[HarfBuzz] Dealing with ligatures and text input

[Diederick Huijbers]

Hi,

I'm working on a C/C++/OpenGL text input field and wondering if someone can
give
me some advise on how to deal with ligatures and text input.

Lets say I have a input field and I type "fi". Now, harfbuzz will replace
these two
characters by the "fi" ligature. To be honest, I've no idea if the ligature
"fi" makes
the text more readable, but I assume it does.

But if I use ligatures (because of the reasons harfbuzz uses them), how
would I
deal with e.g. the placement of the caret in the text input field. I should
allow the user
to move the caret between the "f" and "i" for example. Though how would I
know the
correct (visual) x position ?

And lets say I use the input field so a user can register him/herself and
the value is
stored in a database. Would I store the "fi" ligature or both characters
separately?

Currently I think disabling ligatures is my best option, but I'm not sure
how I can disable
this with harfbuzz.

Thanks
roxlu
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