CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android
robbbert
robbbert

Reputation: 2193

Why does the Soft Keyboard appear?

I'm using the Android emulator to test my first Android application. While there is a functioning hard keyboard at the right side of the emulator window, the soft keyboard shows up when editing in an EditText control.

I'm aware of the option to hide the soft keyboard by using an instance of InputMethodManager, however I'm wondering why the soft keyboard does appear at all (when the hard keyboard is available).

To me, as a user, the soft keyboard in this case is rather distracting, hence I'd like to get rid of it if useful. - This question is about the practical context (i.e., is there any use of the soft keyboard when there is a hard keyboard, do real-world devices behave similarly to the emulator) and about general strategies to address the issue.

Thanks. I'll be upvoting any helpful hints.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3820

Answers (4)

Zachary Moshansky
Zachary Moshansky

Reputation: 1673

After testing on real world devices; On the motorola milestone that has a sliding keyboard that if it's open the soft keyboard is not shown, but when it's closed the soft keyboard is shown. On the HTC Cha-Cha, that has a permanently shown keyboard, the phone always uses the hardware keyboard. Even when in landscape and the hard keyboard would be very difficult to use it doesn't show a soft keyboard (Even after installing a soft keyboard I was unable to select it for use under Keyboard & Language Settings).

For additional information about the phone you can use the following.They will return the keyboard type and whether or not it is a hard keyboard and shown. Note: Phones without a hard keyboard that I've tested report that hardKeyboardHidden=2; (Which indicates hidden=yes), but type reports as soft keyboard which makes sense.

    Configuration config = getContext().getResources().getConfiguration();
    int keyboardHidden=config.hardKeyboardHidden;
    int keyboard=config.keyboard;

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/res/Configuration.html#HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_NO

Upvotes: 0

shiser
shiser

Reputation: 262

Actually, the AVD emulator does have a slide-out keyboard. The AVD option "Keyboard support" indicates whether the emulated device has any form of physical keyboard. The option "Keyboard lid support" indicates whether the device has a keyboard that can be opened or closed (slid out or what have you). As far as actually "opening" and "closing" the keyboard on a device set up with these options, you need to switch the orientation which is generally what you do with real-world slide-out-keyboard phones, e.g. the original Droid:

Original Droid with slide-out keyboard open

In the emulator, you control this orientation change with Ctrl+F11/Ctrl+F12 or 7/9 (on the number pad only, with NumLk off). You can confirm the keyboard opening and closing states by checking the value getResources().getConfiguration().hardKeyboardHidden == config.HARDKEYBOARDHIDDEN_YES

As far as whether the soft keyboard appears or not, it appears to me that handling such things is up to you as the programmer. Here's an example you can try in AVD:

  • Set up an emulator with "Keyboard support" and "Keyboard lid support" both set to yes.
  • Launch the emulator, then open Android's built in Messaging app.
  • Click in one of the text boxes - the soft keyboard should show up.
  • Switch the orientation of the emulator with Ctrl+F12 - the soft keyboard should now disappear
    • Note there seems to be a problem with the emulator itself, that switching back to portrait mode doesn't cause apps to redraw themselves back to portrait layout. but they will switch back to closed keyboard mode, which yields some odd, sideways-y behavior.

For an example of code to catch the keyboard opening/closing events, check out: http://www.how-to-develop-android-apps.com/how-to-detect-screen-orientation-change-in-android/

Upvotes: 1

Abhinav
Abhinav

Reputation: 39932

With a touch screen device + hard keyboard you have the flexibility to use both. On most devices with hard keyboards the keyboard has to be dragged out. It's much easier to just tap the screen. If you want to type a lot you would take the trouble to slide the keyboard out.

Android gives you the flexibility to program for all these behaviors.

Upvotes: 1

Federico klez Culloca
Federico klez Culloca

Reputation: 27139

On my G1, when the hard keyboard was opened, the soft keyboard didn't appear. But I'm not sure whether a device which ALWAYS has a keyboard opened (like the Samsung Galaxy PRO if I'm not mistaken) does the same.

Since the emulator doesn't have a slide keyboard, I think that's the case for this behavior.

Upvotes: 1

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