CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#keyboardwindows-phone-7.1
Dr. Andrew Burnett-Thompson
Dr. Andrew Burnett-Thompson

Reputation: 21521

Developing a custom keyboard (like Swype) for Windows Phone 7.1 Mango

Having recently bought a Windows Phone I can say the one feature I sorely miss from my Android phone is Swype. This was a custom keyboard where you trace your finger over the keyboard to create words. Its very fast and basically I think its awesome.

Anyway! There is no Swype on WP7... The reason for this I hear is because it is impossible to change the keyboard programmatically in Windows phone. I would like to know from the community if things have changed or are likely to change in this area, or if there are any workarounds to programmatically inject a custom keyboard into the UI to allow input with any text field.

Disclosure - if it becomes possible I would like to develop a swype like app, however it would likely be because I miss it so much rather than as a commercial project!

Best regards,

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1629

Answers (2)

Chase
Chase

Reputation: 564

You're limited by what Microsoft allows you to alter and they don't allow you to alter the keyboard. Furthermore Swype is a patented and very advanced technology that would be a humongous project for a single developer to work one. It's a good idea as lots of people like Swype but WP7 isn't Android.

Upvotes: 2

keyboardP
keyboardP

Reputation: 69372

There is no way to officially create a new keyboard that functions outside of your app. So, if you plan to release this in the marketplace, then it's not currently possible. You might be able to create a homebrew app that does this, but I don't think it would be very easy to replace the standard keyboard system wide. Of course, even if you did manage the homebrew version, it definitely wouldn't be allowed on the Marketplace.

Upvotes: 3

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