Not strictly ignition-related, but hopefully someone here has encountered this and has a workaround...
Since Ignition doesn't have a built-in onscreen keyboard, we're reliant on the Windows OSK when using touch screens (which is the majority of e.g. food & beverage manufacturers with hygienic environments). Usually I'm running Windows 10 IOT which has a setting for "display the on-screen keyboard when no keyboard is connected", which automatically pops up (and hides) a keyboard when text entry fields are selected.
Due to hardware procurement lead-times we've been forced to use an interim machine which came pre-installed with Windows 11, and it doesn't have the same setting. It does have some settings related to the on-screen keyboard, but none of them make the keyboard behave the way I described. I don't want the on-screen keyboard permanently shown; it takes up half the screen and is only used 5% of the time.
I can set the application to run in windowed mode and direct the operators to tap the on-screen keyboard on the taskbar, but (a) that's just an extra step which is less the ideal, and (b) the customer would prefer that we have a full-screen app with no access to the taskbar.
Has anyone else used perspective touchscreen clients on Windows 11 and found a way to handle the keyboard?
Windows 11 has removed tablet mode, hence the problem.
Customer preference is to use the Perspective Workstation app and lock the desktop down as much as possible, so using browsers is possible, but a less than ideal solution.
I have a Windows 11 laptop that folds all the way back to a tablet-like mode. When I go to a text entry screen on a web browser, the on screen keyboard opens up automatically. I do not have Perspective Workstation. I can resize the keyboard and I can close it out. The taskbar doesn't even show the keyboard icon in this case.
Is this issue related to only Perspective Workstation or does it happen with all applications?
There appears to be 2 menu options.
Settings...Time and Language...Typing...Touch Keyboard...Show the touch keyboard when no keyboard is attached.
Settings...Personalization...Taskbar...Touch keyboard...When no keyboard is present.
Any chance you can post a couple of screenshots of how it looks for you? In Windows 10 the tablet mode keyboard is quite different to the general on-screen keyboard, I'm interested if the same applies in Windows 11. Might help me get the settings right.
I've found both of those settings and turned them on, but neither of them cause the keyboard to appear, even when I set them to "always" not just "when no keyboard is present".
When my computer detects no keyboard (flip the monitor over), the taskbar also goes away. When I select an input field, the keyboard pops up. The circle can change the keyboard from floating to fixed. The keyboard always automatically appeared and disappeared. You can change the keyboard type using settings.
The tablet mode is still built into Windows 11 since there are references to tablets. I don't know what triggers it though. My laptop keyboard does appear to disable itself when the monitor is flipped over. I assume you are doing all of your tests without a keyboard? Is there anything that is connected to your computer that might make the computer seem like a keyboard is connected (any USB devices)?
I found a few more settings:
Settings...Personalization...Taskbar...Optimize taskbar for touch interactions when this device is used as a tablet
Settings...Personalization...Text Input...Touch Keyboard
Thanks, I'll check that out and see what I can find. I went looking for tablet mode settings and couldn't find them, and a google search led me to this answer on the Microsoft website:
There is no dedicated option to enable or disable Tablet mode in Windows 11. Tablet mode in Windows 11 is automatically enabled, for this your laptop model must be a touchscreen device or a 2-in-1 PC.
Which seems like it would exclude a regular PC with a touchscreen attached.
These settings don't appear at all for me, looks like it's down to Microsoft deciding my device isn't a tablet so I don't need tablet settings. Thanks, Microsoft.
It's an Advantech FPM212. Device manager doesn't seem to show it as a touch screen, though it works as far as general press to click operations go
Try this on your system. This worked on my laptop immediately (without turning it over).
It did not work while using VNC to connect to a headless Windows 11 desktop. If you are testing by remote desktop or VNC, there's a chance that is causing issues.
There's a lot of sites including Zebra and Intel that go over ConvertibleSlateMode. If this doesn't work by itself, there might be other settings that work with it that will do what you want. Look at the Tablet mode link and under the Unattend Settings section.
Go to HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/PriorityControl/
Set ConvertibleSlateMode to 0 for no keyboard mode.
ConvertibleSlateMode is already zero, toggling it between 1 and 0 has no effect whether testing with VNC connected or otherwise.
Another odd thing I've just found is that if I go the Control Panel>Tablet PC settings and try to configure the touch displays, it doesn't work. The calibration procedure also doesn't work.
Calibration via the PenMount application (Advantech drivers) works, but tapping on the screen (again, with VNC connected or disconnected) doesn't do anything, and tapping on the crosshairs on the calibration screen likewise does nothing. It's as if the touchscreen isn't working at all, but it is - perhaps the installed driver is receiving the touch signals and blocking them from getting through to Windows?
I have had this issue consistently with the advantech panels. It's almost like the 'touch screen' is only a fancy mouse input. Best of luck with trying to get it working. I went through Advantech support with this issue and didn't get anywhere unfortunately. I'll be watching closely to see if you end up finding a solution.
I think you could be right on the money there. All the configuration settings very much lend themselves to the "this is a virtual mouse" picture, rather than the "this is a touch screen" picture. Well, that sucks. Other than that, Advantech has been a great touchscreen solution!
I had to completely remove the PenMount driver (uninstall it from Add and Remove programs, and force uninstall the device and it's driver from Device Manager), then reinstall it. During installation there's a popup asking if you want to use it in mouse mode. I clicked no, and immediately the OSK automatically appears when it should. As long as I'm not connected by Teamviewer or VNC.
That's four hours of my life I'll never get back, or forget. Thanks @david.l for helping me troubleshoot and giving all that additional info, and @Michael.Smith for the piece of information that finally made me twig to the root cause of the issue.
I wish I had only spent four hours on this issue over the past few years, It's never been a dealbreaker fortunately, but I'll be glad to be able to get this working as it should now. Awesome stuff.
