How can you make a custom keyboard in Android

Question

I want to make a custom keyboard  I don t know how to do it using XML and Java  The following picture is a model of the keyboard I want to make  It only needs numbers

User · Answer

Well Suragch gave the best answer so far but he skipped certain minor stuff that was important to getting the app compiled.

I hope to make a better answer than Suragch by improving on his answer. I will add all the missing elements he didnt put.

I compiled my apk using the android app , APK Builder 1.1.0. So let's begin.

To build an Android app we need couple files and folders that are organized in a certain format and capitalized accordingly.

res layout -> xml files depicting how app will look on phone. Similar to how html shapes how web page looks on browser. Allowing your app to fit on screens accordingly.

values -> constant data such as colors.xml, strings.xml, styles.xml. These files must be properly spelt.

drawable -> pics{jpeg, png,...}; Name them anything.

mipmap -> more pics. used for app icon?

xml -> more xml files.

src -> acts like JavaScript in html. layout files will initiate the starting view and your java file will dynamically control the tag elements and trigger events. Events can also be activated directly in the layout.xml just like in html.

AndroidManifest.xml -> This file registers what your app is about. Application name, Type of program, permissions needed, etc. This seems to make Android rather safe. Programs literally cannot do what they didnt ask for in the Manifest.

Now there are 4 types of Android programs, an activity, a service, a content provider, and a broadcast reciever. Our keyboard will be a service, which allows it to run in the background. It will not appear in the list of apps to launch; but it can be uninstalled.

To compile your app, involves gradle, and apk signing. You can research that one or use APK Builder for android. It is super easy.

Now that we understand Android development, let us create the files and folders.

Create the files and folders as I discussed above. My directory wil look as follows:
- NumPad
  - AndroidManifest.xml
  - src
    - Saragch
      - num_pad
        
        MyInputMethodService.java
  - res
    - drawable
      - Suragch_NumPad_icon.png
    - layout
      - key_preview.xml
      - keyboard_view.xml
    - xml
      - method.xml
      - number_pad.xml
    - values
      - colors.xml
      - strings.xml
      - styles.xml

Remember if you are using an ide such as Android Studio it may have a project file.

Write files.

A: NumPad/res/layout/key_preview.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <TextView
      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      android:gravity="center"
      android:background="@android:color/white"
      android:textColor="@android:color/black"
      android:textSize="30sp">
</TextView>

B: NumPad/res/layout/keyboard_view.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.inputmethodservice.KeyboardView
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/keyboard_view"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:keyPreviewLayout="@layout/key_preview"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true">

</android.inputmethodservice.KeyboardView>

C: NumPad/res/xml/method.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<input-method  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <subtype  android:imeSubtypeMode="keyboard"/>
</input-method>

D: Numpad/res/xml/number_pad.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Keyboard xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:keyWidth="20%p"
    android:horizontalGap="5dp"
    android:verticalGap="5dp"
    android:keyHeight="60dp">

    <Row>
        <Key android:codes="49" android:keyLabel="1" android:keyEdgeFlags="left"/>
        <Key android:codes="50" android:keyLabel="2"/>
        <Key android:codes="51" android:keyLabel="3"/>
        <Key android:codes="52" android:keyLabel="4"/>
        <Key android:codes="53" android:keyLabel="5" android:keyEdgeFlags="right"/>
    </Row>

    <Row>
        <Key android:codes="54" android:keyLabel="6" android:keyEdgeFlags="left"/>
        <Key android:codes="55" android:keyLabel="7"/>
        <Key android:codes="56" android:keyLabel="8"/>
        <Key android:codes="57" android:keyLabel="9"/>
        <Key android:codes="48" android:keyLabel="0" android:keyEdgeFlags="right"/>
    </Row>

    <Row>
        <Key android:codes="-5"
             android:keyLabel="DELETE"
             android:keyWidth="40%p"
             android:keyEdgeFlags="left"
             android:isRepeatable="true"/>
        <Key android:codes="10"
             android:keyLabel="ENTER"
             android:keyWidth="60%p"
             android:keyEdgeFlags="right"/>
    </Row>

</Keyboard>

Of course this can be easily edited to your liking. You can even use images instead lf words for the label.

