Is there a way to detect if the device I'm currently running on has a hardware keyboard installed?
How do I query device capabilities anyway?
[android-developers] Re: Detect Physical Keyboard
Layout (ex: QWERTY vs QWERTZ)
The flags provided by getResources().getConfiguration().keyboard are a
good way of checking which keyboard (if any) is available.
Use the following method to ascertain presence of hard keyboard at any time:
(To my knowledge, soft keyboards all lack the features tested below )
public static boolean isHardKB(Context ctx) {
Configuration cf = ctx.getResources().getConfiguration();
return cf.navigation==Configuration.NAVIGATION_DPAD
|| cf.navigation==Configuration.NAVIGATION_TRACKBALL
|| cf.navigation==Configuration.NAVIGATION_WHEEL;
}
Optionally trap all run-time keyboard changes for each affected Activity via AndroidManifest:
android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|navigation"
But be sure to support the above manifest change with (at least) a dummy onConfigurationChanged()
#Override
public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
// Optionally employ 'isHardKB()'
}
To detect common qwerty keyboard connected use this:
private boolean isKeyboardConnected() {
return getResources().getConfiguration().keyboard == KEYBOARD_QWERTY;
}
Related
I have a EditText component, and, of course, if you click on it, the Android keypad is shown, allowing the user to input text. As far as I know, all Android software keyboards have (at least) a letter mode (ABC) and a symbols mode (?123). Their default view is the letter mode.
Now when the keypad is shown when the EditText component is clicked, I want the symbols mode to be shown by default. The user will still be able to switch to the letter mode.
Is there a way to achieve that? If yes, how?
I'm posting this because I don't think any of the answers actually address the question. The screenshot in the question does not correspond to a particular InputType's default state. So, switching InputTypes will not give you the layout from the screenshot.
(based on my research...)
Support for symbol input is not governed by any contract. One can very well leave symbols out when creating their own InputMethod. OR, they can add pagination support to provide access to 100s of symbols. Can this be bound by a contract? May be. But, it isn't at present.
Input method framework does not allow direct communication between the client and the IME. All communication happens either through the InputMethodManager or through InputConnection — a one-way channel. Switching to symbols using ?123 is, however, an internal event — not a defined state/action. Client applications cannot switch to it. There's no public (or hidden) API to make this happen.
InputType indicates something entirely different to an IME. Not sure why everyone is recommending its use. You may of course find that a particular InputType provides most of the required keys. But that isn't the same as show[ing] Android keyboard with symbols mode by default.
Possible workaround:
We'll create a custom EditText. We don't have to. It'll just keep everything in one place, and save us from copy-paste nightmare.
public class CusEditText extends EditText {
private final int mDefinedActionId;
public CusEditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
super(context, attrs);
// Corresponds to 'android:imeActionId' value
mDefinedActionId = getResources().getInteger(R.integer.definedActionId);
setOnEditorActionListener(new OnEditorActionListener() {
#Override
public boolean onEditorAction(TextView v, int actionId, KeyEvent event) {
Log.i("CusEditText", "onEditorAction, actionId = " + actionId);
// Only bother if (...)
if (actionId == mDefinedActionId) {
// Check if current InputType is NUMBER
if ((getInputType() & InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER) != 0) {
// Toggle
setImeActionLabel("NUM", mDefinedActionId);
setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);
} else {
// Current InputType is TEXT // Toggle
setImeActionLabel("ABC", mDefinedActionId);
setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER);
}
// We've handled this
return true;
}
// Let someone else worry about this
return false;
}
});
}
}
Next, we need to define definedActionId. Open or create res/values/integers.xml and add:
<integer name="definedActionId">-100</integer>
-100 is an arbitrary value. I checked EditorInfo and the actionIds (IME_ACTION_XXXX) were >= 0. -100 seems like a good candidate.
