Implement back key emulation on Tecla HUD

[ijdoc]

This should be done through a Tecla IME Service class inside the framework library. Eventually, the target IME will extend this custom class instead of the standard IME Service.

[ijdoc]

Back end method created, still need to hook up to HUD

[ericwan78]

Side button highlighting is required to use the method at the front end.

[ijdoc]

Will create the resource ASAP

[sagar-chandarana]

I guess I will create a resource layout xml with the back button, that will resolve this issue and #60 .

[ijdoc]

The resource is already created, what has not been created is a highlight for it. @sagarchandarana123 how comfortable are you with inkscape?

[sagar-chandarana]

@jorgeSilva I have never used inkspace. But I think the same type of tasks are done by inkspace and photoshop. I am quite familiar with photoshop. What exactly is to be done here? I will get my hands on inkspace, too.

[ericwan78]

@sagarchandarana123 inkscape is an excellent free tool for vector graphics. You may also want to try gimp, which is another good free tool for editting layed graphics. If you don't mind purchasing photoshop, it's fine using that.

[sagar-chandarana]

@ericwan78 Well currently I am using photoshop in trial mode! I went through some tools of inkspace and it's amazing. Moreover, there are thousands of tutorial available on the internet for inkspace. I think it's one of the most favorite tools for all when it comes to vector graphics. I will try out gimp too. Thanks!

[ericwan78]

The current structure created a circular dependency. The back key method cannot be used, possibly due to build issue. Please verify this problem

[ijdoc]

Any branch or additional detail of what the problem is?

Can we obtain an instance of the running IME in the framework and use that instance to run the methods within?

[ericwan78]

@jorgeSilva you are correct. The method did not return an instance of the IME. I got a null pointer exception. How is the IME object normally created?

[ijdoc]

Which method? IMEs cannot be instantiated, we have to keep a reference to the class itself... we should provide some kind of static method to keep the instance after the IME onCreate method. This has to be done within some class that we know is running at the time the IME is created so that the A11y service can access it. We may have to add an Application class to the framework for this.

[ijdoc]

Also @ericwan78 please provide links to the code you are referring to (or at least the branch) in your issue comments

[ericwan78]

@jorgeSilva please first refer to java/src/ca/idrc/tecla/framework/TeclaIME.java in the develop branch.
The TeclaIME.getInstance method returns an instance of TeclaIME, which is assigned in the TeclaIME.onCreate method.
java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/LatinIME.java in the develop branch of tecla-LatinIME extends TeclaIME which allows us to track an instance of LatinIME. It requires tecla-LatinIME to use the current project as a library.
If we need to an instance of LatinIME in the current project, we can either use tecla-LatinIME as a library, or import tecla-LatinIME in the build path as an external library. Either way, a circular dependency is created.

From what I observed here, the TeclaIME class needs to be outside of tecla-framework. Do you have a suggestion that allows TeclaIME to stay in the current project?

[sagar-chandarana]

@ericwan78 I used the following trick in Flash once.

Suppose in the current project(tecla-framework) we have a class ABC.java, which requires the instance of LatinIME.

1. Create a static variable ABC.latinIME_Instance.
2. Everytime a new instance of LatinIME is created, we can assign a reference of this new instance to ABC.latinIME_Instance, as ABC will always be accessible in 'tecla-LatinIME' project. As you said within the method onCreate(), a new instance is generated. At that time we can assign the new instance.
   This way, in the current project we can use just the local var which will always contain the latest instance.
3. And if it's necessary to interrupt the current work done by ABC class when a new instance of LatinIME is generated, we can write a static method ABC.onLatinIME_Changed() which will trigger the necessary actions.

Hope this helps.

[ericwan78]

thank you. Yes, it helps.

[ijdoc]

Closed with 408a30a