Android Version disables glide typing on Google Keyboard

Bug report

The newest version of Inkdrop v2 for Android seems to disable the ability to use glide/gesture/swipe typing on the built in Gboard. This was not a problem previous to the most recent update.

Info

  • Platform: Android
  • Platform version: Pie (9)
  • Device: Google Pixel 2 XL
  • App Version: 2.2.0

Reproduce

Install Inkdrop v2.2.0 on Android 9 (Pie) on Google Pixel 2 XL with glide typing enabled. The keyboard that appears when using Inkdrop only supports pecking at the keys as if the feature does not exist.

1 Like

Hi Stacey,

You recently updated the app from v1 to v2.
Unfortunately v2 doesn’t support Gboard’s suggestions and glide input due to its complicated behaviors for implementing the editor. I had to disable them by setting the input type to password.
If I found a workaround for this, I’d be happy to enable them again. But for now, it is not possible.

I understand. Hopefully a workaround reveals itself in the future. Thanks again for everything you do!

2 Likes

I was thiking about reporting this issue for sometime. Not being able to swipe really halves my writing speed
 what’s exactly the issue you’re facing with the editor?

Best regards!

Try it on Android and you will get it:

https://codemirror.net/mode/gfm/

Gboard messes up all the editor input.

aha clear, thank you. With chrome works fine, but not in Firefox.
I see they already have an issue open regarding this:

You said Chrome works fine with Gboard??? If so, it might be a device or Android version dependent problem. In the app, WebView is an instance of Chrome.
What is your device and version?
If you really don’t see any problem with the editor with Gboard, I could add an ‘experimental’ option to allow Gboard features.

Other people, please tell me if you also found it works fine.

Yes, using Chrome works fine. I can swipe without problems.
However, with Firefox the first time you swipe the cursor is moved to the beginning of the word, although with the next words works fine then.
I’ve also built a simple Android app with a webview and it also works fine there.

Device: Xiaomi MI5S - Android 7.0
Chrome: 68.0.34440.91
Firefox: 61.0.2
WebView: Android System WebView 68.0.34440.91

I think the experimental feature will be nice, so we can properly test it :slight_smile:

Thanks!

Sounds good. I’ll work on it. Thanks!

1 Like

Cool :slight_smile:

How are you even running it in Chrome on mobile?

What do you mean?

Oh, they were talking about codemirror, not inkdrop. My mistake.

Though it may be of interest to some - Gboard gesture typing doesn’t work, but SwiftKey does. So does Swype.

Hi Ciel,

Thanks for the info. That’s right. The app only disable gboard. You can use all third-party keyboards.

@David_Miguel
Sorry for the delay.

I was testing it on my Essential Phone with Android P but it is still terribly unstable.
Glide typing works fine but other operations like suggestion won’t work correctly.
So I can’t enable Gboard at the moment.

Hi @craftzdog, thanks for checking.

I still think that is better than nothing
 actually in my case I don’t use suggestions at all, however I almost cannot write if it’s not swiping
 could you still add a setting as experimental feature?

Ah that makes sense. Gboard without suggestions works fine. I’ll work on it. Thanks!

Good news - CodeMirror is working on version 6 which will fully support Android:

https://codemirror.net/6/

This work is currently at the prototype stage though.
I tried the demo on Android emulator and it seems like it works with Gboard with no problem.

1 Like

v2.3.0 has been released.
Now it allows you to enable Gboard from preferences so you can use glide typing:

Please note that it is unstable when you use it with word suggestions.
As the previous post, it will be resolved in the future with the new CodeMirror.

Thanks for the suggestion!

1 Like