What is this?

SmartIM is a plugin to make vim stand well with input methods. It switches the input method to the default keyboard (usually English) when leaving insert mode and switches back when you enter insert mode again. It consists of 2 tiny programs:

im-select: a command-line utility to get/set active input method
smartim.vim: a vim plugin to do automatic input method switch, using im-select

It is Mac-only for now.

Installation

Vundle

Add this line to your ~/.vimrc file: Plugin 'ybian/smartim'
Open vim and run :PluginInstall

Pathogen

cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone git@github.com:ybian/smartim.git

Others

Clone this repository to your local disk
Copy im-select and smartim.vim (both are under plugin directory) to your vim plugin directory (usually .vim/plugins)

Then, enjoy the convenience!

FAQ

Why is it Mac-only?

Because the command-line utility im-select uses Mac specific APIs. It should be easy to develop equivalents for other platforms but I just don't have the time to do so.

Can I use `im-select` as a standalone utility?

Sure. The usage is very simple: invoke it with no argument to get the ID string of current active input method; invoke it with an ID string to set current input method.

$ im-select
com.apple.keylayout.US # print the ID string of your active input method
$ im-select com.apple.keylayout.US # change your active input method

What should I do if my default keyboard is not US English?

SmartIM assumes your default keyboard is US English (com.apple.keylayout.US). If you want to change this, please add the following line to your .vimrc:

let g:smartim_default = '<your_default_keyboard_id>'

Replace <your_default_keyboard_id> with the ID string of your input method (which can be get via im-select)

su27/smartim