Suragch didnt demonstrate the files in the values folder and assumed we had access to Android Studio; which automatically creates them. Good thing I have APK Builder.

E: NumPad/res/values/colors.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <color name="colorPrimary">#3F51B5</color>
    <color name="colorPrimaryDark">#303F9F</color>
    <color name="colorAccent">#FF4081</color>
</resources>

F: NumPad/res/values/strings.xml

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">Suragch NumPad</string>
</resources>

G: NumPad/res/values/styles.xml

<resources>

    <!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Material.Light.DarkActionBar">
        <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    </style>

</resources>

H: Numpad/AndroidManifest.xml

This is the file that was really up for contension. Here I felt I would never compile my program. sob. sob. If you check Suracgh's answer you see he leaves the first set of fields empty, and adds the activity tag in this file. As I said there are four types of Android programs. An activity is a regular app with a launcher icon. This numpad is not an activity! Further he didnt implement any activity.

My friends do not include the activity tag. Your program will compile, and when you try to launch it will crash! As for xmlns:android and uses-sdk; I cant help you there. Just try my settings if they work.

As you can see there is a service tag, which register it as a service. Also service.android:name must be name of public class extending service in our java file. It MUST be capitalized accordingly. Also package is the name of the package we declared in java file.

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="Saragch.num_pad">

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="12"
        android:targetSdkVersion="27" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/Suragch_NumPad_icon"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

        <service
            android:name=".MyInputMethodService"
            android:label="Keyboard Display Name"
            android:permission="android.permission.BIND_INPUT_METHOD">

            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.view.InputMethod"/>
            </intent-filter>

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.view.im"
                android:resource="@xml/method"/>

        </service>

    </application>
</manifest>

I: NumPad/src/Saragch/num_pad/MyInputMethodService.java

Note: I think java is an alternative to src.

This was another problem file but not as contentious as the manifest file. As I know Java good enough to know what is what, what is not. I barely know xml and how it ties in with Android development!

The problem here was he didnt import anything! I mean, he gave us a "complete" file which uses names that couldnt be resolved! InputMethodService, Keyboard, etc. That is bad practice Mr. Suragch. Thanks for helping me out but how did you expect the code to compile if the names cant be resolved?

Following is the correctly edited version. I just happened to pounce upon couple hints to drove me to the right place to learn what exactly to import.

package Saragch.num_pad;

import android.inputmethodservice.InputMethodService;
import android.inputmethodservice.KeyboardView;
import android.inputmethodservice.Keyboard;

import android.text.TextUtils;
import android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;


public class MyInputMethodService extends InputMethodService implements KeyboardView.OnKeyboardActionListener 
{
    @Override
    public View onCreateInputView() 
    {
     // get the KeyboardView and add our Keyboard layout to it
     KeyboardView keyboardView = (KeyboardView)getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.keyboard_view, null);
     Keyboard keyboard = new Keyboard(this, R.xml.number_pad);
     keyboardView.setKeyboard(keyboard);
     keyboardView.setOnKeyboardActionListener(this);
     return keyboardView;
    }

    @Override
    public void onKey(int primaryCode, int[] keyCodes) 
    {

        InputConnection ic = getCurrentInputConnection();

        if (ic == null) return;

        switch (primaryCode)
        {
         case Keyboard.KEYCODE_DELETE:
            CharSequence selectedText = ic.getSelectedText(0);

            if (TextUtils.isEmpty(selectedText)) 
            {
             // no selection, so delete previous character
             ic.deleteSurroundingText(1, 0);
            }

            else 
            {
             // delete the selection
             ic.commitText("", 1);
            }

            ic.deleteSurroundingText(1, 0);
            break;

         default:
            char code = (char) primaryCode;
            ic.commitText(String.valueOf(code), 1);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onPress(int primaryCode) { }

    @Override
    public void onRelease(int primaryCode) { }

    @Override
    public void onText(CharSequence text) { }

    @Override
    public void swipeLeft() { }

    @Override
    public void swipeRight() { }

    @Override
    public void swipeDown() { }

    @Override
    public void swipeUp() { }
}

Compile and sign your project.

