Re: XIM application frozen on gtk+1.3.*

[Steve Underwood <steveu coppice org>]

Owen Taylor wrote:

> tajima <hidetoshi tajima eng sun com> writes:
>
> > Well, I have two reasons for wants of spot location. It is often the case
> > that input methods use lookup choice windows to select a choice among
> > candidates, and these windows are typically poped up near the insertion
> > point, so that users can keep his eyes on the point.
>
> Yeah, this is a bit of problem. Even internal to GtkIMContextXIM
> we'll have to deal with this problem in some form when rendering
> the status (though that doesn't need to be near the cursor as
> much as choice windows do.)

This sounds logical. However, I have watched hundreds of messaging operators
entering Chinese all day in Chinese Windows. They freely choose to use the root
window style of input, when all styles are available. The reason being that they
prefer to always look to the same predictable point on the screen to find the
choice/input strokes/status window. Over the spot can be implemented with the
same predictable location for a separate choice window, but usually is not. It
is, however, usually implemented with a separate choice window, just not a
predictably located one. The exception here is for handwriting input. I haven't
seen a serious handwriting package for X (although I saw a simple, but
abandoned, XIM effort based on earlier work by Owen). However, there are
serveral for Chinese entry under Windows, and they generally keep their large
entry window in a predictable place, regardless of the input style in use. The
smarter ones detect when that large window is over the text entry location, and
move it only to avoid conflict. Others use a smaller choice/status window, and
allow the pen to scrawl over the entire screen area, bounded only by the screen
edges.

I have seen a vague indication that some of the handwriting input vendors may
have X prototypes. Whether they ever get released is another matter.

> > Another reason is that there are still many XIM modules which don't support
> > on-the-spot. Fallback to Root-Window mode can be a workaround, but
> > not all user will like it.

All XIM modules will implement on-the-spot. Its just a metter of time. I cannot
imagine an XIM modules where this is not implemented and not on the TODO list.
Making plans to work around the lack of on-the-spot is just wasting time. By the
time you have implemented a workaround, I think all the popular input packages
will support on-the-spot, and those that don't will be abandonware.

Regards,
Steve