F1-12 Keys
Tillie
On some smaller keyboards and laptop computers, the F-keys may have a dedicated purpose, such as changing the screen brightness, the volume, or other device-specific functions. On these keyboards, there's an Fn key that toggles what the F-key does when pressed. See our Fn page for further information and help with using this key.
All the F-keys have a symbol on it. Normally you would press Fn + your to use it.On this laptop, it's reversed. The symbol is what you get when you press the button normally and you have to press Fn + F-key to get the usual action.
On most HP and Compaq notebook PCs, it is necessary to press and hold the function key (fn) while pressing one of the f1 through f12 keys to activate the default functions; such as, increasing or decreasing the brightness of the display, the sound volume, sleep, keyboard lock, etc. On the HP Envy notebooks and other notebooks with advanced BIOS options, the function keys can be configured so that it is not necessary to press and hold the fn key.
I can use Shift+Fn (actually Fn + Shift, button-down-order seems to matter here) on my Elitebook to invert/swap Fn and F-Keys (aka "lock Fn"). The keyboard indicates the current mode with a little light on the Fn key and also shows the switching option printed on the Shift-Key, see screenshots attached. Sometimes it's worth checking the printings on the keyboards before using google thought - learned it the hard way ^^
No key combinations at all worked that I saw in this thread. the only option was bios. My laptop has zero options for changing this feature, except for the fn+fn command which changes it for only the next usage, not useful. This laptop has no "Fn Lock" feature on the keyboard.
I agree with William that in general it is a bad idea to hijack the function keys. That said, I found the shortcut library that adds this functionality, as well as other keyboard shortcuts and combination, in a very slick way.
I am not sure if intercepting function keys is possible, but I would avoid using function keys all together. Function keys are used by browsers to perform a variety of tasks, some of them quite common. For example, in Firefox on Linux, at least six or seven of the function keys are reserved for use by the browser:
The worst part is that different browsers on different operating systems use different keys for different things. That's a lot of differences to account for. You should stick to safer, less commonly used key combinations.
When working with Function keys you probably want to suppress the default behaviour (On windows many of the function keys are used by the browser).This can be achieved by calling preventDefault() on the keydown event.Even if you want to listen to the keyup event you need to call preventDefault() on the keydown event, because the browser shortcut is bound to that event.Keep in mind, that calling preventDefault() on keydown will also suppress the keypress event.
One of the problems in trapping the F1-F12 keys is that the default function must also be overridden. Here is an example of an implementation of the F1 'Help' key, with the override that prevents the default help pop-up. This solution can be extended for the F2-F12 keys. Also, this example purposely does not capture combination keys, but this can be altered as well.
At some point, after no specific update or any noteworthy event, the FN key as well as the top row from ESC to F12 stopped working. Ordinarily this would be a minor inconvenience however I'm not able to turn the keyboard backlight back on, and with the keyboard being pitch black it's rather a pain.
Furthermore I enabled and disabled the Action Keys option in the BIOS but here is where I found another problem, the function keys don't actually work at all, as in nothing gets registered when they are physically pressed. I had to enter the BIOS via and external keyboard. I also tried to use this keyboard to activate some of the functions I couldn't with the built in keyboard, but while the keys are being registered (I confirmed this through the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics Utility) no action is being taken. While trying the same utility with the built in keyboard, the ESC - F12 keys don't work at all.
Now one odd thing. At some point, for a very brief time, these keys started working again and I was able to turn the light back on and they stopped. I couldn't figure out what caused this change but it happened, which is why at that point I hadn't ruled out a physical issue with the keyboard itself but now I'm beginning to suspect this is the case.
If anyone has any suggestion apart from the above I would greatly appreciate it. I don't know whether these specific keys are all wired on the same circuit but, if so, it would certainly explain a lot and I'd look into getting a replacement. Anyway sorry for the long post, wanted to be as detailed as possible. Thanks!
After reading your extensive post, it seems you have done mostly everything you could for troubleshooting your Omen.
