720475 - use IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT and IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_PREVIOUS by default

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1474902

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: Keyboards and IME, defect, P3)

Description

[Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?)]

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/inputmethod/EditorInfo.html#IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT

these flags will put next and previous buttons on the keyboard when normally only the enter key would be shown. If available (its only API level 11) we should use it to make form navigation easier

Comment 1

[Alex Pakhotin (:alexp)]

Attachment: Fix

It looks like none of the current IME's supports these flag yet, at least I haven't yet found any, which does. Tried the flags separately, and together with IME_ACTION_NEXT - no effect.
I may be doing something wrong though, but I guess it's just because the API is very new, not widely spread yet.

Comment 2

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

This bug was marked blocking-fennec1.0+ but I do not think it should be a 1.0 blocker.

As alexp points out in comment 1, this is a recent Honeycomb API and current IMEs do not seem to have implemented it yet.

Comment 3

[Kevin Brosnan [Ex-Mozilla]]

Moving to - and 14+ based on comment 2.

Comment 5

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

I don't think we care about this bug for Firefox 14, 15, or 16.

Comment 6

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

This would be a good first bug for someone interested in Android and improving Firefox's form input.

The code changes are straightforward (see AlexP's patch). The tricky part is testing different IMEs, since this IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT feature is pretty new. I don't know which IMEs implement it yet.

Comment 7

[pushkar.singh93]

Hi I'm new here, this seems to be a good one for me to start contribute. I have experience with developing Android apps and Firefox extensions and I'm really interested in working on this bug, can u give me some clue on how to start? A lot thanks

Comment 8

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Welcome, Pushkar! Have you built the Firefox for Android source code? That's the first step. The build instructions are on the following wiki page. They are perpetually out-of-date, so please feel free to ask questions.

  https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Fennec/Android

Mozilla's Mercurial wiki has instructions on how to download the source code and prepare a patch:

  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mercurial_FAQ
  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mercurial_Queues

IRC is the best place for Q&A. Mozilla's Android team hangs out in the #mobile channel on Mozilla's IRC server:

  https://wiki.mozilla.org/IRC

Comment 9

[pushkar.singh93]

I built the code and its working fine, I am now going to try my hands on the bug. How should I start?

Comment 10

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

hi Pushkar, most of Firefox's Android IME key code is in the file mozilla/mobile/android/base/GeckoInputConnection.java.

From what I understand, android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo's IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT and IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_PREVIOUS flags are supposed to tell the IME virtual keyboard to provide NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons so the user can move the cursor to adjacent text fields. On the desktop browser, you would use TAB or SHIFT+TAB to move the cursor.

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/inputmethod/EditorInfo.html#IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT

Different IMEs may implement the NEXT and PREVIOUS behavior differently... or not at all! Unfortunately, I do not know which third-party IMEs actually implement NEXT and PREVIOUS. I have seen other Android apps provide NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons on a Gingerbread device, but I have not actually seen this on any Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean device!

To find a test case, you may need to test different combinations of third-party IMEs and Android apps (such as Android's stock browser or Google Chrome) on an ICS or JB device. If you find a combination that displays NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons on the virtual keyboard, please share the information in this bug.


*** I recommend finding such a test case BEFORE writing any code. Otherwise we won't know whether your code has actually implemented the feature! :)


To implement the feature, I think you can just "or" the `imeOptions` flags with the new flags in GeckoInputConnection's onCreateInputConnection() method. Something like this:

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/file/9a0b706c41d6/mobile/android/base/GeckoInputConnection.java#l841

I do not know if we should only "or" these flags only for certain content. We will need to test that once we have a test case that we can compare.

Unfortunately, EditorInfo.IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT and IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_PREVIOUS flags are only available in Honeycomb (API Level 11) and newer. You will need to check whether `(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 11)` at runtime before using IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT and IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_PREVIOUS.

Comment 11

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Assigning bug to Ian Patterson.

Comment 12

[Ian Patterson]

Attachment: Keyboard Screens.zip

Test case I ran to investigate the visibility of the "Next" button. The following keyboards were tested on my Galaxy S2:

Ice Cream Sandwich Stock - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vllwp.inputmethod.latin
Gingerbread Stock - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moo.android.inputmethod.latin.free
SwiftKey3 - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.touchtype.swiftkey.phone.trial
Samsung Stock - Pre-installed.
Swype - Pre-installed.

Attached zip file has screenshots of the keyboards' layouts when an input field in the browser is triggered. (Screenshots archived here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yx32dx36vx4yy0b/v8QoWhD8mL)

Browsers tested were Firefox, Chrome, and Android's stock ICS Browser.

