Creating custom on-screen keyboard (SIP) - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

Dear developers,
Do you have examples (source code) that could be used / modified to create custom on-screen keyboard (SIP)?
Inspired by the iPhone keyboard and the latest HappyTappingKeyboard:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=296455
I created my own design (attached) that I believe could be a better on-screen keyboard for our beloved WM device:
- It has a clean layout
- Maximized towards 240 pixels wide
- Relatively good looking
- Have the most important keys in the main layout
- Plan to have "custom keys" in the 3rd layout (the "..." button)
What do you think?
But as you probably know, I am not a WM coder/developer.
So, I am just wondering if someone can provide an example or even better to pick up this project.

gogol, I really like the look of your keyboard design/layout! I've been trying to get HappyTapping to work (well, it "works" but can't be skinned) for the past week on my Axim X50v. Anyway, I don't see much hope for HappyTapping, so naturally I'm excited to see someone looking to develop a keyboard similar to it (and hopefully in the English language). I have no experience developing SIPs for Windows Mobile, but I do have Visual Studio 2005 and have done some WM apps before.
I hope some others with knowledge of SIP developement can chime in and help this thing take off!

cavyman said:
gogol, I really like the look of your keyboard design/layout! I've been trying to get HappyTapping to work (well, it "works" but can't be skinned) for the past week on my Axim X50v. Anyway, I don't see much hope for HappyTapping, so naturally I'm excited to see someone looking to develop a keyboard similar to it (and hopefully in the English language). I have no experience developing SIPs for Windows Mobile, but I do have Visual Studio 2005 and have done some WM apps before.
I hope some others with knowledge of SIP developement can chime in and help this thing take off!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here's a link to HappyTapping keyboard skins (but in Japanese)
http://briefcase.yahoo.co.jp/bc/tf_....src=bc&.done=http%3a//briefcase.yahoo.co.jp/

NNagendran said:
here's a link to HappyTapping keyboard skins (but in Japanese)
http://briefcase.yahoo.co.jp/bc/tf_....src=bc&.done=http%3a//briefcase.yahoo.co.jp/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I have about every skin out there for Happy Tapping and have tried them all. For some reason, the skin is just never applied to my keyboard. I don't know if it's a conflict with my ROM or with WM5. I know it is skinnable and many have done so successfully without any problems...it pretty much just hates me. Thanks anyway for the link!

Here you got a link about Soft Input Panel. You get a code example when you download the SDK for mobile 6. I'm still working on trying to learn my self C++ and mabye manage to make on my self. But we will se what i manage in the end .

I love Blimkeys. Unfortunately, there has not been an update of it that uses predictive T9 like the T9 SIP pad that's built in into many phones. Maybe you can do something similar to Blimkeys, but w/ 9 and skinnable keyboards?

ialu, thanks for that, I will try to get my hand dirty as well (I am not familiar with C++, but I know other Windows programming language to help me learning).
People are complaining that WM phone is difficult to use, iPhone owners brag their UI.
But I saw a lot of progress on improving the WM user interface.
The finger friendly contact from "tene" is one example (very nice app!).
However, I still cant find a good on-screen keyboard, until we found that HappyTappingKeyboard. But again, I think it can be improved. That's why I started this project.
ialu, please let me know if you can compile that example and then use it in the emulator.
ialu said:
Here you got a link about Soft Input Panel. You get a code example when you download the SDK for mobile 6. I'm still working on trying to learn my self C++ and mabye manage to make on my self. But we will se what i manage in the end .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

gogol said:
ialu, thanks for that, I will try to get my hand dirty as well (I am not familiar with C++, but I know other Windows programming language to help me learning).
People are complaining that WM phone is difficult to use, iPhone owners brag their UI.
But I saw a lot of progress on improving the WM user interface.
The finger friendly contact from "tene" is one example (very nice app!).
However, I still cant find a good on-screen keyboard, until we found that HappyTappingKeyboard. But again, I think it can be improved. That's why I started this project.
ialu, please let me know if you can compile that example and then use it in the emulator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i have managed to run it on the emulator

