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Adding a Local Keyboard to a ProtoKeyboardButton-based Button (1/14/97)

Q: I have an application-specific keyboard that I would like to have appear only in my application's protoKeyboardButton-based keyboard list. Is this possible?

A: Yes, protoKeyboardButton has a method called SetKeyboardList that lets you do this. SetKeyboardList takes two arguments. The first argument is an array of keyboard symbols to add to the list. The second argument is an array of keyboard symbols to remove from the list. Note that the keyboard symbols of the built-in keyboards are listed on pages pages 8-26 and 8-27 of the Newton Programmer's Guide.

To create a local keyboard, your keyboard view must be declared either to the keyboard button view or to a view within in its parent view chain. It is common to declare the keyboard view in your application's base view. When you declare the keyboard view, it must be declared using the keyboard's keyboardSymbol.

There are three additional slots that your keyboard template must have:
1) a preallocatedContext slot with the symbol of the keyboard
2) a userName slot with the name that will appear in the protoKeyboardButton popup
3) a keyboardSymbol slot with your keyboard's symbol

The preallocatedContext slot and the keyboardSymbol slot must be the same symbol. Note that the keyboardSymbol slot is required, but the preallocatedContext slot is additionally necessary to avoid exceptions on devices prior to Newton 2.1 OS.

Next, in the viewSetupDoneScript of the protoKeyboardButton-based view, send the button a SetKeyboardList message with your keyboard's symbol. For instance, you might have the following viewSetupDoneScript:

viewSetupDoneScript: func()
    begin
        :SetKeyboardList( [kMyKeyboardSymbol], nil );

        // Be sure to call the inherited viewSetupDoneScript method!
        inherited:?viewSetupDoneScript();

end;

If you want to dynamically change the keyboard list, you can also override the buttonClickScript. You must first call SetKeyboardList, then call the inherited buttonClickScript.

All additions and subtractions are removed from the list when your protoKeyboardButton-based view is closed.