Firefox
- In Swype, the Space translates to the Tab key when long-pressed or when pressing Shift and can tab over to the next field. The function is not appear available in the other keyboards; seems specific to Swype.
 
Chrome & Stock
- Gingerbread and ICS have a tab key created next to or near the spacebar
- Swype’s functionality is the same
- Feature isn’t present in SwiftKey 3 and Samsung’s stock

Comment 13

[Ian Patterson]

I am stepping down from this task due to a shift in priorities. Adding my notes for future reference.

Keyboard is triggered at:
https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/mobile/android/base/GeckoInputConnection.java#308

IME_ACTION is delegated here:
https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/mobile/android/base/GeckoInputConnection.java#351

IME_ACTION_NEXT is used at:
https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/mobile/android/base/GeckoInputConnection.java#333

Notes:
- mIMEActionHint appears to always equal "go", so the check is skipped by default
- mIMEActionHint is set in GeckoInputConnection's notifyIMEEnabled() method. notifyIMEEnabled() is called from Gecko's C++ code:
https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/widget/android/AndroidBridge.cpp#323
- That action hint value comes from <input mozactionhint="next"> tag:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/HTML/Element/Input#Using_mozactionhint_on_Firefox_mobile

- Force-setting outAttr.imeOptions = EditorInfo.IME_FLAG_NAVIGATE_NEXT replaces the Go button with the Next button, but with no functionality.

General Sites:
http://developer.android.com/training/keyboard-input/style.html
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2577956/how-to-add-go-button-in-android-softkeyboard-and-its-functionality
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/android-softkeyboard
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/inputmethod/EditorInfo.html (reference for outAttrs)

Comment 14

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Comment on attachment 703636 [details]
Keyboard Screens.zip

Attachment is a zip file.

Comment 15

[Tsai]

Hello.  I was wondering if my partner and I could work on this issue for a class project.  Please let me know if this bug is still open.  Thank you so much.

Comment 16

[Aaron Train [:aaronmt]]

It's all yours. Feel free to ask Chris Peterson any questions here or in #mobile on IRC.

Comment 17

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

hi, Tsai! Thanks for your interest! Sorry for the delay.

Have you built Firefox for Android yet? Compiling and installing your own build is the first step. See comment 8 above for build instructions.

See comment 10, 12, and 13 above for details about this bug.

As a starting point, you should also look at the "Fix" patch file that Ian attached in comment 1 above.

Comment 18

[Mike Hoye [:mhoye]]

Tsai - Are you still working on this?

Comment 19

[Michael Comella (:mcomella) [NI reported issues only: ex-Mozilla]]

Jim, could you mentor this bug?

Comment 20

[(inactive) Jim Chen [:jchen] [:darchons]]

Sure

Comment 21

[ben94lim]

Hi there,

I'd like to start working on this bug and I'm quite new to this. Do you have any advice on how to proceed?

Thanks

Comment 22

[(inactive) Jim Chen [:jchen] [:darchons]]

(In reply to ben94lim from comment #21)
> Hi there,
> 
> I'd like to start working on this bug and I'm quite new to this. Do you have
> any advice on how to proceed?
> 
> Thanks

Hi! Check out this link for a quick way to get started, https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Developer_guide/Build_Instructions/Simple_Firefox_for_Android_build.

And feel free to ask questions on IRC, in the #mobile channel.

For this particular bug, there is more information in comment 10.

Comment 23

[tuhina chatterjee]

Hi. I would like to work on this bug if no one else is working on it. It would be my first bug.

Comment 24

[Shubham]

Tuhina are you working on this. 
Jim: If Tuhina is not working on it, would it be okay If I take this up.

Comment 25

[(inactive) Jim Chen [:jchen] [:darchons]]

(In reply to Shubham from comment #24)
> Tuhina are you working on this. 
> Jim: If Tuhina is not working on it, would it be okay If I take this up.

Ok, I'm assigning it to you, since Tuhina's comment was from two months ago.

Comment 26

[Sivaranjani Subramanian]

Hi, any progress here? If no one is currently working on this, I'd like to help.

Comment 27

[friedger]

The Android Keyboard has remove support of prev and next flag (if I understand the code correctly). I couldn't find a good test case where the flag is used by any other keyboard or browser.

I saw an issue with tab navigation e.g. on github.com/join with keyboard Hacker's Keyboard (full layout). But that is a different issue, I guess.