Offline version Variables and file names cannot be entered in Chinese

[YongYu]

Hello!John.I downloaded the offline version of MicroBlocks from the official website, but found that I could not enter Chinese when creating variables, and I could not enter Chinese when saving program files.

For the NOC Robotics Competition in 2024, we want to use the offline version of MicroBlocks (Elite). Because considering that the NOC robot competition site may not provide Wi-Fi, and after the computer is connected to Wi-Fi, students may not focus on the competition, but think about surfing the Internet.

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Hope to solve this problem of Chinese input.Thank you！

[John Maloney]

Thanks for reporting this problem.

It looks like you are testing the Windows version. Do you know if this problem also occurs on Mac OS and/or Linux?

I will ask Wenjie if he can help with this issue...

[Wenjie Wu]

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I am happy to participate in this test. The results of my test in macos are available. I guess it may be a problem with windows. We may need to collect further information.

[YongYu]

Thank you for your reply. Wenjie has communicated with us. Testing on macos is fine, I forgot to mention it in the issue.
When I switch to the Chinese input method to input a variable or file name in Chinese, it will not pop up the input box, and can not input Chinese, then switch to the English input method, it will directly type the letter I just typed. Here's the video.

We used three windows computers for the test, the one in the video is a Win10 computer, and a Win11 computer performed the same. But strangely, the other Windows 10 computer can type Chinese and other characters, but there is also no pop-up input box. Here's the video.
You're right. It's okay to copy Chinese. It's a video. Other characters are fine. This is video.

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[Dariusz Dorożalski]

Isn't the problem related to handwriting recognition (Windows ink, pen icon in the tray) being enabled?

[YongYu]

@Dariusz Dorożalski.It's great that you can observe this detail. But just now I tried on a computer without Windows ink, and I couldn't type Chinese either.

[John Maloney]

Could a Windows Chinese input box be appearing behind the MicroBlocks IDE window? You could try making the MicroBlocks window as small as possible and moving it around to see if there is a hidden character input box.

Another thing to explore is why one Windows 10 computer works. Is there something different about the keyboard or language settings on the computer? If so, perhaps fixing this problem is only a matter of changing a Windows setting.

[YongYu]

I correct one of my errors, in fact, the variables and file names can be entered in Chinese, but the text input box is not displayed. Switch to the Chinese input method, the input method will pop up a text input box when entering Chinese. As shown in the picture below.

The reason why we could not enter Chinese before is that we did not press the space key or other numeric keys, the purpose of pressing the number key and the space key is to select the corresponding Chinese character, and pressing the space key is to select the first Chinese character. But the key problem is that the text input box cannot be displayed on MicroBlocks.
I also looked at your suggestion to see if the text field was covered, but it wasn't. This is video A, video B
At present, the computers you see are Microsoft's own input method, we have also tried to change a Sogou input method, the same phenomenon.

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[YongYu]

Wen Jie found that MicroBlocks support pwa, so you can support the offline version of MicroBlocks in Google browser, and the problem that the Chinese input box is not displayed is solved.

[John Maloney]

That's an excellent solution!

However, I think I may need to fix one little thing about the caching behavior to make sure it always works offline. I'm re-opening this issue to make sure I remember to do that!

[John Maloney]

John needs to check and maybe fix the caching behavior.

[YongYu]

Thank you very much. We look forward to it.

[John Maloney]

The latest pilot release of the MicroBlocks web app now caches the files it needs to work offline. Since Chinese input works well in the web app, and the web app now works offline, that is the recommended solution. I also worked with Wenjie to make the web app attempt to default to Chinese when opened for the first time by a Chinese user. So, overall, the web app should work well for Chinese users.