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Helium314
Emoji search function
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. There are lots of emojis today, most of which I have no clue where they are in the list. An emoji search function like the one in GBoard would be very useful to more easily find the emoji you're looking for, and also see alternatives based on your search term.
Describe the solution you'd like An emoji search bar that sits somewhere when you press the emoji button.
Use case See above.
Describe alternatives you've considered Endless scrolling???
@hjarnek I think you can close this issue as it has already been answered here: #134
@hjarnek is using an emoji dictionary an acceptable alternative to the search bar?
The search bar would have the advantage of being able to work on the full emoji texts or short names provided in the unicode list. But it's much more work to implement, especially considering how the emoji keyboard works internally, and certainly very low priority for me.
@Helium314 so with the emoji dictionary (always enabled as part of multilingual suggestions I assume), basically the matching emojis would show up in the word suggestion strip? Like if I normally type "pizza" in a text field, one of the word suggestions would be pizza emoji? I think that would work fine.
Like if I normally type "pizza" in a text field, one of the word suggestions would be pizza emoji?
I just tried, and when using the English emoji dictionary this indeed happens.
(I have the idea of adding/enabling the emoji dictionaries by default, but the currently things work only for a single app-internal dictionary per language)
One thing I have noticed is if I have the google Swype lib loaded from here: https://github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/blob/master/app%2Fsrc%2Fmain%2FjniLibs%2Farm64-v8a%2Flibjni_latinimegoogle.so Then the suggestions do show emoji quite well, otherwise it is very hit or miss.
Here is an image about how I expect this to look like: https://github.com/Helium314/openboard/issues/348#issuecomment-1870049341
I really like the way it works in AnySoftKeyboard (also open source) - typing a search key after a colon lists all matching emoji in the suggestion bar, so you can just type :laugh or :pumpkin or :cat or whatever in the same text field you're writing your message in, without having to open a separate menu or pressing any extra buttons. no emoji is actually pasted until you explicitly pick it from the suggestions.
@noodlejetski It is possible and works similarly to AnySoftKeyboard. Just download the emoji dictionary for your language. If there is no dictionary, you can still get emojis in the suggestion bar, but you need to add them to the dictionary first. It looks like this
@Uranusek it looks like the dictionaty method suggest emoji whenever you type a word that matches its description, doesn't it? meanwhile the way ASK implements it, emoji gets out of the way until you explicitly write the symbol telling the keyboard that you're searching for one.
Yes. The solution in AnySoftKeyboard may be better for more emoji with the same name. HeliBoard then suggests only emoticons, not text.
I'd like to add that the current dictionary method is very poor for accessibility. A lot of emojis just do not show up when searching for them through the dictionary, and seem to only have one or two contexts in which they will be recommended. Attaching some examples
I guess they're not in the dictionary or they just have a different name. You can add the missing emojis to your personal dictionary, name them as you like and they will be displayed.
I would really love this feature, if it ends up getting implemented! Since there is an option in heliboard to turn off the suggestion strip at the top of the keyboard, an alternate, explicit way to search through emojis is something I would use regularly and very much appreciate coming from gboard.
I'm also so looking forward to this. This keyboard is a blessing, I can't believe how good it is. The emoji search is the only thing I'm missing, and I'm very picky! Such amazing work this brilliant app.
Thank you so so much for HeliBoard!
P.S.: the annoying thing about using emojis and not having the search feature is that to find an emoji otherwise takes such a long long time.
It could just be me, but it doesn't seem like the emoji dictionary import workaround is working anymore. It used to work fine for me, but recently I've noticed that the emojis are not being suggested anymore.
Update: it did start working again after switching keyboards, then switching back.
As a workaround, how to activate that emoji dictionary? I imported it to my multilingual german keyboard but there are no suggestions at all.
I vote for the use of : to trigger emoji suggestions. It's quick and simple and I'm used to it because Discord and Anysoft both use that method.