This is where I am clueless as a newby Android developer. I would like to learn it manually, as I believe real programmers can compile manually.

I think gradle is one of the tools for compiling and packaging to apk. apk seems to be like a jar file or a rar for zip file. There are then two types of signing. debug key which is not alllowed on play store and private key.

Well lets give Mr. Saragch a hand. And thank you for watching my video. Like, subscribe.

User · Answer

System keyboard  This answer tells how to make a custom system keyboard that can be used in any app that a user has installed on their phone  If you want to make a keyboard that will only be used within your own app  then see my other answer   The example below will look like this  You can modify it for any keyboard layout     The following steps show how to create a working custom system keyboard  As much as possible I tried to remove any unnecessary code  If there are other features that you need  I provided links to more help at the end    1  Start a new Android project  I named my project  Custom Keyboard   Call it whatever you want  There is nothing else special here  I will just leave the MainActivity and  Hello World   layout as it is   2  Add the layout files  Add the following two files to your app s res layout folder    keyboard view xml key preview xml   keyboard view xml  This view is like a container that will hold our keyboard  In this example there is only one keyboard  but you could add other keyboards and swap them in and out of this KeyboardView    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt android inputmethodservice KeyboardView     xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android id    id keyboard view      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  wrap content      android keyPreviewLayout   layout key preview      android layout alignParentBottom  true  gt    lt  android inputmethodservice KeyboardView gt    key preview xml  The key preview is a layout that pops up when you press a keyboard key  It just shows what key you are pressing  in case your big  fat fingers are covering it   This isn t a multiple choice popup  For that you should check out the Candidates view    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt TextView     xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  match parent      android gravity  center      android background   android color white      android textColor   android color black      android textSize  30sp  gt   lt  TextView gt    3  Add supporting xml files  Create an xml folder in your res folder   Right click res and choose New   Directory    Then add the following two xml files to it   Right click the xml folder and choose New   XML resource file     number pad xml method xml   number pad xml  This is where it starts to get more interesting  This Keyboard defines the layout of the keys     lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt Keyboard xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      android keyWidth  20 p      android horizontalGap  5dp      android verticalGap  5dp      android keyHeight  60dp  gt        lt Row gt           lt Key android codes  49  android keyLabel  1  android keyEdgeFlags  left   gt           lt Key android codes  50  android keyLabel  2   gt           lt Key android codes  51  android keyLabel  3   gt           lt Key android codes  52  android keyLabel  4   gt           lt Key android codes  53  android keyLabel  5  android keyEdgeFlags  right   gt       lt  Row gt        lt Row gt           lt Key android codes  54  android keyLabel  6  android keyEdgeFlags  left   gt           lt Key android codes  55  android keyLabel  7   gt           lt Key android codes  56  android keyLabel  8   gt           lt Key android codes  57  android keyLabel  9   gt           lt Key android codes  48  android keyLabel  0  android keyEdgeFlags  right   gt       lt  Row gt        lt Row gt           lt Key android codes  -5               android keyLabel  DELETE               android keyWidth  40 p               android keyEdgeFlags  left               android isRepeatable  true   gt           lt Key android codes  10               android keyLabel  ENTER               android keyWidth  60 p               android keyEdgeFlags  right   gt       lt  Row gt    lt  Keyboard gt    Here are some things to note    keyWidth  This is the default width of each key  The 20 p means that each key should take up 20  of the width of the parent  It can be overridden by individual keys  though  as you can see happened with the Delete and Enter keys in the third row  keyHeight  It is hard coded here  but you could use something like  dimen key height to set it dynamically for different screen sizes  Gap  The horizontal and vertical gap tells how much space to leave between keys  Even if you set it to 0px there is still a small gap  codes  This can be a Unicode or custom code value that determines what happens or what is input when the key is pressed  See keyOutputText if you want to input a longer Unicode string   keyLabel  This is the text that is displayed on the key  keyEdgeFlags  This indicates which edge the key should be aligned to  isRepeatable  If you hold down the key it will keep repeating the input    method xml  This file tells the system the input method subtypes that are available  I am just including a minimal version here    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt input-method     xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  gt        lt subtype         android imeSubtypeMode  keyboard   gt    lt  input-method gt    4  Add the Java code to handle key