Input Panel Programming Overview

4/19/2010

The input panel for Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Classic provides several input methods, including an on-screen keyboard, that ship with the device. If they choose, developers can easily create and install additional input methods. If you want to use the input panel in your applications, the following design guidelines are recommended:

• Your application should automatically display and hide the input panel as necessary, based on the user task at hand. For more information, see Displaying or Hiding the Input Panel.
• Always lay out dialog boxes such that editable controls are located above the default input panel area. When laying out dialog boxes to accommodate the input panel display, consider a height of 80 pixels. This is the height of the keyboard, character recognizer, and block recognizer input panels included on Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Classic.
• Handle any changes in the input panel state or size. The input panel calls the IInputMethodEx interface to notify the input method of state changes and to request action and information from the input method.

The default input panel area is designed to preserve maximum screen space for viewing documents and information. The input panel controls are placed at the lower edge of the screen so that the user can deploy these controls without obscuring the data on the screen.

Examples of when to automatically show the input panel include when the user creates a new item or sets input focus to a text box to name an item. Examples of when to automatically hide the input panel include when the user starts a game or displays a dialog box that does not accept ASCII input.

See Also

Concepts

Displaying or Hiding the Input Panel
How to Access and Modify the Input Panel State