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Topics - Gert

#21
Send an email to Karim for bug reports, feature requests and any useful messages that would help improve the DfM-Creator. Karim's email address is dfmcreator (a) gmail.com

For other topics you could make a posting here in the forum.
#22
Send an email to Karim for bug reports, feature requests and any useful messages that would help improve the DfM-Creator. Karim's email address is dfmcreator (a) gmail.com

For other topics you could make a posting here in the forum.
#23
Send an email to Karim for bug reports, feature requests and any useful messages that would help improve the DfM-Creator. Karim's email address is dfmcreator (a) gmail.com

For other topics you could make a posting here in the forum.
#24
Send an email to Karim for bug reports, feature requests and any useful messages that would help improve the DfM-Creator. Karim's email address is dfmcreator (a) gmail.com

For other topics you could make a posting here in the forum.
#25
DfM-Creator - general / DfM-Creator released
08. July 2012, 08:31:07
This is to announce the release of DfM-Creator, a user friendly and powerful tool for setting up (creating) dictionaries for DictionaryForMIDs.

DfM-Creator was developed by Karim (see http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/contact.html).

For a description of DfM-Creator see here: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/DfM-Creator/index.html.

DfM-Creator does incorporate the former command line tools DictionaryGeneration, JarCreator, BitmapFontGenerator and DictdToDictionaryForMIDs. Instead of using those command line tools, now a user can use DfM-Creator with its user interface.

I am enthusiastic about DfM-Creator and the features that it does provide ! Now the DictionaryForMIDs project will attract all those people who before were turned away by the old command line interface ... and there were quite a few people who did write me they'd like to set up their dictionary for DictionaryForMIDs but did not know how to handle a command line.

So in my opinion DfM-Creator is a major milestone for the DictionaryForMIDs project and DfM-Creator will pave DictionaryForMIDs' the way in the future !

After these lauding words I also would like to add that in order to provide the full potential of DfM-Creator there should be some improvements on this initial version of DfM-Creator. Hope that Karim can implement them all ;)  Thanks to Karim !

Best regards,
Gert

#26
Excellent application :) :)

One question: would it be possible that the Android application also supports the coloured display ? Some dictionaries support colours for pronunciation sections or similar; would that be possible that Android shows colours there, too ?

With very best regards,
Gert
#27
General discussions / Web Browsers
03. August 2011, 18:17:32
The DictionaryForMIDs Web App heavily uses 'HTML5' features and pushes the web browsers to their limits. Here is how well the web browsers support the advanced HTML features that are required by the Web App:

Apple Safari (tested with iOS 9.3.1)
Runs nicely.


Mozilla Firefox 5
Runs nicely.
But has a bug in the handling of the application caches, as follows:
1. a user uses any dictionary, say, dictionary 'EngGer (IDP)'; everything works fine for the first dictionary
2. a user uses any other dictionary, say, dictionary 'EngFra (IDP)' -> an error message is thrown
This bug was reported to the Firefox team: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=676051. Hope they will fix it soon.

Workaround 1: do not allow to store the Web App offline (Firefox will ask you if you want to store it offline). Of course, then you will always need to be online when you use the DictionaryForMIDs Web App.
Workaround 2: delete the application cache before you use the second dictionary (look in the settings for advanced -> web sites in offline mode; there delete dictionarymid.sourceforge.net)


Firefox OS
Tested in the Firefox OS simulator: works fine. Well, I guess the Firefox problem that is described above may also apply here (did not yet test that).


Google Chrome 18 (PC and Android)
Google Chrome was the first browser to run the DictionaryForMIDs WebApp without known problems. And with amazing speed, also for Android.
Plus, since version 16 the also the infamous 5 MB limit of WebKit is gone and Chrome installs huge dictionaries without problems.


WebKit based browsers (Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Android browser, Samsung Dolfin, most other mobile browsers)
The WebKit developers explained that WebKit does not yet have a handling for the size of the 'Application Cache'; temporarily the size of WebKit's Application Cache is hardcoded [Gert: I believe the limit 5 MB]. For that reason, big dictionaries such as the huge CEDICT will not work as an offline dictionary. Hope that this gets fixed in WebKit very soon.

Also, older WebKit versions have the same problem as Firefox when using a second dictionary (see above for Firefox). Workaround is to delete the application cache before using a second dictionary.
Note: For Chrome this bug was fixed with version 12 of Chrome (see http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=68479).

Further: for a few dictionaries the message "Invalid UTF8 sequence" may show up. This seems to be a problem with handling the UTF-8 BOM (actually, this not a bug in the WebKit implementation). I implemented a solution for this problem with XMLHttpRequest.responseBlob. But as of today it seems that XMLHttpRequest.responseBlob is not yet implemented in the available WebKit browsers.



