====== Input method in FreeBSD virtual terminal (Week7) ======

Date: 07/19-07/25

===== Progress =====
At the beginning of this week I did some experiments with ''%%vt_processkey()%%'' and ''%%terminal_input_char()%%'', such as a function that recieves a key and echos back.

After figuring out the usage of the two functions,  I hijacked ''%%vt_processkey()%%'' function and use right CTRL key to toggle the rime mode. If the rime mode is enabled, the key will be passed into the custom function called ''%%vt_rime_process_char()%%'' to send the key to the rime server.

Now, the most important problem is how to communicate with the rime server. I list some requirements for implementation:

==== Requirements ====
  - The kernel need to send character to the Rime server in user space when receiving keyboard events.
  - The Rime server replies CJK characters. Additionally, word candidates and preedit string.
  - The kernel output the characters to where the cursor is and display candidates and preedit string. 

Another issue is the default VT font does not contain Chinese characters, so I am unable to insert/display CJK characters on the screen. Fortunately, my mentor [[/LiWenHsu|LiWenHsu]] told me there is a usable font that supports CJK chars in [[https://github.com/emaste/fontstuff|fontstuff]] repo.

===== Todos =====
  * Try out the b16.hex in fontstuff repo to check it can display CJK or even bopomofo chars
  * Take a look at route(4) (route monitor) to see how it achieves the communication between kernel and user mode:
    * user mode: ''%%src/sbin/route/route.c%%''
    * kernel mode: ''%%sys/net/rtsock.c%%''