[Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

This software attempts to implement the Stroke Order Chinese Input Method as found in other Nokia Symbian phones sold in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, by utilizing Maemo 5's Hildon User Interface.

Changes in version 0.6-1 (2011-05-09):

• Fixed an issue in "Display button & icon in system menu" option where devices without sudo rights were unable to use that feature successfully. (Thanks to ywca for reporting this bug!)

Changes in version 0.6 (2011-04-25):

• Expanded the candidate character selection area to allow more candidate characters to be displayed at any one time (based on nkkj's suggestion), and hence reducing the need to scroll through the selection area.
• Renamed "Send SMS" to "SMS", and moved to button to be in between the "Copy" button and the "←" button.
• Based on jinjianlove7's suggestion, "Automatic Screen Rotation" and "Enforce Screen Orientation" (Landscape/Portrait) options are now available in the program menu. A few screen orientation related issues have been fixed too.
• Added "Display button & icon in system menu" option in the Settings page so that user can choose whether or not to have the "筆" icon in the system tray and the shortcut button in the system menu.
• Since selecting characters and their associated phrases will update their frequency data in database, performance drop is expected over days due disarrayed indexing and data fragmentation. A new feature named "Optimize Phrase Library" is provided to let user optimize the phrase library regularly for better performance.
• Since more items have been added to the Settings page, the Settings page is now vertically scrollable.
• Added "Speak in Mandarin", "Speak in Cantonese" and "Stop Speaking" buttons in the program menu. (Requires "eSpeak GUI Client", or the "espeak" and "espeak-extra-data" packages)
• Added Associated Phrase selection support for English, Numeric and Symbolic Characters. (Experimental feature with very limited selection values; must be used in conjunction with English / Numeric / Symbolic Virtual Keyboard)
• Added key press-and-hold feature in English / Numeric / Symbolic Virtual Keyboard that simulates the behaviour of real keys on physical keyboard --- when pressing-and-holding a virtual key in the English / Numeric / Symbolic Virtual Keyboard, that specific character will be inputted repetitively; when pressing-and-holding the Backspace key, deletion of text will be performed until user releases the virtual key.
• Added hundreds of Cantonese associated phrases and popular slangs for Cantonese users' convenience.
• Added a "Sponsor" button in the program menu for those who would like to sponsor the continuous development of this app by paying online.

Changes in version 0.5 (2010-12-26):

• Improved overall performance of character and associated phrase selection by code refactoring, making use of multithreading, SQL statement fine-tuning and better database table indexing.
• Due to performance consideration and usability concerns, selecting a Traditional Chinese character only lists out Traditional Chinese version of its associated phrases; and vice versa for Simplified Chinese.
• Fine-tuned the default character selection order by adjusting the frequency of the most commonly used characters.
• The maximum 75 characters selection limit when entering the first four strokes of a character is now lifted due to SQL statement fine-tuning. Such limit poses a potential problem of causing user not being able to select particular characters that have exactly matched the number of strokes inputted after some everyday use, due to the frequency-favored behaviour of candidate characters display logic.
• Improved virtual keyboard layout based on talk.maemo.org users' comments for better thumb-using, and hide the blue status bar when virtual keyboard is displayed to provide more room for the text area and the virtual keyboard.
• Added support for full-width English, Numeric and Symbolic characters in virtual keyboard.
• Added Full Screen Mode and application logo.
• Swap the position between the Copy and the Backspace buttons for easier acccess to the Backspace button during text input.
• Fixed the bug where copying empty text resulted in pasting the word "None" from the system clipboard.
• Fixed various bugs related to orientation detection.

Changes in version 0.4 (2010-09-07):

• Introduced a new virtual keyboard for English, numeric & symbolic characters.
• Display candidate character list by usage frequency, by making use of the "Record usage frequency of characters from stroke inputs" and "Record usage frequency of characters' associated phrases" settings.
• New "Reset usage frequency data" feature that allows user to reset all usage frequency data back to system's default settings.
• New Settings page for virtual keyboard and candidate character listing by usage frequency features.
• The associated phrase library has been extended significantly by adding train station names, names of popular places, names of popular government officials and politicians, names of academies, names of pop stars, names of mass media companies and some popular phrases in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Changes in version 0.3 (2010-08-13):

• Introduced "Strokes Enquiry" feature that allows you to enquire and copy the strokes of any particular Chinese character. This feature would be useful to those who would like to learn Chinese characters and their stroke orders.
• Fixed the issue where the candidate character list was not shown instantly after typing an English or Symbolic character followed by pressing the wildcard button.
• Increase the maximum number of candidate characters selectable for 4 or less strokes to 75. This is to ensure all Chinese characters with exactly 4 strokes are covered.

