Qt.inputMethod.show () doesn't show any keyboard

Question

Considering "Property and Method Changes" from here:

TextInput and TextEdit's openSoftwareInputPanel() and closeSoftwareInputPanel() methods have been removed. Use the new Qt.inputMethod property and call Qt.inputMethod.show() Qt.inputMethod.hide() to show and hide the virtual keyboard.

I've written the simple example below.

import QtQuick 2.3
import QtQuick.Window 2.2

Window
{
    id:         root
    visible:    true
    width:      600
    height:     557

    Rectangle
    {
        id:           numberInputBox
        height:       500
        width:        300
        border.color: "green"

        TextInput
        {
            id:             textInput
            font.pixelSize: 20
            cursorVisible:  true
            height: 500
            width: 300

            MouseArea
            {
                anchors.fill: parent
                onClicked:
                {
                    Qt.inputMethod.show()
                    console.log("getPrinted")
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Whereas the text from console.log gets printed, I cannot see any keyboard on screen.

---

UPDATE:

I tried:

import QtQuick 2.3
import QtQuick.Window 2.2

Window
{
    id:         root
    visible:    true
    width:      600
    height:     557

    Rectangle
    {
        id:           numberInputBox
        height:       500
        width:        300
        border.color: "green"
        property string numericText

        TextInput
        {
             id:             textInput
             text:           parent.numericText
             focus:          true
             activeFocusOnPress: true
             font.pixelSize: 20
             cursorVisible:  false

             MouseArea
             {
                 anchors.fill: parent
                 onClicked:
                 {
                     Qt.inputMethod.show ()
                     console.log("fsdfsdf")
                 }
             }
        }
    }
}

Again, the text gets printed but the keypad doesn't get shown. I am on Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS with Qt 5.4 and QtCreator 3.3.0

Answer 1

As stated in the comments, the Qt Virtual Keyboard is only available in top level licensed version of Qt, i.e. the "professional" and "enterprise" ones, as clearly demonstrated by the feature table available at this download page.

"Community edition" (the open source version of Qt) does not include the keyboard. Hence, on desktop systems, physical keyboard is the only available input option. Differently, in mobile platforms, Qt hooks up the native virtual keyboard system by default and there is no need to call Qt.inputMethod. Given that, the example in the question can be simply rephrased as follows:

import QtQuick 2.3
import QtQuick.Window 2.2

Window
{
    id:         root
    visible:    true
    width:      600
    height:     557

    Rectangle
    {
        id:           numberInputBox
        height:       500
        width:        300
        border.color: "green"
        property string numericText

        TextInput
        {
             id:             textInput
             text:           parent.numericText
             focus:          true
             activeFocusOnPress: true
             font.pixelSize: 20
             cursorVisible:  false  
        }
    }
}

Executing this example on a WinPhone, Android or iOS device will correctly show the native virtual keyboard as soon as the TextInput is tapped.

Answer 2

I think that it's because you need to give the TextInput focus:

focus: true

This works for me on Desktop, where the only way I know of to test this is to use Qt's Virtual Keyboard (and set QT_IM_MODULE=qtvirtualkeyboard before running the application), as BaCaRoZzo already mentioned. On platforms with native virtual keyboards, such as Android, the explicit call to Qt.inputMethod.show() isn't necessary.