Unable to type characters with AltGr modifier

[CptPotato]

As of helix 0.4.0 I'm unable to type any characters that require the AltGr modifier key.
This appears to be a regression somewhere between version 0.3.0 and 0.4.0 of helix.

Environment

• Platform: Win10 x64
• Helix version: 0.4.0/0.4.1 (from Github releases)

[CptPotato]

A quick bisect points to 8a2fa69 (merged in #521) causing this new behaviour.

[archseer]

Good catch! Looks like the if self.modifiers.is_empty() check should be removed. All the code previously ignored modifiers, but now it explicitly looks for no modifier present.

[CptPotato]

Thanks! I can confirm that AltGr works again as expected in INS mode.

One more issue, though: It does not work in the command line at the bottom (i.e. entering :-commands, searching, etc.).
With my keyboard this means not being able to enter {[]}\|@ there, so only the search function is a bit limited for now.

Edit: The same goes for the file picker.

[archseer]

I'll fix up the Prompt component, it should take care of all the remaining cases :)

[CptPotato]

It appears that the fix for prompts in 5cee3b6 (l. 530-537) doesn't work as expected.
To be more precise, AltGr seems to be interpreted as Ctrl + Alt* and won't pass the check in prompt.rs:534.

* I think this is a common thing, but I'm not 100% sure

I tested it with the following change and I'm now getting the "correct" behaviour. This might need more thought, however... I'm not sure if this breaks other input combinations or works differently on different OS.

/* ... */

    } if !modifiers.contains(KeyModifiers::CONTROL)
        || modifiers.contains(KeyModifiers::CONTROL | KeyModifiers::ALT) =>
    {
        self.insert_char(c);
        (self.callback_fn)(cx, &self.line, PromptEvent::Update);
    }

/* ... */

[CptPotato]

@archseer sorry for pinging but I want to mention again that this issue isn't fully fixed, see my previous comment.

Maybe it's better to keep the issue open for now?

[archseer]

Sorry, I somehow completely missed the last message! Reopening and will take a look at the patch.

[KlasMvW]

Is there a plan for a patch for this? I understand if Windows is not a priority platform but Helix is a such a great editor and the only select-based editor for Windows AFAIK. The AltGr characters are essential for regex so it would be nice to have it fixed.

[CptPotato]

This might also be a crossterm issue, depending on what the expected behavior is.

For example, on a german keyboard layout AltGr + q is used to type @.
However, crossterm reports this as:

KeyEvent { code: Char('@'), modifiers: CONTROL | ALT }

So on top of the "resolved" character @ there's the additional Ctrl + Alt modifiers that interfere with how helix handles the inputs in the prompt component.

[archseer]

Hmm, looks like ctrl + alt sequence has special meaning as alt gr: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040329-00/?p=40003

[archseer]

Sorry for the great delay on this, I've removed the limitation on the prompt.

[CptPotato]

Sorry for the great delay on this, I've removed the limitation on the prompt.

No worries. I can confirm that it works correctly now 👍

[mscofield0]

helix 22.05 (27609f5)
I'm still having issues in the newer versions.

[CptPotato]

@mscofield0 are you experiencing this with writing text or with keybinds?

I did notice something, too:

I can type characters with AltGr modifier just fine. But key bindings that require this modifier (such as | for pipe) don't work on windows.

[mscofield0]

Yep, same issue here. Key bindings don't work (normal mode), but typing works just fine.

[CptPotato]

Alright, I'll create a new issue for this 👍