title: Custom 'Keyboard' built in an application on Android
body: <p>I've been looking to create a custom keyboard for my application. At first, I started to look at the SoftKeyboard for the SDK examples, but reading the Android Developer Group led me to this post:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>This is really not how the input
    method framework is supposed to work.
    An  IME should be a generic input
    facility, not for a particular
    application.   If you need some
    app-specific input, you should build
    it into your UI  rather than pushing
    it out to a generic IME.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>How do I build an app-specific input within the UI? I mean, is there a way to extend the <em>Keyboard</em> app or something and use it only in my application?</p>
  
  <h2>Features needed for the keyboard:</h2>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Shift key to display some other keys</li>
  <li>Special keys like square root or PI</li>
  <li>etc.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>PS: an ugly solution could be to make a table of ImageButton for example, but I wanted to make something clean.</p>