problems on inline input on Mac

["Kazu Yamamoto" <kazu@iij.ad.jp>]

Hello,

Recent CVS Emacs provides "inline input" on Mac.

Without this, we Japanese have to type Japanese (Hiragana) in another
small non-Emacs window, convert it to what we want (Kanji), then
insert the completed string to an Emacs buffer.

Thanks to the inline input, we can directly input Hiragana in an Emacs
buffer and convert/complete it in the buffer.

Other inline input mechanisms (like "tamago") makes use of buffer
itself. I guess many people agree that this approach is good.

Unfortunately, the inline input of Mac makes use of overlay instead of
buffer. This approach causes some problems:

* Even if the target buffer is read-only, we can input Hiragana and
  Kanji. Read-only errors occur just after we complete strings (ie
  inserting the completed strings from the overlay to the buffer).

* Since Hiragana and Kanji are hold in an overlay, text properties of
  the buffer is not inherited during input. Of course, after
  completing strings, the properties are inherited by the strings.

  My presentation tool called Goby let users to input large letters.
  With other inline input, we can see large Japanese letters while
  inputing them. With Mac's inline input, small Japanese letters
  appear during input and large letters are shown only after
  completing them.

So, I would like to ask to change the implementation of inline input
on Mac from using overlay to using direct buffer.

--Kazu Yamamoto