Input Methods

Apple

English-language Help for the Chinese input methods was introduced in OS X 10.5 along with a new input method framework, so Chinese Mac stopped providing detailed help at that time, though we do provide a few general observations for each OS X: 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.10, 10.11

Before OS X 10.5, Chinese Mac provided detailed guides to the Chinese input methods:

Other

QIM

QIM ("QuickCore Input Method") is a Hanyu Pinyin input method with support for both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Its underlying data structure supports the powerful Heima shenpin [黑马神拼] technology. This provides two steps forward. First is intelligent sentence parsing—the ability to type long sentences as input strings while maintaining a high rate of accuracy in transforming them into hanzi. Second is a very large and highly efficient database structure. It contains more than 22 million entries across the entire spectrum of professional usage. The Sogou [搜狗] search engine's dictionary has also been incorporated, providing a database of contemporary terms.

Other useful features include the ability to limit the display of candidates to standard hanzi in the Xinhua Dictionary [新华字典], optional support for filtering candidates by Pinyin tone, and support for most keyboard layouts, like French, German, etc. You can also edit the User Dictionary with import and export capabilities via the included QIM Dictionary Manager (QDM) utility.

Free. Localized for Chinese and English. OS X 10.5 (IMKQIM) and above.

Sogou (Sōugǒu 搜狗)

Free. Mac OS X 10.9 and above. Hanyu Pinyin, Simplified Chinese. Sogou also provides a Wubi [五笔] input method that supports the GBK character set.

Qingg (Qīnggē 清歌)

An excellent Wubi [五笔] input method for macOS and iOS.

Input Method Frameworks

Rime (Zhōngzhōuyùn 中州韻)

Experimental, open-source, intelligent input method framework.

http://rime.im

OpenVanilla

OpenVanilla is a free, open-source Unicode-based Chinese input method framework based in Taiwan. Supports data tables in the CIN format for its generic input module. A variety of tables are available, including data for CangJie [倉頡], Dayi [大易], Jianyi [簡易], Wubi [五笔], and Four-corner [四角號碼], among others. The tables can easily be edited, and other tables can be adapted for use in OpenVanilla. For example, tables from the popular but proprietary Boshiamy [嘸蝦米] input method can be installed. See here for a more detailed discussion of this topic (in Chinese).

OpenVanilla also includes more sophisticated modules, like the open-source, intelligent Chewing [酷音] input method. It is similar to Hanin, but is Zhuyin-only and supports an even wider array of keyboards. The well-known Array [行列] input method comes with a dedicated input module to use instead of the generic one. OpenVanilla also provides CIN-format data tables for Cantonese using the Jyutping [粵拼] romanization system developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.

OS X 10.4 and above.

http://openvanilla.org/

CIN plug-ins

In OS X 10.5 and above, you can create a plain-text source file using the CIN plug-in data format described below, change the file extension to ".cin", and then place it in the /Library/Input Methods folder or your Home ~/Library/Input Methods folder.

For data and samples, see:

http://openvanilla.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/Modules/SharedData/
https://github.com/chinese-opendesktop/cin-tables/

Notes:

  • The plain-text source file must be in UTF-8 encoding.
    • Windows-style CR+LF newlines are not allowed.
    • Mac OS X and UNIX-style /n newlines are required.
  • For comments, use # at the start of a line and it will be ignored.
    • Comments are not allowed in the %chardef block.
  • Blank lines are ignored.
  • %gen_inp
    • Required. Tells the input-method framework what to do.
  • %cname
    • Determines the name that will appear in the Input menu.
    • Only %cname is valid in OS X 10.5.
    • %cname, %ename, %tcname, and %scname are all valid in OpenVanilla.
  • %encoding
    • UTF-8 is required for both OS X 10.5 and OpenVanilla.
  • %selkey
    • Defines keys used to select candidates.
    • In Mac OS X 10.5, this setting is ignored and defaults to 123456789.
  • %endkey
    • %endkey is designed to provide punctuation and other symbols in input methods.
    • Keys declared here also need to be defined in both the %keyname and %chardef blocks.
    • See OpenVanilla's bpmf.cin [注音] and cj.cin [倉頡] for examples of how this works. Also Biaoyin.
  • %keyname begin
    • Required. Key definitions begin on the next line.
    • These definitions map keys typed to characters displayed in the inline/input window. It is used mostly to display radicals in radical-based input methods like CangJie, Dayi, and Wubi, but it can also be used in other ways.
  • %keyname end
    • Required. Key defintions end on the previous line.
  • %chardef begin
    • Required. The data table begins on the next line.
    • Unlike the Apple format, the CIN format does not use a delimiter. Instead, each entry is listed on a new line, with a space (or tab) between the input string and the output string.
    • Input strings are not case-sensitive.
  • %chardef end
    • Required. The data table ends on the previous line.

Apple plug-ins

Plain-text source files in the Apple plug-in data format described below can be used with the Input Method Plug-in Converter utility in OS 9, and OS X 10.3 and 10.4. In OS X 10.5 and above, you simply change the file extension to ".inputplugin" and then place the file in the /Library/Input Methods folder or your Home ~/Library/Input Methods folder.

Notes:

  • In OS X 10.3 and above, the plain-text source file must be in UTF-16 encoding.
  • In OS 9, it must be in GB 2312 (Simplified Chinese only) or Big Five (Traditional Chinese only) encoding.
  • For comments, use # at the start of a line and it will be ignored.
  • Blank lines are ignored.
  • Don't leave fields blank. Either omit the line (if it is not required and the default meets your needs) or define a value.
  • METHOD:
    • TABLE
    • Required. Defines the format of the data.
  • ENCODE:
    • SC [Simplified Chinese]
    • TC [Traditional Chinese]
    • Unicode [Unicode, UTF-16 also valid]
    • Required. Determines the character set and script/framework used in the plug-in.
    • Legacy values, like GB2312 and BIG5, are depreciated.
  • PROMPT:
    • Required. Determines the name that will appear in the Input menu.
    • 32 characters maximum.
  • VERSION:
    • For the version number of the data.
    • 8 characters maximum
  • DELIMITER:
    • Required. Determines the character used to delimit multiple output strings for the same input string.
  • MAXINPUTCODE:
    • Limits the length of input strings.
    • In OS 9 to OS X 10.4, the maximum length of input strings is seven (the default).
    • In OS X 10.5, there is no maximum length of input strings.
  • VALIDINPUTKEY:
    • Required. Determines the characters that are valid in input strings.
    • Input strings are not case sensitive.
  • BEGINCHARACTER
    • Required. The body of the data table begins on the next line.
    • For lines of data, the tab key is the delimiter between the input string and the output string(s).
    • Output strings can vary in length, up to 100 characters. [?]
  • ENDCHARACTER
    • Required. The data table ends on the previous line.