Virtual keyboard (Javascript)

by vsasikalabe Updated: Jan 24, 2023

A virtual keyboard is an input device that enables you to enter text in one or more languages without an actual physical keyboard. It emulates a physical keyboard, making it possible that users can type on it just like they would on a normal keyboard.To create a virtual keyboard, you need to add several buttons to a page. When users click a certain button, the JavaScript function that handles the onclick event will input an appropriated character to a text box.Virtual keyboards are commonly used as an on-screen input method in devices with no physical keyboard, where there is no room for one, such as a pocket computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet computer or touchscreen-equipped mobile phone.The onKeyPress event in ReactJS occurs when the user presses a key on the keyboard but it is not fired for all keys e.g. ALT, CTRL, SHIFT, ESC in all browsers. To use the onKeyPress event in ReactJS we will use the predefined onKeyPress method.

Preview of the output that you will get on running this code from your IDE.

Code:

In this solution we use the React library.

How to use physical keypresses to type in something on screen and simulate a virtual keyboard (Javascript)

JavaScriptLines of Code : 27License : CC BY-SA 4.0

<div id="qwerty" class="section">
    <div class="keyrow">
      <button>q</button><button>w</button><button>e</button><button>r</button>
      <button>t</button><button>y</button><button>u</button><button>i</button> 
      <button>o</button><button>p</button>
    </div>
    <div class="keyrow">
      <button>a</button><button>s</button><button>d</button><button>f</button> 
      <button>g</button><button>h</button><button>j</button><button>k</button>
      <button>l</button>
    </div>
    <div class="keyrow">
      <button>z</button><button>x</button><button>c</button><button>v</button> 
      <button>b</button><button>n</button><button>m</button>
    </div>
</div>

<input id="input" />

var input = document.querySelector('#input')

document.querySelectorAll('#qwerty button').forEach(el => {
  el.addEventListener('click', () => {
    input.value = input.value + el.innerText
  })
})

Instructions

Follow the steps carefully to get the output easily.

Install the Node.js and React on your IDE(preferable Visual Studio Code).
Create React Application using npx create-react-app foldername.
cd foldername.
Open the folder in IDE.
Copy the code using "copy" button above and paste(line no 19 to 26) it in App.js file and paste the html code (line no 1 to 18)within the body in index.html.(remove the earlier code from App.js).
Open the terminal from IDE.
npm start to run the file.

You can also refer this url DEMO for getting the above output.

I hope you found this useful. I have added the link to dependent libraries, version information in the following sections.

I found this code snippet by searching for Virtual keyboard (Javascript) in kandi. You can try any such use case!

Environment Tested

I tested this solution in the following versions. Be mindful of changes when working with other versions.

The solution is created in VS Code 1.73.1 version.
The solution is tested on Nodejs 16.14.2 version.
react 18.2.0 version.

Using this solution, we are able to create virtual keyboard (Javascript) with simple steps. This process also facilities an easy way to use, hassle-free method to create a hands-on working version of code which would help us to create virtual keyboard (Javascript).