input  Create a new Java file  Let s call it MyInputMethodService  This file ties everything together  It handles input received from the keyboard and sends it on to whatever view is receiving it  an EditText  for example    public class MyInputMethodService extends InputMethodService implements KeyboardView OnKeyboardActionListener         Override     public View onCreateInputView                get the KeyboardView and add our Keyboard layout to it         KeyboardView keyboardView    KeyboardView  getLayoutInflater   inflate R layout keyboard view  null           Keyboard keyboard   new Keyboard this  R xml number pad           keyboardView setKeyboard keyboard           keyboardView setOnKeyboardActionListener this           return keyboardView              Override     public void onKey int primaryCode  int   keyCodes             InputConnection ic   getCurrentInputConnection            if  ic    null  return          switch  primaryCode                case Keyboard KEYCODE DELETE                  CharSequence selectedText   ic getSelectedText 0                   if  TextUtils isEmpty selectedText                            no selection  so delete previous character                     ic deleteSurroundingText 1  0                     else                          delete the selection                     ic commitText     1                                     break              default                  char code    char  primaryCode                  ic commitText String valueOf code   1                         Override     public void onPress int primaryCode            Override     public void onRelease int primaryCode            Override     public void onText CharSequence text            Override     public void swipeLeft             Override     public void swipeRight             Override     public void swipeDown             Override     public void swipeUp           Notes    The OnKeyboardActionListener listens for keyboard input  It is also requires all those empty methods in this example  The InputConnection is what is used to send input to another view like an EditText    5  Update the manifest  I put this last rather than first because it refers to the files we already added above  To register your custom keyboard as a system keyboard  you need to add a service section to your AndroidManifest xml file  Put it in the application section after activity     lt manifest     gt       lt application      gt           lt activity      gt                           lt  activity gt            lt service             android name   MyInputMethodService              android label  Keyboard Display Name              android permission  android permission BIND INPUT METHOD  gt               lt intent-filter gt                   lt action android name  android view InputMethod   gt               lt  intent-filter gt               lt meta-data                 android name  android view im                  android resource   xml method   gt           lt  service gt        lt  application gt   lt  manifest gt    That s it  You should be able to run your app now  However  you won t see much until you enable your keyboard in the settings   6  Enable the keyboard in Settings  Every user who wants to use your keyboard will have to enable it in the Android settings  For detailed instructions on how to do that  see the following link    How to set the default keyboard on your Android phone   Here is a summary    Go to Android Settings   Languages and input   Current keyboard   Choose keyboards  You should see your Custom Keyboard on the list  Enable it  Go back and choose Current keyboard again  You should see your Custom Keyboard on the list  Choose it    Now you should be able to use your keyboard anywhere that you can type in Android   Further study  The keyboard above is usable  but to create a keyboard that other people will want to use you will probably have to add more functionality  Study the links below to learn how    Creating an Input Method  Android documentation  SoftKeyboard  source code from Android for a demo custom keyboard  Building a Custom Android Keyboard  tutorial   source code  Create a Custom Keyboard on Android  tutsplus tutorial  How to create custom keyboard for android  YouTube video  It is soundless but following along is how I first learned how to do this     Going On  Don t like how the standard KeyboardView looks and behaves  I certainly don t  It looks like it hasn t been updated since Android 2 0  How about all those custom keyboards in the Play Store  They don t look anything like the ugly keyboard above    The good news is that you can completely customize your own keyboard s look and behavior  You will need to do the following things    Create your own custom keyboard view that subclasses ViewGroup  You could fill it with Buttons or even make your own custom key views that subclass View  If you use popup views  then note this  Add a custom event listener interface in your keyboard  Call its methods for things like onKeyClicked String text  or onBackspace    You don t need to add the keyboard view xml  key preview xml  or number pad xml described in the directions above since these are all for the standard KeyboardView  You will handle all these UI aspects in your custom view  In your MyInputMethodService class  implement the custom keyboard listener that you defined in your keyboard class  This is in place of KeyboardView OnKeyboardActionListener  which is no longer needed  In your MyInputMethodService class s onCreateInputView   method  create and return an instance of your custom keyboard  Don t forget to set the keyboard s custom listener to this

