Kanji Pre-edit
When operating in Romaji-To-Kana conversion mode, you must follow two steps to produce Kanji characters. First, the user enters Hiragana characters by typing their Romaji phonetic characters. In this step, you produce a Hiragana character by typing 1 to 3 Romaji alphabetic keys that compose the phonetic sound of the Hiragana character. Second, convert the Hiragana characters to Kanji characters by pressing the Henkan key. Many Kanji characters may be associated with a single phonetic phrase. The Henkan key displays the most likely Kanji candidates. Repeated pressing of the Henkan key displays all the additional candidates.
For example, when you enter the Kanji characters for the phonetic sound "k-a-n-j-i", you must do two things:
- Set the keyboard mapping to the Hiragana state.
- Enable Romaji-to-Kana mapping by pressing the Alt-Hiragana key. This action invokes the alphanumeric keyboard.
You can now press the keys that spell "kanji". As each phonetic sound is completed, a Hiragana character displays.
The Hiragana character is displayed with visual feedback to indicate that the JIM is composing in a pre-edit state. The character is underlined and shown in reverse video. This feedback facility is known as a callback.
To convert the Hiragana character within the pre-edit string to a Kanji character, press the Henkan key. The most likely candidate associated with the phonetic Hiragana sound displays. Pressing this key repeatedly shows other candidates.
During the composition process, the pre-edit string is partitioned into segments that can be considered Kanji words. After a string of kana characters is converted into a candidate, it is treated as one of these convertible segments. While the pre-edit string is displayed, the JIM uses the cursor key and other keys to manipulate the string.
To commit the pre-edit string to the program, the user presses the Enter key. In this case, the Enter key code itself is not sent to the program, only the string.
The Muhenkan keysym can also be used to turn off pre-edit and commit the Hiragana or Katakana character directly to the program.
The following table depicts the shift state transition and the interaction of the RKC mode key with the shift states.
| Character Encoding | Code Points | Description | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 000xxxxx | 00–1F | Controls | 32 |
| 00100000 | 20 | Space | 1 |
| 0xxxxxxx | 21–7E | 7-bit ASCII | 94 |
| 01111111 | 7F | Delete | 1 |
| 10000000 | 80 | Undefined | 1 |
| 100xxxxx 01xxxxxx | [81–9F] [40–7E] | Double byte | 1953 |
| 100xxxxx 1xxxxxxx | [81–9F] [80–FC] | Double byte | 3844 |
| 10100000 | A0 | Undefined | 1 |
| 1xxxxxxx | A1–DF | 8-bit single byte | 63 |
| 111xxxxx 01xxxxxx | [E0–FC] [40–7E] | Double byte | 1827 |
| 111xxxxx 1xxxxxxx | [E0–FC] [80–FC] | Double byte | 3596 |
| 11111101 | FD | Undefined | 1 |
| 11111110 | FE | Undefined | 1 |
| 11111111 | FF | All ones | 1 |
The JIM has the following types of auxiliary areas:
- All Candidates menu
- Kanji Number Input dialog
- Conversion Mode menu
- Runtime Registration dialog
A Kana-to-Kanji conversion operation on a string of Hiragana or Katakana characters can yield from one to a hundred Kanji candidates. At worst, you would have to press the conversion key more than a hundred times to get the correct Kanji character.
In such cases, it is more convenient to find the correct character by requesting the All Candidates menu with the ZenKouho or the Alt-Henkan keysym. This menu displays if the current target (a Kanji word that the cursor is pointing to in the pre-edit area) has several alternative candidates associated with it. The menu contains multiple candidates for selection. The All Candidates menu disappears when the Reset keysym is pressed, the Enter key is pressed, or a candidate is selected.
A Kanji Number Input dialog prompts the user to select the Kanji character by entering 3 to 5 digits. The digits represent the code of the character. Online dictionaries allow a user to search for the code. The ordering formats for these dictionaries vary. For example, one dictionary lists codes by phonetic sound. Another dictionary orders codes by the number of strokes used to compose the character. The KanjiBangou keysym invokes this menu. The menu is terminated with either the Reset or Return keysym.
The HenkanMenu keysym invokes the Conversion Mode menu. Four items are displayed for selection. The most important items are the word-conversion mode and phrase-conversion mode. Make a selection by choosing a number and pressing the Return keysym. This menu is terminated when either a selection is made or the Reset keysym is pressed.
A run-time registration dialog prompts the user to enter a Kana string and a Kanji string for registering the mapping of the strings in the user dictionary. After the pair is registered, the JIM can use it as a conversion candidate. The menu is terminated with the Escape or Reset keysym.
The presentation of menus depends on the interface environment in which the JIM is operating. For example, some interfaces support scrolling menus that use the Page Down and Page Up keys.