[Mim-devel] Questions about input framework in hildon

[Mu Yang]

Hi,

Regarding the UI design, here is a good guide for Maemo 5:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Documentation/Maemo_5_Developer_Guide/Human_Interface_Guidelines

Br,
Mu



> ----- Original message ----- 
> From: UGlee <matianfu at gmail.com>
> To: "Mu Yang" <mu.yang at ovi.com>
> Subject: Re: Questions about input framework in hildon
> Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:45:58 +0800
> 
> 
> 
> Dear Yang:
> 
> Well. You clear away all my concerns and thank you very much.
> 
> I think your descriptions will disppoint many users. But for me, they
> sounds to be good news because the design and development could be
> drastically simplified.
> 
> Thanks again.
> 
> Tianfu Ma (UGlee)
> 
> 
> On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 3:21 PM, Mu Yang <mu.yang at ovi.com> wrote:
> > 你们好!
> >
> > After reading your e-mail carefully, I think I can give you the answers here:
> >
> > There is a virtual keyboard and in "full screen" mode (first IM 
> > framework) . It's always in landscape mode. It's disabled by 
> > default but you can enable it via "Settings" app.
> >
> > N900只支持landscape模式 (横放竖放都一样). 
> > 只有当电话程序(phone application)被激活的时候, 
> > 模式自动变成portrait. 
> > 当当前程序不是电话程序时,模式自动转为landscape模式. 
> > 如果硬键盘滑出, 
> > 任何状态下(包括电话)都是landscape模式.
> >
> > 所以我觉得可以不考虑虚键盘.当用户输入拼音时,只需弹出备选字窗口.
> >
> > Br,
> > 杨牧
> >
> > 不知我对问题理解是否准确? 如果不是, 请指出. 
> > 如果我回答不了,我会去问专家.
> >
> >> 1. Please provide some info about how the hildon im framework works.
> >> Any document or web links are appreciated.
> >>
> >> Generally there are two kinds of IM framework in mobile system. In the
> >> first one, the frame work interact with system-defined text field.
> >> When a im plug-in is active and a key event is received. The framework
> >> intercept the event, tell the underlying app an input is triggered.
> >> Then the underlying app loses its focus. The framework call the plugin
> >> function to pop up a full screen input window (in most case, although
> >> sometime a smaller window is allowed but not recommended), fill in it
> >> with the text  extracted from the current active text field of
> >> underlying app and set the focus and the cursor. When the input
> >> finishes, the plugin sends all text back to framework and destroy
> >> itself. The framework fill the text back to the text filed control and
> >> the underlying app regain the focus. The standard FEP framework on
> >> PalmOS adopts this way. I have also checked this page:
> >> http://live.gnome.org/Hildon/HildonInputMethod. It seems that hildon
> >> im framework is also designed in this way. But I am not sure if it
> >> remains so in maemo 5.
> >>
> > 我用我的n900验证了, maemo5的虚键盘仍是这种方式.
> >
> >> Another type of IM design is a bit more complicated but also more user
> >> friendly. Windows Mobile, iPhone OS and Android 1.5 designed their IM
> >> framework in this way. When an im plug-in is active and a key event is
> >> triggered, the framework intercept the event and trigger the plugin to
> >> seperate the screen into two rectangle areas. Usually the IM occupies
> >> the lower one, but the underlying app still draw its window in the
> >> upper one. It should be noted that the underlying apps must be
> >> explicitly notified that the screen is separated. And it must
> >> accustoms itself to the shrinked window area, moving the textfield as
> >> well as the input cursor to appropriate position to make sure they are
> >> displayed correctly (rather than being shadowed by im plugin window).
> >> In this case, the plugin does NOT maintain its own text field, it just
> >> processes the key event sequence and send the result to the underlying
> >> app. After the input finishes, user explicitly remove the input window
> >> out of screen. This message is also sent to the underlying app. It
> >> will regain the whole screen area and of course, it will redraw its
> >> window to fit in the whole screen. In this way, an user friendly
> >> on-screen keyboard is much easier to be implemented. And the device
> >> probably has a built-in one for user to input text and symbols.
> >>
> >> So, please clarify the IM framework on Maemo 5 (N900) works in which
> >> way? And does it work in both portrait and landscape mode?
> >>
> >> 2. How the system deal with the portrait and landscape mode change?
> >> Does all UI programs work flawlessly in both mode? Or they can simply
> >> refuse to respond to a system notification and remains in its
> >> preferred mode?
> >> 3. Is there a way for im plugin to know the display mode of the
> >> underlying app? and how?
> >> 4. Is screen mode change defined as a system-level event and would be
> >> broadcasted to all UI apps, or individual app defines the behavior in
> >> its own way?
> >>
> >> Considering this case. When an im plugin is active in either exclusive
> >> way or collaborative way as mentioned above, it has it's own window. A
> >> system notification of screen mode change is coming before an input
> >> finishes. What will happen and what should the plug-in do? Is there
> >> any criteria defined by the IM framework to follow for both apps and
> >> plugins? Could the plugin know that whether the underlying app will
> >> change it's screen mode or not? If the underlying app decides to
> >> change its screen mode, how does the im plugin collaborate with it to
> >> make sure both program fulfil the screen mode change correctly and
> >> resuming the input? The procedure seems to be something insanely
> >> complicated.
> >>
> >> 5. Is there a built-in virtual keyboard in Maemo 5? in both portrait
> >> and landscape mode?
> >
> >
> >
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