Using an IME affects the flow of input through OpenEdge applications. In single-byte applications, which do not need IMEs, input data travels as follows:

  1. From the user
  2. Through the keyboard
  3. Through the keyboard buffer
  4. Through the OpenEdge application
  5. Through the OpenEdge screen frame
  6. To the monitor screen

Once the input data reaches the keyboard buffer, the programmer can query it using the ABL LASTKEY function and READKEY statement.

The following figure illustrates the flow of data through an application that does not use an input method editor.

Figure 1. Data flow through an application not using an input method editor