Android Custom Keyboard Implementation - android-keypad

Question

I am developing Android custom keyboard. I imported android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodSubtype in my code while doing this I am getting an error message like this imported one cannot be resolved. Is there any eclipse plugin I need to install, as per my knowledge Android version above 1.6 will support IMF.

Answer 1

The question is very old but I am answering it as it might help another user who sees this.
OP asked if there is any plugin for Eclipse to install to resolve the issue but now we have Android Studio.
For those who want to implement Android Custom Keyboard:
First, download Google sample project for Android Custom Keyboard to start with.
There are three important features to decide which one you want: 1) theme (custom layout), 2) subtype and 3) emoticons.
For themes/ layouts: Create layout files. See the example code below:
<com.domain.keyboard.android.LatinKeyboardView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#+id/keyboard"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
android:background="#drawable/kb_bg_9"
android:keyBackground="#drawable/key_bg_fill_white"
android:keyPreviewLayout="#layout/key_preview_layout"
android:keyPreviewOffset="#dimen/keyPreviewOffset"
android:keyTextColor="#color/white"
android:popupLayout="#layout/keyboard_popup_layout" />
And use the following code in SoftKeyboard.java:
#Override
public View onCreateInputView() {
// Set custom theme to input view.
int themeLayout = sharedPreferences.getInt(THEME_KEY, R.layout.input_1);
mInputView = (LatinKeyboardView) getLayoutInflater().inflate(
themeLayout, null);
mInputView.setOnKeyboardActionListener(this);
// Close popup keyboard when screen is touched, if it's showing
mInputView.setOnTouchListener(new View.OnTouchListener() {
#Override
public boolean onTouch(View view, MotionEvent motionEvent) {
if (motionEvent.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN) {
mInputView.closing();
}
return false;
}
});
// Apply the selected keyboard to the input view.
setLatinKeyboard(getSelectedSubtype());
return mInputView;
}
For subtype: Create a copy of qwerty.xml and edit it to replace the keys. Create another instance of LatinKeyboard in SoftKeyboard.java and use if or switch logic.
private LatinKeyboard getSelectedSubtype() {
final InputMethodSubtype subtype = mInputMethodManager.getCurrentInputMethodSubtype();
String s = subtype.getLocale();
switch (s) {
case "ps_AF":
mActiveKeyboard = mPashtoKeyboard;
mCurKeyboard = mPashtoKeyboard;
break;
case "fa_AF":
mCurKeyboard = mFarsiKeyboard;
break;
default:
mCurKeyboard = mQwertyKeyboard;
}
return mCurKeyboard;
}
And edit methods.xml to add subtypes:
<input-method xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:settingsActivity="com.sunzala.afghankeyboard.android.ImePreferences"
android:supportsSwitchingToNextInputMethod="true">
<subtype
android:imeSubtypeLocale="en_US"
android:imeSubtypeMode="keyboard"
android:label="#string/label_subtype_generic" />
<subtype
android:imeSubtypeLocale="ps_AF"
android:imeSubtypeMode="keyboard"
android:label="#string/label_subtype_generic" />
<subtype
android:imeSubtypeLocale="fa_AF"
android:imeSubtypeMode="keyboard"
android:label="#string/label_subtype_generic" />
</input-method>
For emoticons: Find library and integrate it with a keyboard. The emoticons will display with a key press.
if (primaryCode == -10000) {
showEmoticons();
}
Where -10000 is keycode.