I am working on a app that needs a fair amount of user input, both text and numbers. The input paradigm has to be very fast - there is little time to jump between several screens to complete the input before a new set of data input has to be made. "Fast" may not the the right word....in this scenario I find it distracting to move through several screens (popup dialogs/selection boxes included) to finish this input set and then return to making observations to collect the data that has to be input. I could use selection boxes, but I would like to find something else more clever. Why? The competition uses that input mode, and I find their input method to be slow and painful (to me - ie distracting from the observing component of this user application).
The good news is the text is really just a small set of one, two, or three letter codes plus 1-3 numbers. I was thinking of trying to make a small keyboard that had the right codes and numbers to see if that input format is faster and less distracting. I googled for android soft keyboard and found references to the LatinIME and the sample SoftKeyboard in the sdk. Most of the references I have found to these keyboards is translating them into different languages. What I really need is a 4X4 grid (or maybe the 3X6 number grid will work) of keys where I can change the labels on the keys depending on the different input conditions. Is it possible to change the layout and number of keys using these tools, or do I have to roll my own from scratch using the SoftKeyboard as a starting point? Would it be easier/simpler to use a grid layout and just put 16 buttons in it? Thanks for your thoughts! Mark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
