Re: supporting XIM

[Jungshik Shin <jshin mailaps org>]

On Thu, 27 Mar 2003, Pablo Saratxaga wrote:

> [I Cc: to gnome-i18n as it concerns mainly the gtk2 input]
>
> On Thu, Mar 27, 2003 at 04:17:58AM -0500, Jungshik Shin wrote:
>
> >   As mentioned before, this is possible in GTK2 applications.
> > Fire up gnome-terminal and right-click in any text input area
> > and you'll get a pop-up menu from which you can choose a gtk2
> > input module a la Windows.
>
> But you are limited to only one "X input method"...
> That is the big problem; it would be much better if it would be possible
> to have *seceral* X input methods, like in yudit.

  That's not a problem at all because there are Korean, Japanese
and Chinese input modules that can coexist with other input
modules and be switched to and from each other. With them, you
don't need to use XIM.  For instance, imhangul gtk2 input module for
Korean(http://kldp.net/projects/imhangul) is much more powerful than
Ami. I haven't tried Japanese or Chinese gtk2 input module, but judging
from the way imhangul works, it should be possible to write Japanese and
Chinese input modules as powerful as, if not more powerful than, Japanese
and Chinese XIM servers. BTW, this also works *along* with Xkb. So, if
you have KDE 'keyboard switcher'(which appears to be a simple wrapper
over setxkbmap and of which feature can be done by setxkbmap in non-KDE
environment.),  you can switch between all gtk2 input modules, XIM (either
Compose or one of XIM servers ) and as many Xkb layouts as you want.


> me (I can only type some accented letters, while with an UTF-8 locale
> and xkb keyboard (trough "X input method") I can type much more.

   You meant 'Compose'(the built-in XIM server) by 'xkb keyboard',
didn't you?


> I never use the built-in input of gtk2, as it is too deficient for
> In particular esperanto accented letters, azeri schwa, and others.

   You can just Xkb for what it's easier to type with Xkb than
with gtk2 input modules. You wrote as if there's an inherent limit in
gtk2 input modules, but obviously there isn't.  It only depends on how
well any given module is written and designed.


> But then, I cannot type in japanese...

  There is at least one Japanese gtk2 input module as I wrote above.
You just have to install it because it doesn't come default with
gnome 2.x.

> Well, I don't always use all of them, as I don't speak all those languages;
> but a lot of people may have needs that cover several input methods,
> for example Korean and Japanese, or Japanese and French (something
> almost impossible to do properly right now, if you have Japanese input
> you lost some accents), or Chinese and accented pinyin...

  With gtk2 input modules, you can have all of them.


> gtk2 input methods for translitering cyrillic or other scripts are
> useful, but not required.
> more useful are the methods to type in transliteration for scripts
> that use sillabaries with a wide range of combination (korean, geez,
> inuit-cree, etc.),

   Well, Korean script is not usually classified as a syllabary
although it could be many different things depending on how you look at
it :-). Anyway, if there's a need for them(transliterating input methods
for Ethiopic, Inuit, Korean, etc), somebody has to write input modules
for them.  Perhaps, taking advantage of what's done in yudit would be
a good idea when writing such a input module.


> But there is still missing the ability to use various XIM input methods
> and switch between them.

  It'd be nice to have that feature, but it's not necessary because
scripts that usually require XIM servers can be and are
supported by gtk2 input modules.

   Jungshik Shin