Make dictionaries independent of the keyboard layout

[maverick74]

Steps to reproduce

1.Make sure you only have english keyboards installed
2.Type in any other language that is not english (i'm using 16keys keyboard)
3.Corrections/autocomplete suggests only for english words

Expected behaviour

Would be good to be able to use English keyboard with other languages (maybe have a primary dictionary and have other secondary dictionaries and having it show most words based on the primary and only one or two from the others)

[LugiaDepression]

I using the english dictionary, but since the adding words during typing is mostly working if I'm lucky I can add hungarian (which is my original language) words to the english dictionary, so it's cool.

[maverick74]

I found a workaround: holding down Enter/Return key allows to override the English language by the one of Android... (Still, text prediction is almost useless!!!)

Now... If only I could get rid of all that "English" words written everywhere annoying/reminding me that I'm using a English keyboard to write in another language....

[LugiaDepression]

Hey Maverick74, if you would like to typing on another language, then you can look in the Playstore, there are plenty of additional language app for the Anysoft Keyboard, maybe you can find yours, so install that and your dictionary will change into the added language too.

[maverick74]

@LugiaDepression I already done that before submitting the bug. The thing is that my Language package does not provide a 16Keys keyboard... only the regular qwerty.
But i really would not need another keyboard... The english one would do just fine... i would just need the text prediction system to provide corrections for my language (which by overriding it i get - a terrible system, but still working).

I truly think there is a overall wrong design with Anysoft Keyboard. It is a great Keyboard but there should really be a very strong split between Languages and Keyboard Layout! They are not the same thing! And the way they are causes confusion!

Also... text prediction is really bad. I understand T9 is patented... but isn't there anything opensource that is near as good?

[menny]

What if you can define multiple dictionaries per keyboard layout? Will that be okay?
I can not implement a full T9 technology since, as you mentioned, it is patented: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=5818437&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP

[maverick74]

OK. T9 understood. :)

The dictionary not that much. I, personally, use two languages, one of them English. My wife, however does not use English and just her native one.

So, it would be needed the English keyboard to allow use of other non-English language as the default.

I also think that decoupling keyboard from languages would be very good for ASK.

Did I mention I REALLY WANT to kick TouchPal out of my life?! I'm tired of publicity!!!

[maverick74]

@menny 2 questions:

1. Isn't T9 patent set to expire next year? It was filled in 1998+20years=2018 :)
2. is decoupling keyboard layouts from dictionaries too much work? I hope there's a chance for that...

[maverick74]

@menny What if: we could select multiple dictionaries per keyboard layout, as you said, but we could also select just one that is not the keyboard layout's default?

This way, using the English layout, one could use the English dictionary or the French dictionary or the Spanish dictionary or all of them

[Zykino]

I think my proposition (#878) is more or less @menny proposition of having multiples languages attached to one keyboard :

1. select the keyboard in my native layout
2. select multiples language
3. either select the language (no more than ONE click/slide) or autodetect the language I'm writing from the list

[maverick74]

@Zykino But... what if one wants to use the English Keyboard (which is sort of universal) with (e.g.) the French dictionary
(i don't want to use english dictionary, just the french one! but want to use the english keyboard because my native keyboard s**ks).

Will your proposition allow one to use Keyboard X with just Dictionary Y? Or will i have to use Keyboard X with Dictionary X - AND - Dictionary Y?

[Zykino]

For me a keyboard layout and a language are truly separated so yes you can select only one language (french for example) with one or multiples keyboard(s).
And you can select one or multiples layout for one language.

One does not influence the other. (Except maybe for compatibility reason : installing a keyboard/dictionary on the same package but you have to unlink them afterward.)

[maverick74]

Then, i suppose, we both want the same thing.

I think that ideally what would be good was an entry where one could select the keyboard layout and another one where one could select the dictionary or dictionaries we wish to use.

My remaining real question is actually how hard it would be to implement this (if @menny considers it, of course)

[menny]

It's not super hard to implement. I'll add this to the backlog

[vinniec]

I tried to use a different dictionary without succeeding.

