anthy icon does not differentiate between romaji input or hiragana/katakana

[Alejandro]

The icon used for anthy in text entry settings does not indicate the current input method use. There is no way for knowing if one is inputing text using either romaji, hiragana or katakana. Also it does not show any visual hint that the input method is changed after changing it.

Ubuntu release name:
Description: Ubuntu 13.10
Release: 13.10

Package version:
anthy:
  Installed: 9100h-16ubuntu3
  Candidate: 9100h-16ubuntu3
  Version table:
 *** 9100h-16ubuntu3 0
        500 http://jp.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Expected behavior:
As it was on previous version (before saucy) ,when using input method for romaji then the icon was the JP letters on white background and when using hiragana/katakana the icon would change into anthy icon. This way, there was a way to know which input method is used.
This behavior is also present in osx and windows.

What happens instead:
There is only the default anthy icon regardless of the input metho used. If the key to change input methods is pressed, then the input method changes but the icon stays the same.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: anthy 9100h-16ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-13.20-generic 3.11.6
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-13-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Nov 29 23:36:05 2013
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-12 (47 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Beta i386 (20131012)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: anthy
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Mark Duncan (eattheapple)]

This bug still exists in 14.04 as of today. It's very annoying to come to my computer and not know if my keyboard will be typing in romaji, hiragana, or katakana. I only experience this in Unity. In Gnome 3 and KDE, the icon changes as expected.

[Alejandro (aleoliva)]

In my case this bug does not appear in trusty anymore after a clean instalation. The system seems to have changed a little. To explain better I get a "Ja" icon when I am using romaji. I get the colorful "Aち" icon when I am using hiragana/katakana. Since I also have Spanish language I get "ES" icon. To set this up, I went to text entry settings by clicking the icon. After that in "input sources to use" I add:
1. Japanese
2. Japanese (anthy)
3. Spanish (Latin America)
I set up the "switch to next source using" to zenkaku/hankaku key and it is usable for me.

I am not sure if other people are ok with this arrangement, but it seems to work.

[Mark Duncan (eattheapple)]

Ah, yes, that works for me too. What doesn't work though is the icon changing when I switch between hiragana/katakana. In KDE, GNOME, and earlier versions of Ubuntu (I want to say this worked in 12.04, but I'm not 100% sure on that), the icon will change from あ to ア or Ａ (and half-width equivalents) depending on the current mode. I've tried with both Anthy and Mozc and neither update their icon as expected. It seems as though newer versions of Unity, or whatever handles the display of the indicator icon, only updates the input method icon when the actual input method changes and doesn't pick up when the current input method changes it's typing mode. It seems like something simple to fix, but unfortunately I just don't have time to dig in to the code.

[Mark Duncan (eattheapple)]

Marked this as also affecting Unity since this problem only occurs in Unity.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.