I suggest a few more troubleshooting steps you could do, but if those don't work, it would seem there's a physical problem with your keyboard, such as the switches, PCB or keyboard flex cable, where you should get an RMA as soon as possible.
Furthermore I already tried a reset as well as a full-blown fresh install of Windows 10m to no avail. It looks like something may be physically wrong with the keyboard. I'll order a replacement and replace it myself, as the laptop is out of warranty and I've already upgraded a couple of things on my own, so I'm familiar with the layout.
So a quick update. I ordered a new Keyboard which arrived today. I swapped out old one, which was quite a chore since the backplate of this model is secured with plastic rivets instead of screws so I had to pry it open. The new keyboard sits a little low however all the buttons that were previously not working are now fixed and I once again have a backlight for the dismally dim keyboard!
So the run down is that with the CUE software running the basic functions of F1 and F12 keys have stopped working. Although the multimedia shortcuts on F5, F7-F12 work without pressing the FN key, which seems weird. I have discovered that without the software running the basic functions of F1-F12 keys work. For example, F5 for refresh webpage works when software is not running but, when the software runs it just mutes my volume... So, pretty basic knowledge that the software overrides default function for the keys.
I've probably over looked something in the software for a solution but, the last 2 hours I've looked around the forums for a solution that allows me to use the keys with CUE software. If there is a thread for this and someone can point me in that direction that'd be great; if there is not a solution sorry for wasting your time.
Using Remote Desktop apps on iPad to access Windows devices for one. Emojis aren't on the keyboard either, yet they are provided via the Globe pop-up keyboard view. Why not a keyboard option for extended keys?
Cognizant Apple employees read ALL feedback generated from all of the various feedback pages and transfers the data to the proper Apple personnel , but NO Apple employees will ever respond with any type of direct, individual replies from the feedback you post.
ok, thanks for the Feedback link. Note that many iOS apps provide their own special keyboards for these situations, and they work without the Smart Keyboard attached. The issue (bug?) is that it seems the apps pop-up keyboards are blocked from displaying on the screen when the smart keyboard is attached. I noticed that the google keyboard is also blocked.
So, I am using the same logic. I am a developer and I've been working on a software for an external device that has a remote controller. To simulate the controller I use the F keys. Using BTT's alternative crashes my OS X binary, whereas using the native control strip keys doesn't. I can't explain it, anyone ever had a similar issue?
That's was a really nice "standard" solution! I even can see a little difference. I work programing and when i push shift+f8 using the preset for BTT does not does the same action that when a do it with this "standard" solution.
@djclinton_16 If you press Fn+Esc, you can toggle the F keys to default to either being F keys or multimedia function keys. For example, if the F1 key is currently working as F1 when you press it on its own and you have to press Fn+F1 to trigger the alternative function, then pressing Fn+Esc will invert that, so that going forward, pressing F1 on its own will trigger the alternative function and pressing Fn+F1 will trigger F1. Your Esc key should have a "Fn Lock" icon or text description to indicate this capability.
jp... First, I want to tell you my appreciation for the time you've spent helping me sort this out! You mentioned using AutoHotKey, which actually had crossed my mind. I briefly used AutoHotKeys on my previous laptop, but have yet to find the need to download/use on my new laptop. Now in your post, you mention using AutoHotKeys by creating some AutoHotKeys configurations to use to activate the F keys. You gave me some suggestions such as, Ctrl+1 to trigger F1, Ctrl+2 to trigger F2, Ctrl+3 to trigger F3 ... You also included that you can specify which side of the keyboard you want to you for Ctrl (Alt or Shift), which is really cool. The one thing that I read which sort of confuses me is that (I'll put what I think you're saying) by mapping out some AutoHotKeys configurations might conflict with some built-in shortcut keys of rather, 'functions' within the OS. That's the gist of what you're telling me. So, are you saying that we might not be able to use/configure Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+9 to trigger F1 -- F9? If that could be mapped out great, but then we'll need to figure out what configuration we can use for F10 to F12. In order for us to do this, I cannot choose which particular F keys I want because I never know what F key I may need down the road. So, if possible, I would like to set the configuration for all of the F keys.