Steam keyboard: Wayland support

[appsforartists]

Your system information

• Steam client version: 1700676668 (Nov 22 2023)
• Distribution: NixOS
• Opted into Steam client beta?: No, sourced from programs.steam.enable and jovian.steam.enable in NixOS.
• Have you checked for system updates?: No, managed by NixOS
• GPU: AMD

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

The Steam virtual keyboard (which spawns if you hit Menu+X while steam -silent is running) should work in Wayland compositors.

Presently, it draws itself and responds to pointer events, but the key events it creates are dropped. In other words, if you focus a text area like a terminal or Chrome's address bar, and type on the Steam keyboard, it will look like it's working, but no characters will appear in the text area.

Additionally, it draws itself on top of the other windows. It should announce its dimensions to the compositor, so the layout can adapt accordingly. (Otherwise, you may not be able to see where you are typing.)

To do this, I believe it needs to implement the virtual keyboard and layer shell protocols.

See also:

• extest translates Steam's X11 events into Wayland events. It is a potential partial workaround until native Wayland support is added.
• wvkbd is a virtual keyboard for Wayland.
• Hyprland feature request for Steam Keyboard support

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Install a Wayland/wlroots compositor like Hyprland and start a session.
2. Ensure steam -silent is running.
3. Press STEAM+X

[appsforartists]

I have installed and used extest.

It does enable Steam input in Hyprland. Unfortunately, there is still the problem of changing focus.

You can use the virtual keyboard with the joystick and buttons. (You can also use Steam Input commands like tapping the left stick to bring up the keyboard.) However, if you try to tap the keyboard, the keyboard will steal focus and the keyboard events will never reach their intended target.

[tlneondo]

Honestly for how good Valve is about Steam when run through gamescope on the steam deck, the Linux client itself is very neglected. Almost as bad as discord.

I really hope they have a major overhaul coming, because from web pages not rendering, wayland keyboard issues, streaming issues, needing Extest for Steam Controller, or Controller mouse support, there's a ton missing.

[appsforartists]

The web issues seem to be server-side. Inventory straight-up wasn't loading for most of yesterday, regardless of device used.