1. I have installed anysoftkeyboard from fdroid
2. I did all the automatic setup ((I set the layout t9-like)
3. I chose to force the Italian language from the tweaks:
4. language > other > tweaks > Use the integrated user dictionary NOT SELECTED
5. user interface >other > tweaks > force locale SELECTED TO "it"
   However, text autocompletition remains in English, Is there a solution?

[menny]

@vinniec, the way to do that is to "override the default dictionary"
Long press ENTER key and pick that option.

[vinniec]

It does not work, as choices I have only default and english
Maybe I need to install some additional dictionary from the market? But I with the default google keyboard already have self-completion in italian

[menny]

Wait, do you have the Italian language pack installed?
The dictionary for Italian must be installed in order for this option to be available

[menny]

A new beta will be available in a few hours for testing. Please test!

[maverick74]

Will do so!!! Thank You!!!

[maverick74]

From what i've used, it seems to be working fine :)

[vinniec]

Okay, I tried the beta and now it works for me as well.
However, I took some time to understand a bit about how it worked, so I doubted it would work even before but I did not understand it.

As for the t-9 keyboard like, unfortunately the suggested words are not based on the pressed keys but on the letters entered.
This makes the writing very slow by pressing the same key repeatedly to write the correct letters rather than pressing the key once for each letter that makes up the word.
Example: write the word "fiume":
With current behavior we need press:
3 times the "def" key
3 times the "ghi" key
2 times the "tuv' key
1 times the "mno" key
2 times the "def" key
Total pressures, 11 taps instead of 5

With the expected behavior I would expect to press each of these buttons once, but actually, doing this way for word 'fiume' the suggested words are:
diamo, dorme, dormo, detta, ditta, dette, dorm

Also, you can not press once per letter without having to wait several seconds if there is a succession with more than one letter of the same key, like word "nonno" with all letter on the same key 'mno'.

[maverick74]

@vinniec I too suffer from that problem with the lack T9. Unfortunately menny can't do anything about this since T9 is pattented (ain't Pattent land wonderful :( ??? The pattent expires October 6, 2018… there is nothing that can be done before that…)

As to the wait before tapping a second time in the same key, ASK is very powerful in terms of customisation:
Go to ASK configs > Interface > Even More > Fine Tunning > behavior adjustments > time between touchs (NOTE: english is not my native language so the names mentioned above may differ… if so you'll have to take a guess ;)

[jknockaert]

Maybe I'm a bit late to the party, but the current implementation is quite confusing. When I long press ENTER I get the option to "override the default dictionary". So far so good. But then I am presented with a list of all languages (including the default one) and a generic "Dictionary" option. How can the default language override itself? What happens if I select "Dictionary"? I found out that after "overriding" the default language by selecting another language, the default language stays selected so it isn't really overrode (if that's proper English). I can actually select as many languages as I want. But it is unclear to what custom language dictionary new words would be added. To unoverride the default language I actually have to unselect the other selected language(s). The whole behaviour is counter-intuitive; the user interface should actually use checkboxes. But even then it is inefficient: to really switch a language I have to first select the other language and then unselect the previous language. That's cumbersome. Especially when you have parallel chats in multiple languages going on. Wouldn't there be a more straightforward implementation possible?

[Zykino]

Yeah the UX is not that good: please do not close the menu once we click on it.
The names are not OP but as long as we see multiples tick it might be ok.

And I found and try the incognito mode, don't know if I'm in it or not :s.

I think it's Swiftkey which show the current language on spacebar and we can switch by sliding it.

[jknockaert]

Just keeping the menu open would already reduce from six to four the number of taps required to effectively switch language.
Also the feedback provided after clicking a language is a bit confusing, e.g. after clicking to deselect the default language you are told that "overriding has been deactivated".
A single action (like swiping the spacebar) to cycle through the languages plus incognito would probably be an efficient implementation. After all we know have two actions that allow to cycle through keyboard layouts (button and spacebar swipe), so not much is lost by reassigning the spacebar swipe?

[menny]

Good suggestions, guys.

1. Use checkboxes
2. Clearer language
3. Do not close menu after picking

[menny]

See #1094