An input method may consume multiple key events in sequence before finally
outputting the composed result. This is called *preediting*, and an input
method may provide feedback about this process by displaying the intermediate
composition states as preedit text. To do so, the gtk.imcontext.IMContext will emit
signal@Gtk.IMContext::preedit-start, signal@Gtk.IMContext::preedit-changed
and signal@Gtk.IMContext::preedit-end signals.
For instance, the built-in GTK input method gtk.imcontext_simple.IMContextSimple
implements the input of arbitrary Unicode code points by holding down the
<kbd>Control</kbd> and <kbd>Shift</kbd> keys and then typing <kbd>u</kbd>
followed by the hexadecimal digits of the code point. When releasing the
<kbd>Control</kbd> and <kbd>Shift</kbd> keys, preediting ends and the
character is inserted as text. For example,
Ctrl+Shift+u 2 0 A C
results in the € sign.
Additional input methods can be made available for use by GTK widgets as
loadable modules. An input method module is a small shared library which
provides a gio.ioextension.IOExtension for the extension point named "gtk-im-module".
gtk.imcontext.IMContext defines the interface for GTK input methods.
gtk.imcontext.IMContext is used by GTK text input widgets like gtk.text.Text to map from key events to Unicode character strings.
An input method may consume multiple key events in sequence before finally outputting the composed result. This is called *preediting*, and an input method may provide feedback about this process by displaying the intermediate composition states as preedit text. To do so, the gtk.imcontext.IMContext will emit signal@Gtk.IMContext::preedit-start, signal@Gtk.IMContext::preedit-changed and signal@Gtk.IMContext::preedit-end signals.
For instance, the built-in GTK input method gtk.imcontext_simple.IMContextSimple implements the input of arbitrary Unicode code points by holding down the <kbd>Control</kbd> and <kbd>Shift</kbd> keys and then typing <kbd>u</kbd> followed by the hexadecimal digits of the code point. When releasing the <kbd>Control</kbd> and <kbd>Shift</kbd> keys, preediting ends and the character is inserted as text. For example,
Ctrl+Shift+u 2 0 A C
results in the € sign.
Additional input methods can be made available for use by GTK widgets as loadable modules. An input method module is a small shared library which provides a gio.ioextension.IOExtension for the extension point named "gtk-im-module".
To connect a widget to the users preferred input method, you should use gtk.immulticontext.IMMulticontext.