Issue with Jota Text Editor

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Install Jota Text Editor from Aquamarine Networks
2. Try to get the shortcuts to work (with any setting in the preferences: CTRL 
or LEFT ALT or RIGHT ALT). They should do the "normal" actions: copy, paste, 
save, etc.

What is the expected behavior? What do you see instead?

I cannot make the shortcuts to work in any possible configuration (would love 
to have CTRL-C/V/X/S to work...). I get normal letters. The cursor is slightly 
modified if typing with ALT pressed, and yet normal letters are entered.

What version of Hacker's Keyboard are you using? (See top of the app's
Settings menu.) On what phone or tablet?

Version 1.27.1145. It is installed on a Huawei 7" MediaPad.

If applicable, does this affect the 4-row or 5-row layout, or both? Which
language(s)?

NA.

Please provide any additional information below.

I also contacted Jota's developer. He/she claims it is an issue with the soft 
keyboard, as his/her app works fine with a physical keyboard. I am new to 
Android, so I am not knowledgeable to judge (although it Hacker's Keyboard 
works fantastically well with ConnectBot...). Here is the developer answer:

Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:08:38 +0900
From: "Jiro@Aquamrine Networks."
Subject: Re: Jota and Shortcuts

Hi,

Thanks for your mail.

Unfortunately, Hacker's keyboard doesn't support Jota's shortcut-keys.
I don't know why because Hacker's keyboard is not my app.

Only H/W keyboards can fire short-cut keys.

Best Regards,
Jiro

Original issue reported on code.google.com by paolo.ie...@gmail.com on 15 Dec 2011 at 8:27

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for reporting, I'm looking into it further. It appears that the bug 
workaround for issue 24 has the side effect of disabling modifier combinations 
for letter keys since the original behavior had caused unpredictable side 
effects due to the very odd way that Android generated key events.

I'm looking into an alternative approach, I hope I'll have a test version out 
shortly.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 16 Dec 2011 at 12:11

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 16 Dec 2011 at 12:11

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Forgot to add, it's interesting that Jota was mentioned in issue 24 as one of 
the applications that was *not* affected by the odd spurious-shifting bug. I 
hope I don't need to implement two different key event delivery methods to 
support different application types :-(

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 16 Dec 2011 at 12:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Klaus, many thanks for the speed of reaction! Let me know if there is anything 
I could do to help--alas, I am totally new to Android, so I doubt, but if I 
can, do not hesitate to ask.

Let me add that it is by seeing and testing the quality of the soft keyboard 
provided by Hacker's Keyboard that I was convinced that it was perhaps time to 
move on to a tablet! Until a few days ago I was still a happy user of an old 
Psion 5mx: completely obsolete on many fronts, perhaps, but with a gorgeous 
physical keyboard which remains, I believe, much more efficient than a soft 
one.... 

Original comment by paolo.ie...@gmail.com on 16 Dec 2011 at 9:20

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If you're feeling experimental, try this version: 
http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/downloads/detail?name=hackerskeyboard-v
1028-experiment5.apk

That uses a very different method to handle modifier keys, including various 
other changes from my experimental branch.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 18 Dec 2011 at 12:10

• Changed state: Started

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Tried for some time now and seems perfect, thanks! Where CTRL was working 
(ConnectBot), it still works. Where it did not (Jota Text Editor), now works 
perfectly fine. Thanks!

Original comment by paolo.ie...@gmail.com on 18 Dec 2011 at 11:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I must report something weird.... I am surprised that I noticed this only 
yesterday, almost 24h after installing the above experimental version, and so I 
wonder if I have involuntarily done something wrong in some unrelated config, 
for instance. 

Anyway, the fact is that now Jota works like a charm (as per my last comment), 
but in ConnectBot CTRL does work but it is now sticky, if this is the right 
term: once pressed, not only the next key gets CTRL as a modifier but so do all 
keys pressed until the next time CTRL is hit. A bit like CAPS LOCK, if you 
want. On the other hand, if CTRL is used as it would on a real keyboard (CTRL 
pressed, key hit, CTRL released), CTRL does not remain active. It is actually 
easy to adapt to this, but it is inconsistent with what happens in Jota, and 
not necessarily the most natural behaviour. I really hope I am not messing up 
with some config issue and that I am reporting a real issue of the Hacker's 
Keyboard....

That said, I am going to stick with the experimental version--for now, it is 
great and I thank you for posting it!

p. 

Original comment by paolo.ie...@gmail.com on 20 Dec 2011 at 11:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for the detailed report, I was able to reproduce the Ctrl regression and 
it's hopefully fixed in the new -experiment7 snapshot. Sorry about the 
inconvenience.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 21 Dec 2011 at 3:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

FYI, I was surprised to see that the system EditText widget in Honeycomb and 
ICS appears to support Ctrl-X/C/V/A shortcuts natively, and this combined with 
shift-arrow selection helps make editing a lot more pleasant even without a 
specialized editor app.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 21 Dec 2011 at 3:17

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Wow, that was quick, thanks!  :-)

Downloaded and installed, and it appears to work perfectly fine!

W.r.t. your comment 9, I find it a pity that, apparently, applications like 
Firefox do not support CTRL-X/C/V/A. I think keyboards (even soft ones) are in 
many cases much much more efficient (in terms of productivity) than 
pointing--and in any cases both input methods should be active at the same time 
to let people pick their preferred input style....

Original comment by paolo.ie...@gmail.com on 21 Dec 2011 at 8:06

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for confirming. I've promoted the experimental branch to the main 
branch, the changes discussed in this bug are included in v1.28rc4 available 
from http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/downloads/list .

Please let me know if you notice any other regressions or bugs.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 21 Dec 2011 at 8:31

• Changed state: FixInTest

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Just a word to mention that I tried 1.28rc6 for a few days now and it looks 
great. Thanks!

Original comment by paolo.ie...@gmail.com on 28 Dec 2011 at 6:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh, dear....

I just noticed that in portrait mode the CTRL+... keys seem not to work (in 
Jota, at least). Sorry, did not notice that before--I always use landscape mode.

Thanks and a great 2012!

p.

Original comment by paolo.ie...@gmail.com on 8 Jan 2012 at 4:00

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Which version are you using? Until recently the Ctrl key didn't work while 
completion suggestions were being displayed, so it's not related to orientation 
as such, just indirectly if you have suggestions disabled in landscape. This 
should be fixed in 1.28rc21: 
http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/downloads/list

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 8 Jan 2012 at 4:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[Bulk bug update] The new Market release 1.29 includes the changes from the 
v1.28 prerelease series, and these "FixInTest" issues should now be fixed. If 
not, please reopen the bug with additional information. If the original bug 
covered multiple separate issues that aren't all addressed, please open new 
bug(s) for the leftover ones.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 13 Jan 2012 at 9:29

• Changed state: Fixed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Bulk update - changing "Fixed" to "Verified" for old bugs.

(Background: I'm changing the "Fixed" status to be considered open, the next 
steps in the lifecycle will be the closed states "FixInTest" and "Verified". 
This lets me mark issues as "Fixed" in commit messages without hiding them from 
the issue tracker.)

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 22 Jan 2013 at 7:33

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Bulk update - changing "Fixed" to "Verified" for old bugs.

Original comment by Klaus.We...@gmail.com on 22 Jan 2013 at 7:34

• Changed state: Verified