+ The Android platform offers a spell checker framework that lets you implement + and access spell checking in your application. The framework is one of the + Text Service APIs offered by the Android platform. +
++ To use the framework in your app, you create a special type of Android service that + generates a spell checker session object. Based on text you provide, + the session object returns spelling suggestions generated by the spell checker. +
++ The following diagram shows the lifecycle of the spell checker service: +
+
++ Figure 1. The spell checker service lifecycle. +
++ To initiate spell checking, your app starts its implementation of the spell checker + service. Clients in your app, such as activities or individual UI elements, request a + spell checker session from the service, then use the session to get suggestions for text. + As a client terminates its operation, it closes its spell checker session. If necessary, your + app can shut down the spell checker service at any time. +
++ To use the spell checker framework in your app, add a spell checker service component including + the session object definition. You can also add to your app an optional activity that + controls settings. You must also add an XML metadata file that describes + the spell checker service, and add the appropriate elements to your manifest file. +
++ Define the service and session object with the following classes: +
++ See the + + Spell Checker Service sample app to learn more about implementing this class. +
++ Optionally, you can implement + {@link android.service.textservice.SpellCheckerService.Session#onCancel()}, which + handles requests to cancel spell checking, or +{@link android.service.textservice.SpellCheckerService.Session#onGetSuggestionsMultiple(TextInfo[], int, boolean) +onGetSuggestionsMultiple()}, which handles batches of suggestion requests, or both. +
++ See the + + Spell Checker Client sample app to learn more about implementing this class. +
++ Note: You must implement all aspects of spell checking as asynchronous and + thread-safe. A spell checker may be called simultaneously by different threads running on + different cores. The {@link android.service.textservice.SpellCheckerService} and + {@link android.service.textservice.SpellCheckerService.Session} take care of this + automatically. +
++ In addition to code, you need to provide the appropriate manifest file and a metadata file for + the spell checker. +
++ The manifest file defines the application, the service, and the activity for controlling + settings, as shown in the following snippet: +
++<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" + package="com.example.android.samplespellcheckerservice" > + <application + android:label="@string/app_name" > + <service + android:label="@string/app_name" + android:name=".SampleSpellCheckerService" + android:permission="android.permission.BIND_TEXT_SERVICE" > + <intent-filter > + <action android:name="android.service.textservice.SpellCheckerService" /> + </intent-filter> + + <meta-data + android:name="android.view.textservice.scs" + android:resource="@xml/spellchecker" /> + </service> + + <activity + android:label="@string/sample_settings" + android:name="SpellCheckerSettingsActivity" > + <intent-filter > + <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /> + </intent-filter> + </activity> + </application> +</manifest> ++
+ Notice that components that want to use the service must request the permission
+ {@link android.Manifest.permission#BIND_TEXT_SERVICE} to ensure that only the system binds to
+ the service. The service's definition also specifies the spellchecker.xml metadata
+ file, which is described in the next section.
+
+ The metadata file spellchecker.xml contains the following XML:
+
+<spell-checker xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" + android:label="@string/spellchecker_name" + android:settingsActivity="com.example.SpellCheckerSettingsActivity"> + <subtype + android:label="@string/subtype_generic" + android:subtypeLocale="en” + /> + <subtype + android:label="@string/subtype_generic" + android:subtypeLocale="fr” + /> +</spell-checker> ++
+ The metadata specifies the activity that the spell checker uses for controlling settings. It + also defines subtypes for the spell checker; in this case, the subtypes define locales that + the spell checker can handle. +
+ + + ++ Applications that use {@link android.widget.TextView} views automatically benefit from spell + checking, because {@link android.widget.TextView} automatically uses a spell checker. The + following screenshots show this: +
+
+
++ Figure 2. Spell checking in TextView. +
++ However, you may want to interact directly with a spell checker service in other cases as well. + The following diagram shows the flow of control for interacting with a spell checker service: +
+
++ Figure 3. Interacting with a spell checker service. +
++ The + Spell Checker Client sample app shows how to interact with a spell checker service. The + LatinIME input method editor in the Android Open Source Project also contains an example of + spell checking. +
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/docs/html/resources/resources-data.js b/docs/html/resources/resources-data.js index 8ad970ba7c457..0b82aeeba3de8 100644 --- a/docs/html/resources/resources-data.js +++ b/docs/html/resources/resources-data.js @@ -262,6 +262,17 @@ var ANDROID_RESOURCES = [ en: 'This article describes the changes and improvements to services introduced in Android 2.0, as well as strategies for compatibility with older versions of the platform.' } }, + { + tags: ['article', 'input', 'ui'], + path: 'articles/spell-checker-framework.html', + title: { + en: 'The Android Spell Checker Framework' + }, + description: { + en: 'This article describes the Android spell checker framework and how to use to implement spell checking in applications.' + } + }, + { tags: ['article', 'ui'], path: 'articles/touch-mode.html',