Re: atypical compose key

["Etsushi Kato" <ek kato gmail com>]

Hi,

On 9/29/06, Andriy Gapon <avg icyb net ua> wrote:
> on 28/09/2006 17:34 Etsushi Kato said the following:
> > On 9/28/06, Andriy Gapon <avg icyb net ua> wrote:
> [snip]
> >> I believe that this is a check for a current key being pressed while
> >> some modifier key is held down and I think that Ctrl and Alt are always
> >> in the default modifier mask (Shift is explicitly ignored in this check).
> >
> > Right.  One way to solve this problem is using input method framework
> > using key snooper (like SCIM), or using toplevel event (like uim),
> > which can be used with GTK_IM_MODULE=XXX (name of input method) if you
> > installed them.  These input method uses internal Compose sequences
> > instead of (before) gtkimcontextsimple.
>
> Etsushi,
> thank you for the reply.
> I've actually tried to play with IMs but without much luck. I think I
> understand the concept behind IMs/XIM, but practical usage is hard to
> get. Also, I don't need to input any CJK stuff and I only use cyrillic
> and extended latin input (Eastern, Central and Western European
> languages), so using some powerful IM seems like an overkill to me.

I can understand the situation.  But modern IMs like SCIM [1] and/or
uim [2] have removed internal relation with CJK language, and it uses
modular mechanism.  For example if you install uim-1.2.1, you don't
need to load any CJK input method by default, and the default (direct)
IM uses Compose input as in X11 as in GTK+ and Qt environment too
(with GTK_IM_MODULE=gtk and QT_IMMODULE=uim).  It doesn't consume any
memory related CJK input method if your don't use them.

> Besides, currently I can input everything I want by running Vim in xterm
> — standard modern xfree86/x.org facilities and UTF-8 locale are
> sufficient for me.

I also think it should be reorganize Compose mechanism in GTK+,
especially in X11 environment, as in x.org one.  I got reports related
to this from European people many times.

> Thus, the following question: is there any way to tell/trick GTK
> application to not use all the wonderful input processing it has, nor
> any sophisticated external IM, and simply (and fully) obey X, just the
> same way xterm does ? [This also includes using X Compose sequences
> instead of those hardcoded into GTK, etc]

uim-1.2.1 uses just the same way in x.org's Compose mechanism in the
backend input mechanism.  So you can try to install uim 1.2.1 and use
GTK_IM_MODULE=uim as a environmental variable for GTK apps.  This
doen't load any CJK related input method, and all the Compose
sequences in x.org is available.

[1] http://uim.freedesktop.org/
[2] http://www.scim-im.org/

Cheers,
--
Etsushi Kato
ek kato gmail com