TextField in Jetpack Compose 1.7 Does Not Support Japanese Input Correctly with POBox IME on Xperia Devices [373743376]

Fixed

Bug

Status Update

No update yet.

Description

y-...@unext.jp

created issue #1

Oct 16, 2024 03:58AM

Environment:

Jetpack Compose version: 1.7.3
Jetpack Compose component(s) used: TextField
Android Studio Build: Android Studio Koala Feature Drop | 2024.1.2 Patch 1
Kotlin version: 2.0.20
Devices: Xperia 1, Xperia ZL2, Xperia XZ2 Premium
IME: POBox Plus

Issue Summary:
In Jetpack Compose 1.7, when using the POBox IME on Xperia devices, certain Japanese characters such as small characters (e.g., "っ", "ゃ", "ゅ", "ょ") and diacritic marks (dakuten, handakuten) cannot be input into a TextField. Additionally, toggle input (e.g., pressing 'あ' multiple times to switch to 'い', 'う', etc.) does not work as expected.

Steps to Reproduce or Code Sample to Reproduce:

Use a Sony Xperia device with the POBox IME.
Open a Jetpack Compose 1.7 app that contains a TextField.
Attempt to input Japanese characters using a Japanese keyboard (IME), including small characters (e.g., "っ", "ゃ", "ゅ", "ょ") and diacritic marks (dakuten, handakuten), as well as toggle input (e.g., pressing 'あ' multiple times to change it to 'い', 'う', etc.).

For a detailed demonstration of the issue, please refer to the attached reproduction video.

Actual Results:

Small characters like "っ" (small tsu) and "ゃ, ゅ, ょ" (small ya, yu, yo) cannot be entered.
Diacritic marks (dakuten and handakuten) cannot be added to characters.
Toggle input does not work. For example, pressing 'あ' three times should result in 'う', but instead results in 'あああ'.

Expected Results:

Users should be able to input small characters like "っ", "ゃ", "ゅ", "ょ".
Diacritic marks (dakuten and handakuten) should be added properly when required.
Toggle input should function correctly, allowing users to change characters by repeatedly pressing the same key (e.g., 'あ' -> 'い' -> 'う').

Reproduction Rate:

100%
This issue occurs every time under the described conditions.

Environment:

This issue happens regardless of the Android OS version.
The problem occurs specifically on Xperia devices using the POBox IME when Jetpack Compose 1.7's TextField is used.
Jetpack Compose 1.6 does not exhibit this issue.

Additional Information:

According to our investigation, POBox is pre-installed on Xperia devices up to the Xperia 1, released in 2019 (https://www.sony.jp/xperia/xperia/xperia1/?srsltid=AfmBOoox1BTdp0e7TprBv0hcGsft9wxrpNf_-KepPYoCqf6QgXX6axE1). As a result, this issue could affect a significant number of Android users in Japan.

While we suspect the issue may be related to the combination of Xperia devices and POBox, we would greatly appreciate your investigation into a potential solution or workaround within Jetpack Compose.

Workaround Attempted:

As a workaround for this issue, we attempted to directly use EditText within AndroidView by utilizing ViewBinding in the Compose environment. However, we encountered another issue in our project that prevented us from using this workaround effectively.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could also prioritize investigating and addressing this issue. Here is the link to the related issue:
https://partnerissuetracker.corp.google.com/issues/369354336#comment4

Sample App to Reproduce:
You can reproduce the issue using this app:
https://github.com/yurihondo/screentransitionsample

Please especially check the implementation at the following location:
https://github.com/yurihondo/screentransitionsample/blob/c71e4d6f41c76cdeb8a359e3cc6938a5250ac5da/feature/applepie/src/main/java/com/yurihondo/screentransitionsample/applepie/EditRoute.kt#L76

reproduction_video_by_sample_app.mp4

4.1 MB

Download

Comments

jo...@google.com <jo...@google.com> Oct 18, 2024 10:37AM

Reassigned to ha...@google.com.

ha...@google.com <ha...@google.com> #2Oct 21, 2024 10:02PM

First of all thanks for this detailed issue.

