[FR] simple undo/redo (Ctrl+z/Ctrl+Shift+z)

[boognish-rising]

The title says it all.

Android supports undo/redo functionality throughout, but unless one is using an attached physical keyboard or has installed a virtual keyboard with Ctrl, Shift, Alt etc. (like Hacker's Keyboard or Unexpected Keyboard), this functionality may as well not exist as there's simply no way for the user to take advantage of it. It would be a very welcomed addition to Text Tools if it wasn't already in the pipeline.

Similarly, a basic dictionary/define function to supplement the official functionality would be awesome. Since the official offering seems to be very selective as to the apps from which the context menu will offer "Define" as an option when a single word is highlighted.

I know there are a bunch of others that I had made a mental note to relay once I got around to posting but they all evade me at the moment other than "search and replace," but I see that's already in place/underway (I don't have the functionality yet - still need to confirm version, though).

[corphish]

Not sure if text history information is made available to third party apps (like let's say you type something inside whatsapp, TextTools doesn't have any idea of what is being typed inside whatsapp. Once you select the text in WhatsApp and select TextTools, TextTools has idea only about the selected text). So need to check if it is possible for 3rd party apps to access what is being typed in other apps.
Another option could be type everything inside TextTools with all the undo/redo (and possibly more) and then publish it to another app. Let's see.

Dictionary, let's see how the official one works. I would imagine that I would be needing a free API to fetch the word meaning from but sounds like a cool idea.

I am aware of the other suggestions posted by you/others and appreciate it. Cheers.

[boognish-rising]

Not sure if text history information is made available to third party apps (like let's say you type something inside whatsapp, TextTools doesn't have any idea of what is being typed inside whatsapp. Once you select the text in WhatsApp and select TextTools, TextTools has idea only about the selected text). So need to check if it is possible for 3rd party apps to access what is being typed in other apps.
Another option could be type everything inside TextTools with all the undo/redo (and possibly more) and then publish it to another app. Let's see.

Dictionary, let's see how the official one works. I would imagine that I would be needing a free API to fetch the word meaning from but sounds like a cool idea.

I am aware of the other suggestions posted by you/others and appreciate it. Cheers.

No worries! We just appreciate your work and are excited about it.

As for your comment re: history, I hadn't even considered that (I guess that's why you're the dev and I'm just a user LOL). though, and this is just a thought, I have a keylogger that had no problems capturing all of the text input of all installed/system apps, however it does so via an Accessibility Service if I'm not mistaken, which may be a route you wish to avoid going. Still, absent any other way, it might be a worthwhile option. If the user doesn't want to grant such access, so be it. However, I for one would be more than willing to grant whatever access necessary, as I trust your intentions and would get great use out of the functionality!

Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond! I'm still loving TT and even more so the fact that you stated from the outset that you had a vision of an expanded set of tools/use cases and have embodied that statement ever since.

Cheers!

[boognish-rising]

Regarding the define functionality, I was already going back and forth with Gemini about something so when I read your response, I simply posed the question regarding whether a "define" API was available via developer's console (or otherwise). Here's the response FYI (less the considerations and words of caution, etc. I thought I told Gemini not to bother with that shit lol):

Fetching Word Definitions: API Options

Great idea for a feature! A built-in dictionary function within a context menu tool would undoubtedly be a valuable addition.
Unfortunately, Google doesn't provide a direct API for fetching word definitions from its search engine or Google Dictionary. However, several third-party APIs offer this functionality.

Third-Party API Options:

• Dictionary API: Provides definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and more.
  • URL: https://dictionaryapi.dev/
• WordsAPI: Offers definitions, synonyms, rhymes, and other word-related data.
  • URL: https://www.wordsapi.com/
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary API: Provides access to their extensive dictionary and thesaurus.
  • URL: https://dictionaryapi.com/

[corphish]

Thanks! I would avoid any APIs provided by Google (or any other provider requiring API key) as I would not want to expose it in public (and possibly something FDroid would also not recommend). But looks like the dictionaryapi.dev seems to fit the use case.

[boognish-rising]

Good thinking. Your "core directives" where these things are concerned is definitely appreciated!

You just illustrated precisely why I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to provide TT with "wide berth" access if ever a reason to do so came about (i.e., Accessibility service for logging key input data, if you were to ever make something of the sort an option)

[boognish-rising]

I was just going back through my activity to check any still open issues and came upon our back and forth here. Upon revisiting and giving it further thought, instead of adding "define" functionality to TT (or perhaps "in addition to" as a separate feature that happens to be a good substitute in the interim for a dictionary search/definition provision feature) and be faced with tough decisions surrounding specifics, etc., adding a "Google search" (or just "web search" if you don't wish to mention Google by name) context menu option that searches the highlighted word(s) could actually be a better overall solution for a few reasons. From your perspective, there's no choices to make regarding which "define" API to go with and the accompanying security/privacy considerations and from a functionality standpoint, performing a Google search (or whatever search engine) of the highlighted text:

• If it's a single word, Google searches generally default to providing a definition for the queried word 👌🏻
• If it's a phrase, a web search becomes a better choice over dictionary search functionality, as most dictionaries don't provide definitions/meaning for anything but single words but a web search will search for meaning the same as it does for a single word⭐
• if it's something other than a word or phrase to be defined, again, web/Google search is the better solution⭐

I'd also imagine that providing a shortcut that's effectively just a wrapper for ”https://www.google.com/search?q=%s” (or whatever search engine + query parameter, etc., if you choose to provide user customization options), substituting the query placeholder %s with the highlighted text is infinitely easier in every conceivable way.

Of course there are probably considerations that I've failed to see, making it less cut and dry than I have presented it or otherwise complicating things to a larger degree than I'm currently envisioning, but all of this occurred to me upon revisiting the issue today. Hope you're doing well!