Microsoft Internet Explorer 9
Lacks vital support for HTML5. Not capable to run the DictionaryForMIDs.


Opera 12.13
Runs nicely (see http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/forum/index.php?topic=276.msg1949#msg1949).


If you should have any additional information on the web browsers, please make a posting in our forum! Thanks!

Edit 01.02.2013 by Stefan1200: Updated Opera test
#28
I am proud to announce that all our dictionaries which are stored in the SourceForge DictionaryForMIDs File Release System are available for the Web App. I created the files with the script createWebAppFiles (documentation will be provided soon). I also changed the directory structure for the dictionaries  (should be final now; documentation will be provided soon, too).

Well, some problems still keep a few dictionaries to be run correctly  :-[  :
- older style normation packages are not yet supported (e.g. keeps WordNet from being run)
- the crude mini_hmi does not yet support > 2 languages in OptionWindow.html
- and OptionWindow.html seems to have some other problems too
- plus more to be detected ... ;)

I will fix this "as soon as I find time".  Will keep you informed about the progress in problem fixing.

Below is the list of the links.

Regards,
Gert

Please run the Web App only if you have an internet 'flatrate' (i.e. you do not pay for downloading files) !

http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary ChiEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary ChiGer (HanDeDict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary DeuEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary Elements/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngAra (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngArm/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngChi (CEDICT)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngCze webz/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngDef (WordNet)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngFra (IDP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngFra (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngGer (IDP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngGer (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngHin (IIIT)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngHin (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngHun (DICT)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngIta (IDP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngJpn (EDICT)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngJpn (EDICT-P)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngKhm (SBBIC)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngLat (IDP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngPor (IDP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngPor (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngRom (Var)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngRus (Mueller)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngSMS/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngSpa (IDP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngSpa (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngSvk kme/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngTagSpa (CAL)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngTur (Ozan)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngTur (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EngVie/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoAra (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoBul (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoCat (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoCes (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoChi (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoDan (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoDeu (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoEng (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoFin (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoFra (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoGre (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoHeb (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoHrv (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoHun (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoIta (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoJpn (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoLit (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoNdl (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoNor (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoPer (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoPol (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoPor (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoRus (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoSlo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoSpa (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary EpoSwe (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary FinEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary FraEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary FraVie/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary GerFra (freedict)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary GerTgl (Peruzzi)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary GerVie/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary German car signs/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary German phone prefix/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary German zip codes/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary HilEng/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary HrvEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary ItaEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary LitEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary NdlEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary NedEng (MP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary NedFra (MP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary NedGer (MP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary NedIta (MP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary NedPor (MP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary NedSpa (MP)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary PolEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary PorEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary RusEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary RusVie/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary SpaEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary SweEpo (Lernu)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary ThaEng (LEX)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary ThaEng (NIU)/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary VieEng/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary VieFra/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary Webster1913/
http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebApp/dictionaries/dictionary Wiktionary beta/
#29
So now there is the 'first usable version' of the DictionaryForMIDs web app. This version is 'functionality complete' concerning the translation features.

However the user interface completely lacks any convenience and even it lacks any nice looking elements: it is crude and looks rather ugly. The current user interface more serves as a demonstration for developers on how to build a user interface based on the translation layer.

I still hope that we will find somebody who can take care for the development of a nice looking user interface. See http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/htmlAppDevelopment.html for more information.

Anyway, even with the crude user interface the web app is ready to use. I attached two screenshots for CEDICT.

Two dictionaries are availble to the web app right now:

IDP EngLat: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/htmlApp/EngLat_IDP/
A small dictionary for English <-> Latin

CEDICT: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/htmlApp/ChiEng_CEDICT/
The famous huge CEDICT; Chinese <-> English

Please only run the web app if you have an internet 'flatrate' (i.e. you do not pay for downloading files) !


Hope that someone can help me to make the other dictionaries availble for the web app, too. I will post an extra message on this in the forum during the next days. Who volunteers to support ?

Note that the DictionaryForMIDs web app makes heavily use of HTML5 features and pushes the browsers to their limit. Restrictions/problems exist for most browsers. Also here I will post an extra message in this forum.

Ok, hope the news about the DictionaryForMIDs web app will quickly spread worldwide and attract a lot of people who like to support the DictionaryForMIDs project  :)

Regards,
Gert

#30
I will rename "htmlApp" to "Web App". Because it seems that by now the term "Web App" is well known for HTML/Javascript applications.

I will do that renaming step by step, as I find time.