In xml, your layout will look like:
<com.your.packagename.CusEditText
android:layout_width="blah"
android:layout_height="blah"
android:inputType="number"
android:imeActionId="#integer/definedActionId"
android:imeActionLabel="ABC"/>
<!-- Probably use #string resource in place of ABC -->
There's not much to explain. IME will launch in NUMBER mode. Instead of a checkmark icon, it'll display ABC. On click, we intercept the actionId and toggle between NUMBER and TEXT input. We're using setInputType(...) because it not only updates the InputType, it also restarts the IME with changes. setRawInputType(...) only updates the InputType.
Issues:
As you can tell, this isn't really a solution. If the user closes the keyboard(using the back button) in TEXT mode, the keyboard will remain in the TEXT mode when they open it again. To go to the NUMBER mode, user will have to click NUM. Also, in TEXT mode, user will see NUM as the action, along with ?123 option. This doesn't break anything, but does take away from the UX.
We can't do anything about ?123 showing in TEXT mode for reasons listed above. But, we can try to make sure that the keyboard always opens in the NUMBER mode. I'll provide a rough sketch of how we'll do that. Its not straight-forward since we (developers) are not privy to events such as keyboard closing or opening. Updated CusEditText:
public class CusEditText extends EditText {
private final int mDefinedActionId;
private long mLastEditorActionTime = 0L;
public CusEditText(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
super(context, attrs);
// Corresponds to 'android:imeActionId' value
mDefinedActionId = getResources().getInteger(R.integer.definedActionId);
setOnEditorActionListener(new OnEditorActionListener() {
#Override
public boolean onEditorAction(TextView v, int actionId, KeyEvent event) {
Log.i("CusEditText", "onEditorAction, actionId = " + actionId);
// Only bother if (...)
if (actionId == mDefinedActionId) {
// setInputType(...) will restart the IME
// and call finishComposingText()
// see below
mLastEditorActionTime = SystemClock.elapsedRealtime();
// Check if current InputType is NUMBER
if ((getInputType() & InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER) != 0) {
// Toggle
setImeActionLabel("NUM", mDefinedActionId);
setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);
} else {
// Current InputType is TEXT // Toggle
setImeActionLabel("ABC", mDefinedActionId);
setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER);
}
// We've handled this
return true;
}
// Let someone else worry about this
return false;
}
});
}
#Override
public InputConnection onCreateInputConnection(EditorInfo outAttrs) {
InputConnection inputConnection = super.onCreateInputConnection(outAttrs);
return new CusInputConnectionWrapper(inputConnection, false);
}
private class CusInputConnectionWrapper extends InputConnectionWrapper {
private CusInputConnectionWrapper(InputConnection target, boolean mutable) {
super(target, mutable);
}
#Override
public boolean finishComposingText() {
Log.i("CICW", "finishComposingText");
// Ignore finishComposingText for 1 second (1000L)
if (SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() - mLastEditorActionTime > 1000L) {
if ((getInputType() & InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER) == 0) {
// InputConnection is no longer valid.
// Switch back to NUMBER iff required
setImeActionLabel("ABC", mDefinedActionId);
setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER);
}
}
return super.finishComposingText();
}
}
}
Again, code is self-explanatory. We create a InputConnectionWrapper and listen for the finishComposingText() callback. If we're manually switching between TEXT and NUMBER, we use a flag since finishComposingText() will automatically be called. Else, we check if input type is set to TEXT and change it to NUMBER. I am not sure if finishComposingText() is the right method for interpreting keyboard closing/opening. Testing on API 21, vanilla android, this seems to work. More tests will be required.
I really hope someone can come up with a better, more robust solution than this - or modify my workaround so that it doesn't look like one.
Summary
Task at hand is to provide functionality of switching between NUMBER & TEXT input modes around existing Input Method Engines (IMEs). The first approach was to use imeActionLabel & imeActionId in the switching mechanism. This approach worked well with Google's keyboard (this is the imeActionLabel), but failed with Samsung's - imeActionLabel failed to show up in portrait (without extract). Possible workaround is to include the toggle button in the app's own UI.
