Onscreen keyboard on Android does not send correct keycodes for second language

Question

I have the application with NativeActivity.

I wish to show onscreen keyboard and to listen to keys pressed. Everything works fine when I am typing in english, but when I switch keyboard to russian I receive only zeroes for keycode, metastate etc.

To show keyboard I use this code:

InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) activity.getSystemService( Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE );
View view = activity.getWindow( ).getDecorView( );
imm.showSoftInput( view, 0 );

I am receiving keyboard events in onInputEvent function in NativeActivity:

int32_t eventType = AInputEvent_getType( event );
if( eventType == AINPUT_EVENT_TYPE_KEY )
{
    int32_t keyAction = AKeyEvent_getAction( event );
    int32_t keyCode = AKeyEvent_getKeyCode( event );
    int32_t repeatCount = AKeyEvent_getRepeatCount( event );
    int32_t keyFlags = AKeyEvent_getFlags( event );
    int32_t keyScanCode = AKeyEvent_getScanCode( event );
    int32_t keyMetaState = AKeyEvent_getMetaState( event );

    LOGW( "EventType = AINPUT_EVENT_TYPE_KEY, keyAction = %d, keyCode = %d, repeatCount = %d, keyFlags = %d, keyScan = %d, keyMeta = %d", keyAction, keyCode, repeatCount, keyFlags, keyScanCode, keyMetaState );
}

And I am getting all event params as zeroes.

How can I solve this?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 16 '15 at 07:05

1

The KeyEvent documentation says:

As soft input methods can use multiple and inventive ways of inputting text, there is no guarantee that any key press on a soft keyboard will generate a key event: this is left to the IME's discretion, and in fact sending such events is discouraged. You should never rely on receiving KeyEvents for any key on a soft input method. In particular, the default software keyboard will never send any key event to any application targetting Jelly Bean or later, and will only send events for some presses of the delete and return keys to applications targetting Ice Cream Sandwich or earlier.

answered Mar 16 '15 at 07:05

Murtaza Khursheed Hussain

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Does it means that I can display the soft keyboard, but I cannot listen to its key events? – Nick Mar 16 '15 at 08:44
its not 100% guaranteed that you get KeyCodes. – Murtaza Khursheed Hussain Mar 16 '15 at 09:21
Thanks for your comments, but I am not asking "how do I get KeyCodes". I am asking "how do I listen to soft keyboard from within NativeActivity". If I cannot rely on KeyEvents or KeyCodes or whatever, what should I do to intercept keyboard clicks? – Nick Mar 16 '15 at 10:12
What do you meant by NativeActivity ? – Murtaza Khursheed Hussain Mar 16 '15 at 12:02
You are not clear. I see you are not the author of this question, If you have any problem post/ask your own question, my answer is intended for the author of this question. – Murtaza Khursheed Hussain Mar 16 '15 at 12:13
The very first line of author's question states: "I have the application with NativeActivity." – Nick Mar 16 '15 at 12:26
and he explained he is getting the `keycodes` but in `zeros` – Murtaza Khursheed Hussain Mar 16 '15 at 12:27
And his question is : How can I solve this? I.e. how to listen to keys pressed? – Nick Mar 16 '15 at 12:29
He want to know whey he is getting zeros, thats what I answered. – Murtaza Khursheed Hussain Mar 16 '15 at 12:30

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 07 '17 at 18:31

0

This is the answer (the key is to override dispatchKeyEvent): https://stackoverflow.com/a/43871301/674548

answered Jul 07 '17 at 18:31

Nick

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Onscreen keyboard on Android does not send correct keycodes for second language

2 Answers2