Using HID Explorer

After downloading HID Explorer.app.sit from the Apple Developer Connection site double click it to unstuff it. A folder called HID Explorer will be created Open HID Explorer.pbproj and select from the Build menu Build. An application named HID Explorer will be created in the build directory of the HID Explorer folder.

Plug in the X-keys device and run the HID Explorer application created in the build folder. A form will appear. At the top select the device using the Select Device pull down menu. You should see the X-keys device that was just plugged in along with any other mouse or keyboard on the USB. In the top section general information about the device is given such as Vendor ID, Version, etc. In the lower section information about the specific cookie selected is given. By default HID Explorer shows cookie 5, the first input cookie or Button #1. To change the cookie use the Select Element pulldown menu. The 2 sub-menus that appear are the first for input cookies and the second for output cookies. Select from the top sub-menu the desired button (which equals Cookie #-4), making sure the resulting cookie corresponds the desired button (see the cookie report for the device). After selecting a cookie corresponding to a key, press the key to see the value displayed at the bottom change.


The Project Builder project provided contains all the necessary code and information on reading and writing to HID devices such as the X-keys.

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