Dead keys followed by space

[Johan Corveleyn]

Hi Thiago,

Thank you for your answer. I am experiencing this issue on Windows
(Windows 10 and 11).

Now, it dawns on me that:
- I have a QWERTY keyboard (standard US layout).
- I have my keyboard layout setting in Windows configured to "US
International". That way the keys for ~, ^, ', " become "dead keys"
(waiting for next keystroke).
- If I change my keyboard layout setting to "US" then I can't
reproduce anymore because those keystrokes no longer act like dead
keys (~, ^, ... immediately give that character).

I don't know how this is handled on Linux or Mac. Do they also have
something like a "US International" keyboard layout setting so ^
becomes a dead key? Or does it work differently if I want to type â or
ë, or a standalone ^?

I'm not sure what you mean by disabling IME or how to know that it's
enabled. Can I enable/disable this programmatically in JavaFX? Or is
this an OS keyboard layout setting (anyway: just having a standard "US
input" makes this non reproducible because I can no longer type dead
keys)?

If you have a keyboard input with dead keys it's super easy to test
this with a simple program like:
[[[
public class DeadKeysFX extends Application {
    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {
        TextField textField = new TextField();
        Scene scene = new Scene(textField);
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }
}
]]]

Just type ^+<space> and see whether you get one or two characters. In
all non-JavaFX programs (including Java Swing) I get a single '^'. In
JavaFX I get a '^ '.

--
Johan

On Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 5:16 PM Thiago Milczarek Sayão
<thiago.sayao at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Johan,
>
> It might vary be platform. Which one are you using? (Windows, Mac, Linux).
>
> Try disabling IME (Input Method Editor) and see it it works.
>
> - Thiago
>
> Em ter., 24 de set. de 2024 11:51, Johan Corveleyn <jcorvel at gmail.com> escreveu:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> (This is my first post here, hope I'm following the right path)
>>
>> It seems JavaFX TextFields (and friends) do not automatically convert
>> <dead key>+<space> into simply <dead key character>. They make it into
>> <dead key character>+<space>, which is very atypical. I would consider
>> this behavior a bug, since it is different from any editor I know (and
>> makes it very hard to enter a dead key character on its own). We ran
>> into this with Java 8, I also reproduced it with openjdk 21 + openjfx
>> 23.
>>
>> For instance if in a JavaFX TextField I type a '^' keystroke, it waits
>> for the next keystroke (which is normal since it's a dead key,
>> possibly followed by a character on which to put the '^'). But if I
>> then type <space> I expect a simple '^' to appear. Instead, in JavaFX,
>> '^ ' appears. This does not happen in Swing, nor in any editor or
>> shell or ...
>>
>> Background context: a user of our JavaFX application couldn't
>> authenticate with their password (typed in a PasswordField). After an
>> awful lot of troubleshooting we found that they used a '^' in their
>> password. Of course the user didn't notice that after typing ^+space
>> two dots appeared in the PasswordField. Now that user knows they have
>> to backspace after typing ^+space ...
>>
>> I suppose inserting a Swing JPasswordField in our JavaFX app would
>> work around this issue, but ... isn't there a better solution?
>> Shouldn't this be regarded as a bug?
>>
>> --
>> Johan