Even with Google's keyboard, the letters (text) fail to show up when the mode switches back to NUMBER after inputting letters. This problem was fixed (at least on tested devices) by using flag flagNoExtractUi which prevents the IME from entering fullscreen mode in landscape orientation.
Final solution (pending implementation & testing)
The IME starts in the NUMBER input mode (95% use-cases involve number input)
A button is added to app's UI (next to the EditText) for switching between NUMBER & TEXT mode
User can switch from NUMBER to TEXT without any restrictions. Switching back from TEXT to NUMBER requires that no alphabets have been added.
InputType is preserved between keyboard closing & reopening. Example: If the user switches to TEXT mode and closes the keyboard, it will open in the TEXT mode. The InputType is not reset.
For more information about the approaches tried, refer to this discussion thread.
Screenshots
Default (NUMBER):
Switched to TEXT:
Recorded video link
I agree it is an InputType. If you want to show only numbers to your user then you would add the following to you xml document for your edit text:
android:inputType="number"
However if you set it as number then the user has to enter a number. But you can add additional types as well like numbers and email addresses such as:
android:inputType="number|textEmailAddress"
Check out http://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/InputType.html for more options. You can also check out what eclipse or android studio shows you under "inputType"
I believe you are looking to set the InputType of your edit text.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/InputType.html
I'm not sure which you would use though you may have to play around a bit.
The only way to do this is by setting the inputType of your EditText.
If you want to set this property in the onCreate() (or inside a custom View's constructor) you can use the method setRawInputType():
mEditText.setRawInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER | InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_FLAG_DECIMAL);
Otherwise, if you need to set this property after the onCreate() (or after a custom View's constructor), you can use the method setInputType():
mEditText.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER | InputType.TYPE_NUMBER_FLAG_DECIMAL);
Obviously you can also specify the property at XML level:
android:inputType="number|numberDecimal"
You can play around with different flags to find the best composed filter.
Programmatically it is possible with little bit of tweak to the usual flow. First you have to set editText as:
editText.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_NUMBER);
Then you have to listen for keyevent. On pressing of pound set the InputType again to InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT. This should work as it works for me.
editText.setOnKeyListener(new View.OnKeyListener()
{
#Override
public boolean onKey(View v, int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Log.d("KeyBoard", "Keyboard Test Key Hit");
switch (keyCode) {
KeyEvent.KEYCODE_POUND:
if(editText.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);
{
editText.setInputType(InputType.TYPE_CLASS_TEXT);
return true;
}
Same thing I've answered i: EditText with number keypad by default, but allowing alphabetic characters
Is there any way to show software keyboard with USB keyboard connected (in my case RFID reader)?
I tried to force show it using InputManager (with these or similar parameters), but with no luck
((InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE)).toggleSoftInput(InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED,0);
Important notice - I know that there is a button in status/system bar to show it, but this button is not visible to user (Kiosk app).
You need to override the InputMethodService method onEvaluateInputViewShown() to evaluate to true even when there is a hard keyboard. See onEvaluateInputShown() and the Soft Input View section of InputMethodService. Try creating your own custom InputMethodService class to override this method.
EDIT: The source for onEvaluateInputShown() should help. The solution should be as simple as creating your own class that extends InputMethodService and overriding this one method, which is only a couple of lines long. Make sure to add your custom service to your manifest as well.
