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Add action to cycle through available input methods

Open githubsterer opened this issue 10 months ago • 8 comments

Developer TODO (don't remove)

  • [ ] cycle through them in most recently used
  • [ ] update documentation

Don't know if this is similar to the keyboard picker the Actions list says doesn't work in newer Android versions, but it would be nice to simulate clicking on the small keyboard icon in the nav bar that brings up the Choose Input Method dialog. Not sure why this can't be done?

githubsterer avatar Mar 10 '25 16:03 githubsterer

Technically it's called Change Default Keyboard

githubsterer avatar Mar 10 '25 16:03 githubsterer

This is the same as the keyboard picker action. The Switch keyboard action may solve your problem?

Apps can no longer show the keyboard picker dialog you mentioned if they are in the background, from the user point of view it is arbitrary "security" decisions by the people who make Android. It never has any correspondence to what you can do manually as the user can do 😅. That explains any confusion why Key mapper doesn't let you do certain things.

sds100 avatar Mar 10 '25 18:03 sds100

Ughhh, so silly. The switcher method would require a separate key map for each possible keyboard. Would it be possible to recreate the same functionality as the picker but with Key Mapper opening a list to choose from as you now do for selecting the switch action?

githubsterer avatar Mar 10 '25 19:03 githubsterer

There used to be a notification you could pull down to change the keyboard and there still exists the little icon at the lower left of the keyboard, but if you don't use those icons then it takes up a lot of visual space. I would think however that button works could be replicated but I guess not.

githubsterer avatar Mar 10 '25 19:03 githubsterer

What about an action that cycled through all available keyboards?

githubsterer avatar Mar 10 '25 19:03 githubsterer

Thanks :-) the only downside to a full cycle is that, in at least my case, I have two different work needs. One is to cycle only between two keyboards, let's say Gboard and Key Mapper, which I anticipate doing often now that I've got the hang of the keyboard key maps, and the other would be to actually cycle through all the loaded keyboards on an as-need basis.

Thus I was suggesting two different features, one cycling through a preset group, and the other cycling through all available input options. And of course the third option would be to build your own picker by showing the same list you do now for choosing a single keyboard, but as an action.

githubsterer avatar Mar 10 '25 20:03 githubsterer

I had not realized that Android did away from the notification that let you change keyboards, and having the button at the bottom left takes up valuable screen real estate. So now I see a very important need to solve this issue.

githubsterer avatar Mar 10 '25 20:03 githubsterer

I think creating preset groups of input methods is a bit out of scope. But cycling input methods is fair. I renamed this issue to suit so that may be added in the future.

jambl3r avatar Mar 10 '25 21:03 jambl3r