Changing the name will help me to forget the disappointing support on the app development in the past :(

I recently did spent some effort to develop a useable user interface for the Web App and I will release that very soon :)

Regards,
Gert
#31
General discussions / DictionaryForMIDs 3.5.8
19. June 2011, 20:38:28
I just did put DictionaryForMIDs 3.5.8 here:

'Empty' version:
http://www.kugihan.de/dict/download/test_versions/3.5.8/DictionaryForMIDs_3.5.8_empty.zip

A version for testing with the Spanish-English-Tagalog dictionary:
http://www.kugihan.de/dict/download/test_versions/3.5.8/DictionaryForMIDs_EngTagSpa_CAL.jar

Updates are:

  • If incremental search is enabled, then after a "change translation direction" the translation is automatically executed
  • Coloured display is disabled by default, cause some devices seem to have problems with StringColourItems (see other posts on this topic here in the forum). [remark: users can enable the coloured display in the Settings dialogue]

Please test that version. If no new problems show up, then 3.5.8 can be used as the new version for building dictionaries.

Regards,
Gert
#32
Today Nokia announced their future strategy. Interesting is their way ahead to reach the "next billion mobile users": Nokia will do that based on their S40 platform; so not Symbian nor Windows Mobile, but the good old Java ME based S40 platform will be used. Certainly with several improvements to be implemented in S40, e.g. improved web features.

Also, Nokia's emphasize of web access for the "next billion" is interesting. This again shows how important it is for us to offer 'direct downloads' for Java ME mobiles (not to have the zip-file downloaded first and then install via a PC). My hopes there rely on Achim & co ... ;)

Read here the Nokia article: http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/02/11/mobile-phones-the-next-billion/


Well, in any case, for platforms in general, I am very glad that Achim does cover extremely well the Android market, which seems to 'explode' in size. This is a cornerstone for the DictionaryForMIDs project - thanks Achim  :)

With the upcoming DictionaryForMIDs htmlApp we should cover several other platforms; however I expect it will still take some time before mature html5 browsers will be available for mobile devices. And first of all we still need to find volunteers who like to support development of our htmlApp !

And maybe there are developers to port DictionaryForMIDs to native platforms such as iPhone or Windows Mobile.

Ok, these were just my thoughts for today after reading the Nokia news ... 

Regards,
Gert
#33
One may wonder why currently in the htmlApp there is no possibility to execute the translations in the background by a separate thread. Well, the reason is simple: there is no adequate support for threads in the web browser's Javascript.

Javascript only knows 'Web Workers'; while these Web Workers support parallel execution, the Web Workers are much different from threads: the key characteristic of threads is the possibility to access shared objects. For example Thread1 may access MyObject and Thread2 may access the same MyObject. Web Workers cannot do that ! Each of the Web Workers has a separate execution environment where you have to pipe in the input data (with 'postMessage') and the Web Worker pipes ot the output data (again with 'postMessage').

Web Workers are nice for cases where some input data is processed and some output data is returned. Web Workers are not adequate for cases where elaborated object structures are manipulated, that is really where true threads are needed.

[Note: sometimes the term 'thread' is used when talk is about Web Workers; whatever wording is used: Web Workers cannot share objects, which makes them a poor solution in many cases].

On the other hand, parallel execution in a web browser's Javascript is only supported by Web Workers. In the case of DictionaryForMIDs, it is possible to run cancelable translations with Web Workers in the background, but due to the Web Workers characteristics this may require a few weird changes in the Translation Layer. I am very reluctant to introduce any design disarrangement due to Web Workers. Hmmm, I really need to think about a few different options.

If I should be wrong on any of my points on threads and Web Workers above, please help to enlight me !

Regards,
Gert
#34
We search for an HTML5-developer who likes to implement a nice-looking HTML user interface for the htmlApp.

Here is a short overview of the htmlApp: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/htmlAppWhat.html

And here is more information on the HTML5 development: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/htmlAppDevelopment.html

I am looking forward to your proposals  :)

Best regards,
Gert
#35
Does anybody know about the popularity of the dictionaries ? Or just the download numbers ?

Sourceforge offers download statistics, see http://sourceforge.net/project/stats/detail.php?group_id=137316&ugn=dictionarymid&type=prdownload. [I never checked them for each dictionary]

Well, of course these sourceforge statistics do not count the downloads from other sites. For example CEDICT on GetJar was downloaded more than 300000 times (http://www.getjar.com/mobile/11249/dictionary-for-mids-english-chinese/ - if these statistics are correct).

And then of course there is the question how many installations there are per download.

And popularity is not not measured in number of downloads !

Well, does anybody have a feedback on popular dictionaries ? Or just on download numbers ? Or other related information ?