This is also a good example:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms881221.aspx

And this :
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/02/10/370355.aspx
http://www.marcusperryman.members.winisp.net/BlogStuff/NewSIP.zip

Thats the example that follows the SDK for mobile 6

gogol said:
Dear developers,
Do you have examples (source code) that could be used / modified to create custom on-screen keyboard (SIP)?
Inspired by the iPhone keyboard and the latest HappyTappingKeyboard:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=296455
I created my own design (attached) that I believe could be a better on-screen keyboard for our beloved WM device:
- It has a clean layout
- Maximized towards 240 pixels wide
- Relatively good looking
- Have the most important keys in the main layout
- Plan to have "custom keys" in the 3rd layout (the "..." button)
What do you think?
But as you probably know, I am not a WM coder/developer.
So, I am just wondering if someone can provide an example or even better to pick up this project.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks very good, thanks for sharing.
But I would like to use this one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=427913
Basically I need the bigest keys possible. And only letters.
Anyone can help?
Thanks.

Related

Gesture programming with VB.net

Howdo,
I'm just going to try and build my first gesture program in Visual Studio 2008 using VB. Can anyone give me some pointers on how I get this going. I've been looking at Inkcanvas but I'm not sure if this is right?
Many thanks
TheNecroscope said:
Howdo,
I'm just going to try and build my first gesture program in Visual Studio 2008 using VB. Can anyone give me some pointers on how I get this going. I've been looking at Inkcanvas but I'm not sure if this is right?
Many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I would like to learn that too...
Google is your friend:
http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/NET/Code/Libraries/Windows_Messages/Mouse_Gestures/article.asp
Fantastic! Looks like a good starting place. Is there much advantage of using C# compared to VB out of interest?
Just found this as well
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/mobile/MouseGestures.aspx
I'm currently finishing to write a simple proof-of-concept application launcher using simple stylus gestures (no neural nets, just eight directions supported - somewhat like in firefox mouse gestures plugin). Right now it works quite fine and the code is easy to port to any language as long as you can record last few locations of stylus.
I'll post it as soon as i find out how to launch an application from C level. The simplest way system() doesn't seem to work
Dziekuje!
I look forward to seeing it!
As promised:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=374375
That's just a proof of concept - the included program doesn't do anything but recognizing gestures as you draw them and reacting if the drawn gesture matches one of patterns defined in config file (still didn't have time to find out how to make it launch an app).
The demo application is in C, but once you understand the method behind it, it should be easy to port to any programming language. Of course that's probably not the best way to do it, and it's definitely not the only way to do it, but it's simple to implement (no neural networks required), supports eight directions (including diagonal - opposed to methods described in links above), and gesture can consist of many strokes (a single gesture may be drawn like: left, up, up-right, down-right, down, up-left, right...). There's still a lot of room for optimizations, but it's some starting point...
Thats really smart! Well done, thanks for coming back to me! I will investigate it over the weekend! . Thanks also for the information on the compiler thats also useful to know!!

Ppl (pocket Programming Language)

I wanted to start a new thread on a new piece of programming software that I recently purchased. I was looking for a programming language that was easy to use for beginners and experts. I own a Sprint HTC Touch and I wanted to make my own software to run on WM6. I have not completely messed with it but it sort of reminds me of MS Visual Basic with drag and drop and also code. If you want more info please follow this link: http://www.arianesoft.ca/page.php?1 . This software combines some of the most well known programming languages. I was hoping that there were other people who had and were also working with the same software and who had tips,tricks,source code and software using this programming software. I also forgot to mention that this software not only installs on you pc but also installs on you pocket pc so you can create software on the go. If there are any other languages out there like this please post. I hope this fits in this category.
Yes..this is a good language..i am familiar with it..it also lets you make Games....Visit their forums for sample apps
Been using PPL for a while now. Very good application and can actually produce some fast running apps.
Certainly wouldn't use it for a professional application, but for graphics/games, it's one of the best I've used.
Visual Studio have better compatibilities than PPL I think....
But, PPL is very easy to use and costs a lot less.
its funny but i even saw A_C's Post in their forum
I have a copy of one of A_Cs S2U2 source code from the PPL forums!
The one thing I like about PPL over Visual Basic (although I like VB)is that the software installs on my HTC Touch so I can program on the go. VB unfortunately does not. But with the drag and drop it looks just like VB

