Glide doesn't work with input fields which are raw (e.g. Scarlett Notes check box)

[opusforlife2]

Short description

Glide typing works normally in an app I use (Scarlet Notes from F-Droid), but when I create a check box and try to swipe type a list item, it doesn't work. A trail appears, but no word does.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open a new note in Scarlet Notes FD.
2. Add a check box item.
3. Try to glide/swipe a word.
4. It doesn't work.

Environment information

• FlorisBoard Version: 0.3.13
• Install Source: F-Droid
• Device: Xiaomi Mi 5
• Android: 10 (LOS 17.1)

[patrickgold]

Is this issue still reproducible in the latest 0.3.15-rc01 release?

[tsiflimagas]

Perhaps related to #1009. I can confirm that one is still not fixed in 0.3.15-rc01, and as I was curious, I tried checkboxes in Scarlet Notes and ascertained that it's not fixed there either.

[opusforlife2]

Indeed. Just tried it out. Not fixed.

[patrickgold]

Can still reproduce this issue in 0.3.16-beta02. The reason: Scarlet Notes has configured the check box text box incorrectly:

2022-05-12 18:32:02.746 10457-10457/dev.patrickgold.florisboard.debug I/FlorisImeService: onStartInputView() - restarting=false info=android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo
    packageName: com.bijoysingh.quicknote
    ---
    inputType: class=0x00000000 variation=0x00000050 flags=(none)
    imeOptions: action=IME_ACTION_DONE flags=IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_PREVIOUS
    privateImeOptions: (null)
    ---
    actionId: IME_ACTION_UNSPECIFIED
    actionLabel: (null)
    contentMimeTypes: []
    extras: (null)
    hintLocales: (null)
    hintText: Add Item…
    ---
    initialCapsMode: flags=CAP_MODE_WORDS
    initialSelStart: 0
    initialSelEnd: 0

This line is really important:

inputType: class=0x00000000 variation=0x00000050 flags=(none) - if an app reports 0x00000000 (aka NULL) as the input type, an IME must automatically assume that this editor is not a rich text editor and does only support very basic input. If the devs of Scarlet fix this issue then all keyboards will work better in this text box again. All their other text fields are correctly configured, thus glide works breaks only in the check boxes. Please forward this to the devs of Scarlet Notes, so they can fix this.

What I generally think though is that FlorisBoard's glide typing should still be able to provide words in a degraded form (with no context of surrounding words), as Gboard does it too. Will work on fixing this.

[patrickgold]

Above linked commit/PR fixes the issue. What I did is I changed the way I detect rich editors a bit, so the check box field (and other apps that have this exact same bug) is now detected as "rich" and glide typing works. Additionally for "real" raw editors (e.g. Termux) glide typing is now completely disabled, this means no glide trail that does nothing anymore. I cannot reliably provide a good glide typing experience for such terminal apps, because I am just missing too much info about surrounding symbols and text.

See also #1009, which is basically the same bug.

Will be released in 0.3.16-beta03. Thanks for reporting!

[opusforlife2]

Awesome! It's great that you were able to add this kind of fault resistance to the app.

BTW:

Please forward this to the devs of Scarlet Notes, so they can fix this.

The app is sadly unmaintained, and has been for years.