I vote for the use of
:to trigger emoji suggestions. It's quick and simple [and] because Discord and Anysoft both use that method.
I agree. It's a fairly common convention in most applications using emoticons such as messaging apps of all sorts.
and I'm used to it
Sorry, but that argument is not of any importance to this discussion. We should stick to objective arguments and not personal preferences because of habits that might or might not shared ones among the majority of people.
Having the emoji search in the emoji menue is obvious. Making it only accessible with : will make the function undiscoverable for many people. I could install the keyboard on the phones of not so tech savvy people around me, even show them how they can find Emojis with by typing : and the next week they will forget how that was done. Gboard is used by a far wider variety of people and of different ages in contrast to discord, sticking with Gboards method makes more sense. But adding an additional option to enable emoji search with : as a shortcut wouldn't hurt anyone.
Having the emoji search in the emoji menue is obvious. Making it only accessible with : will make the function undiscoverable for many people. I could install the keyboard on the phones of not so tech savvy people around me, even show them how they can find Emojis with by typing : and the next week they will forget how that was done. Gboard is used by a far wider variety of people and of different ages in contrast to discord, sticking with Gboards method makes more sense. But adding an additional option to enable emoji search with : as a shortcut wouldn't hurt anyone.
I think this is a great point.
Update: it did start working again after switching keyboards, then switching back.
I had to do the exact same thing to make it work, I was disappointed at first.
Can someone fork this app and add search? The dev is weirdly anti-search which is a basic feature to be honest.
@joewood9364 if the users who are too lazy to read "contributor needed" and rather spread lies would move along to this fork, it wouldn't even bother me. I'd consider implementing it myself only if I have the time. Given that I still have a pretty large amout of PRs open, and for every merged PR another one is opened, I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon.
@joewood9364 if the users who are too lazy to read "contributor needed" and rather spread lies would move along to this fork, it wouldn't even bother me. I'd consider implementing it myself only if I have the time. Given that I still have a pretty large amout of PRs open, and for every merged PR another one is opened, I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon.
No one cares how much time you have. I would highly recommend contributors to fork ☺️ (I mean that's basically what this lazy dev did anyway with OpenBoard.)
A user could, if they really wanted to, add emojis to the personal dictionary with a "shortcut" = simple search. Or even build a dictionary of such items.
You can also, well you could before the spell checker was broken in this last update, add numbers 0-999 to the dictionary and they will be predicted = no need for number row 🤷🏻♂️
There's a lot you can do with the dictionary 😉
No unhinged comment, just wanted to say I too would like this feature at some point. Thank you!
No unhinged comment, just wanted to say I too would like this feature at some point. Thank you!
Ass-kissing is pointless kid. Use an actually functional keyboard instead: https://github.com/futo-org/android-keyboard
No unhinged comment, just wanted to say I too would like this feature at some point. Thank you!
Ass-kissing is pointless kid. Use an actually functional keyboard instead: https://github.com/futo-org/android-keyboard
No need to imply HeliBoard is non-functional because of one feature, or to demean others by calling them "kid". While FUTO keyboard is a fantastic option for people who want a source-available keyboard, many people would prefer a fully FOSS keyboard. Please try to keep issues on topic.
Ass-kissing is pointless kid. Use an actually functional keyboard instead:
@joewood9364 please go spam with your "product" somewhere else, ok?
Also, it's so "amazing" that in dictionary section (https://keyboard.futo.org/dictionaries) it states:
Under construction
For now, check out third-party community dictionaries at https://codeberg.org/Helium314/aosp-dictionaries#dictionaries
If it's so awesome and functional why hoard dictionaries from HeliBoard repos? xD
Lool I searched for ~15 different emojis today with absolutely no need to scroll or use silly dictionary workarounds and it was great. This is what using a proper keyboard feels like.🥰💅 Heliboard users like yourselves in contrast seem very pent-up which I understand because your keyboard is giving you blue balls all the time.🤭🫠