This issue had been investigated thoroughly when it was first reported internally. The surprising detail in this report is that the issue is not reproducible before 1.7. I will look into this.

The main problem with POBox is the fact that it is deprecated. Since 2021 Sony has been shipping new Xperia devices with Gboard pre-installed. Although we are aware that there is still a considerable amount of users still using POBox, the described behavior is caused by POBox's noncompliant behavior with InputConnection and InputMethodManager documentation. However, this is understandable since TextView implementation was also not respecting the behavior that is expected from Editors.

Ultimately we have decided to enforce the documented behavior with specifically regards to when editors should call InputMethodManager.updateSelection. Also, although unconfirmed, there were traces of possible custom code being included in Sony OEM images that changed how InputMethodManager was notified from TextView. If POBox also depended on something like this, it would be impossible for Compose code to replicate the same unknown behavior.

ma...@gmail.com <ma...@gmail.com> #3Oct 22, 2024 11:27AM

If the investigation takes time, would it be possible to revert the surrounding implementation to 1.6.x equivalent?

Or is that option not available?

Even if the root cause is POBox, from the perspective of the app's customers, it looks like an app bug, so this issue is a blocker against updating Jetpack Compose.

to...@gmail.com <to...@gmail.com> #4Oct 22, 2024 01:46PM

Just to be sure, it is dangerous to replace Compose TextField with Android View EditText as a workaround for this issue.

Compose 1.7 has a bug that causes ANR when the focus is on EditText. https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/369354336

Another View-related bug in Compose 1.7 is that an Android View is focused by calling FocusManager.clearFocus(). https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/374031296

Perhaps there is a lack of testing of Compose 1.7 in combination with Android View. There is also a possibility that there are other fatal bugs related to View.

In other words, the only options for apps targeting the Japanese market that require POBox support are to continue using Compose 1.6 or to use EditText in combination with various workarounds.

Message last modified on Oct 22, 2024 01:49PM

ap...@google.com <ap...@google.com> #5Oct 24, 2024 01:19AM

Marked as fixed.

Project: platform/frameworks/support
Branch: androidx-main
Author: Halil Ozercan <halilibo@google.com>
Link: https://android-review.googlesource.com/3317256

Fix POBox keyboard issue

Expand for full commit details

Fix POBox keyboard issue 
 
Fix: 373743376 
Fix: 329209241 
Test: NullableInputConnectionWrapperTest 
Change-Id: I94e0e598274fb88b255f977f9fbd50dfbbb1ecb1

Files:

M compose/ui/ui/src/androidInstrumentedTest/kotlin/androidx/compose/ui/text/input/NullableInputConnectionWrapperTest.kt
M compose/ui/ui/src/androidMain/kotlin/androidx/compose/ui/text/input/NullableInputConnectionWrapper.android.kt

Hash: 57f58c4b80d5d8470b2aca325dfdcd55f235231e
Date: Thu Oct 24 01:25:20 2024

ha...@google.com <ha...@google.com> #6Oct 24, 2024 01:33AM

Many thanks again for this report. Especially for giving us a huge clue in terms of what could be going wrong. The fix is now merged and I will ask for a cherry-pick into a stable release.

ke...@mercari.com <ke...@mercari.com> #7Nov 7, 2024 06:56AM

Thank you for fixing the issue, I confirmed the fix was released in version 1.8.0-alpha05.
Do you have any concrete plan to cherry-pick the fix into current stable version (1.7.x)? We are currently waiting it.

ha...@google.com <ha...@google.com> #8Nov 7, 2024 12:05PM

Yes, this fix is planned to be included in a future 1.7.x release.

ka...@mercari.com <ka...@mercari.com> #9Nov 22, 2024 02:11AM

Thanks for the fix. Sorry to follow up on this. is it possible for you to share specific release version/date for the stable version? We are waiting on this to decide on our direction.