Keyboard of Windows Store

[Ana]

Unity 4.5 includes support for programmatically opening on screen keyboard in Windows Store Apps.
Will we get a NGUI fix that will allow input textboxes to trigger keyboard on Windows Store Apps?

[ArenMook]

At the top of UIInput.cs there is a define:

1. #if !UNITY_EDITOR && (UNITY_IPHONE || UNITY_ANDROID || UNITY_WP8 || UNITY_BLACKBERRY)
2. #define MOBILE
3. #endif

Change it to:

1. #if !UNITY_EDITOR && (UNITY_IPHONE || UNITY_ANDROID || UNITY_BLACKBERRY || UNITY_WINRT)
2. #define MOBILE
3. #endif

I think that should be enough.

[EBailey]

I've tried this with no luck.  Additionally, in UIInput::Update I added the check for the player type to make sure it went into the keyboard logic, and still it doesn't work. 

If I use a normal GUI.TextField, the keyboard will display.

[ArenMook]

Does it actually go into the keyboard logic? Can you use the TouchScreenKeyboard at all? It doesn't exist on desktop platforms at all.

[EBailey]

I used a Debug.Log statement and then ran the code on my Surface RT to verify that it does go into the code. 

That said, I did a sample test application to display the on-screen keyboard and it fails also when using TouchScreenKeyboard.Open("foo"), but does display if I use GUI.TextField, so I suspect the problem is on the Unity side.  I've posted to their forums and have not had any responses.

[EBailey]

Tracking thread on Unity Forums: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unity-4-5-windows-store-touch-screen-keyboard-not-working.248523/

[Ana]

So how can we use the touch keyboard with NGUI? Has it been fixed yet?

[ArenMook]

Issue is in Unity's side -- they didn't test this feature before pushing it, so no. You will need to wait for them to fix it.

[MisterAndroid]

Hey Guys,

So I ran into the same problem posted above and by combining information from: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unity-4-5-windows-store-touch-screen-keyboard-not-working.248523/#post-1650855 and what was posted here, the edits I made to UIInput.cs (NGUI version 3.5.5) were as follows:

1. //Change definition of mobile to include UNITY_WINRT (Metro + WP8 )
2. #if !UNITY_EDITOR && (UNITY_IPHONE || UNITY_ANDROID || UNITY_BLACKBERRY || UNITY_WINRT)
3.  

in OnSelectEvent()

1. //Replace just adding the application.platform for WP8Player
2. #if UNITY_WINRT
3.     || Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.WP8Player
4.     || Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.MetroPlayerARM
5.     || Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.MetroPlayerX64
6.     || Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.MetroPlayerX86
7. #endif
8. ...
9.     mKeyboard = (inputType == InputType.Password) ?
10.         TouchScreenKeyboard.Open(mValue, TouchScreenKeyboardType.Default, false, false, true) :
11.         TouchScreenKeyboard.Open(mValue, (TouchScreenKeyboardType)((int)keyboardType), inputType == InputType.AutoCorrect, label.multiLine, false, false, defaultText);
12.  
13. //This is the only way the keyboard knows to be opened.
14. #if UNITY_METRO
15.     mKeyboard.active = true;
16. #endif
17.  

In the Mobile Update() function

1. #if MOBILE
2.         string mCached = "";
3.  
4.         void Update()
5.         {
6. #if UNITY_METRO
7.         if ( isSelected )
8.         {
9.             string text = Input.inputString; //According to the unity forum, only way to detect key presses
10.            
11.             if( !String.IsNullOrEmpty(text) )
12.             {
13.                 if( text == "\b" ) //The only way to pick up on the backspace from Input.inputString
14.                 {
15.                     if( !String.IsNullOrEmpty(mCached) && !String.IsNullOrEmpty(value) )
16.                     {
17.                         mCached = mCached.Remove(mCached.Length - 1, 1);
18.                         value = value.Remove(value.Length - 1, 1);
19.                     }
20.                 }
21.                 else
22.                 {
23.                         //Since mKeyboard.text is always null, you have to accumulate the chars
24.                         //found at the frame they are processed
25.                         mCached += text;
26.                         value += text;
27.                 }
28.             }
29.         }
30.     }
31. #else
32. ... //rest of the Mobile update function
33.  

The limitations of this solution are that the only special keystrokes I could recognize were backspace. But it did allow us to write a simple register/login UI for our game. I hope this helps others with the same problem!

~Andrew

[ArenMook]

Thanks, unfortunately 3.6.5 code is a bit different, and most of it already happens in the Update() function... Also you should really use the UIInput's Insert function so that validation works properly.

P.S. That said though, I've merged your code in there, somewhat. No idea if it will work, naturally... but I did. <_<