[AlienDalvik / AAS] Typing characters after deleting typed text often inserts the deleted string

[thigg]

REPRODUCIBILITY: 100%
OS VERSION: 4.4.0.72, 4.5.0.16
HARDWARE: 10 II
UI LANGUAGE: GER
REGRESSION: ?

DESCRIPTION:

If someone comes up with a better title, please change.

I encountered this in chatapps like threema or element (matrix) if you type something that is replaced, e.g. an emoji in matrix by typing :duck and then select the emoji, the :duck text disappears. But after you type the next letter it is inserted again.

I assume this is a SFOS related problem.

PRECONDITIONS:

Have element (android) or threema installed, be setup for chat.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

1. Open a chat in threema or element.
2. Depending on the app you are using:
   a. Threema: do a mention by typing @username
   b. Element: create an emoji by typing :duck
3. select some entry from the list that popped up
4. see the result (a mention or an emoji
5. start to type something else

EXPECTED RESULT:

it is only showing the mention or emoji and the text you typed afterwards

ACTUAL RESULT:

it also shows what you typed after the : or @

MODIFICATIONS:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This was produced by typing :duck selecting the duck emoji and then typing a space

[pherjung]

I can reproduce it on Signal on my X10 II.

[JacekJagosz]

The same has been happening in Teams, when you type someone’s username. Definitely not a new bug, has been happening for probably 3 years, since I started using Teams on SFOS phone.
Might have been a regression from Android compatibility 4-5 to 8, could have been there from the beginning

[thigg]

Even i was annoyed by this for a loong time. Interesting that noone reported it earlier… Probably everyone thought that it is already reported

[olf]

@JacekJagosz

could have been there from the beginning

Yes, it does.
And it is not at all limited to Android chat apps, if have seen in in Android text editors, when typing in text fields of web-pages in Firefox etc. It is reported and discussed a few times (= in a few threads) at TJC, but I cannot remember any sailor ever replying or acknowledging this issue. Still, Jolla has addressed this issue multiple times (silently, as so often, observable by changes in details of this behaviour) and reduced its severity / impact much; at times it was literally impossible to type a few words in most Android apps, if you ever needed to use <Backspace> (i.e., correct something you typed).

Observations

My preliminary, abstract assessment is, that it always (i.e., all these years > 7) takes a new word (i.e., introduced / prefixed by a space character), then a delete operation (regardless, if by oneself hitting <Backspace> multiple times, or automatised, see example in OP above: the string :duck is deleted and an emoji inserted), followed by typing <any key>: Then the deleted string is inserted again.

It appears that Jolla has employed workarounds, which let this happen less often, but never found the root cause of this issue.

Mind that there are different kinds of text fields, I only remember this happening in free text fields. OTOH, I have never tried to reproduce this systematically outside of free text fields, e.g., in a password entry field etc.

P.S.: @thigg, you might adapt the title of this thread to the fact that this is about text strings (“commands” is a bit misleading, even for your emoji example) and potentially affects all Android apps. Plus that this is related to Alien Dalvik (“Android app support by Jolla” is its new marketing name; I never heard a Waydroid user complaining about this issue).

[flypig]

Thanks for the report @thigg. I’ve logged this internally and tagged it as “tracked”.

[Minman]

There is also some strange behaviour when editting a text in the fennec android app, (for example om this forum) but also in other android apps. If move the cursor back to another point and start typing again, it jumps back at the previous point. As a workaround I have to swipe the keyboard down and select a point in the text everytime I want to correct some mistakes. Sometimes it works correctly, but most of the times it jumps back.

[thigg]

Did anyone observe this while using another keyboard (okboard?)
wondering if this is keyboard specific or a problem of the android container

[thigg]

I think the bug must be on the android side in com.jolla.inputmethod.remote.
But I guess this is closed source, thus we cannot really help jolla to fix this, right?

[Matias]

I’ve noticed this behavior with the Obsidian android app, it’s very annoying and makes it practically unusable. The only workaround I’ve found is uninstalling predictive text but that means losing useful functionality in other apps. It would be nice if there was an easy way to toggle predictive text, I found a patch for it but it is long out of date now.

[thigg]

That could actually mean the bug is in predictive text… This is interesting

[thigg]

No, does not make a difference for me. Bug is still there. However i just uninstalled it and didnt restart anything. Will report back if a restart solves this

[olf]

@thigg

No, does not make a difference for me.

This is also what I remember from tests years ago:
The issue occurs regardless of Jolla’s predictive text suggestions being switched on or off.

[rob_kouw]

Yes, it happens with OKboard as well.

[smatkovi]

Pressing space allows you to move the cursor wherever you want afterwards

[ExTechOp]

I’ve found that doing “select all [text]” from the menu and then clicking the cursor where you want to insert will properly reset the position. I’ve tried to understand when this happens, to no avail — it only seems to happen when it is the most inconvenient, so I’m suspecting AI interference.

[wetab73]

@Minman

strange behaviour when editting a text in the fennec android app, (for example om this forum) but also in other android apps. If move the cursor back to another point and start typing again, it jumps back at the previous point.

This bug disappeared in 4.5 releases, but suddenly re-appeared in 4.6.0.13

Wrong cursor position (jumping) in some android apps

REPRODUCIBILITY (% or how often): 100 BUILD ID: 3.3.0.16 Rokua HARDWARE (Jolla1, Tablet, XA2,…): Xperia 10 UI LANGUAGE: German REGRESSION: (compared to previous public release: Yes, No, ?): I don’t know DESCRIPTION: When using some android apps like dict.cc and yandex browser, when typing something, changing the cursorposition and typing again, the cursorposition does not stay but will jump back to the first used position and add the typed text there (or delete if the delete button is used…

[windes]

I use Predictive Text Input keyboard from license pack. Same behavior. In Android apps also sometimes impossible to edit a word after u typed it and begin next. When u return back with cursor, delete wrong letter and type new letter it types at the end of last (next!) word! So i need to delete all typed words after mistake word and re-type carefully, all from beginning. Argh…

[rtr2001]

I found that moving the cursor (by dragging it, as opposed to tapping at intended insertion position) kind of synchronises the state of the android edit field. Then the new characters -or the delete action - act where expected.
This is somewhat alike what ExTechOp describes above. [AlienDalvik / AAS] Typing characters after deleting typed text often inserts the deleted string - #17 by ExTechOp

[wetab73]

@rtr2001

I found that moving the cursor (by dragging it, as opposed to tapping at intended insertion position) kind of synchronises the state of the android edit field.

Another quick solution is to switch back and forth between keyboard layouts (e.g. by swiping left and then back right). It’s an old ‘trick’ which worked already in 4.4.

But I did not have this bug in any 4.5 OS update, not a single time. So it must have been somehow restored from the ashes in 4.6.