Using IOHIDManager to Get Modifier Key Events

I figured it out. The way to do it is to use the Generic Desktop Page (0x01) Keyboard (06) (and Keypad (07) for completeness) for use with IOHIDManagerSetDeviceMatchingMultiple, and then the input value callback gets Keyboard/Keypad Usage Page (0x07) stuff.

For example, to setup a an HIDManager for all keyboards/keypads, one could do something like:

IOHIDManagerRef hidManager = IOHIDManagerCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault,
        kIOHIDOptionsTypeNone);

CFMutableDictionaryRef keyboard =
    myCreateDeviceMatchingDictionary(0x01, 6);
CFMutableDictionaryRef keypad =
    myCreateDeviceMatchingDictionary(0x01, 7);

CFMutableDictionaryRef matchesList[] = {
    keyboard,
    keypad,
};
CFArrayRef matches = CFArrayCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault,
        (const void **)matchesList, 2, NULL);
IOHIDManagerSetDeviceMatchingMultiple(hidManager, matches);

IOHIDManagerRegisterInputValueCallback(hidManager,
        myHIDKeyboardCallback, NULL);

IOHIDManagerScheduleWithRunLoop(hidManager, CFRunLoopGetMain(),
        kCFRunLoopDefaultMode);

IOHIDManagerOpen(hidManager, kIOHIDOptionsTypeNone);

Where myCreateDeviceMatchingDictionary is something like:

CFMutableDictionaryRef myCreateDeviceMatchingDictionary(UInt32 usagePage,
        UInt32 usage) {
    CFMutableDictionaryRef ret = CFDictionaryCreateMutable(kCFAllocatorDefault,
            0, &kCFTypeDictionaryKeyCallBacks,
            &kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks);
    if (!ret)
        return NULL;

    CFNumberRef pageNumberRef = CFNumberCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault,
            kCFNumberIntType, &usagePage );
    if (!pageNumberRef) {
        CFRelease(ret);
        return NULL;
    }

    CFDictionarySetValue(ret, CFSTR(kIOHIDDeviceUsagePageKey), pageNumberRef);
    CFRelease(pageNumberRef);

    CFNumberRef usageNumberRef = CFNumberCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault,
            kCFNumberIntType, &usage);
    if (!usageNumberRef) {
        CFRelease(ret);
        return NULL;
    }

    CFDictionarySetValue(ret, CFSTR(kIOHIDDeviceUsageKey), usageNumberRef);
    CFRelease(usageNumberRef);

    return ret;
}

And myHIDKeyboardCallback is something like:

void myHIDKeyboardCallback(void *context, IOReturn result, void *sender,
        IOHIDValueRef value) {
    IOHIDElementRef elem = IOHIDValueGetElement(value);
    if (IOHIDElementGetUsagePage(elem) != 0x07)
        return;
    uint32_t scancode = IOHIDElementGetUsage(elem);
    if (scancode < 4 || scancode > 231)
        return;
    long pressed = IOHIDValueGetIntegerValue(value);
    // ... Do something ...
}

Note that the callback seems to be called multiple times per press or release but with usage IDs outside the normal range, which is what the “if (scancode < 4 || scancode > 231)” is for.