keyboard instead of the OS's software keyboard. Lets say you want to enter a PIN code. Instead of having a keyboard filling half of the screen: Software (OS) keyboard: |----------------| | [ input] | | | |----------------| | 1 2 3 4 5 | | 6 7 8 9 0 | |----------------| JavaScript keyboard: |----------------| | [ input] | | | 1 2 3| | | | 4 5 6| | | |_7_8_9| | | | | | |----------------| If you need to handle a lot of inputs, maybe you want to make an overlaying div with the inputs and use the software keyboard: |----------------| | P1 P2 P3 P4 | | [inp 1][inp 2] | |----------------| | KEYBOARD | | | |----------------| But if the user has their own hardware keyboard, we want to make the edit inline in place. I have been looking around SO and found this post: iPad Web App: Detect Virtual Keyboard Using JavaScript in Safari? ... but this seams to only work in IOS - not sure about browser.

Tags (comma-separated) Cancel