Keyboard disappears from screen

[ozfoxy]

I have a couple of Chinese made smartphones with Android 4.1 and 4.2, and Telstra (Australia) pre-paid sims.
To recharge a sim, I have to call #100# then enter a selection from the resulting text menu, in this case by typing a 1.
The problem is that as soon as the call connects and the text menu appears, the keyboard has gone from the screen, so I have no way of typing a 1.
If I tap the keyboard icon to bring the keyboard back on screen, the call automatically disconnects.
Is there a way of 'locking' the keyboard on screen?
Any help will be appreciated. (Unfortunately my grandchildren aren't in the same town as me).
I did try searching for an answer but no joy.

 

[Haalcyon]

Welcome to the forums!

The only time I've had this happen to me is with my Nexus 7 when using a bluetooth keyboard. Even when I would switch to the soft keyboard the bluetooth keyboard would kick in w/out my permission and disable the soft keyboard. With that in mind you may want to go to Language and Input and disable any other keyboards besides the one you want to use. Your issue may be completely unrelated to something like the one I had but its worth considering. As far as locking the keyboard on the screen (so that it always shows, even when a text field is not present), I'm no developer but perhaps there is a way to do this. Hopefully, you'll get some more responses that may be more helpful than mine.

 

[ozfoxy]

Thanks for your help. Your reference to 'a text field' turned the light on. As soon as I tapped in the text field, up came the keyboard.
Another seniors moment I'm afraid !!
Many thanks.

 

[Haalcyon]

Yea!!!!!!