User · Answer

Use KeyboardView   KeyboardView kbd   new KeyboardView context   kbd setKeyboard new Keyboard this  R xml custom     kbd setOnKeyboardActionListener new OnKeyboardActionListener                  now you have kbd which is a normal view   The nice thing about this is that R xml custom refers to  res xml custom xml  which defines in xml the layout of the keyboard  For more information on this file  look here  Keyboard  Keyboard Row  Keyboard Key

User · Answer

First of all you will need a keyboard xml file which will be placed in the res xml folder  if the folder does not exist  created it    lt  xml version  quot 1 0 quot  encoding  quot utf-8 quot   gt    lt Keyboard xmlns android  quot http   schemas android com apk res android quot      android keyWidth  quot 15 p quot      android keyHeight  quot 15 p quot   gt        lt Row gt           lt Key android codes  quot 1 quot     android keyLabel  quot 1 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot   gt           lt Key android codes  quot 2 quot     android keyLabel  quot 2 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot   gt           lt Key android codes  quot 3 quot     android keyLabel  quot 3 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot    gt           lt Key android codes  quot 4 quot     android keyLabel  quot 4 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot    gt           lt Key android codes  quot 5 quot     android keyLabel  quot 5 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot    gt       lt  Row gt       lt Row gt           lt Key android codes  quot 6 quot     android keyLabel  quot 6 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot   gt           lt Key android codes  quot 7 quot     android keyLabel  quot 7 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot   gt           lt Key android codes  quot 8 quot     android keyLabel  quot 8 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot    gt           lt Key android codes  quot 9 quot     android keyLabel  quot 9 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot    gt           lt Key android codes  quot 0 quot     android keyLabel  quot 0 quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot    gt       lt  Row gt        lt Row gt           lt Key android codes  quot -1 quot     android keyIcon  quot  drawable backspace quot  android keyWidth  quot 34 p quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot   gt           lt Key android codes  quot 100 quot     android keyLabel  quot Enter quot  android keyWidth  quot 53 p quot  android horizontalGap  quot 4 p quot   gt       lt  Row gt    lt  Keyboard gt     Note that you will have to create the backspace drawable and place it in the res drawable-ldpi folder with a very small size  like 18x18 pixels  Then in the xml file that you want it to be used  where your TextView is in  you should add the following code   lt RelativeLayout       gt                            lt android inputmethodservice KeyboardView              android id  quot   id keyboardview quot               android layout width  quot fill parent quot               android layout height  quot wrap content quot               android layout alignParentBottom  quot true quot               android layout centerHorizontal  quot true quot               android focusable  quot true quot               android focusableInTouchMode  quot true quot               android visibility  quot gone quot              gt                              lt  RelativeLayout gt     Note that the xml file that you will place the android inputmethodservice KeyboardView in  has to be RelativeLayout in order to be able to set the alignParentBottom  quot true quot   Usually the keyboards are presented in the bottom of the screen  Then you need to add the following code in the onCreate function of the Activity that handles the TextView you want to attach the keyboard to        Create the Keyboard     mKeyboard  new Keyboard this R xml keyboard           Lookup the KeyboardView     mKeyboardView   KeyboardView findViewById R id keyboardview          Attach the keyboard to the view     mKeyboardView setKeyboard  mKeyboard                Do not show the preview balloons       mKeyboardView setPreviewEnabled false               Install the key handler     mKeyboardView setOnKeyboardActionListener mOnKeyboardActionListener      Note that mKeyboard and mKeyboardView are private class variables that you have to create  Then you need the following function for opening the keyboard   you must associate it with the TextView through the onClick xml property      public void openKeyboard View v               mKeyboardView setVisibility View VISIBLE          mKeyboardView setEnabled true          if  v  null   InputMethodManager getSystemService Activity INPUT METHOD SERVICE   hideSoftInputFromWindow v getWindowToken    0          And finally you need the OnKeyboardActionListener that will handle your events private OnKeyboardActionListener mOnKeyboardActionListener   new OnKeyboardActionListener          Override public void onKey int primaryCode  int   keyCodes                    Here check the primaryCode to see which key is pressed             based on the android codes property          if primaryCode  1                         Log i  quot Key quot   quot You just pressed 1 button quot                           Override public void onPress int arg0                Override public void onRelease int primaryCode                Override public void onText CharSequence text                Override public void swipeDown                 Override public void swipeLeft                 Override public void swipeRight                 Override public void swipeUp               Hope that helps    Most of the code found here                                                             - EDIT  Since KeyboardView is depreciated since API level 29  you can find its code in this website and create a class in your code before implementing the keyboard as described above

