Swedish letters and dvorak-layout on usb-keyboard on the Nexus 7

I've finaly got some routine on changing the keyboard layout on my Nexus 7 (and what i know the procedure is the same for all android devices) This is a notice for future use, and if somebody has the same issues.

1. Get files from the device

adb pull /system/usr/keychars/Generic.kcm Generic.kcm
adb pull /system/usr/keylayout/Generic.kl Generic.kl




the kcm-file to set the swedish signs, and the kl-file to change layout. If you only want the swedish letters then you only need to change the kcm file and only the kl-file if you only want to change the layout (location of the keys). Notice that the device sometimes automaticaly changes to swedish letters, so the kcm-change is not always nessesary.

Rembemer to save backups!

2. Change the files

I found a reference to a file that got the swedish (and finish) letters of the alphabet. Especialy the parts in the kcm-file saying

key APOSTROPHE {
    label, number:                      '\''
    base:                               '\u00e4'
    shift:                              '\u00c4'
    ctrl, alt, meta:                    none
}







key SEMICOLON {

    label, number:                      ';'

    base:                               '\u00f6'

    shift:                              '\u00d6'

    ctrl, alt, meta:                    none

}


and




key LEFT_BRACKET {

    label, number:                      '['

    base:                               '\u00e5'

    shift:                              '\u00c5'

    ctrl, alt, meta:                    none

}




And of course bocause i use dvorak, i also has the appropiate dvorak Generik.kl-file

---


key 1     ESCAPE

key 2     1

key 3     2

key 4     3

key 5     4

key 6     5

key 7     6

key 8     7

key 9     8

key 10    9

key 11    0

key 12    GRAVE

key 13    EQUALS

key 14    DEL

key 15    TAB

key 16    LEFT_BRACKET

key 17    APOSTROPHE

key 18    SEMICOLON

key 19    P

key 20    Y

key 21    F

key 22    G

key 23    C

key 24    R

key 25    L

key 26    COMMA

key 27    RIGHT_BRACKET

key 28    ENTER

key 29    CTRL_LEFT

key 30    A

key 31    O

key 32    E

key 33    U

key 34    I

key 35    D

key 36    H

key 37    T

key 38    N

key 39    S

key 40    MINUS

key 41    APOSTROPHE

key 42    SHIFT_LEFT

key 43    BACKSLASH

key 44    PERIOD

key 45    COMMA

key 46    J

key 47    K

key 48    X

key 49    B

key 50    M

key 51    W

key 52    V

key 53    Z

---




Push files to the device

And when you are ready, use some useful tool to push the files back again (remount to make the system writable)

adb remount /system/usr/keychars 
adb remount /system/usr/keylayout
adb push Generic.kcm /system/usr/keychars
adb push Generic.kl /system/usr/keylayout




4. Debug

Something can easily go wrong. If so make sure to change the logcat print. Write in terminal

su
logcat

In worst case.. Push the backup-files back again.

Prroblems that i had:

• I wrote the kcm-file wrong. You cannot make up new letters, that will cause a error.
• I got the wrong user access set on the files. I sudoed in the files so the system could not use the files. Fixed with chmod.
• I cannot write z... Not fixed. Don not know any workaroud...

Hope it helps! Post a comment if it doesnt.
Cheers!