Keyboard disappears after after each typed character

[ruedigerkupper]

Description of the feature

Illustrations

• Device: hammerhead
• Channel: RC
• Build:

Steps to reproduce

Use on-screen keyboard frequently. Observe that disappears after each typed character, especially in the browser.

Expected behavior

keyboard stays visible until I type CR or dismiss it.

Actual behavior

see above...??? (redundant section???)

Logfiles and additional information

[kugiigi]

Description of the feature is actually for feature requests so you can remove it since I can see that this is a bug report. Illustrations should be removed as well but the device details should stay. Expected behavior should describe what's supposed to happen and the Actual behavior should describe what's actually happening which is usually the incorrect behavior. Steps to reproduce should contain the actual steps, usually numbered, and not necessarily describe the result. Anyway, enough of my review points on your bug report :wink:

In any case, I think I've encountered this issue but I can't remember what triggers it and when it happens. But I do remember it happening on the browser in a certain website.

[ruedigerkupper]

Thanks for the review ;-). It happened yesterday entering text into a text field in system settings. So it is not limited to the browser. Still I do not know what triggers it or how it can be reproduced. Yesterday, it appeared when I was half way typing the string. So I could enter the first half, and then suddenly the keyboard disappeared and kept doing so after each typed character.

[james-lyon]

I've been meaning to file a bug report about this for a while. I've been encountering this bug quite frequently on the Messaging app (device: BQ Aquaris E4.5 channel: Stable) on OTA-9 and OTA-10.

I have been unable to reproduce it reliably, it seems completely random.

It is as described: at some point when typing a message the keyboard will disappear. It is then only possible to finish the message (very slowly) by entering one character at a time, with the keyboard disappearing after each character.

[UniversalSuperBox]

I can honestly say I've never seen this occur. If someone could find a set of steps to get it to happen reliably, we'll probably be able to fix it pretty quickly.

[ruedigerkupper]

I'll do my very best. The bug appears to manifest itself with a certain probability, but as you try pinning it down the more erratic it gets. I believe this has been termed a Heisenbug. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug

[james-lyon]

I still can't get it to happen reliably. One other thing I've noticed is that when it happens, I can delete several characters then type them in again without the keyboard disappearing. When I get back to the character that initially caused the keyboard to disappear, it once again disappears!

@UniversalSuperBox would posting any logfiles help?

[ruedigerkupper]

Interesting. That might mean it is related to the length of the string. Do text entry fields have something like an "expected input length"?

[ruedigerkupper]

In general: What events cause the keyboard to disappear?

• a place outside a text entry field is tapped
• ... what else?

[Flohack74]

I have problems with the keyboard on edge, it sometimes disappears (but not on every character), and then I just have a white area of nothing, and I need to change back and forth to another App to ge a keyboard again. Mostly noted on TELEports, but thats because thats the app where I type most probably

[lduboeuf]

occured for me on messaging-app and morph as well on edge

[Flaburgan]

It occurs to me exactly as @james-lyon described: I'm entering a sentence, then suddenly with the first letter of a word, the keyboard disappears. I can then wait for it to reappear, enter another letter, and it disappears again, until I finish the word and press space. Then I continue my text message.

So it looks like the problem is about some specific words. To me, it is the autocomplete which is the problem. I guess the beginning of the word leads to a crash during the guessing of the words.

[james-lyon]

^ The autocomplete crash sounds like a possible cause. I have noticed that if I delete the letter that first causes the keyboard to disappear, I can enter a different letter with no problems.

And it is always upon typing the first letter of a word that the keyboard initially disappears.

[Flaburgan]

Where can I find the keyboard autocomplete logs?

[lduboeuf]

.cache/upstart/maliit-server.log ?

[ruedigerkupper]

Does anyone know a word to type which triggers the bug?

-- Dr. Rüdiger Kupper Forststr. 3 72250 Freudenstadt

[lduboeuf]

it happens randomly, so hard to reproduce.

[Flaburgan]

Next time it happens to me, I'll write the sentence to reproduce.

[kugiigi]

I think I found a sure way to replicate this issue although it only happens when pressing the backspace or enter key. It happens to me whenever I'm composing an email in ProtonMail and I'm in the email body field. It's in a webapp and I haven't tried in Morph.

[Flaburgan]

So I just reproduced it on my FP2 running devel in the SMS app. The sentence I was entering was Tu remontes quand et comment ? with the french keyboard. I was only able to enter Tu remontes quand et c and starting from that point, the keyboard disappears for each letter of comment. So it disappeared when I entered the c, then I refocused the input and the keyboard reappeared, then I entered the o and the keyboard disappeared again, etc.