Changes in version 0.2-2 (2010-08-12):

• Fixed the potential installation failure of status menu button due to missing dependency declaration.

Changes in version 0.2-1 (2010-07-05):

• Always set input focus on text area after text insertion and text pasting.
• Fixed the issue where the input cursor always moved to the end after text insertion and text pasting.
• Fixed the issue where the Copy button copied the contact numbers instead of the text area contents to the clipboard after the SMS Preview page has been closed and input focus is not yet returned back to the text area.

Changes in version 0.2 (2010-07-01):

• Revamped User Interface - Stroke buttons moved to near the bottom of the screen, candidate character selection list moved to the right, English and symbol buttons moved to the bottom.
• Adjust sizes of the buttons based on screen orientation automatically
• Moved the SMS feature to a separate StackWindow page. Introduced SMS message preview (showing how long messages are broken) and a new numeric keypad.
• Rename the Clear button to "New message" button and move it to the program menu.
• Added the Paste button to the program menu. The Copy button is also available in the program menu.
• The last character of an associated phrase is now used as the key to obtain the list of its associated phrases.
• Space character is also added to the English character list for easier typing.
• Show friendly instructions as user clicks the stroke buttons and makes selection on characters.
• English mode is turned on by default.
• Pressing the new status menu button will launch a new program instance.

The following features are provided:

• Inputting Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese characters by pressing one or more of the five basic strokes
• Wildcard character "?" support.
• Showing candidate characters that match the strokes in a TouchSelector control.
• Once a character is inputted, its associated phrases will be displayed for selection.
• Inputting English characters and symbols by clicking through the TouchSelector items.
• Sending SMS to local/international numbers of one or more recipients, and then write the sent record back to the Conversations database.
• Message length detection and breaking long SMS message into multiple ones.
• English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Cantonese User Interfaces are displayed based on current system language.
• Associated phrases are displayed in their Traditional / Simplified Chinese order based on current system language. - Landscape and portrait mode support.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7847620_n.jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1251995_n.jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1473466_n.jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2226576_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7777566_n.jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6439778_n.jpg

Video Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgruAJqNbNs, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55_g_fhr53I, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMJ5d-sMPSg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztM_MntCNCU

This software is now available for download at the Maemo.org Extras-devel repository. As always, software in this repository could be risky to your system, and so please make sure you know what you are doing before downloading any apps from that repository.

More screenshots and explanation are available in my Chinese blog.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

downloaded it, tried it. it is awesome. I have never been able to master other input methods, this feel so natural. Many thanks.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

great, now the only problem is to learn stroke order Chinese. does this remove virtual keyboard?

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

@hpink: the virtual keyboard still pops up - but for me, it is no big deal

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Thanks for the info. Hope Amanda can release a pinyin input integrated with the virtual keyboard.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

As I live in Hong Kong, I'm not familiar with pinyin or zhuyin :(

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

@hpink: Stoke order is not that difficult to use once you learn the pattern of the word:) Typically, things starts from top or left and goes 'around' to the bottom. ok. I did have 6years of primary school opportunity to get that drilled into my head:p. as in many things, it just takes time to get to konw it well.

cheers

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

@amandalam, just wondering how many unique words are in the current database?

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

This is known by running SELECT DISTINCT Count statements...

There are 21342 unique characters in the database, with 81960 unique associated phrases (sum of English, Symbols, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese characters).

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

I have uploaded the v0.2 to the maemo.org extras-devel repository.

Changes in version 0.2 (2010-07-01):

• Revamped User Interface - Stroke buttons moved to near the bottom of the screen, candidate character selection list moved to the right, English and symbol buttons moved to the bottom.
• Adjust sizes of the buttons based on screen orientation automatically
• Moved the SMS feature to a separate StackWindow page. Introduced SMS message preview (showing how long messages are broken) and a new numeric keypad.
• Rename the Clear button to "New message" button and move it to the program menu.
• Added the Paste button to the program menu. The Copy button is also available in the program menu.
• The last character of an associated phrase is now used as the key to obtain the list of its associated phrases.
• Space character is also added to the English character list for easier typing.
• Show friendly instructions as user clicks the stroke buttons and makes selection on characters.
• English mode is turned on by default.
• Pressing the new status menu button will launch a new program instance.

Video Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMJ5d-sMPSg

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Maybe get in touch with the MSCIM google developer and integrate the two? right now the MSCIM have the nasty bug of removing the english keyboard & predictive input.

I wish I know how to use stroke order. My chinese has been going down hill - I forgot how to write most of the words so pinyin is the only option for me.

Otherwise a great product! very polished for such an early version

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

can we get english handwriting input then??

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Hey guys,

could someone please tell me how the input works on the N900? Btw: My virtual keyboard vanished when I installed Google Pinyin SCIM, and never reappeared.