From Source:
"Override this to control when the soft input area should be shown to the user. The default implementation only shows the input view when there is no hard keyboard or the keyboard is hidden. If you change what this returns, you will need to call updateInputViewShown() yourself whenever the returned value may have changed to have it re-evalauted and applied."
public boolean onEvaluateInputViewShown() {
Configuration config = getResources().getConfiguration();
return config.keyboard == Configuration.KEYBOARD_NOKEYS
|| config.hardKeyboardHidden == Configuration.KEYBOARDHIDDEN_YES;
}
Here are the possible configurations you can check for. Configuration.KEYBOARD_NOKEYS corresponds to no hardware keyboard. This method returns true (soft keyboard should be shown) if there is no hardware keyboard or if the hardware keyboard is hidden. Removing both of these checks and simply returning true should make the software keyboard visible even if a hardware keyboard is attached.
Try (not tested):
public boolean onEvaluateInputViewShown() {
return true;
}
Since this return value will not change, you won't need to call updateInputViewShown() yourself. If you modify this method differently, be sure to remember this detail.
The soft keyboard can have unpredictable behaviour on different platforms. First in your code, ensure you have an editable input control. Eg, if you have an EditText, you could use:
((InputMethodManager)getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE))
.showSoftInput(myEditText, InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED);
However, you can just show and hide it whenever you want using:
//show keyboard:
getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_VISIBLE);
//hide keyboard :
getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_HIDDEN);
You could also add any of these events inside OnCreate or some other method of the controls.
If however for some reason any of the above fails, your best option might be to use an alternative keyboard, e.g. Compass Keyboard,
OR
You could even build yours:
See an example of a keyboard implementing the inputmethodservice.KeyboardView
You might also want to take a look at the GingerBread Keyboard source.
If your app has the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission (available to system apps or Android Things apps) it can set the show_ime_with_hard_keyboard system setting which will enable soft keyboard even if a hard keyboard is plugged:
Settings.Secure.putInt(getContentResolver(), "show_ime_with_hard_keyboard", 1);
This worked in my app, interestingly, also an kiosk app.
This is a bit stripped, I did some checks beforehand, whether IMM is null and such.
((InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE)).toggleSoftInputFromWindow(someInputView.getApplicationWindowToken(), InputMethodManager.SHOW_FORCED, 0);
according to this https://stackoverflow.com/a/24287780/2233069, I made working solution for Kiosk mode.
boolean hardwareKeyboardPlugged=false;
....
mEditText.setOnFocusChangeListener(this);//in onCreate()
....
#Override
public void onResume() {
//protect from barcode scanner overriding keys
hardwareKeyboardPlugged=(getResources().getConfiguration().hardKeyboardHidden == Configuration.HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_NO);
super.onResume();
}
....
#Override
public void onFocusChange(View v, boolean hasFocus) {
if (hasFocus)
if (hardwareKeyboardPlugged){
//protect from barcode scanner overriding keys
hardwareKeyboardPlugged=false;
((InputMethodManager)getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE)).showInputMethodPicker();
Toast.makeText(this, "USB device detected. Turn OFF hardware keyboard to enable soft keyboard!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}
You might ask why do I want that. Here is the reason:
I used a barcode scanner for the login screen of my application. However connecting the barcode scanner will force my tablet to use the physical keyboard (it thinks the scanner is the keyboard) and that prevents the virtual keyboard from coming up (which I want for some other screens). I have to manually click on the system bar to disable the physical keyboard for the virtual keyboard to popup.
So, is there a way to disable the physical keyboard in code or make the virtual keyboard come up even if some "keyboard" is connected?
Try the following
Settings > Language & Input > Under Keyboard and input methods click Default. Is there an option to to uncheck or disable Hardware/Physical Keyboard?
It's counter intuitive, but after doing that, I can use both a physical keyboard and the virtual keyboard on my device (Android 4.2)
This appears to have some revelance to your case. From the Configuration class documentation.
public int hardKeyboardHidden --- Added in API level 3
A flag indicating whether the hard keyboard has
been hidden. This will be set on a device with a mechanism to hide the
keyboard from the user, when that mechanism is closed. One of:
HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_NO, HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_YES.
You can take some action on this config change. But I think there is no way to disable the physical keyboard in android.
