Input Method (IM) is a mechanism to input specific characters which are not provided on input devices like a keyboard to the various desktop applications. IM is required for some languages such as Chinese, Indic, Japanese, Korean, and Thai because these languages contain a much larger set of characters than what is available on the input devices. IM converts combinations of keystrokes from input devices to language-specific characters, and sends the information back to the focused application.
Input Method has two main components, the IM Framework and the IM Language Engine. The IM Framework is a software component providing functions that enable cooperation between the IM Language Engine and user applications. The IM Language Engine is a software component which takes keystroke combinations from the IM Framework and converts them to specific language characters to send them back to the IM Framework.
IBus is the default IM Framework on the Oracle Solaris desktop system. IIIMF is available in the installation repository as a secondary IM Framework.
By default, Input Method is activated only when you log in into the following languages:
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Japanese
Korean
Indic
Thai
For other languages, if necessary, IM can be activated manually through the Input Method Framework Selector.