MessageEase is great! Thanks Wm! >i am having some troubles with it, which may be endemic to Js interface to >Android though.
>There seems to be no way of making a selection (nor change the selection:) nor >a way to make a cursor movement. All this is upstream from cutting and copying >(and accessing the paste buffers). i get the haptic feedback that ME has >received a stroke, but no effect, eg cursor movements. >ME has copious documentation, perhaps it is in there somewhere. But i have >accessed those facilities through another text editor (Dropboxes) greg ~krsnadas.org -- from: Skip Cave <[email protected]> to: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> date: 10 June 2014 10:29 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >I tried out the "MessageEase" keyboard that William suggested, on my Note 2. >It's an interesting concept. I definitely like the 9 extra-large keys, and the >tap-and-swipe character selection methodology. I also like how I can pick the >colors and contrast of the keys and markings. MessageEase also lets you turn >on or off the auto-type functions, which every general-purpose keyboard should >allow. Somehow I had missed the fact that Android allows one to swipe down to >select the keyboard on any app. >However, the MessageEase keyboard is a radical departure from traditional >qwerty keyboards, and requires a significant learning curve to become >proficient. If I must learn a new key entry system to use J efficiently on a >touch screen, I would think that a specialized keyboard specifically designed >for J along the lines of what Alex Giannakopoulos describes, might be a better >approach. We could probably even steal some of the tap-and-swipe ideas from >MessageEase for J glyph selection. >The popularity of touch screen phones and tablets have made text entry by >tapping with one finger on a screen while holding the device in the other >hand, a common practice. More significantly, touch screens and soft keyboards >have removed the constraints that physical keyboards have placed on us, which >we have suffered with for over 150 years. The result is a plethora of soft >Android keyboards <http://bit.ly/TFEpOw> (http://bit.ly/TFEpOw) for general >use. >But why try to build a one-size-fits-all keyboard? Today, keyboards can be >adapted to the application, rather than forcing the application to fit the >keyboard. >I can't help but wonder what Ken Iverson would have done if he had been able >to design a soft keyboard for APL. A keyboard where the number and size of the >keys and the character markings on each key could dynamically change as one >typed. A keyboard where long holds on a key could popup more choices, or >swipes could select glyph modifications. >Of course, the biggest problem at the time was the character display, which >could also now be solved, but that's another problem, and a different >discussion. The fact is, the character issue gave Ken the rationale to update >APL, and that was a good thing. >Vijay Lulla pointed out a Thesis <http://bit.ly/TFHZbB> ( >http://bit.ly/TFHZbB) that looks at this issue of J-specific keyboards. That J >keyboard layout still seems oriented to two-hand typing, though it definitely >is a huge improvement over qwerty. Treating J's 2-charater glyphs as a single >entity using popups as the paper proposes, seems to be another promising >approach in contrast to MessageEase's tap-and-swipe scheme. >One of the primary issues is whether a keyboard should be optimized for >one-finger typing, or for full sit-down, two-hands use. In my case, I use J on >my Note 2 as a handy calculator, so I really like MessageEase's one-handed, >one-finger tap-and-swipe scheme. Since J on touch-screen devices are typically >hand-held, the one-finger option seems to be the right approach for portable >devices. >For now, I am going to try out Michael Dykman's J console app, which includes >a J keyboard. That's the keyboard I tried earlier, and I remember it wasn't >all that much easier to use than the stock Android keyboard. However, it did >have all the predictive text stuff turned off, which made switching to J >faster, so think I'll give it another try. Skip Skip Cave Cave Consulting LLC -- from: Vijay Lulla <[email protected]> to: [email protected] date: 10 June 2014 08:40 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >Not quite pertinent to the problems that are being discussed in this thread >but interesting nonetheless: >http://swatouch.