c# - Keyboard Type (Qwerty or Dvorak) detection

Question

I was asked this question by a friend, and it piqued my curiosity, and I've been unable to find a solution to it yet, so I'm hoping someone will know.

Is there any way to programatically detect what type of keyboard a user is using? My understanding of the keyboard is that the signal sent to the computer for 'A' on a DVORAK keyboard is the same as the signal sent to the computer for an 'A' in a QUERTY keyboard. However, I've read about ways to switch to/from dvorak, that highlight registry tweaking, but I'm hoping there is a machine setting or some other thing that I can query.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

that probably depends on the OS. I'm sure that there is an operatingsystem setting somewhere that registers the nationality of the keyboard. (Dvorak is considered a nationality because French keyboards are different from US keyboards are different from ...)

Also, just a side note: 'A' was a bad example, as 'A' happens to be the same key in dvorak and qwerty... B-)