This is what I ended up using. Much cleaner.
#include <CoreFoundation/CoreFoundation.h>
#include <Carbon/Carbon.h> /* For kVK_ constants, and TIS functions. */
/* Returns string representation of key, if it is printable.
* Ownership follows the Create Rule; that is, it is the caller's
* responsibility to release the returned object. */
CFStringRef createStringForKey(CGKeyCode keyCode)
{
TISInputSourceRef currentKeyboard = TISCopyCurrentKeyboardInputSource();
CFDataRef layoutData =
TISGetInputSourceProperty(currentKeyboard,
kTISPropertyUnicodeKeyLayoutData);
const UCKeyboardLayout *keyboardLayout =
(const UCKeyboardLayout *)CFDataGetBytePtr(layoutData);
UInt32 keysDown = 0;
UniChar chars[4];
UniCharCount realLength;
UCKeyTranslate(keyboardLayout,
keyCode,
kUCKeyActionDisplay,
0,
LMGetKbdType(),
kUCKeyTranslateNoDeadKeysBit,
&keysDown,
sizeof(chars) / sizeof(chars[0]),
&realLength,
chars);
CFRelease(currentKeyboard);
return CFStringCreateWithCharacters(kCFAllocatorDefault, chars, 1);
}
/* Returns key code for given character via the above function, or UINT16_MAX
* on error. */
CGKeyCode keyCodeForChar(const char c)
{
static CFMutableDictionaryRef charToCodeDict = NULL;
CGKeyCode code;
UniChar character = c;
CFStringRef charStr = NULL;
/* Generate table of keycodes and characters. */
if (charToCodeDict == NULL) {
size_t i;
charToCodeDict = CFDictionaryCreateMutable(kCFAllocatorDefault,
128,
&kCFCopyStringDictionaryKeyCallBacks,
NULL);
if (charToCodeDict == NULL) return UINT16_MAX;
/* Loop through every keycode (0 - 127) to find its current mapping. */
for (i = 0; i < 128; ++i) {
CFStringRef string = createStringForKey((CGKeyCode)i);
if (string != NULL) {
CFDictionaryAddValue(charToCodeDict, string, (const void *)i);
CFRelease(string);
}
}
}
charStr = CFStringCreateWithCharacters(kCFAllocatorDefault, &character, 1);
/* Our values may be NULL (0), so we need to use this function. */
if (!CFDictionaryGetValueIfPresent(charToCodeDict, charStr,
(const void **)&code)) {
code = UINT16_MAX;
}
CFRelease(charStr);
return code;
}