[Q][Help] Need code for editing and saving file in VB.NET

Hay,
i'm trying to develop a program, in VB.NET. i call it wDiary stands for Workout Diary.
The purpose is to let the user choose 4 (or more) sports to save progess/daynotes of, and to view the txtfiles, like a dayly diary in a calendar.
i have comed to that part where i'm want to save a file in a spesific directory.
like save:
"Jogging - " + date".txt in %MyDocuments%\wDiary\Jogging\
print textbox1.text in line one and so on
like the this code
Code:
FileOpen(1, My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath & "\Jogging - "+date".txt", OpenMode.Output)
PrintLine(1, TextBox2.Text)
PrintLine(2, TextBox3.Text)
FileClose(1)
But thats a code i used for an Windows app. I want the same function for my Touch pro (WinCE 6.1) :/
Fraction
Reserved..
Just a quick one, and I understand English might not be your first language but a Dairy is where they bottle milk, and make other dairy produce like cheese and cream.
I think your app should have been called wDiary - as in a diary of events
I'm not taking the mick here, just offering a bit of help As for the file editing, what language are you doing it in? C++.net, C#.net, VB.net?
If it's vb.net you're using - this site has some decent basic file routines (checking if it exists, adding text, appending, closing etc)
Hope this helps
Doing a quick search, it points out to be VB.net indeed. Try stating which language you use next time.
The link in the above post should give you sufficient info.
FrederickUK said:
Just a quick one, and I understand English might not be your first language but a Dairy is where they bottle milk, and make other dairy produce like cheese and cream.
I think your app should have been called wDiary - as in a diary of events
I'm not taking the mick here, just offering a bit of help As for the file editing, what language are you doing it in? C++.net, C#.net, VB.net?
If it's vb.net you're using - this site has some decent basic file routines (checking if it exists, adding text, appending, closing etc)
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
****, now i'm embarrassed. no, english is not my primar language. hehe.
Visual basic.net
EVILRipper said:
Doing a quick search, it points out to be VB.net indeed. Try stating which language you use next time.
The link in the above post should give you sufficient info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have edit the topic, and the first post. thanx, i forgot.
Fraction
You should be able to use the standard System.IO.StreamReader and System.IO.StreamWriter Functions. I can code this in c# if you can translate to VB.net.
Change of direction
Actually let me make another suggestion. Sometimes when writing a small app to collect data I use a very lazy yet very usefull feature of .net DataSets.
I databind the controls to the dataset by dropping the dataset on the form and assiging the bindings via autogenerated bindinsource component. All I do now to read and save are the following lines of code
Read:
Code:
dataSet1.ReadXml("mydb.xml");
Write
Code:
dataSet1.WriteXml("mydb.xl", XmlWriteMode.WriteSchema);
It might not be pretty but it does the trick. Also less code and no need for parsing XML
yes please
cornelha said:
You should be able to use the standard System.IO.StreamReader and System.IO.StreamWriter Functions. I can code this in c# if you can translate to VB.net.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, please
I have one more thing, if sombody can help. the Design seems perfectly in Visual basic. put when i deploy it to the emulator it looks smal and rubbish. the buttons (png.files) gets streched in width and pressed in the height. so, how can i design in 480x640 (VGA) for my Touch pro :/
I've set my emulator settings to USA WM 6.1 Classic and it works fine when deployed to my touch pro. If your screen resolution is fairly high (I use 1280x1024) you could use USA WM 6.1 VGA but it filled my entire screen. You might have better luck if you use 1600x1280 or whatever (or run multi-monitor)
Hope this helps
FrederickUK said:
I've set my emulator settings to USA WM 6.1 Classic and it works fine when deployed to my touch pro. If your screen resolution is fairly high (I use 1280x1024) you could use USA WM 6.1 VGA but it filled my entire screen. You might have better luck if you use 1600x1280 or whatever (or run multi-monitor)
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i Also use 1280x1024, and i (usa?)VM 6.1 profesional.
and yes it it fills my hole screen ;P