User · Answer

Had the same problem  I used table layout at first but the layout kept changing after a button press  Found this page very useful though  http   mobile tutsplus com tutorials android android-user-interface-design-creating-a-numeric-keypad-with-gridlayout

User · Answer

I came across this post recently when I was trying to decide what method to use to create my own custom keyboard  I found the Android system API to be very limited  so I decided to make my own in-app keyboard  Using Suragch s answer as the basis for my research  I went on to design my own keyboard component  It s posted on GitHub with an MIT license  Hopefully this will save somebody else a lot of time and headache  The architecture is pretty flexible  There is one main view  CustomKeyboardView  that you can inject with whatever keyboard layout and controller you want  You just have to declare the CustomKeyboardView in you activity xml  you can do it programmatically as well        lt com donbrody customkeyboard components keyboard CustomKeyboardView     android id  quot   id customKeyboardView quot      android layout width  quot match parent quot      android layout height  quot wrap content quot      android layout alignParentBottom  quot true quot    gt   Then register your EditText s with it and tell it what type of keyboard they should use  override fun onCreate savedInstanceState  Bundle         super onCreate savedInstanceState      setContentView R layout activity main       val numberField  EditText   findViewById R id testNumberField      val numberDecimalField  EditText   findViewById R id testNumberDecimalField      val qwertyField  EditText   findViewById R id testQwertyField       keyboard   findViewById R id customKeyboardView      keyboard registerEditText CustomKeyboardView KeyboardType NUMBER  numberField      keyboard registerEditText CustomKeyboardView KeyboardType NUMBER DECIMAL  numberDecimalField      keyboard registerEditText CustomKeyboardView KeyboardType QWERTY  qwertyField     The CustomKeyboardView handles the rest  I ve got the ball rolling with a Number  NumberDecimal  and QWERTY keyboard  Feel free to download it and create your own layouts and controllers  It looks like this    Even if this is not the architecture you decide to go with  hopefully it ll be helpful to see the source code for a working in-app keyboard  Again  here s the link to the project  Custom In-App Keyboard EDIT  I m no longer an Android developer  and I no longer maintain this GitHub project  There are probably more modern approaches and architectures at this point  but please feel free to reference the GitHub project if you d like and fork it

