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# How to create a new IME in about 15 minutes with SCIM and scim-tables
## Introduction
There are many input methods available in SCIM. But sometimes we may need something special - maybe you want to input cuneiform, Tangut, Jurchen, Rongo Rongo or Tocharian. You will not find IMEs for these languages (at least now. I guess it will change in the future :-) ) Another reason can be your desire to input a supported language more conveniently. If you you use English keyboard and are not a native speaker, the existing IMEs may not be convenient for you at all. Yet another example: maybe you came up with a proposition of a new transcription for an existing language (I know this happened with Cantonese) and want to use it in IME on your own computer.
I assume that your system already supports the language you need IME for, ie. there is some standard of encoding, you have fonts and generally programs on your system handle the data in your target language, you just lack suitable IME.
With SCIM, you can create a table based input method without programming. We are going to use scim-tables IME engine.
## Specification of the problem
Let us assume that we want to modify existing Korean IME to allow input using transcription (similar to Chinese pinyin input). It is more convenient for non-native speaker with English keyboard.
## It is easier with a simple project
We can save ourselves effort by creating a simple project with a makefile. I mean, it saves effort if we continue to work on one or more input tables. I did create a project, you do not have to follow my example. It is not worth the effort for one-time job, but if you want to spend some time editing your tables, I suggest you to create a project.
First, we create a directory structure (yours can be different, but then you will have to modify makefile):
mkdir tables
cd tables
touch Makefile
mkdir bin
mkdir icons
mkdir src
My `Makefile` looks like this (I have three tables in the `./src` right now):
SCIM''TABLES''DIR=/usr/share/scim/tables
SCIM''ICONS''DIR=/usr/share/scim/icons
SRC_DIR=./src
BIN_DIR=./bin
ICON_DIR=./icons
SCIM''MAKE''TABLE=scim-make-table
compile: compile-korean compile-Viqr compile-akkadian
compile-ko-latin: $(BIN_DIR)/korean.bin
compile-Viqr: $(BIN_DIR)/Viqr.bin
compile-akkadian: $(BIN_DIR)/akkadian.bin
install: install-korean install-Viqr install-akkadian
uninstall: uninstall-korean uninstall-Viqr uninstall-akkadian
install-korean: compile-korean
cp $(BIN''DIR)/korean.bin $(SCIM''TABLES_DIR)
cp $(ICON''DIR)/korean.png $(SCIM''ICONS_DIR)
uninstall-korean:
rm $(SCIM''TABLES''DIR)/korean.bin
rm $(SCIM''ICONS''DIR)/korean.png
install-Viqr: compile-Viqr
cp $(BIN''DIR)/Viqr.bin $(SCIM''TABLES_DIR)
cp $(ICON''DIR)/Viqr.png $(SCIM''ICONS_DIR)
uninstall-Viqr:
rm $(SCIM''TABLES''DIR)/Viqr.bin
rm $(SCIM''ICONS''DIR)/Viqr.png
install-akkadian: compile-akkadian
cp $(BIN''DIR)/akkadian.bin $(SCIM''TABLES_DIR)
cp $(ICON''DIR)/akkadian.png $(SCIM''ICONS_DIR)
uninstall-akkadian:
rm $(SCIM''TABLES''DIR)/akkadian.bin
rm $(SCIM''ICONS''DIR)/akkadian.png
clean:
rm -f $(BIN_DIR)/*
$(BIN''DIR)/korean.bin: $(SRC''DIR)/korean.txt.in
sed -e 's,@SCIM''ICONDIR@,$(SCIM''ICONS''DIR),g' $(SRC''DIR)/korean.txt.in > $(BIN_DIR)/korean.txt
$(SCIM''MAKE''TABLE) $(BIN''DIR)/korean.txt -b -o $(BIN''DIR)/korean.bin
rm $(BIN_DIR)/korean.txt
$(BIN''DIR)/Viqr.bin: $(SRC''DIR)/Viqr.txt.in
sed -e 's,@SCIM''ICONDIR@,$(SCIM''ICONS''DIR),g' $(SRC''DIR)/Viqr.txt.in > $(BIN_DIR)/Viqr.txt
$(SCIM''MAKE''TABLE) $(BIN''DIR)/Viqr.txt -b -o $(BIN''DIR)/Viqr.bin
rm $(BIN_DIR)/Viqr.txt
$(BIN''DIR)/akkadian.bin: $(SRC''DIR)/akkadian.txt.in
sed -e 's,@SCIM''ICONDIR@,$(SCIM''ICONS''DIR),g' $(SRC''DIR)/akkadian.txt.in > $(BIN_DIR)/akkadian.txt
$(SCIM''MAKE''TABLE) $(BIN''DIR)/akkadian.txt -b -o $(BIN''DIR)/akkadian.bin
rm $(BIN_DIR)/akkadian.txt
It generally means that if I am in the `tables` directory and run `make` command, it will generate source files with correct icon path in `./bin` directory (the `.in` extension gets cut off), and compile it afterwards. For example in case of Korean table the compile command looks like this: `scim-make-table ./bin/korean.txt -b -o ./bin/korean.bin` . The binary table will be written to `./bin` directory. If I update one file, for example `korean.txt.in`, I do not need to compile and reinstall everything. In this case I use command `make install-korean`. This command will first compile the updated table, and install it afterwards.
