I'm a developer, and have been making my living typing for quite a long
time. As a result, i find that rsi issues have become quite a problem
in the last few years.

So, i'm exploring alternate input devices, and am wondering if anyone
has experience with using ink as an alternative to typing when coding
in visual studio.

My understanding is the VS isn't ink aware, so I'm thinking that you'd
use the input panel to insert text into the editor?

Or maybe, use an ink-aware text editor for bulk entry, and input panel
for changes/debugging/maintenance?

Anybody tried this?

to be clear... i'm not trying to write an application using ink... i'm
trying to use *ink* to write an application!

You can do that, simply using the pen instead of your mouse. The new Tablet
PC Edition 2005 offers the Tablet Input Panel Access icon (floating TIP)
which will mean it is out of your way unless you want it. You may be
interested in checking out possibilities at the VBInk web site:
http://www.vbink.com/ There is also the VB Forums:
http://www.vbforums.com/ and, related, the C# Corner:
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/TabletPC.asp
--
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/nichol.mspx
In memory of a true friend, Windows MVP Alex Nichol

Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


<dchinn@nwlink.com> wrote in message
news:1113581823.091899.146130@l41g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
> I'm a developer, and have been making my living typing for quite a long
> time. As a result, i find that rsi issues have become quite a problem
> in the last few years.
>
> So, i'm exploring alternate input devices, and am wondering if anyone
> has experience with using ink as an alternative to typing when coding
> in visual studio.
>
> My understanding is the VS isn't ink aware, so I'm thinking that you'd
> use the input panel to insert text into the editor?
>
> Or maybe, use an ink-aware text editor for bulk entry, and input panel
> for changes/debugging/maintenance?
>
> Anybody tried this?
>
> to be clear... i'm not trying to write an application using ink... i'm
> trying to use *ink* to write an application!
>

I have seen some prototypes of a development platform using ink.
If I remember right it was writing code in python. Pretty fun, but really
just a toy.
I think you will have problems developing anything in ink, partially because
the recognizer is optimized for english not for C++, C#, or VB. Even if you
handwriting is exceptionally good (which mine isn't) the recognizer would
still have problems for certain letters like o, O, and 0.
Although I could imagine an IntelliSense recognizer that is smart enough to
determine the context for your program. Alas that does not exists today, so
using a stylus currently for coding, would be just a little better than
using Speech-to-Text.
Sorry about the bad news.

Bernd




<dchinn@nwlink.com> wrote in message
news:1113581823.091899.146130@l41g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
> I'm a developer, and have been making my living typing for quite a long
> time. As a result, i find that rsi issues have become quite a problem
> in the last few years.
>
> So, i'm exploring alternate input devices, and am wondering if anyone
> has experience with using ink as an alternative to typing when coding
> in visual studio.
>
> My understanding is the VS isn't ink aware, so I'm thinking that you'd
> use the input panel to insert text into the editor?
>
> Or maybe, use an ink-aware text editor for bulk entry, and input panel
> for changes/debugging/maintenance?
>
> Anybody tried this?
>
> to be clear... i'm not trying to write an application using ink... i'm
> trying to use *ink* to write an application!
>

In my view, it's too big for a PDA and too small for a Tablet PC. Way
too geeky. I'd be embarassed to have one of those in the board room
taking notes. The Tablert PC as a replacement for the legal pad works
as a paradigm.

Bernd Helzer wrote:
> I have seen some prototypes of a development platform using ink.
> If I remember right it was writing code in python. Pretty fun, but really
> just a toy.
> I think you will have problems developing anything in ink, partially because
> the recognizer is optimized for english not for C++, C#, or VB. Even if you
> handwriting is exceptionally good (which mine isn't) the recognizer would
> still have problems for certain letters like o, O, and 0.
> Although I could imagine an IntelliSense recognizer that is smart enough to
> determine the context for your program. Alas that does not exists today, so
> using a stylus currently for coding, would be just a little better than
> using Speech-to-Text.
> Sorry about the bad news.
>
> Bernd
>
>
>
>
> <dchinn@nwlink.com> wrote in message
> news:1113581823.091899.146130@l41g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
>
>>I'm a developer, and have been making my living typing for quite a long
>>time. As a result, i find that rsi issues have become quite a problem
>>in the last few years.
>>
>>So, i'm exploring alternate input devices, and am wondering if anyone
>>has experience with using ink as an alternative to typing when coding
>>in visual studio.
>>
>>My understanding is the VS isn't ink aware, so I'm thinking that you'd
>>use the input panel to insert text into the editor?
>>
>>Or maybe, use an ink-aware text editor for bulk entry, and input panel
>>for changes/debugging/maintenance?
>>
>>Anybody tried this?
>>
>>to be clear... i'm not trying to write an application using ink... i'm
>>trying to use *ink* to write an application!
>>
>
>
>

