Automation: adb and Tasker

WM Keyboard accepts commands from other apps as broadcast intents. Send them from a computer with adb, or from an automation app such as Tasker, MacroDroid or Automate. Put French on when you open one app, switch to a dark theme at night, mute the key sound in a meeting, or show the keyboard from a home-screen shortcut.

Turning it on

WM Keyboard›Privacy›Let other apps control the keyboardNext release

Nothing works until you turn on Let other apps control the keyboard. It is off on a fresh install, and while it is off the keyboard ignores every command in this page, layout switching included.

When it is on, an Allowed actions row appears under it. That screen has one switch for each kind of command, in two groups:

WM Keyboard›Privacy›Allowed actionsNext release

Row	Group	Default	Commands
Switch language and layout	Keyboard controls	On	SET_LAYOUT, SET_LANGUAGE, NEXT_LAYOUT, PREVIOUS_LAYOUT, LIST_LAYOUTS
Apply a keyboard mode	Keyboard controls	On	SET_MODE
Change the theme	Keyboard controls	On	SET_THEME
Show and pin the keyboard	Keyboard controls	On	SHOW_KEYBOARD, SET_PINNED
Sound and haptics	Keyboard controls	On	SET_KEY_SOUND, SET_HAPTICS
Power saving and data saver	Keyboard controls	On	SET_POWER_SAVING, SET_DATA_SAVER
Size and position	Keyboard controls	On	SET_POSITION
Open a tool	Keyboard controls	On	OPEN_TOOL
Turn incognito on	Keyboard controls	On	SET_INCOGNITO with enabled true
Turn incognito off	Needs more trust	Off	SET_INCOGNITO with enabled false
Add and block words	Needs more trust	Off	ADD_WORD, BLOCK_WORD
Back up now	Needs more trust	Off	BACKUP_NOW
Announce layout changes	Needs more trust	Off	The LAYOUT_CHANGED event the keyboard sends
Type text (not in the Google Play edition)	Needs more trust	Off	TYPE_TEXT

The Keyboard controls each do what a control on the keyboard does, and you can undo them. The Needs more trust rows change what the keyboard knows, type into other apps, or tell other apps what you do, so each one stays off until you turn it on by name. Turn one on only for an automation you set up yourself.

A command whose row is off is refused, and the answer says which row to turn on. The switches take effect on the next command, with nothing to restart.

Sending a command

Every command is a broadcast to the package com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard, with an action that starts com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.action.. Name the package with -p: Android 8 and newer do not deliver a broadcast to an app that the sender doesn’t name.

adb shell am broadcast -a com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.action.SET_LANGUAGE -p com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard --es language fr
adb shell am broadcast -a com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.action.SET_THEME -p com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard --es theme default
adb shell am broadcast -a com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.action.SET_KEY_SOUND -p com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard --ez enabled false

am broadcast prints the keyboard’s answer. A command that worked reads result=-1 and says what it did:

Broadcast completed: result=-1, data="builtin_french"

A command the keyboard can’t carry out reads result=0 and says why, for example no enabled layout is for the language "de" or not allowed: turn on "theme" under Settings › Privacy › Allowed actions.

From Tasker

Tasker, MacroDroid and Automate each have an action that sends an intent. The fields are the same in each. In Tasker:

1. Add the action System › Send Intent.
2. Set Action to com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.action.SET_LANGUAGE.
3. Set Extra to language:fr.
4. Set Package to com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.
5. Set Target to Broadcast Receiver.

Put the action in a task that an App profile starts, and the keyboard changes language as that app opens. An automation app does not read the answer the way adb does, so test a new command from adb first.

Every command

All extras are strings unless the table says otherwise. The on/off commands take enabled as a boolean (--ez enabled true) or as text (true, false, on, off, 1, 0), which is what Tasker sends. Leave enabled out and the command flips the current state.

