isXander / isXander/Controlify

Pop up virtual keyboard upon clicking on "Show Chat" on Deck

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enhancement steam deck
Dominant language
Java
Stars
341
Forks
97
Avg merge
1h
Merged PRs (30d)
1

Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
"Show Chat" interaction on Steam Deck doesn't make the keyboard show up as well. This leaves the chat box "floating" on top of an empty area (assuming the chat box height was modified, and by the way, the correct configuration value is 0.44625 for Deck, assuming fullscreen gameplay.)

Describe the solution you'd like
The idea is to just have the virtual keyboard show up whenever the chat is opened, and hide it whenever the chat is closed. This should ideally account for the scenario in which the keyboard was hidden by the user, to put the chat box back to its original position (just above the hotbar) and clicking on the text box should bring it up again.

Most probably requires to use the Steamworks API to properly function, and IDK if there are Java bindings for that.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Clicking STEAM + X after opening chat, but it's a subpar UX.

Additional context
Not applicable

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the Steam Deck "Show Chat" interaction and the chat text box handling in the Java codebase. Research how the Steamworks API exposes the virtual keyboard and check whether existing Fabric or NeoForge integrations are relevant. Done means opening chat shows the keyboard, closing chat hides it, and manually hiding the keyboard restores the chat position until the text box is selected again.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
game-dev
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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