[REQ] Very Interesting and unique text-entry method -- (no keyboard) (App Idea)

NOTE: By "No Keyboard" I just mean that this method does not involve a KB of any kind.... I do NOT mean to imply that this is a total replacement for the physical keyboard...... rather I think of it as a one handed on-screen text entry method to be used when convenient
I think someone should port Dasher to Android.
Dasher is free software, that takes an extremely unique approach to achieve 'information efficient' text entry. It allows lots of different input methods, and is very adaptable, and customizable.
Here is a description from the Dasher Website.
Dasher is an information-efficient text-entry interface, driven by natural continuous pointing gestures. Dasher is a competitive text-entry system wherever a full-size keyboard cannot be used - for example,
[*] when operating a computer one-handed, by joystick, touchscreen, trackball, or mouse;
[*] when operating a computer with zero hands (i.e., by head-mouse or by eyetracker);
[*] on a palmtop computer;
[*] on a wearable computer.
...using a mouse/trackball/touch pad, experienced users can write at 39 words per minute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick video, just to show it work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d6yIquOKQ0
An hour long video, that goes into detail, as to how it works, all the different ways it can be used.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5078334075080674416&ei=caEsSZiUGZOwqwL306zQCA&q=dasher
Dasher on an IPAQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jxhJjkwleo
The Dasher Website
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/
Also -- I have seen posts around the net asking for chinese input methods. And thought I would point out, that Dasher already has support for all sorts of languages, so if someone ported Dasher to Android, it would give it another unique option for text input in all sorts of languages.
Here is a link that shows the language files already available for Dasher.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/download/alphabets/ALPHABETS.html
I like it. the interface may have to be reconfigured a bit. but in general, i think it is inovative. and i like it
This is a great idea. I hope someone picks up on this for Android!
This was brought up sometime early last year.
Nothing came of it, but no objections were raised, so afaik its not impossible. And I agree it would be pretty good to try out
/shameless bump
This does look very interesting. <quick google> Hmm, maybe worth keeping an eye on this blog entry & this comments section too.
Lol -- I hadn't tried googling it in a while -- thanks for the heads up!! Glad to see someone is on it!
FYI Here is a video of it working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25-t80ld8MY
Yup, looking good. I hope there'll be something we can beta test soon. I'm curious to find out what kind of speed it can manage. Also how the size of the keyboard will impact on usage.
Wahhou
Dasher is awesome !!!!
Please, tell me when you will have finish with Dasher for Android! I can't wait !!!!
Sure, I would like to help you, but I haven't any skills in programming, so I*could make beta testing.
Thanks a lot,
Have a good day
awww did this thread die?
There is a java version on the dasher website, don't know if that would make it any easier to port.
If it was done it would need a left handed or right hand option so your thumb doesn't cover suggestions, or maybe working from the bottom of the screen as opposed to the left.
I hope someone does work on this, I can imagine it is very fast once you are used to it.

[Q] [IDEA] Android phones as PC/Mac's Application Helper.....(sort of..) for $20?

