CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iosipadkeyboardexternal-accessory
Joris416
Joris416

Reputation: 4882

How to detect the Smart/external Keyboard on iPad?

How can one get a notification when a (Smart) keyboard is connected?

Some context: I am working on a feature that automatically shows and hides my software keyboard based on whether the iPad Pro Smart Keyboard, or another external keyboard is connected or not (like Pages). I have seen this answer but that only applies when a textfield is selected. After a lot of googling, I stumbled into the Apple's ExternalAccessory class which you can ask for connected devices, and then check what these devices are.

I have tried a basic implementation of this and I can't get it to work on my iPad Pro with connected Smart Keyboard (Yes, I am sure it's connected because I can see the letters I type appear on my screen 😅).

First of all, the docs say that you can detect devices that are through over Bluetooth and Lightning, I can only to hope this also includes the Smart Keyboard connector. I have enabled the Wireless Accessory Configuration capability of my project.

Second, one needs to add the UISupportedExternalAccessoryProtocols key to their info.plist, then needs to specify which protocols are connected. Which protocols there are doesn't seem to be documented, also not for Apple's own devices. I ran into a tutorial that mentioned the iAP2 bluetooth protocol, so I added this and then hoped for the best.

My code

As I haven't set up my project configuration right yet, I didn't add a lot of code either. I tried: 

func printAllAccessories() {
    for device in EAAccessoryManager.shared().connectedAccessories {
        print("connected device with name: ", device.name)
    }
}

But noting seems to be connected.

Bottom line

What is the process, including project configuration, to get external keyboard notifications in an iOS App?

There doesn't seem to be any comprehensive documentation of this online so it's probably nice to get that here. Any help would be highly appreciated!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1378

Answers (1)

lacefarin
lacefarin

Reputation: 1234

First of all this doesn't work because smart connector is not using bluetooth to connect to device. You can read more about that on this page Use your Smart Keyboard Folio or Smart Keyboard with iPad Pro.

Second thing is that apple Smart Keyboard and external keyboard is totally different thing. Apple Smart Keyboard can be used as iPad case and as iPad keyboard. External keyboard is used only as keyboard and nothing else.

So from this we can conclude that when you connect you Smart Keyboard to iPad with Smart Connector iPad will treat it as iPad case, which gives you protection for your iPad and no other functionality which would impact on your software(try to type on it or use any shortcuts, nothing will work). iPad will recognise Smart Keyboard as keyboard only when it will be folded in type position. This is the main difference from external keyboard. External keyboard will be recognised as soon as you connect it via bluetooth.

Pages app will hide keyboard only if the external keyboard is connected via bluetooth or your Smart Keyboard is in type position. If Smart Keyboard is connected to Smart Connector and is not in type position there will still be software keyboard until you fold it in to type position. This means that iOS will handle hiding and showing keyboard.

For handling key presses performed on hardware keyboard you can refer to this class UIKeyCommand.

Upvotes: 2

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