You have created a program for an improved keyboard, now you have to download it to the keyboard. A program must be provided to accomplish this.
Here are several features that the program needs:
- Check coding errors
- Ability to switch to editing program and back
- Work with different models of keyboards.
- Emulate different languages
- progress indicator
Before the program can download the program to the enhanced keyboard, it must check the program for errors. Some possible errors to check include that all functions are coded correctly with start and end flags; the key numbers are correct; the special control instructions for the keyboard are correct.
If an error is found, the ability to automatically switch to the editing program is a plus. Once the corrections are made, saving the file and closing the editor will return control to the downloader. This greatly simplifies the bug fix process.
Many manufacturers make different models of keyboards. Some models may have a different number of keys. They can also make keyboards with different types of interfaces, including USB, serial, and keyboard wedge. The download program must be able to handle all possible combinations of enhanced keyboards that the manufacturer makes.
Many languages have keyboards specially designed for those languages. A quality enhanced keyboard can handle many different languages. Some characters may be peculiar to a language. This requires the downloader to adapt to different keyboard types.
A download progress indicator is a nice feature. It lets the user know that something is really happening. Not knowing how the download is going, a user can cancel the download without any indication of the progress.
Loading the program is the final step in setting up an enhanced keyboard. Using a good dedicated downloader can greatly simplify this step. Visit http://www.pmkidder.com/enterpad for more information on enhanced keyboards.