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/BP2012H2_Theses.pdf especially 2nd and 3rd. -- from: William Tanksley, Jr <[email protected]> to: Programming forum <[email protected]> date: 10 June 2014 08:25 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >The current solution is to install a keyboard that doesn't interfere -- there >are "happy hacker" keyboards, or Bluetooth hardware, or "MessageEase". As I've >mentioned, I recommend the latter. -Wm -- from: Alex Giannakopoulos <[email protected]> to: J Programming forum <[email protected]> date: 10 June 2014 03:26 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >Skip, I am glad you mentioned this. I've been suffering too. (It's not just >Samsung, BTW, all Android devices have some sort of smart keyboard that >interferes, even if they (the keyboards) are not always the same. My pet >bugbear is reversion from the numerical to the non-numerical keyboard if the >is a space! >What we need is a J keyboard that you can switch to just like when you switch >to a different language. Has any work been done on this? I am fiddling with >Android at the moment, and have a few ideas as to how it should be done (for >instance, a key - say "&" - should also pop up the "&.", "&:" and "&.:" >options when held down, just as French vowels show their accents when held. >I'll happily put something together, but before I do I'd like to know that I'm >not re-inventing the wheel. -- from: Ric Sherlock <[email protected]> to: Programming JForum <[email protected]> date: 10 June 2014 04:33 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard There are two available Android Apps for J: * Michael Dykman's J console app (includes a J keyboard) * the new JQt Android app >If you install Michael's J console app, you can use the keyboard in the JQt >App. Read/follow the INSTALL.txt at the following location to download and >install j-console-1.0.5.apk. >https://github.com/mdykman/jconsole_for_android/tree/master/dist -- from: bill lam <[email protected]> to: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> date: 9 June 2014 16:57 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >Oh sorry! F virtual keys should be documented in System/Shortcut Keys jwiki. -- from: bill lam <[email protected]> to: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> date: 9 June 2014 16:46 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >The behavior of back button is intentional to avoid accidental closing J, you >can use Term menu file quit. Or type exit 0 (2!:55[0) in Term. Alternatively >there is an option for back button to close J. This, together with F virtual >keys, are documented in jqt/android jwiki page. >J keyboard service comes with Michael Dykman's J Console for android, it is >also mentioned in jqt/android wiki page. -- from: William Tanksley, Jr <[email protected]> to: Programming forum <[email protected]> date: 9 June 2014 16:26 subject: Re: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >I use the same phone. You can turn the keyboard on and off by pulling down the >notification bar while you're in a text field, and tapping the "Switch >Keyboard" notification. It's not a perfect solution, though, unless your J >keyboard is good enough for routine use. I personally use MessageEase, which >is good enough. >If you're rooted there is an automatic keyboard switcher app -- but I doubt >that's the case. -Wm -- from: Skip Cave <[email protected]> to: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> date: 9 June 2014 16:03 subject: [Jprogramming] Android Keyboard >I recently installed J802 on my Galaxy Note 2 (Android 4.3, soon to be 4.4). >Also, I have just updated all the packages/libraries. JQT seems to be working >as it should, except for three issues: >1. The Samsung keyboard that comes with the phone is nice, and works fairly >well for J, IF I turn off all the Predictive Text, Auto-Replacement, >Auto-Capitalization, Auto-Spacing, and Auto-Punctuate functions when I go into >J. This is a pain, since I like those features most of the time, just not when >using J. Otherwise, every time I type "i." (integers or index of) I get "I." >(indices or interval index), among other weird effects. And it takes >considerable contortions to force a lower-case "i" anywhere in the J script. >What I need is an automatic "auto-function block" when J starts up, that just >turns off all the auto-typing functions when I launch J, and turns them back >on when I leave J. >The suggested keyboard for Android ( >http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Android/Keyboard) would be nice, but there >doesn't seem to be any instructions on how to install it on that page, nor is >there any link to the install file. At one time I remember had that keyboard >installed on my phone, but the problem then was that once installed, the J >keyboard showed up on ALL the Android apps, not just J. And the >Auto-everything still seemed to function, even with the J keyboard. >2. Speaking of leaving J, the "go-back" button on the bottom of every Android >phone is supposed to back out of any application when it is pressed enough >times. However, that doesn't happen with J802. The "go-back" key does nothing >when it is pressed in a J session. The only way to get out of the J session is >to long-press the main Android button, to get a list of all the running apps, >and then swipe the J session off the screen, which kills the app. This >probably needs to be fixed. >3. Finally, I have no idea what all the "F" buttons along the bottom of the >screen are supposed to do, but for me they do nothing, except for F6. F6 pops >up a "Labs" dialog box, with the words "no lab selected". In any case, I have >been unable to find how you select any labs. Skip ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
