Keyboard Visualizer

This is a simple keyboard visualizer designed to be easy for newer programmers to understand, ensuring that it contains nothing malicious. Unlike other open-source keyboard visualizers that are often complex, this one has fewer than 500 lines of code (loc) and is straightforward. It currently sits at 418 loc

keyboard_visualizer.mp4

Is this a keylogger?

No, it is not. The potentially concerning aspect is written in C++ and currently only supports Windows. You can find the relevant code here. Keys are only printed to the stdout. This C++ application is then launched as a subprocess in the main.py script within a new thread. The actions of this thread can be seen in KeyHook.py. It simply reads the stdout and visualizes the pressed keys in the frontend. Because the frontend is written in Python, extending support for other operating systems should be relatively straightforward.

Running this application on windows

In order for this application to work you need a C-Compiler and python 3.10 or later. In order to run this application you need to compile the keyHook.cpp. Adding User32.lib is required.

cl .\winKeyHook.cpp  /link User32.lib

After that move the resulting winKeyHook.exe next to the main.py. To start the application just run main.py.

python main.py

To close the application hit CTRL + ESC. In general CTRL is the modifier that allows to controll the window. The following is a list of all currently available functionality.

• CTRL + ESC Close Application
• CTRL + F1 Toggle Show/Hide
• CTRL + + Increase Window Size
• CTRL + - Decrease Window Size

Adding a new keyboard and customizations

If you want to modify the color, transparency, or default size of the visualized keyboard, make changes in the Styles.py file according to your preferences. If your keyboard layout differs from mine, you'll need to edit KeyboardLayout.py. Adjust the LAYOUT, VISUAL_LAYOUT, SHIFT_LAYOUT, and ALT_GR_LAYOUT to match your keyboard.

• LAYOUT represents the actual values provided by the keyHook executable.
• VISUAL_LAYOUT represents the default values displayed.
• SHIFT_LAYOUT represents the displayed values when the shift key is pressed.
• ALT_GR_LAYOUT represents the displayed values when the AltGr key is pressed.

Ensure that the spans of keys are correct if a key spans across multiple columns or rows. Use the variable names from the LAYOUT for this purpose. Also, confirm that the following variables still match with the updated LAYOUT:

LCTRL_KEY = LAYOUT[5][0]
LSHIT_KEY = LAYOUT[4][0]
CAPS_KEY = LAYOUT[3][0]
ALT_KEY = LAYOUT[5][2]
ALT_GR_KEY = LAYOUT[5][9]
RCTRL_KEY = LAYOUT[5][-1]
RSHIFT_KEY = LAYOUT[4][-1]
MODIFIERS = [LCTRL_KEY, LSHIT_KEY, CAPS_KEY, ALT_KEY, ALT_GR_KEY, RCTRL_KEY, RSHIFT_KEY]
SHIFT_KEYS = [LSHIT_KEY, RSHIFT_KEY]
CTRL_KEYS = [LCTRL_KEY, RCTRL_KEY]

Spell checked and revised by ChatGPT.