[Hint] Using Windows keyboard in OS X Leopard

Published
by
Filip Tepper
on March 18, 2008
in Hints
. Tags: , .

Since sometimes I’m awfully lazy - I got myself a second keyboard, just for the sake of not having to carry one to office and back. At home I use my beloved Apple Keyboard, while at work - a crappy, no-name, ten-bucks-a-piece one (it does it job, though!).

However, since at work I use a Windows keyboard I had a problem with the switched Option / Command keys. I’ve tried DoubleCommand, however I had to click through the System Preferences each time I switched my keyboard. Couple of minutes of googling and a nice script popped out. However, it was useless in OS X Leopard, so I made a couple of quick changes and here’s something I came up with. First, switch-to-windows-keyboard script:

tell application "System Preferences"
	activate
	set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell
tell application "System Events"
	get properties
	tell process "System Preferences"
		click button "Modifier Keys…" of tab group 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
		click pop up button 2 of sheet 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
		delay 0.3
		click menu item 4 of menu 1 of pop up button 2 of sheet 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
		delay 0.3
		click pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
		delay 0.3
		click menu item 3 of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
		delay 0.3
		click button "OK" of sheet 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
	end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences"
	quit
end tell

Second, back-to-apple-keyboard script:

tell application "System Preferences"
	activate
	set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell
tell application "System Events"
	get properties
	tell process "System Preferences"
		click button "Modifier Keys…" of tab group 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
		click button "Restore Defaults" of sheet 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
		click button "OK" of sheet 1 of window "Keyboard & Mouse"
	end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences"
	quit
end tell

You might ask why not use Ryan Block’s script? Well, since I rely heavily on QuickSilver I also created two Platypus applications - one for each script. I’m a keyboard user, so I didn’t like the clicking on the Macintosh / PC screen. ;-]

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