Puck as remote mute button for Zoom on iOS

Hi there,

I bought a puck the other day to learn about JS, and thought my first project would be to try and make a remote mute button to use with Zoom conferencing on my ipad, I found that Zoom lets you use a keyboard shortcut "command + shift + A" so as it's an apple device it requires the command key which is equal to the Windows button on a PC.

In the module ble_hid_keyboard.js i can see no reference to the Windows key so was wondering how I would go about coding this, assume the module would need to support this?

Appreciate any ideas

Many Thanks
Neil

Sun 2020.03.29

'so was wondering how I would go about coding this'

Hi @user110828 Neil, is the inquiry on how to extend one of the returned objects in order to add a new user defined modifier key?

https://www.espruino.com/BLE+Keyboard
https://www.espruino.com/modules/ble_hid_keyboard.js

Example

https://www.espruino.com/BLE+Music+Control
https://www.espruino.com/modules/ble_hid_controls.js

Reference

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/assign
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Inheritance_and_the_prototype_chain
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Set/add
https://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_splice.asp
https://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_concat_array.asp

Thanks Robin appreciate the links I'll take a look at these, this evening I have updated the module "ble_hid­_keyboard.js" locally to add the keys i need but my Web IDE on Mac doesn't seem to have projects under settings for me to load local modules!

Thanks again for your help

Is it possible that what you need is just kb.MODIFY.GUI?

But if you want to mess with modules yourself, the easiest method is just to add it to your existing code:

Modules.addCached("ble_hid_keyboard",function() {
// module contents
});

var kb = require("ble_hid_keyboard");
NRF.setServices(undefined, { hid : kb.report });
// ...

Thank you Gordon for your response,

Apologies JS is relatively new to me, but your tip on just using MODIFY was just what was needed, once i figured out how to concatenate the keys it worked liked a charm for me.

I have one remaining issue in that my iPad now warns me in bluetooth settings, when the Puck is connected to it, I'm guess its not a recognised bluetooth vendor ID or something?

Error on iPad
Using puck.js may affect Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Very pleased with the Puck.js have many more ideas for it!

Many thanks
Neil

Using puck.js may affect Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Wow, that's new! Do you have a screenshot?

I have a feeling that may be Apple's way of saying: "this device manufacturer hasn't paid us to be iOS certified"

Hi Gordon,

I've attached the screen shot from my iPad plus my code in case anything might be causing it in there! I have tried playing with the NRF.setServices values to see if it makes any difference but still the same result.

NRF.setAdvertising({}, {name: "Zoom Remote"});
var kb = require("ble_hid_keyboard");

// NRF.setServices(undefined, { hid : kb.report });

var services = {
  0x180a: {
    0x2a50: {
      value:     [
        0x01,           /* Use USB Vendor IDs */
        0xac, 0x05,     /* Apple */
        0x5a, 0x02,     /* Internal Keyboard */
        0x00, 0x00
      ],
      readable:  true,
    }
  }
};

NRF.setServices(services, {
  advertise: [ 0x180a ],
  hid: kb.report
});

function btnPressed() {
  // Send 'Command + Shift + A'
    kb.tap(kb.KEY.A, kb.MODIFY.LEFT_GUI | kb.MODIFY.SHIFT);
    // Now toggle LED status
    swap();
}

// keep track of the LED status on button pushes
var LED_toggle = 1;

function swap() {
  // determine to turn RED LED on/off
  switch(LED_toggle) {
    case 1:
      LED1.write(1);
      break;
    case 2:
      LED1.write(0);
      break;
  }
  // determine the LED status on/off
  LED_toggle = Math.wrap(LED_toggle, 2) + 1;
}

// trigger btnPressed whenever the button is pressed
setWatch(btnPressed, BTN, {edge:"rising",repeat:true,debounce:50});

Many Thanks
Neil

1 Attachment

Thanks! What you're doing sounds perfectly fine. I guess you tried without the magic Apple service?

Only thing I can think is maybe it's complaining about the connection interval? Espruino uses a fast connection interval normally and drops down after 1-2 minutes of inactivity.

You could force it to use a lower connection interval with something like NRF.setConnectionInterval(100).

Hi Neil - Thanks for the cool idea. I was killing time browsing the forum because I was in a Webex meeting waiting for a late attendee. In just the few minutes waiting for him to show up, I was able to find my Puck, modify your code to work for Webex, upload it, & now I have a working mute button too!

For anyone else who wants to use it with Webex - the Webex keyboard shortcut is CMD + SHIFT + M, so just change kb.KEY.A in the code above to kb.KEY.M. Works like a charm.

FWIW, I'm using it on a Macbook and I don't get any Bluetooth warning like the iOS one noted above.

-Dan