Input method in FreeBSD virtual terminal (Week6)

Date: 07/12-07/18

This week I started to read the vt source code (sys/dev/vt/)

Here are two useful functions I found:

1. vt_processkey(): process key sequences
2. vt_mouse_paste(): paste text

vt_processkey is reponsible for processing keys sequence.

vt_mouse_paste() is called by vt_machine_kbdevent() when a user presses the PASTE key to paste text with mouse:

	case SPCLKEY | PASTE:       /* kbdmap(5) keyword `paste`. */
#ifndef SC_NO_CUTPASTE
		/* Insert text from cut-paste buffer. */
		vt_mouse_paste();
#endif

And the function body:

static void
vt_mouse_paste()
{
	term_char_t *buf;
	int i, len;

	len = VD_PASTEBUFLEN(main_vd);
	buf = VD_PASTEBUF(main_vd);
	len /= sizeof(term_char_t);
	for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
		if (buf[i] == '\0')
			continue;
		terminal_input_char(main_vd->vd_curwindow->vw_terminal,
		    buf[i]);
	}
}

It would call terminal_input_char to send characters into the current virtual terminal window.

• Write a IME library with librime, then opens a device/socket and listens for commands and events in user mode
• Modify vt_processkey such that a user presses a specific key combination to enable the IME mode
  • After the user has enabled the IME mode, all key input will be processed with the IME library to output CJK chars
• Write a send_chars function (can refer to vt_mouse_paste()) to output these CJK chars if the mode
• Additionally, show candidates during typing

• Do some experiments on vt code, especially focuses on how to input/output characters
• Research how to display text to show candidates