OpenVanilla - A Non-Intrusive Plug-In Framework of Text Services

TL;DR

OpenVanilla introduces a cross-platform, non-intrusive plugin framework for text services, enabling easy addition of new text processing functionalities without modifying application code, expanding the potential of input methods beyond simple text entry.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel, non-intrusive plugin framework for text services, allowing dynamic attachment of functionalities to applications without code changes.

Findings

OpenVanilla supports cross-platform deployment.

It enables development of diverse text and language tools.

The framework simplifies adding new text processing features.

Abstract

Input method (IM) is a sine qua non for text entry of many Asian languages, but its potential applications on other languages remain under-explored. This paper proposes a philosophy of input method design by seeing it as a nonintrusive plug-in text service framework. Such design allows new functionalities of text processing to be attached onto a running application without any tweaking of code. We also introduce OpenVanilla, a cross-platform framework that is designed with the above-mentioned model in mind. Frameworks like OpenVanilla have shown that an input method can be more than just a text entry tool: it offers a convenient way for developing various text service and language tools.