SpellCheckerSession

public class SpellCheckerSession
extends Object

java.lang.Object
   ↳ android.view.textservice.SpellCheckerSession

The SpellCheckerSession interface provides the per client functionality of SpellCheckerService.

Applications

In most cases, applications that are using the standard TextView or its subclasses will have little they need to do to work well with spell checker services. The main things you need to be aware of are:

  • Properly set the R.attr.inputType in your editable text views, so that the spell checker will have enough context to help the user in editing text in them.

For the rare people amongst us writing client applications that use the spell checker service directly, you will need to use getSuggestions(android.view.textservice.TextInfo, int) or getSuggestions(android.view.textservice.TextInfo[], int, boolean) for obtaining results from the spell checker service by yourself.

Security

There are a lot of security issues associated with spell checkers, since they could monitor all the text being sent to them through, for instance, TextView. The Android spell checker framework also allows arbitrary third party spell checkers, so care must be taken to restrict their selection and interactions.

Here are some key points about the security architecture behind the spell checker framework:

  • Only the system is allowed to directly access a spell checker framework's SpellCheckerService interface, via the Manifest.permission.BIND_TEXT_SERVICE permission. This is enforced in the system by not binding to a spell checker service that does not require this permission.
  • The user must explicitly enable a new spell checker in settings before they can be enabled, to confirm with the system that they know about it and want to make it available for use.

Summary

Nested classes

interface SpellCheckerSession.SpellCheckerSessionListener

Callback for getting results from text services 

class SpellCheckerSession.SpellCheckerSessionParams

Parameters used to create a SpellCheckerSession. 

Constants

String SERVICE_META_DATA

Name under which a SpellChecker service component publishes information about itself.

Public methods

void cancel()

Cancel pending and running spell check tasks

void close()

Finish this session and allow TextServicesManagerService to disconnect the bound spell checker.

void getSentenceSuggestions(TextInfo[] textInfos, int suggestionsLimit)

Get suggestions from the specified sentences

SpellCheckerInfo getSpellChecker()

Get the spell checker service info this spell checker session has.

void getSuggestions(TextInfo textInfo, int suggestionsLimit)

This method was deprecated in API level 16. use SpellCheckerSession#getSentenceSuggestions(TextInfo[], int) instead

void getSuggestions(TextInfo[] textInfos, int suggestionsLimit, boolean sequentialWords)

This method was deprecated in API level 16. use SpellCheckerSession#getSentenceSuggestions(TextInfo[], int) instead

boolean isSessionDisconnected()

Protected methods

void finalize()

Called by the garbage collector on an object when garbage collection determines that there are no more references to the object.

Inherited methods

Constants

SERVICE_META_DATA

Added in API level 14 
public static final String SERVICE_META_DATA

Name under which a SpellChecker service component publishes information about itself. This meta-data must reference an XML resource.

Constant Value: "android.view.textservice.scs"

Public methods

cancel

Added in API level 15 
public void cancel ()

Cancel pending and running spell check tasks

close

Added in API level 14 
public void close ()

Finish this session and allow TextServicesManagerService to disconnect the bound spell checker.

getSentenceSuggestions

Added in API level 16 
public void getSentenceSuggestions (TextInfo[] textInfos, 
                int suggestionsLimit)

Get suggestions from the specified sentences

Parameters
textInfos TextInfo: an array of text metadata for a spell checker
suggestionsLimit int: the maximum number of suggestions that will be returned

getSpellChecker

Added in API level 14 
public SpellCheckerInfo getSpellChecker ()

Get the spell checker service info this spell checker session has.

Returns
SpellCheckerInfo SpellCheckerInfo for the specified locale.

getSuggestions

Added in API level 14
Deprecated in API level 16 
public void getSuggestions (TextInfo textInfo, 
                int suggestionsLimit)

This method was deprecated in API level 16.
use SpellCheckerSession#getSentenceSuggestions(TextInfo[], int) instead

Get candidate strings for a substring of the specified text.

Parameters
textInfo TextInfo: text metadata for a spell checker
suggestionsLimit int: the maximum number of suggestions that will be returned

getSuggestions

Added in API level 14
Deprecated in API level 16 
public void getSuggestions (TextInfo[] textInfos, 
                int suggestionsLimit, 
                boolean sequentialWords)

This method was deprecated in API level 16.
use SpellCheckerSession#getSentenceSuggestions(TextInfo[], int) instead

A batch process of getSuggestions

Parameters
textInfos TextInfo: an array of text metadata for a spell checker
suggestionsLimit int: the maximum number of suggestions that will be returned
sequentialWords boolean: true if textInfos can be treated as sequential words.

isSessionDisconnected

Added in API level 14 
public boolean isSessionDisconnected ()

Returns
boolean true if the connection to a text service of this session is disconnected and not alive.

Protected methods

finalize

Added in API level 14 
protected void finalize ()

Called by the garbage collector on an object when garbage collection determines that there are no more references to the object. A subclass overrides the finalize method to dispose of system resources or to perform other cleanup.

The general contract of finalize is that it is invoked if and when the Java virtual machine has determined that there is no longer any means by which this object can be accessed by any thread that has not yet died, except as a result of an action taken by the finalization of some other object or class which is ready to be finalized. The finalize method may take any action, including making this object available again to other threads; the usual purpose of finalize, however, is to perform cleanup actions before the object is irrevocably discarded. For example, the finalize method for an object that represents an input/output connection might perform explicit I/O transactions to break the connection before the object is permanently discarded.

The finalize method of class Object performs no special action; it simply returns normally. Subclasses of Object may override this definition.

The Java programming language does not guarantee which thread will invoke the finalize method for any given object. It is guaranteed, however, that the thread that invokes finalize will not be holding any user-visible synchronization locks when finalize is invoked. If an uncaught exception is thrown by the finalize method, the exception is ignored and finalization of that object terminates.

After the finalize method has been invoked for an object, no further action is taken until the Java virtual machine has again determined that there is no longer any means by which this object can be accessed by any thread that has not yet died, including possible actions by other objects or classes which are ready to be finalized, at which point the object may be discarded.

The finalize method is never invoked more than once by a Java virtual machine for any given object.

Any exception thrown by the finalize method causes the finalization of this object to be halted, but is otherwise ignored.

Throws
Throwable