Hello Everyone,
I'm a graphic designer.. and I (for some reason ) am so sure this is possible on an Android phone... but the question is.. is it worth their time? i hope my $20 dollars and other possible donators... can help answer that question!!
Here's The Concept: (sorry for the long essay)
I would like to use my android's touch screen to be my little helper when i'm on my graphic programs... either photoshop/illustrator.. even my html programs.. i would like a dedicated screen with Tools and Options that i usually use...
This could be done in many ways.... one would require a "server" application and displays the shortcuts according to the App in focus...
or...
You can make android as the HID thing (Sorry!! Thats as technical as i can get..)....so it sends "macros" to photoshop ... but this doesn't really require a server cuz HID thing shud be multi platform?? if i'm not mistaken...so instead of detecting.. there would be applications we choose which will show the appropriate buttons....
Here's one example: Photoshop
While one Photoshop, I would like Cuboid Buttons for Basic Tools(Marquee, Paint Brush, Eraser, Move tool..... ) on an array of screens and with fixed items like the "Undo" or "Layers" "Characters"... which will bring up the proper dialogue...
I'm willing to donate 20$ to the person who can do this ... i hope others can feel my frustration and want to help too... so we can get this going...
Plus.. there is a "Clingo" accessory for phones that can attach any device to any monitor!!! from the looks of it... it could very well work with my idea!!
Thank you for taking your time reading my big essay!!! (sorry)
I may not be a developer for android, but I know that if anyone does it, it'll cost them more than $20 of their time...
I think you should learn the key shortcuts or buy a keyboard with extended keys that you can program.
@DKuntz2 i know it will be more than 20 dollars... thats why i started my donation at 20 ... whoever is feeling like donating to this cause... can hopefully make it worth for the developer....
@jobarjo Yeah, I already know the keyboard shortcuts ... but theres alotta features on the photoshop that are not possible through a simple keyboard shortcut... and besides.. i only used Photoshop as an example, this can be implemented with Word Processors... Web Browsers.... Full screen Media player with controls on the side... I don't know theres alotta potential...
i just hope people find this 'donation' worthy as i do.... a guy can hope right?
It sounds like what you really need is the Optimus Maximus keyboard; http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/
Thanx.
but I am already familiar with the optimus..and that it can change the whole keyboard to pictures...anyways i just thought the guys would want this on their android phone.. rather than wasting $2400 US on that.!!!
I hope ill be able to make this on Google's App Inventor...
Peace.
solidkundi said:
I hope ill be able to make this on Google's App Inventor...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't.
You need a "server" application on the computer which you can make or interact with a GAI app.
You also may need to interact with Photoshop in a way because its not just sending keyboard shortcuts because some tools don't have that.
I am unsure if you need to make a photoshop plugin for that or you can call some functions in the photoshop.exe.(I don't even know how my 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator calls the functions and such in Photoshop)
Google apps doesn't allow this functionality and I am unsure if it ever will(and even if it will it won't be soon)
well that sucks doesn't it...
thanks for that.. i hope i'll be able to make something out of google inventor ... i have soo much ideas... but they're all either novelty or something very specific to me...
This would be really useful, but hard, the way I see it you could do it using HID:
An android App that communicates as a slave device to a desktop machine.
Could use bluetooth and pretend to be HID but you'd have to write the HID layer from scratch in java as Android only does HID as the master (and even then only in CM6)
This would send keypress events which may be enough for some apps, but generally you'd need to map those events to some other combination of actions, under windows a combination of http://www.autohotkey.net/ and http://www.autohotkey.net/~Micha/HIDsupport/Autohotkey.html may do the job.
Implementing HID under Android would be the had part (for me). The rest would need to be configured per-feature-per-app
I do know there are several keyboard applications availble so keyboard shortcuts and keypresses aren't really the problem.
I am just unsure how you would link into photoshop tools without key combos.
You can get for iphone, good idea saves a lot of time
If someone is skilled enough to edit this to something with a Tools gui or allowing to asign a picture and hotkey to a button on the screen and pass on the hotkey to the server..
http://code.google.com/p/remotedroid/
And maybe remove the mouse functionality or put it in a tab.
I think ... we can make an "Action" file.. for most of the commands... and then send the respective keystroke .... that could work also..... and like u said have tabs
but i wudn't need mouse in there...

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