Adding Dagbani Characters

Session 2: Adding Dagbani Special Characters

Objective:

Students will modify their keyboard layout to include Dagbani-specific characters.

1. Review & Quick Recap (10 min)

• Open Keyman Developer and review the previous session's work.

2. Modifying the Keyboard Layout (30 min)

1. Open Keyman Developer and load DagbaniTutorial.kpj.
2. Click Keyboards, then select dagbanitutorial.kmn.
3. Click Layout.
4. Modify key outputs for Dagbani special characters:
   • ɛ (open e)
   • ɔ (open o)
   • ŋ (eng)
   • ɣ (gamma)
   • ʒ (ezh)
5. Use Character Map to insert Unicode values.
6. Save changes.

3. Adding Rules for Special Characters (10 min)

1. Click the Code tab.
2. Add the following rules:

   begin Unicode > use(main)
   store(basekey) "eongzEONGZ"
   store(output_char) "ɛɔŋɣʒƐƆŊƔƷ"
   group(main) using keys
   ";" + any(basekey) > index(output_char,2)
   

3. Save changes.

4. Testing and Debugging (10 min)

1. Compile the keyboard (Keyboard > Compile Keyboard or press F7).
2. Test changes using Test Keyboard.
3. Verify the correct output for Dagbani special characters.
4. Fix errors if needed.

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