Unicode Keyboard

Question

Hello

A MTT user wants to use PT Lite on his tablet however he wants to make notes, comments, etc. with two special characters that are unique to his language. The PT project is a unicode project and he would like to use barred i, and n with tail. We have a PC keyboard already, RamuUni as Romansh. However, he would like to use a keyboard like such on Android. Is there a keyboard available? OR do I need to create one? How? OR is autocorrect.txt or similiar available with PT Lite? Any help would be nice.

We have used ‘X’ letter as barred i, and ‘Q’ as n with tail.

Answer 1

Assuming you are talking about virtual keyboards. I would suggest looking at keyman for android keyboards, if you haven’t already.

Failing that, Paratext Lite does support autocorrect.txt, but you have to enable it via the Options → Advanced section (and then restart Paratext Lite).

Once it’s enabled it work in the same way as Paratext. (using the autocorrect.txt file from the project folder)

Comments

Thank you.

The translation team doesn’t like the autocorrect.txt idea. They have been using installed keyboards for a long time with their PT projects. They don’t want to change mid-stream. With that, I’d be looking at creating a .kmp and importing/uploading on Android. The first requirement is to create the keyboard with Keyman. Once that is created, what is the recommended approach for importing the keyboard on Android? Do you use Keyman for Android or use Keyboard App Builder (KAB)? Both require the .kmp file. I guess, I’m not sure what the difference is between the two approaches. I am a SAB user and familiar with that, I have not used Keyman before.

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I’ve never used Keyboard App Builder. I’ve only ever used Keyman directly.

For that the process is something like:

1. install keyman app from playstore.
2. in keyman app, find the keyboard you want and install it.
3. enable keyman in android settings.

Keyboard App Builder does appear to make this process easier. It seems that once the app is created it’s as easy as install an app. I guess it’s worth trying if you need to setup a keyboard on multiple devices…

Answer 2

This Keyman keyboard might be overkill for what your need is, but the Cameroon keyboard certainly supports the barred i and eng:
https://keyman.com/keyboards/sil_cameroon_qwerty
or this one might be simpler and in English:
https://keyman.com/keyboards/sil_uganda_tanzania
You can install Keyman from Google Play and then install keyboards. I don’t know what language you are working in, but it might be that a simpler keyboard would be available for your needs if I knew what language you need it for.

Answer 3

Thank you.

I’m thinking long term it might be best to create a keyboard that fits our needs. Also, do you know the difference between Keyman for Android and Keyboard App Builder (KAB)? Both required the .kmp file first in order for the keyboard to work in Android.

My thoughts are to create a keyboard with Keyman, import the .kmp into KAB and create the app, then install the keyboard on Android.

Any other thoughts or comments? Right now we mainly need ‘X’ > barried i, and ‘Q’ > n with tail.

Answer 4

I too, am interested in this question of why one needs KAB nowadays. As of Keyman 14 the system allows the user to see if their keyboard in present in a repository library, and then both the Keyboard AND the Keyman app are downloaded and installed. It doesn’t sound like it’s difficult in principle for any user to use this approach. But this is a new feature, and perhaps there are problem? Not that I’m aware of (yet). To make the new Keyboard that doesn’t yet exist in the Keyman library, one would use Keyman Developer.

Comments

One other useful feature of KAB is the ability to bundle several dictionary/lexical model/predictive text modules with one keyboard rather than having to install several. For example, one app can include Hausa, English, Fulfulde, etc.

Answer 5

Most normal users only need one keyboard, so if you can package that with an App you make it almost as easy and normal to install as any other app. Also you can customise the instructions and welcome within the app to be as helpful as possible for your likely audience. Thus I see Keyman as being great for power users juggling many keyboards and KAB apps great for everyone else. It really comes down to the installation experience, that’s all.