The installation is equal to copying the binary table and icon to correct locations:
cp ./bin/korean.bin /usr/share/scim/tables
cp ./icons/korean.png /usr/share/scim/icons
I can also do `make uninstall-korean`. Another command, `make clean` clears the `./bin` directory.
## Let us finally begin
The first thing that we need is an icon. Mine is korean.png and I put it in `./icons` directory. Remember, it will be copied to `/usr/share/scim/icons`. You may as well put it directly in this location.
Now we need the source of the table. As we just modify existing table, we copy the source of the table that we modify. It is in scim-tables sources.
cp /dat/src/cpp/scim/scim-tables-0.4.3/ko/Hangul.txt.in ./src
mv ./src/Hangul.txt.in ./src/korean.txt.in
We need UUID for our new input:
$ uuidgen
ec1343c3-cd84-421c-b653-fd4793759e6c
We open `./src/korean.txt.in` in our favourite text editor and make necessary corrections.
First, we change UUID line to:
UUID = ec1343c3-cd84-421c-b653-fd4793759e6c
We also update serial number, icon location and input name:
SERIAL_NUMBER = 20041005
ICON = @SCIM_ICONDIR@/korean.png
NAME = Korean
This is enough to compile and install the table ( `make && make install` ). Now is your part - modify the table data and do not forget to update MAX_KEY_LENGTH value after that.
Sometimes we start the table from scratch. In these cases it may help to generate the dummy table of characters to begin your work with. I do it with Perl - it saves me time. For example, I am going to start work on an latin prefix notation table to allow input of latin accented characters. The script I used to generate the raw table to begin my work with was:
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Basic
for my $char (0x0021 .. 0x007e) {
print "x", sprintf("%x",$char), "\t", pack('U',$char), "\t0\n";
}
# Suplement
for my $char (0x00A1 .. 0x00ff) {
print "x", sprintf("%x",$char), "\t", pack('U',$char), "\t0\n";
}
# Extended A
for my $char (0x0100 .. 0x017f) {
print "x", sprintf("%x",$char), "\t", pack('U',$char), "\t0\n";
}
# Extended B
for my $char (0x0180 .. 0x0236) {
print "x", sprintf("%x",$char), "\t", pack('U',$char), "\t0\n";
}
# Extended Additional
for my $char (0x1e00 .. 0x1ef9) {
print "x", sprintf("%x",$char), "\t", pack('U',$char), "\t0\n";
}
This script prints the table to `STDIN`. We save it by redirecting it's output to a file, like this: `./latintab.pl > latin.txt`.
When you are ready with your input tables, type this command in your project directory:
make install
## Final word
You have to restart SCIM to load (or reload) your table. It makes testing difficult.
I did not test much this approach. I just describe what worked for me. Good luck!
-- Main.[[JanuszPrusaczyk]] - 06 Oct 2004
* [[%ATTACHURL%/Korean.txt][Korean.txt|%ATTACHURL%/Korean.txt][Korean.txt]]: Korean input using latin transcription
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