Here was I have in maliit-server.log:

maliit-server: smoothedNgramPredictor.cpp:315: virtual Prediction SmoothedNgramPredictor::predict(size_t, const char**) const: Assertion `numerator <= denominator' failed.
Loading module: 'libubuntu_application_api_touch_mirclient.so.3.0.0'
WARNING: void MIMPluginManagerPrivate::_q_setActiveSubView(const QString&, Maliit::HandlerState) "libubuntu-keyboard-plugin.so" "fr" is not enabled

Not sure it is very useful. I'm still having the bug under my eyes right now so I'll wait 10 minutes before sending the message if anyone wants me to test anything. Please ping me here or on telegram.

[ruedigerkupper]

Are you able to reproduce it with this sentence?

[Flaburgan]

Me? Yes I still reproduce the bug with that specific sentence.

[Flaburgan]

@ruedigerkupper if you were talking to me, yes, I still reproduce it. Do you want me to grep anything anywhere?

[lduboeuf]

I think this can be closed no ? @Flaburgan

[Flaburgan]

Why? As said, I still reproduce it with that very specific sentence (and also others). Do you have any news?

[lduboeuf]

Oh i confused with another issue. Still don't reproduce here (N5), have you played with keyboard settings ?

here is my settings:

[normandc]

I have this issue on a OnePlus One device running the RC channel (currently 2020-W33).

In my case it is actually 2 separate issues:

• In messaging (SMS), I cannot reliably reproduce, the OSK disappears while typing, and it is near impossible to get it back; sometimes putting the app in the background and returning to it works, most of the time I have to quit the app and launch it again
• Reliably on created webapps, for example I created my own webapp for Fastmail (using Webber I think). When typing either Enter or Backspace, the OSK closes. In this case, tapping in the text entry area makes the OSK reappear.

[ruedigerkupper]

I confirm that the second problem @normandc describes (keyboard disappears upon backspace) appears always and reproducibly in at least one web app I use.

[lduboeuf]

Just had this today while writing a sms

[kugiigi]

I think this is a separate issue from the issue when the keyboard sometimes won't come up in text fields in non-web apps. This issue specifically happens on some webapps when pressing certain keys.

[lduboeuf]

Don't have it since a while, is it closeable ?

[james-lyon]

I still get it, not as often, but it last happened to me 2 days ago (BQ E4.5 on Stable)

[kugiigi]

In my experience, I usually get this issue when pressing backspace. But I don't seem to replicate it anymore in protonmail and twitter. The twitter webapp I was using seems to be still using oxide since it now crashes in arm64. Perhaps an issue with oxide?

[Flaburgan]

@lduboeuf, IMO there is a bug somewhere in the predictable software, and while it is not found, I don't see why we should close that issue. I don't reproduce it anymore with Tu remontes quand et comment ? as I was describing in that comment https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/1244#issuecomment-567856585 but I guess that's because the keyboard learned from my typing and is now suggesting something else so is not entering the crash condition anymore.

[james-lyon]

I only get this problem in messaging-app, I don't think I've ever had it in the browser. It still happens exactly as I described further up this thread (when typing the first letter of a word). Were there any investigations into @Flaburgan 's suggestion that it is caused by autocomplete crash?

[Fuseteam]

is this still an issue? tho there is currently an similar issue with the backspace key

[james-lyon]

It's still an issue for me, but now occurs less frequently (Aquaris E4.5 on stable). I'm sure it's a bug with autocomplete (maybe only affecting the French dictionary??) but I don't know if it was ever investigated.

I have never experienced the issue when tapping backspace, it only happens with the first letter of a word.

[ruedigerkupper]

It hasn't happened for me for a long time, but I'm on devel or RC. But I also think it's an autocomplete failure. If so, it may even depend on which words you have saved in your personal dictionary. I wondered since a long time where that is stored and how it can be investigated? (I am sure that I raised a feature request for that, but I can't find it.) Can anyone having that knowledge help us out? Where is my autocorrection dictionary stored?

[Fuseteam]

i'm not sure we have a personal dictionary, but if its that it may be related to certain characters like ' not being escaped properly would need to be investigated

[lduboeuf]

word database are installed in /usr/share/maliit/plugins/com/ubuntu/lib/... But not sure we have a personal dictionnary Does it happen only with autosuggestion enabled ?

[kugiigi]

I think there's a personal dictionary. Entries are added when you select an unknown word from the word ribbon. Doing that will make it possible for that word to be suggested in the future. I may be wrong though 😄

[james-lyon]

word database are installed in /usr/share/maliit/plugins/com/ubuntu/lib/... But not sure we have a personal dictionnary Does it happen only with autosuggestion enabled ?

I tested for several days with autosuggestion disabled and didn't encounter the bug. Not completely conclusive but it was taking too long to write messages ;)

That's what made me think it has something to do with autosuggest.

[lduboeuf]

ok maybe logs can help, app logs and maliit-server.log

[EtherGhost]

The bug is still precent on Pixel 3a XL OT21 and RC today. For me only in sms app.

[lduboeuf]

Just happened to me as well yesterday on Teleport. xperiax

[lduboeuf]

I have heard an interesting work around that may help find the root cause If it happens, go back, enter again in the TextArea focus, tap on "space" first , you should be able to write again. But for me it happens very rarely now