I've been looking to create a custom keyboard for my application. At first, I started to look at the SoftKeyboard for the SDK examples, but reading the Android Developer Group led me to this post:
This is really not how the input
method framework is supposed to work.
An IME should be a generic input
facility, not for a particular
application. If you need some
app-specific input, you should build
it into your UI rather than pushing
it out to a generic IME.
How do I build an app-specific input within the UI? I mean, is there a way to extend the Keyboard app or something and use it only in my application?
Features needed for the keyboard:
Shift key to display some other keys
Special keys like square root or PI
etc.
PS: an ugly solution could be to make a table of ImageButton for example, but I wanted to make something clean.
I'm not really sure if there's a straight-forward solution to this (to that extent that it is even possible to understand the real reason behind the original question).
As is quoted in the original question:
If you need some app-specific input, you should build it into your UI
rather than pushing it out to a generic IME.
What is meant by that, is not that you within your app should try to build in such input features by extending or modifying the soft keyboard on the phone. There are so many different soft keyboards (and basically, the soft keyboard is just another app), since most phone manufacturers create their own version, and people download 3rd party keyboards (such as Swype or SwiftKey etc.), and I can't picture there being a way for you to "hack" into those to add a few buttons or whatever it is you want (which could also be a major security hole, another reason why it probably isn't possible).
What instead the above quote suggests, is that you have to create some other form of input besides the keyboard. One such example, and a very good one if I might add, is how the RealCalc Scientific Calculator looks:
Now this isn't open source, so I can only guess how the code looks like (but it shouldn't be too hard a guess either): in its simplest form, this is just a grid with lots of buttons. Each button handles the onClick event, which would mean performing some kind of action (changing the label on some other buttons, showing a menu, displaying some text in the upper label or whatever), and that's probably pretty much what's to it. And of course, the phone's soft keyboard is never displayed (since you don't need a keyboard with all those buttons (and also there aren't any input fields to write anything in)).
It all boils down to the already mentioned quote: If you need some app-specific input, you should build it into your UI. Or in other words: create buttons (and don't display the soft keyboard if you don't need it) and make things happen when you click them.
And just to have mentioned it: if you do want to create your own IME (which I strongly believe is not the case here), you should have a look at the following resources:
Onscreen Input Methods
Creating an Input Method
Soft Keyboard sample
In my humble opinion you should take a look at the beginning of reference about keyboard and keyboard view http://developer.android.com/reference/android/inputmethodservice/Keyboard.html and http://developer.android.com/reference/android/inputmethodservice/KeyboardView.html.
There you can see an example of defining keyboard using XML file. I think that this is what you are looking for.
As mentioned by #sebap123
Keyboard and KeyboardView class are the one you need to use,
Further, for Implementation, here is a quick detailed guide.
Related
What are the classes that implement the default Android soft keyboards, the ones you get when you define EditText with android:inputType="text" or other possible values of android:inputType?
(I want to see how these classes work, to introduce some additional functionality into them.)
I have found that the keyboard is not part of my Activity, and moreover, the OnTouch events of keyboard do not go through Activity.dispatchTouchEvent(..).
This agrees with the documentation that says that the keyboard runs in a service, apparently meaning that it is run in a different thread and is not part of the Activity containing the EditText element, among other things.
It also says that this service is implemented by InputMethodService.
I hoped to find these classes by setting breakpoints in InputMethodService in various places, including its onCreate(..) method. None of these breakpoints was hit.
So I found no way to get to these classes.
Any help?
Thanks
InputMethodService is the base class of all soft keyboard. However there is no default soft keyboard. Each one is its own completely separate app. Every OEM decides independently which app to use.
That's why your breakpoints failed- because the breakpoint would need to have been put in a different app (the keyboard app). You'd have more luck putting breakpoints in EditableInputConnection, which is the implementation of the communication bridge between the two apps for TextView and EditView.
IF you're interested in seeing the code, look at https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/inputmethods/LatinIME/+/refs/heads/master That's Google's basic keyboard. It can show you how things work, but IIRC it isn't written for readability. Of course its been 8 years since I've written a keyboard, maybe its gotten better. The direct link to the InputMethodService is https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/inputmethods/LatinIME/+/refs/heads/master/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/LatinIME.java
What I need is to add a custom key to android keyboard. I know I can implement my own keyboard but implementing all the functionalities (dictionary, swipe, microphone button etc) sounds like a lot of work. I see two solutions:
modify system keyboard (I expect it not to be possible, but it's
sometimes good to ask :))
create my own keyboard but somehow deriving it from existing one
Is any of these possible? Any other ideas?
