LyX ⇒ Using AltGr for accents

[tafi]

I am currently writing a thesis which will require a number of western and eastern european latin characters. Since I use both LaTeX (for long documents) and Word (for short letters etc.) I decided to implement a custom keyboard using Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. This uses the right hand Alt key as AltGr, as a dead key switch.

An example of operation would be that I use "AltGr+/" to make a accent dead key from "/". If this combination is then followed by a suitable base character (in this case "o") then I get the combined accented character ("ø" - Scandinavian o with stroke). If the base character is not suitable then the behaviour is as if the AltGr key was never pressed.

This system, obviously relies on the ability to distinguish between the left and right Alt keys. This way I can still continue to use the left Alt key for the usual shortcuts, and also get a consistent way of specifying characters across all programs I use (provided they recognise unicode) as well as being able to write code for other programs without worrying about what layout I am using.

I've found this system to work fine in Microsoft Word as well as in Open office, Excel etc., but for some reason the operation in LyX is very inconsistent. When I press the accent key combination I usually get the character I want about 50% of the time. The rest of the time LyX shows only the base character.
Using the example above I will often get "o" instead of the "ø" charcter I asked for. I have tried this in both version 1.6.9 and the latext 2.0RC3 and the behaviour is similar. I am using Windows 7.

It appears that LyX doesn't "sometimes" recognise that the right Alt key is to be interpreted as AltGr. At least in LyX 2.0RC3, it appears that the right Alt key retains its usual function as well as sometimes behaving like AltGr as I have specified.

Has anyone else come across a similar issue? Is there a way to force LyX to recognise the right Alt key as AltGr only?

Many thanks

[tafi]

So i guess i am the only one to use AltGr for accents eh? Surely not!?!?

I have since tried the same setup on Windows XP with the freshly released stable 2.0.0, with the same result so I'm guessing it is a LyX related quirk and not OS dependent.