Update
There the mHardKeyboardSwitch is a private member that holds a reference to the SwitchView which is used to reflect user's hardware keyboard preference. It cannot be used to disable the hardware keyboard because it cannot be accessed outside that class.
Yes, the barcode scanner is detected as a Physical Keyboard. When a keyboard is connected to the device, by default the soft keyboard is disabled. To enable it, we need to turn OFF hardware keyboard via:
Settings > Language & Input > Select Input Method
The option name may differ from device to device. We will be able to use the scanner along with the soft keyboard even though we turn it OFF.
And NO, there is no way currently to programmatically accomplish this. The most we can do is detect when a scanner/keyboard is connected and redirect the user to the Input Method selection window, by overriding the onConfigurationChanged method like this:
#Override
public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
if(newConfig.hardKeyboardHidden == Configuration.HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_NO) {
((InputMethodManager)getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE))
.showInputMethodPicker();
Toast.makeText(this, "Barcode Scanner detected. Please turn OFF Hardware/Physical keyboard to enable softkeyboard to function.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}
I think you can specify in you manifest file to use on softinputmode and handle a config change for keyboard|keyboard_hidden
You can modify and rebuild AFS.
Open WindowManagerService.java that located in mydroid/frameworks/base/services/java/com/android/server/wm
Find lines like this:
if (hardKeyboardAvailable != mHardKeyboardAvailable) {
mHardKeyboardAvailable = hardKeyboardAvailable;
mHardKeyboardEnabled = hardKeyboardAvailable;
mH.removeMessages(H.REPORT_HARD_KEYBOARD_STATUS_CHANGE);
mH.sendEmptyMessage(H.REPORT_HARD_KEYBOARD_STATUS_CHANGE);
}
And replace 3 line to mHardKeyboardEnabled = false;
Run below two commands:-
takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\drivers\i8042prt.sys
cacls C:\Windows\System32\drivers\i8042prt.sys /G hhh:F
Then rename i8042prt.sys file and restart the laptop.
after fixing another problem in my Android Application, i came to another thing.
It would be important that i can do something, like hide some visual elements, if the SoftKeyboard so a Input like Swipe or the normal Android Keyboard is shown.
I've tried the onConfigurationChange="KeyboardShow" (pseudocode) but had no change to get a event when for example skype got shown.
So now my question is, is there any solution or function or listener, with which i can handle such a action?
I hope someone can help me.
Sincerly,
Mike Penz
There might be better approaches, but a possibility is to add: android:configChanges="keyboardHidden" to the manifest. That will fire with any keyboard changes, so the you will need to query the Configuration object
static Configuration prevConf = Configuration();
static int ignoreMasks = Configuration.HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_NO|Configuration.HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_YES;
onCreate() {
prevConf = setToDefaults();
}
// all your code here
#Override
public void onConfigurationChanged (Configuration newConfig) {
int deltas = newConfig.diff (prevConf); // what changed?
prevConf = newConfig;
if (delta & ignoreMasks)
return; // you're not interested in hard keyboards.
// your code here
}
I suck at bitwise operators, so you might need to work around that.
This is the API documentation:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.attr.html#configChanges
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html#onConfigurationChanged%28android.content.res.Configuration%29
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/res/Configuration.html
How do I determine whether or not the accelerometer would report a roll of zero when the bottom long side of the screen is facing the ground?
I need to do this without instructing the user to hold the phone in a certain position. I am hoping to be able to do something like:
Context.getResources().getConfiguration().getNaturalOrientation == Orientation.LANDSCAPE
IMPORTANT: The above line of code is not possible, it's just an example of what I would like to do.
I found the answer for this. It's very simple using API8 and higher, simply use Display.getRotation()
this may help you to detect the configuration change
#Override
public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
//onConfigurationChanged
if (newConfig.equals(Configuration.ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE)) {
//ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE
} else if (newConfig.equals(Configuration.ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT)) {
//ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT
}
}