Localized AccessKey

[vgromfeld]

Problem statement

By default, WinUI requires the user to type exactly the requested access key sequence to trigger an access key.
The mapping is done using the characters not the key codes.

Not all characters can be typed on all keyboard layouts.
For example, the latin character "V" is not available on the Greek keyboard layout. It is replaced by "Ω".

This means that a button defined with the following XAML fragment won't be reachable through its access key when using a Greek keyboard.

<Button AccessKey="V" Content="Click me" />

The user will have to switch the the English (or any other latin) keyboard layout to be able to type "V".

Inspiration

A few Windows 1st party applications are already supporting localized access keys:

Paint with a French keyboard

Paint with a Greek keyboard

Proposed solution

Add a new markup extension which will allow developers to define a sequence of VirtualKey instead of characters. This sequence of VirtualKey which will be converted to localized keyboard characters allowing all users to use the access keys.

<Button AccessKey="{toolkit:LocalizedAccessKey V}" Content="Click me" />

Result