IME mode changed at startup in Google Japanese Input

[kzrnm]

Windows Terminal version

1.15.2874.0

Windows build number

10.0.19045.0

Other Software

Google 日本語入力 (2.28.4650.0)

Steps to reproduce

Start Windows Terminal with Japanese IME.

Expected Behavior

Google IME selects 直接入力(Direct input) mode.
MS IME selects 半角英数字/直接入力(Direct input) mode.

Actual Behavior

Google IME selects 半角英数(English input with IME) mode.
MS IME selects 半角英数字/直接入力(Direct input) mode.

[zadjii-msft]

Hmm. linking threads:

• Japanese IME input mode switched back to Direct Input after pressing Enter key #13398 - I thought we fixed this one...
• Fix issues with Japanese & Vietnamese IME #13678
• Multiple compatibility issues with Google Japanese Input (IME) in vim with WSL #13681
• IME still has some issues #13805

[weiqi-chen]

Not only Japanese, but also Chinese.

[yonta]

Same issue is reported at Gborad Help.
https://support.google.com/gboard/thread/180438722/windows-terminal-%E8%B5%B7%E5%8B%95%E6%99%82%E3%81%AE-%E5%85%A5%E5%8A%9B%E6%96%B9%E6%B3%95-%E3%81%AB%E9%96%A2%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E4%B8%8D%E5%85%B7%E5%90%88?hl=ja

Expert says that Microsft IME has one state "半角英数字/直接入力" (direct input) but Google Japanese Input and Legacy Microsoft IME has "半角英数" (English input) and "直接入力" (direct input) as separated state.

補足情報として
現行の Microsoft IME は機能が少なく「半角英数字/直接入力」が一つの状態となっています。
Google 日本語入力や、以前のバージョンの Microsoft IME においては、「半角英数」「直接入力」が別の状態として存在しています。

I think Windows Terminal incorrectly specifies input method at startup.

[cumet04]

I have same issue, and v1.14.186 reproduces the issue but v1.13.1143 doesn't.

[carlos-zamora]

Marking this as a feature. We've had reports in the past of users wanting this kind of behavior. Sounds like the right path forward is to make this a configurable setting.

[siketyan]

@carlos-zamora
For clarification, does the user really want to switch to alphanumeric input mode (with IME ON: this is usually not useful in terminals)? I can not imagine why they want the behaviour. I think almost all users of terminals want direct input with IME OFF, not alphanumeric input mode.

If there are some usecases that users want to switch to that mode, I think it is the right way to make it configurable too.

[usagi]

The cause appears to be #13028. In this PR, it is declared that

This change should have no negative impact.

and

If there's any reason to have to keep the Text inputScope, maybe making this setting customizable via settings.json would be a good idea, but I don't see the need to do this, AlphanumericHalfWidth is perfect.

However, as this issue shows, this feature can have extremely unpleasant side effects depending on the environment. As @carlos-zamora suggests, I strongly agree that there is a need to add settings that allow users to easily switch this feature ON/OFF.

[ikeyan]

Original issue #12731 says:

Personally I just want Windows Terminal to have English input mode on startup like what conhost does, so I can type in commands immediately.

So the author expected that users could immediately start typing commands at startup, but this is hampered by this issue.

[weiqi-chen]

Original issue #12731 says:

Personally I just want Windows Terminal to have English input mode on startup like what conhost does, so I can type in commands immediately.

So the author expected that users could immediately start typing commands at startup, but this is hampered by this issue.

I add two keyboard layout, one is english, another one is chinese. If I need to input english / chinese, I use Alt + Shift to switch the keyboard。 When I fell like to use Chinese keyboard to type english and chinese, I would use Shift key to enable/disable Chinese Pinyin. I don't like it that Windows Terminal do it(switch to english) every single time after I pressing Enter key, even I don't need to switch to english.

[siketyan]

I now think this can be considered as Google IME's issue.
In #13028, it is added to change CoreTextInputScope once Windows Terminal is loaded.
The InputScope does not mean IME should be turned on or off on the text input, so the decision is delegated to IMEs.

In Microsoft IME, CoreTextInputScope::AlphanumericHalfWidth is mapped to Direct Input mode, so it is okay for us.

But in Google IME or Mozc, the scope is mapped to Alphanumeric mode with IME on, causing this issue. It is documented in Mozc repository:
https://github.com/google/mozc/blob/master/docs/design_doc/input_scope.md

Quote:

InputScope	Expected Input Mode
IS_URL, IS_EMAIL_USERNAME, IS_EMAIL_SMTPEMAILADDRESS, IS_DIGITS, IS_NUMBER, IS_PASSWORD, IS_TELEPHONE_FULLTELEPHONENUMBER, IS_TELEPHONE_COUNTRYCODE, IS_TELEPHONE_AREACODE, IS_TELEPHONE_LOCALNUMBER, IS_TIME_FULLTIME, IS_TIME_HOUR, IS_TIME_MINORSEC	Direct Mode (IME Off)
IS_ALPHANUMERIC_HALFWIDTH	Halfwidth Alphanumeric Mode (IME On)

As described above, Google IME and Mozc consider IME should be turned on in text inputs with AlphanumericHalfWidth scope.

I am not familier with UWP, but isn't there a way to turn IME off without depending on the InputScope?