dchinn@nwlink.com wrote:
> I'm a developer, and have been making my living typing for quite a long
> time. As a result, i find that rsi issues have become quite a problem
> in the last few years.
>
> So, i'm exploring alternate input devices, and am wondering if anyone
> has experience with using ink as an alternative to typing when coding
> in visual studio.
>
> My understanding is the VS isn't ink aware, so I'm thinking that you'd
> use the input panel to insert text into the editor?
>
> Or maybe, use an ink-aware text editor for bulk entry, and input panel
> for changes/debugging/maintenance?
>
> Anybody tried this?
>
> to be clear... i'm not trying to write an application using ink... i'm
> trying to use *ink* to write an application!

Just after the Tablet launch, I visited a middle school in UK that had
been trialing Tablet PCs for a number of months. A couple of the
students there were happily using Visual Studio to write relatively
complex programs using the pen and TIP exclusively.

--------------------------------------
http://msmvps.com/thinice/

Hi, i know quite a few people in that postition, but i suggest you go onto
the Tablet PC Buzz forums for the best info on it. I do not personally do it,
but i do hear its quite possible as long as you handwriting is legable lol...

Good luck

Cheers

Quintin

Might want to contact Doug Stockwell - he seems to have written something to
get .NET members, classes etc into the dictionary:
http://11011.net/archives/000416.html

--
Blog: www.adopenstatic.com/cs/blogs/ken/
Web: www.adopenstatic.com


<dchinn@nwlink.com> wrote in message
news:1113581823.091899.146130@l41g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
: I'm a developer, and have been making my living typing for quite a long
: time. As a result, i find that rsi issues have become quite a problem
: in the last few years.
:
: So, i'm exploring alternate input devices, and am wondering if anyone
: has experience with using ink as an alternative to typing when coding
: in visual studio.
:
: My understanding is the VS isn't ink aware, so I'm thinking that you'd
: use the input panel to insert text into the editor?
:
: Or maybe, use an ink-aware text editor for bulk entry, and input panel
: for changes/debugging/maintenance?
:
: Anybody tried this?
:
: to be clear... i'm not trying to write an application using ink... i'm
: trying to use *ink* to write an application!
:

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 03:09:01 -0700, "Quintin" wrote:

>Hi, i know quite a few people in that postition, but i suggest you go onto
>the Tablet PC Buzz forums for the best info on it.

That's an interesting forum which I ran across before, but never
stopped to look at.

I found two relevant topics (it was not easy). Both are in the "Tablet
PC Developer Discussion Forum." One is titled "Any tablet-geared dev
software?" And the other is ""Writing" code". The latter is from last
October, so you have to select "Show topics from the last year" to see
it.

The bottom line seems to be that coding on a tablet PC doesn't work
worth a darn except with the virtual keyboard. The recognition
software applies all of the rules that it uses to recognize characters
correctly in an English text, and comes up with garbage. There was
some talk about true visual development tools (which let you write
applications without writing code), but those do not interest me -- I
know they would be useful for some applications, but not for the ones
I'm interested in developing.

I have been looking forward to using a tablet PC for coding once I can
afford to buy one, and it never occurred to me that using it at a
basic level with the development tools of my choice would present any
special problems. Evidently handwriting recognition is not as
generally useful a tool as I have been led to believe. That's pretty
disappointing, but it's better to find out now than later.

My email address is llm040903 at earthlink dot net.