Action	Extras	Does	Needs the keyboard running
SET_LAYOUT	layout: layout id or name	Switches to that layout.	No
SET_LANGUAGE	language: language id, locale or name	Switches to a layout of that language.	No
NEXT_LAYOUT	none	One layout forward in your switch order.	No
PREVIOUS_LAYOUT	none	One layout back.	No
LIST_LAYOUTS	none	Changes nothing. Answers with the layouts you have on.	No
SET_MODE	mode: mode id or name, or auto	Applies a keyboard mode, as the Modes tool does. auto goes back to automatic.	Yes
SET_THEME	theme: theme id or name, or default	Picks the keyboard theme.	No
SHOW_KEYBOARD	none	Brings the keyboard up over the field in use.	Yes
SET_PINNED	enabled	Keeps the keyboard on screen, or stops.	No
SET_KEY_SOUND	enabled	Key sound on or off.	No
SET_HAPTICS	enabled	Vibration on key press on or off.	No
SET_POWER_SAVING	enabled	Power saving’s manual switch.	No
SET_DATA_SAVER	enabled	Data saver’s manual switch.	No
SET_POSITION	position: normal, left, right, split or floating	Puts the keyboard in that shape. Each one turns the others off.	No
OPEN_TOOL	tool: a tool name such as TRANSLATE or EMOJI	Opens that tool’s panel.	Yes
SET_INCOGNITO	enabled	Incognito on or off.	No
ADD_WORD	word	Adds one word to your personal dictionary, as adding it by hand does.	Yes
BLOCK_WORD	word, and language if the block is for one language only	Stops the word being suggested.	No
BACKUP_NOW	none	Starts a backup to every location ticked under Back up to in Automatic backup. Fails when none is ticked.	No
TYPE_TEXT	text, or snippet: a snippet’s trigger or label	Types into the field in use.	Yes

“Needs the keyboard running” means WM Keyboard is the keyboard you have selected. The other commands also work while a different keyboard is selected: they change the setting, and WM Keyboard opens with it next time.

How each one decides

• SET_LAYOUT takes the layout’s id, such as builtin_qwerty. Case does not matter. It also takes the layout’s name, such as AZERTY, but only when exactly one of your layouts has that name. When two share it, the command is refused, not guessed. Only layouts you turned on can be chosen.
• SET_LANGUAGE takes a language id (en, bn, bn_rom), a locale (en-US, bn_BD), or the language’s name in English or in the language itself (French, Français). A locale the keyboard has no exact match for falls back to its first part, so fr-CA finds French. When you have several layouts of the language on, the one you used last wins. When a layout of it is already in use, nothing changes.
• NEXT_LAYOUT and PREVIOUS_LAYOUT walk your switch order and wrap around at either end. They always use the plain order, even with 🌐 goes back to the last language on, so an automation gets the same result every time.
• SET_MODE and SET_THEME match an id first and then a name, and refuse a name that two modes or two themes share. A theme you made wins a name it shares with a built-in theme. A mode applied this way lasts like one picked from the Modes tool: until you change app, or until you change it, depending on your setting for that.
• SET_THEME while the automatic light and dark pair is on saves the pick, but the pair still decides what you see. The answer says so.
• OPEN_TOOL opens only tools that have a panel. Tools that act at once, such as Paste, Select all, Undo or the flashlight, are refused, because opening a tool should not change your text or your phone. The tool name is the one on Deep links for tool/{toolName}, in any case.
• TYPE_TEXT types into the field that has the keyboard, never into a password field, and at most 10,000 characters at once. The Google Play edition leaves it out: the row is not on Allowed actions, and the command is refused with a reason even if a backup from another edition had it on. The GitHub and F-Droid editions keep it. A snippet is found by its trigger first and its label second, and expands exactly as a tap on it in the Snippets panel does.

Finding the ids

Send LIST_LAYOUTS to see what you can switch to:

adb shell am broadcast -a com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.action.LIST_LAYOUTS -p com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard

Each line holds a layout id, its language id and its name, separated by tabs, in your switch order. A * marks the layout in use.

Broadcast completed: result=-1, data="* builtin_qwerty  en  QWERTY
  builtin_avro  bn  Avro phonetic"

For modes and themes, the name on screen works. It must be the name exactly as you gave it, or for a built-in theme, its English name.

Hearing about layout changes

With Announce layout changes on, the keyboard sends a broadcast every time the layout on screen changes, whatever changed it:

Action	Extras
com.wasimaster.wmkeyboard.event.LAYOUT_CHANGED	layout (id), language (language id), name (layout name)

In Tasker, use the Intent Received event with that action. Tasker then has %layout, %language and %name to work with. Any app on the phone that listens gets the same broadcast, which is why the row is off by default: it tells other apps which language you are typing in.

Details & edge cases

• The switch is a switch, not a password. Any app on the phone can send these commands. What stops one is your setting, not who sent it. Android has no permission that Tasker could hold and a stranger app could not.
• Nothing happens before the first unlock after a restart. Android keeps apps from receiving broadcasts until you unlock the phone once. From then on the commands work on the lock screen too.
• A layout switch is the same switch the 🌐 key makes. A half-typed word is committed first, the suggestions change language at once, and the layout goes on your recently-used list. With Remember language per app on, the app you are typing in remembers it too.
• A settings backup carries these switches. Restore one on a new phone and Let other apps control the keyboard comes back as it was.
• To open a settings screen instead, use a wmkeyboard:// link. See Deep links & launcher shortcuts.