User · Answer

In-App Keyboard  This answer tells how to make a custom keyboard to use exclusively within your app  If you want to make a system keyboard that can be used in any app  then see my other answer   The example will look like this  You can modify it for any keyboard layout     1  Start a new Android project  I named my project InAppKeyboard  Call yours whatever you want   2  Add the layout files  Keyboard layout  Add a layout file to res layout folder  I called mine keyboard  The keyboard will be a custom compound view that we will inflate from this xml layout file  You can use whatever layout you like to arrange the keys  but I am using a LinearLayout  Note the merge tags   res layout keyboard xml   lt merge xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  gt        lt LinearLayout         android layout width  match parent          android layout height  wrap content          android orientation  vertical  gt            lt LinearLayout             android layout width  match parent              android layout height  wrap content              android orientation  horizontal  gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 1                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  1   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 2                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  2   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 3                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  3   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 4                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  4   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 5                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  5   gt            lt  LinearLayout gt            lt LinearLayout             android layout width  match parent              android layout height  wrap content              android orientation  horizontal  gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 6                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  6   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 7                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  7   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 8                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  8   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 9                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  9   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button 0                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  1                  android text  0   gt            lt  LinearLayout gt            lt LinearLayout             android layout width  match parent              android layout height  wrap content              android orientation  horizontal  gt                lt Button                 android id    id button delete                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  2                  android text  Delete   gt                lt Button                 android id    id button enter                  android layout width  0dp                  android layout height  wrap content                  android layout weight  3                  android text  Enter   gt            lt  LinearLayout gt       lt  LinearLayout gt    lt  merge gt    Activity layout  For demonstration purposes our activity has a single EditText and the keyboard is at the bottom  I called my custom keyboard view MyKeyboard   We will add this code soon so ignore the error for now   The benefit of putting all of our keyboard code into a single view is that it makes it easy to reuse in another activity or app   res layout activity main xml   lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt RelativeLayout     xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android      xmlns tools  http   schemas android com tools      android layout width  match parent      android layout height  match parent      tools context  com example inappkeyboard MainActivity  gt        lt EditText         android id    id editText          android layout width  match parent          android layout height  wrap content          android background   c9c9f1          android layout margin  50dp          android padding  5dp          android layout alignParentTop  true   gt        lt com example inappkeyboard MyKeyboard         android id    id keyboard          android layout width  match parent          android layout height  wrap content          android orientation  vertical          android layout alignParentBottom  true   gt    lt  RelativeLayout gt    3  Add the Keyboard Java file  Add a new Java file  I called mine MyKeyboard   The most important thing to note here is that there is no hard link to any EditText or Activity  This makes it easy to plug it into any app or activity that needs it  This custom keyboard view also uses an InputConnection  which mimics the way a system keyboard communicates with an EditText  This is how we avoid the hard links   MyKeyboard is a compound view that inflates the view layout we defined above   MyKeyboard java  public class MyKeyboard extends LinearLayout implements View OnClickListener           constructors     public MyKeyboard Context context            this context  null  0              public MyKeyboard Context context  AttributeSet attrs            this context  attrs  0              public MyKeyboard Context context  AttributeSet attrs  int defStyleAttr            super context  attrs  defStyleAttr           init context  attrs                 keyboard keys  buttons      private Button mButton1      private Button mButton2      private Button mButton3      private Button mButton4      private Button mButton5      private Button mButton6      private Button mButton7      private Button mButton8      private Button mButton9      private Button mButton0      private Button mButtonDelete      private Button mButtonEnter          This will map the button resource id to the String value that we want to         input when that button is clicked      SparseArray lt String gt  keyValues   new SparseArray lt  gt             Our communication link to the EditText     InputConnection inputConnection       private void init Context context  AttributeSet attrs                initialize buttons         LayoutInflater from context  inflate R layout keyboard  this  true           mButton1    Button  findViewById R id button 1           mButton2    Button  