Is there a way to make keyboard open when i enter a text field?

[mitchellvii]

Coming from Android and Apple products I am accustomed to the keyboard automatically popping up when I enter a text field with the understanding the only reason one would enter a text field would be to type. However it seems the SP keyboard only allows me to manually open and close the keyboard, an annoying extra step.

Is this default behavior and can it be changed in settings? If not has anyone written an app that will automate keyboard opening and closing?

 

[jnjroach]

By this question I assume you are using Desktop Applications and not the modern UI, if that is the case this action is by design. The Modern UI works as the other platforms.

 

[machistmo]

Disconnect the Keyboard and all will be as you expect. Are people seriously becoming this technically challenged with Apple products? Less is dumber and the most expensive thing going?

 

[mitchellvii]

Disconnect the Keyboard and all will be as you expect. Are people seriously becoming this technically challenged with Apple products? Less is dumber and the most expensive thing going?

You lost me friend. Disconnect the keyboard? I'm talking about the soft keyboard. You have to manually open it on the desktop apps.

 

[jnjroach]

Microsoft decided to remove the floating TIP (Tablet Interface Panel) in Windows 8 and went with a new API that the Desktop Applications don't use (with the exception of Office 2013 which has them implemented). So the Modern UI behaves how you expect but on the desktop side you have to manually invoke the soft keyboard.

 

[mitchellvii]

Microsoft decided to remove the floating TIP (Tablet Interface Panel) in Windows 8 and went with a new API that the Desktop Applications don't use (with the exception of Office 2013 which has them implemented). So the Modern UI behaves how you expect but on the desktop side you have to manually invoke the soft keyboard.

Ah more glorious inconsistency from MS then? Hey as long as they are forcing two desktops on us why not force two keyboard behaviors on us too? Its too bad that with 1000's of developers on hand this is impossible to remedy. Why fix a keyboard when you can spend your day designing pretty tiles that look absolutely terrific flashing useless information?

Someday when MS dies they are going to put the following on its headstone: "Here lies Microsoft, they could have done it better if they had taken the time to listen instead of trying to force us to change."

 

[jnjroach]

The Modern UI is the future of the OS so Windows 8 much like Windows 95 and Windows Vista are transitional Operating Systems. Windows 95 bridge the 16bit and 32bit worlds giving the industry time to catch up which didn't happen until Windows 98 SE, Vista introduced the new KRNL Security Model and Driver Model which the industry moved faster and was mostly in compliance by Windows 7. The biggest reasons I can see for the change is that the TIP was invoked by pen input and never worked well with Touch, the new API is invoked by Touch which has always been an issue for Win32 Binaries as it requires recoding from the ground up. Adding backwards compatibility is always a dual edge sword. I've migrated to using the Modern UI unless there is some reason to use the desktop, which for me is typically Office or File Management which I predominately use my Touch Cover instead of Touch Interface.

 

[bosamar]

Ah more glorious inconsistency from MS then? Hey as long as they are forcing two desktops on us why not force two keyboard behaviors on us too?

I would certainly like to see a keyboard auto-pop setting on the RT. Let the user decide.

 

[J515OP]

I would certainly like to see a keyboard auto-pop setting on the RT. Let the user decide.

As much as many of us would like it the fundamental problem is as Jeff stated, it isn't simply a matter of popping the keyboard up. Many desktop apps would need to be rewritten. So this doesn't seem to be trivial issue as many people may think.

 

[bosamar]

As much as many of us would like it the fundamental problem is as Jeff stated, it isn't simply a matter of popping the keyboard up. Many desktop apps would need to be rewritten. So this doesn't seem to be trivial issue as many people may think.

Excellent insight JP. You know how I feel about the Desktop on RT. GET RID OF IT!

 

[Wayne Orwig]

Ah more glorious inconsistency from MS then? Hey as long as they are forcing two desktops on us why not force two keyboard behaviors on us too? Its too bad that with 1000's of developers on hand this is impossible to remedy.

I want to support my older apps, and I want to move forward. That is what the Surface Pro/Win 8 does fairly well IMHO. But it is at a cost, inconsistencies. I understand that I can't have it both ways. If automatic, the older apps would likely always have the keyboard popped up because of the way most of the dialogs worked. So instead, they left it to be manually selected. Not a great solution, but it gets the job done.

If on the other hand I want a new interface and no support for my older apps, I would have kept my boring Android tablet.

 

[J515OP]

Which I think is where bosomar's point comes in about the RT. It could loose desktop without consequence by transitioning the key desktop features to modern ui and letting just the Pro deal with the desktop and compromise. If RT sticks around I can see this happening but many will also be sad that RT will become more like Android and iOS in that case. Can't have it both ways and then you have some who want it one way or the other only. All three prospects will have fans and also those wishing it was something other than whatever it is