Introducing the Virtual Keyboard API

It is often difficult for Internet users to input text in many non-Latin script-based languages for a variety of reasons. The correct keyboard layout may not be installed on the computer they're using - sometimes such a layout may not be well developed or widely available. This poses a challenging problem for web developers because there is no way they can ensure that their users have access to this very basic input technology. Our Transliteration API can help, but requires that the user know multiple languages.

Right on the heels of introducing support for translating Persian (Farsi), we've added a new Virtual Keyboard API into the Google AJAX Language API to further assist with text input. With this, developers can help their users input text without relying on the right software being installed on the computer they happen to be using.

It couldn't be easier to get this on your page. Simply load the right package:

google.load("elements", "1", {
 packages: "keyboard"
});

Then create a keyboard, specifying the keyboard layout and text field to bind to:

var kbd = new google.elements.keyboard.Keyboard(
 [google.elements.keyboard.LayoutCode.Arabic],
 ['myTextArea']);

And here's what it looks like:

This gives you the control to provide a better user experience, even for multilingual websites. By creating multiple keyboards with different layouts, each text field can be bound to the appropriate keyboard - and the user will see only the keyboard attached to whichever text field has the focus.

But don't take my word for it - check out a sample for yourself. Notice that in addition to allowing users to click on the virtual keyboard, it also temporarily transforms the key assignments on their physical keyboard, allowing rapid typing for those users accustomed to a given layout.

With this initial release, we are launching 5 language layouts. They are:

• Arabic (العربية)
• Hindi (हिन्दी)
• Polish (Polski)
• Russian (Русский)
• Thai (ไทย)

We plan to roll out support for more keyboard layouts in the future. But in the meantime, read through the class reference and see the rest of the Code Playground samples.

After you've had time to experiment, let us know what you think and which other layouts you'd like to see. Feedback is always welcome in our support forum and IRC channel.

Ext-core ready to go

Recently, the guys over at Ext JS released ext-core under an MIT license, which was a big win for open source! Today, they released a stable (non-beta) version of this library and we are proud to be part of that announcement by hosting the new version. You can now pull ext-core from Google servers:

// directly access it
http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/ext-core/3.0.0/ext-core.js
// alias the newest 3.0.x version
http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/ext-core/3.0/ext-core.js
// alias the newest 3.x.x version
http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/ext-core/3/ext-core.js
// directly access the uncompressed code
http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/ext-core/3.0.0/ext-core-debug.js

You can also use it from the loader:

google.load('ext-core', '3.0');
google.load('ext-core', '3', {uncompressed : true});

Thanks to all for the requests to add ext-core to our Libraries API, and big thanks to Ext JS for providing their library so openly! For more information, head over to their blog post.

Arabic Transliteration added to the AJAX Language API

Last year we launched the Transliteration API as an addition to the AJAX Language API. This gave users the ability to transliterate (the process of phonetically converting words from one script into another) text into several Indic languages using a normal English keyboard.

We're happy to announce that we've now added Arabic to the list of supported languages. Now, you can allow your users to easily input Arabic-language text into any text field or text area on your web page without switching to a non-Latin alphabet keyboard - just like on the Labs page. For example, if the user types 'mar7aban bekom', the API will transliterate each word, with the result 'مرحبا بكم' (Arabic for welcome). The API will even automatically adjust the direction of the text area to support this right-to-left language.

Take a look at the documentation and then head over to the Code Playground to give it a try for yourself. If you have any questions, stop by the Google AJAX API developer forum or IRC channel.

AJAX Custom Search Gadget on Blogger

The AJAX Search gadget for Blogger is now available to all users on Blogger.com. This gadget accesses a Custom Search Engine (CSE) that is created automatically for your blog and provides search results inline, with the look and feel of your blog. You can get all this with just a few clicks from the Blogger control panel.

One cool feature of the gadget is the 'Linked From Here' feature that searches the pages you've linked to from your blog posts. As you create new posts, we automatically update your search engine to include all the linked pages, as well as all the pages linked from your link lists and blog lists. Check out the gadget — the search results match the look and feel of your blog and show up inline, as shown in the screenshot below. You can click a button to dismiss the results when you are done, and go back to reading the current post.



If you are not using Blogger, you can still create something similar for your website using the Custom Search element (read more about this new element at the Custom Search blog).