After an investigation, answers are:
not possible
not possible
:)
I'm currently developing an application targeted at android and desktop devices using apache cordova and HTML5.
In order to get the numeric keyboard to pop up I've used input type="number", which works fine.
However, the input field should also accept strings. The current functionality of type=number is that the ui seems to allow for strings to be entered, but the value property of the element is not changed if the input is invalid (e.g not numberic).
Is there a way of getting the numberic keyboard on mobile devices, while still being able to enter text?
My inital tries consisted of capturing the keydown event and manually setting the this.value property. I've tried this using jQuerys .val() and of course the more 'native' approach element.val += char. None of which work. UI is updated, but the change is not reflected in the model.
EDIT
For the next guy trying to achieve this.
1) The HTML solution.
As #LuudJacobs mentions in the comments below; There's currently no way to decide which keyboard is shown except for defining the type-attribute. Though some devices have a button to go back to alphabet keyboard, its not the case for every device. And can not be used reliably.
2) Writing a phonegap/cordova plugin.
It is possible to write a plugin to show and hide the keyboard at will. But, as far as I could find, there is currently no way of programmatically telling it to default to the symbols keyboard. Thus the functionality achieved is similar to using type=number and type=text in the HTML. Another problem with this approach is the diversity of keyboard for android devices, where even users themselves can install their custom keyboard. The functionality of the keyboard can are therefore unknown. What works on one device, may not work on the next.
3) JS/HTML/Canvas solution
Finally... A feasible solution. I suggest taking a look at this walkthrough as it shows an easy way to creating the keyboard using just html and js. Another option would be to use a canvas, and draw the keyboard yourself, but I would imagine that this is more error prone and harder to do.
As explained in the HTML5 spec you can not have anything but valid floats in a input type="number". So You can not. On a sidenote: how would users enter text when they'd only have a numeric keyboard?
I want to create a custom keyboard for my application. ie. consider a simple text input and when I click on that, I want a custom keyboard to appear. For ex : a dialler like keyboard, having keys 0-9 and then some custom buttons for my application. Is it possible to do that in android?
Yes, this is possible. There are two ways to approach this:
Create your own input method (keyboard) - here's an example on google of how this can be done: http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/SoftKeyboard/index.html - you'll then need to set this keyboard as an IME in your app.
Create your own view with a bunch of buttons to handle your own stuff. This won't be a "keyboard" in a true android way, but it would do everything you need for your app. I have seen apps that contain their own "keyboards" designed in this way.
In addition, keep in mind that even the basic android keyboard has several "versions" available: alpha, keypad, symbols, etc.
Which way you prefer to go depends on your specific needs, your development abilities and time constraints.
Create your own view with a bunch of buttons to handle your own stuff. This won't be a "keyboard" in a true android way, but it would do everything you need for your app. I have seen apps that contain their own "keyboards" designed in this way.
In addition, keep in mind that even the basic android keyboard has several "versions" available: alpha, keypad, symbols, etc.
Which way you prefer to go depends on your specific needs, your development abilities and time constraints.
I need some help with a project i'm doing. Hopefully someone can help me :)
I need to change the sound or click the keyboard makes whenever i'm typing in an editText. I need the sound/click to be whatever sound i may prefer (in wave-, mp3- or whatever format).
So, a couple of questions:
Can i change this in the already implemented keyboard?
Or should i make my own keyboard?
if the latter is the case, how do i do that? Can i find the source code somewhere?
I have been looking at other questions regarding how to make your own keyboard. e.g. How do I make my own keyboard for an app in android?
And if i have to make my own keyboard i want to look like this. But how to do it?
Can i change this in the already implemented keyboard?
You can't... it's already built and some manufactures provide their own keyboard implementations.
Or should i make my own keyboard?
Yes, you must.
If the latter is the case, how do i do that? Can i find the source code somewhere?
There are some open source projects of Keyboard implementations... for instance:
https://github.com/g1011999/Gingerbread-Keyboard/
http://code.google.com/p/softkeyboard/
There you can learn how to write your own keyboard, which is completely different from writing a conventional app.
My suggestion is to create a new fork of the Gingerbread-Keyboard (this supports Android 2.2 or higher only)... and then implement that specific change you want. For one of my apps I did so, and it's far easier than implementing the keyboard from scratch.