findViewById R id button 2           mButton3    Button  findViewById R id button 3           mButton4    Button  findViewById R id button 4           mButton5    Button  findViewById R id button 5           mButton6    Button  findViewById R id button 6           mButton7    Button  findViewById R id button 7           mButton8    Button  findViewById R id button 8           mButton9    Button  findViewById R id button 9           mButton0    Button  findViewById R id button 0           mButtonDelete    Button  findViewById R id button delete           mButtonEnter    Button  findViewById R id button enter               set button click listeners         mButton1 setOnClickListener this           mButton2 setOnClickListener this           mButton3 setOnClickListener this           mButton4 setOnClickListener this           mButton5 setOnClickListener this           mButton6 setOnClickListener this           mButton7 setOnClickListener this           mButton8 setOnClickListener this           mButton9 setOnClickListener this           mButton0 setOnClickListener this           mButtonDelete setOnClickListener this           mButtonEnter setOnClickListener this               map buttons IDs to input strings         keyValues put R id button 1   1            keyValues put R id button 2   2            keyValues put R id button 3   3            keyValues put R id button 4   4            keyValues put R id button 5   5            keyValues put R id button 6   6            keyValues put R id button 7   7            keyValues put R id button 8   8            keyValues put R id button 9   9            keyValues put R id button 0   0            keyValues put R id button enter    n                Override     public void onClick View v                do nothing if the InputConnection has not been set yet         if  inputConnection    null  return              Delete text or input key value            All communication goes through the InputConnection         if  v getId      R id button delete                CharSequence selectedText   inputConnection getSelectedText 0               if  TextUtils isEmpty selectedText                        no selection  so delete previous character                 inputConnection deleteSurroundingText 1  0                 else                      delete the selection                 inputConnection commitText     1                           else               String value   keyValues get v getId                 inputConnection commitText value  1                           The activity  or some parent or controller  must give us         a reference to the current EditText s InputConnection     public void setInputConnection InputConnection ic            this inputConnection   ic            4  Point the keyboard to the EditText  For system keyboards  Android uses an InputMethodManager to point the keyboard to the focused EditText  In this example  the activity will take its place by providing the link from the EditText to our custom keyboard to   Since we aren t using the system keyboard  we need to disable it to keep it from popping up when we touch the EditText  Second  we need to get the InputConnection from the EditText and give it to our keyboard   MainActivity java  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity         Override     protected void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState            super onCreate savedInstanceState           setContentView R layout activity main            EditText editText    EditText  findViewById R id editText           MyKeyboard keyboard    MyKeyboard  findViewById R id keyboard               prevent system keyboard from appearing when EditText is tapped         editText setRawInputType InputType TYPE CLASS TEXT           editText setTextIsSelectable true               pass the InputConnection from the EditText to the keyboard         InputConnection ic   editText onCreateInputConnection new EditorInfo             keyboard setInputConnection ic             If your Activity has multiple EditTexts  then you will need to write code to pass the right EditText s InputConnection to the keyboard   You can do this by adding an OnFocusChangeListener and OnClickListener to the EditTexts  See this article for a discussion of that   You may also want to hide or show your keyboard at appropriate times    Finished  That s it  You should be able to run the example app now and input or delete text as desired  Your next step is to modify everything to fit your own needs  For example  in some of my keyboards I ve used TextViews rather than Buttons because it is easier to customize them   Notes   In the xml layout file  you could also use a TextView rather a Button if you want to make the keys look better  Then just make the background be a drawable that changes the appearance state when pressed  Advanced custom keyboards  For more flexibility in keyboard appearance and keyboard switching  I am now making custom key views that subclass View and custom keyboards that subclass ViewGroup  The keyboard lays out all the keys programmatically  The keys use an interface to communicate with the keyboard  similar to how fragments communicate with an activity   This is not necessary if you only need a single keyboard layout since the xml layout works fine for that  But if you want to see an example of what I have been working on  check out all the Key  and Keyboard  classes here  Note that I also use a container view there whose function it is to swap keyboards in and out

User · Answer

Here is a sample project for a soft keyboard   https   developer android com guide topics text creating-input-method html  Your s should be in the same lines with a different layout   Edit  If you need the keyboard only in your application  its very simple  Create a linear layout with vertical orientation  and create 3 linear layouts inside it with horizontal orientation  Then place the buttons of each row in each of those horizontal linear layouts  and assign the weight property to the buttons  Use android layout weight 1 for all of them  so they get equally spaced   This will solve  If you didn t get what was expected  please post the code here  and we are here to help you

User · Answer

One of the best well-documented example I found   http   www fampennings nl maarten android 09keyboard index htm  KeyboardView related XML file and source code are provided

[android] How can you make a custom keyboard in Android?

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