Thanks!

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

f2thak & Irving,

This input method is an independent app and is not related to SCIM / MSCIM input method engine.

Penpower handwriting recognition offered in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan stocks does support English handwriting; however, that input method is based on the MSCIM engine and the known side-effect of installing such engine is that the virtual keyboard will no longer work.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

The penpower chinese handwriting input app also allows inputting of alphanumerics and other symbols via handwriting. If you want to install it and your N900 wasn't purchased in China/HK/Taiwan then search forums for penpower/pen power to find out how. However it is really more of a convenience feature for inserting the occasional Latin character in the midst of mainly Chinese characters since it's very tedious and rather error prone.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

This is cool. Thanks Amanda.

I can't work out how to input 好 or 是 though. It'd be nice to have a way to get the expected stroke order for a given character.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

好
Attachment 12251

是
Attachment 12252

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

is there document somewhere for nokia implementation of stroke order to form word? the stroke order you show for '好' is different from what I could recall if I were to write the word with pen and paper.

Cheers,

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

This looks awesome! I am starting my first course in chinese this autumn so this should be good to practice with.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

slight OT question... what is the stroke order for word shown below. thanks,

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

丿丨乛丨一丨乛一一乛丨

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

thank you very much...I transposed the 4th and 5th stroke in my failed attempts.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Version 0.3 is now released. Introduced "Strokes Enquiry" feature that allows you to enquire and copy the strokes of any particular Chinese character, plus various other fixes.

See #1 for more details.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

This is a great ap amanda!

It is nice to have the English keyboard, particularly for those of us who have lost the on-screen keyboard after installing penpower.

Along the English line...

1. Can predictive English text be added? (to accompany the predictive Chinese)
2. The English keyboard has some 'features' which reduce the potential size of the letter keys...
a. There are two backspace keys
b. The apostrophe, and perhaps the comma and full-stop, could all be on the bottom row, using some of the 'space' bar. I notice that the 'shift' key doesn't do anything to the symbols. Perhaps the 'Enter' key can be spanned across two rows, if that helps the arrangement.
c. In landscape mode, the English keyboard does not need a blue bar at the top of the screen. Unless it is used for predictive text :)

Otherwise, 'Stroke Order' is great as it is!

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Thanks for your suggestions! I am very happy that someone actually uses it! :D

I do intentionally keep two backspace keys --- the top one is for Chinese characters that I don't want to put extra code just to hide it when the English keyboard is shown; and there is one in the English keyboard because it would be much more natural to use it.

The position of apostrophe, comma and full-stop is referring to the PC keyboard layout, which I think most people would get used to it quickly. But as a trade-off of this, the English keys become a little bit smaller...

Introducing predictive phrases for English would mean another library to prepare and maintain, and it would only make sense if I implement this like the T9-way (i.e. lookup the phrases by checking the characters as you type, instead of just taking the first character and gives you its associated phrases)...this would take some time for technical research.

Unfortunately I'm quite busy on other personal stuffs these days though; but I'll see if I can incorporate some of your suggestions (e.g. the blue bar one) in the next versions.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

i intially also had problems with some characters, until i realized that (i will represent stroke glyphs in "ascii art") -, stroke is also used for reverse stroke '-, and is therefore used for strokes, which look like \,, \_ or <.

so e.g. 厶 is written as -, + \

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

some update will come ?
hope it wil not be long since I won't finsih mine before 201103

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Version 0.5 has been released to maemo.org extras-devel. See #1 for change details.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Thanks for the update! with the slightly larger keys on the on-screen keyboard, my finger can now grow a little fatter!

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Is it possible to use this in place of mscim (which doesn't have the symbols virtual keyboard and doesn't work in Qt apps)?

Also, I find this input method slower in normal use than pinyin input even though Chinese is my native language. It's good for finding characters I don't know how to pronounce though.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

thank you for the new version(ie. the v0.6).

I noticed that the 'about this product' window does not show all the text and can't be scrolled - less text are shown while in landscape mode.

Is it possible to put some sort of English to Chinese lookup?

Cheers,

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

English-to-Chinese lookup would be more like a dictionary or translation tool...which I think MStarDict and gTranslate do pretty well on this.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Bug fix version v0.6-1 released. See #1 for details.

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

The 'sponsor' button doesn't work for me. Opera tries to open the page '-raise/', which unsurprisingly doesn't go anywhere!

fortunately, i can read just enough chinese characters on dadablog.net to figure out how to 贊助 (/support).

Re: [Announce] Stroke Order Chinese Input Method
 

Thanks vkelim!! Ah, I haven't tried to set Opera as default browser and tested this case. But anyway, thanks for your sponsorship!! ;)