Cant get Ukelele to work

[adam hollingworth]

Hi,

Sorry i have been trying for over 2 hours now to get ukelele to work
on my new MacBook Air and i just cant. Running latest Mac OsX. Any
help please!! I so want this to work, dont make me go back to
windows!!

So in the manual it says to chose new based on ....

dialog opens to system\library\keyboard layouts

Inside is a file called applekeyboardlayouts.bundle

I open this, and a dialog appears asking to chose a keyboard. However
this is blank! No keyboard option to chose! Where are all my apple
keyboards which can be seen in sys pref>language and text>input
sources. There are millions in there!!

I can open a keyboard based on what i am currently using ie US. I then
modify it as required. Save it back to both my home library & my
system library keyboard layouts folder. (which look empty in finder!)

I have restarted, logged off etc quite a few times.

Still no change to keyboard workings.

I read in the help file that if you modify an existing file, to get it
to change you need to move it out of folder and then move it back in
again. However, all keyboard layout folders on the mac are empty in
finder (apart from my new adamkeyboard file.)

Please help, it driving me mad!

thanks

[adam hollingworth]

I even just destroyed my mac installation by dragging the bundle file
out of the system folder and then loggin off. This meant my keyboard
would not work again so i couldn't log back on. Oh dear. Reinstall
later.... Going to give up for now...but please help....

[Sorin Paliga]

Adam

You are doing illegal things, like dragging bundle out of the system folder. You should NEVER do such things, unless you are an expert, who knows what he / she is doing.
First of all, I do not understand what it does not work, your text is long, but no description of what really happnes. ‘does not work’ may mean:
- it does not open at all
- it opens but is frozen
- it opens but you cannot open any previous keylayout
- etc.
I udnerstand you want to open the existing, active keylayout. This means, UKELELE wil create a copy of the existing (active) keylayout, the icon of which you see on the right upper corner. For ex., if your active kaylyout is French Numerical, when choosing New from Curent Input Source, will create a copy of named French Numerical.
New Based On... opens a windows, out of which you may choose an existing .keylayout file, but you cannot go to a bundle, as the one in the system, but—e.g.—to one of those included in the package. If you carefully look at the package, you will see a folder (in fact, two folders) with already created keylayouts. You may open one of them in the way described as second.
Last but not elast, UKELELE is an intuitive application nevertheless you should read the manual first, I doubt you did it. Many actions are not trivial at all, and you must take pen and paper and note down the essential steps.

Hope this helps. Sorry for being a little bit abrupt.

Best

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[adam hollingworth]

Hi,

Thanks for your email.

I am an advanced windows user, and am starting to regret moving to
mac. However....

I have read the ukelele user guide, many times over. Ill go through
what i did again.

- Opened ukelele
- Opened new based from current input source
- US keyboard opened up
- i reassigned some sample keys eg option K; and option M to up and
down arrows respectively
- I then saved it to ~/library/keyboard layouts/adam keyboard.keylayout
- I also saved it to /library/keyboard layouts/adam keyboard.keylayout.

I do not run on a network so didnt go for 3/3 as per the manual.

I then logged off, on again, and also tried restarting,
Opened up pages or text editor and tried my new shortcuts. They do not work.

Quote from the manual (no real need to use pen and paper thanks .. its
called cinch (mac version of aero snap .. check it out on the mac app
store)......

******
One final important word about installing a keyboard layout. The
operating system scans these folders when you log in, and loads the
keyboard layouts only if the folder has changed since you last logged
in or the computer was restarted. Generally, this means that you can
install your keyboard layout, log out, log in again, and the keyboard
layout is available for use.

The difficulty is when you modify an already installed keyboard
layout. In this case, the keyboard layout file has been modified, but
the folder has not changed, and so logging out and logging in again
does not load the new version. In this case, what you should do is to
drag the keyboard layout file out of the Keyboard Layouts folder, say
to the desktop, and then drag it back in. This changes the folder, so
that logging out and logging in again will load the new version.
*****

This is what prompted me to first try dragging my keyboard files out
-- no change after logging on and off; and then try dragging out the
keyboard bundle file. I then logged off, and then tried logging back
on again and then realised what a stupid thing to do.

As far as i can see i have followed the manual word for word. And it
still has worked. Hence my exasperated plea for constructive help.

I havent tried making my shortcuts from the templates included in the
downloads. Ill have a go now though.

All this can be achieved in 5 seconds on mac office but i really want
to use pages....

Any other ideas anyone...

Thanks!

[adam hollingworth]

Holy spiders, it has worked!!!

Only thing i did differently was to not use 'new from current input source'.

Seriously 3 hours earlier reading and re-reading the manual and trial and error.

Thanks, own personal breakdown avoided here!

[Sorin Paliga]

Hello again

Do not tell me MSKLC is easier to use than UKELELE, because I shall not believe you.
First of all, do NOT save new keylayouts directly there, save them anywhere else, then move a copy to required / desired place, log out, relog in.
If it does not show up in System Prefs / Language and Text (SL or International, 10.0 through 10.5) something went wrong.

„Opened up pages or text editor and tried my new shortcuts. They do not work.”

This is NOT the way it works. You must ACTIVATE the new keylayouts as shown above: Sys Prefs / Language and Text / Input Source, then click on needed keylayout(s) to activate. By default, only one is active, usually the installation language keylayout, probably U.S. English, in your case. You do not need shortcuts, this is NOT the Windows / Word way here. Once activated, the keylayouts are visible in any application.
If you regret switching to Mac OS, well, this is not my case and my story, you may do it any time, if you feel more comfortable there, but really do not tell me MSKLC is easier to use, or is clearer to use. Nobody will believe you.

Best

[Geke]

I think the ReadMe file or Help menu should emphasize more that there
is a Tutorial. That is the place to start; the manual is for
reference.

Did assigning arrow key to Option-M work? I thought such things were
not possible, at least not with Ukelele’s XML keyboard layouts.