Regards,
Gert


P.S., to avoid a misunderstanding: in my opinion the most valuable dictionaries are probably not those with the highest download numbers. I am very proud that the DictionaryForMIDs project hosts rare dictionaries that are not found in other places (... thanks to Jeff and all the others !!). And I myself spend time to set up 'exotic' dictionaries because I believe these give real value to people !
#36
This is the very first release of the htmlApp ! Well, actually only the Javascript for Translation Layer is complete. We still need to find someone who is implementing a nice HTML user interface. Who likes to create a nice HMTL file for the htmlApp ?

Anyway, here are 2 dictionaries for testing:
IDP EngLat: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/htmlApp/EngLat_IDP/
A small dictionary for testing; hard coded translation direction: Latin to English (you can search for example for the word amor)

CEDICT: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/htmlApp/ChiEng_CEDICT/
The famous huge CEDICT; hard coded translation direction: English to Chinese.

The current HTML user interface is for testing only (I call this test HTML 'mini_hmi').

Please only test these applications if you have an internet 'flatrate' (i.e. you do not pay for downloading files) !

When you enter one of the URLs above, maybe your internet browser will ask you if you want to install the application (depends on the browser). Then the complete dictionary will be downloaded and be available for offline use. I.e. once downloaded you do not need the internet access for using the dictionary.

In the htmlApp the "Cache Info"-button will open a popup where the 'cache events' are logged. During an active download there will be new 'progress' entries; at the end there will be the 'cached' status if things are fine. Or an 'error' status if something went wrong.

If you open the application after downloading and then press the "Cache Info"-button, then there should be an 'Application Cache Status' of 1 (= "idle"). A value of 0 would indicate "uncached".


Some notes concerning the various internet browsers:
- Firefox: everything should run fine on version 4 (still in beta). Version 3.6 seems to have problems when more than one dictionary is in the application cache.
- WebKit based browsers (e.g. Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Samsung Dolfin, and most other mobile browsers): the WebKit developers explained that WebKit does not yet have a handling for the size of the 'Application Cache'; temporarily the size of WebKit's Application Cache is hardcoded [Gert: I believe the limit 5 MB]. For that reason, the huge CEDICT will not work as an offline dictionary. Hope that this gets fixed in WebKit very soon.
- Microsoft Internet Explorer: does not work for Internet Explorer version 8 (cause Application Cache is not supported and XMLHttpRequest.overrideMimeType is not yet implemented); Internet Explorer version 9 may support this - can somone test ?
- Opera: Can someone test this ?

Ok, hope there will be a lot of testers - I am keen to read your test results !

Best regards,
Gert
#37
Is there anyone who is using 'CsvFile.selectedBypassCharsetDecoding' ?

It was introduced in the early days of DictionaryForMIDs for those devices that were extremely slow with their charset decoder. Nowadays devices do not need that selectedBypassCharsetDecoding any more.

Unless someone is still using that parameter, I will drop it and delete all related code. Please let me know short-term - thanks !

Regards,
Gert
#38
Specifically to Achim and Jacob,

I lost the status on your work concerning downloading dictionaries (using MySQL database etc.).

Is your your approach ready to use ?

I'd like to use that download approach for the 'HTML5' version of DictionaryForMIDs (I'll just abbreviate that 'HTML5' version as 'htmlApp').

Well, currently I postponed my original plans to store the dictionaries in the htmlApp's Web Storage, due to lack of information in this area (see http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/forum/index.php?topic=263.0 and http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/forum/index.php?topic=262.0).

So now I plan that the htmlApp will be based on the HTML5 'application cache' feature. I will upload an first version with minimal user interface soon (note that I myself do not have the time to develop the user interface of the htmlApp; we need to find a developer for developing the user interface in HTML5).

My current plan is to create a separate Java tool which does
- download the dictionary from the sourceforge server; preferably using exactly the same mechanism as Android
- create the required files for the htmlApp
- upload all those files to a web server; users can start the application from there by entering the corresponding URL
That Java tool will be run by an administrator; or by the dictionary publisher.

Well, how can I download the dictionaries from that Java tool ? Is there a database that can be queried for existing dictionaries ? Ideally, is there a Java interface (jar file) that can be used ? Maybe even with a nice API that could contain methods such as 'enumerateDictionaries' and 'downloadDictionary' ?

Please just enlighten me there ... !

Thank you !
Gert
#39
Colleagues,

I'd like to announce that I ported the Translation Layer to Javascript. Well, some work still remains to be done of course.

I'd also like to use this occasion to praise DictionaryForMIDs' very good structure and modularization: as planned, only the following classes needed to be written for JavaScript:
- HTRInputStream - for accessing the dictionary files via XMLHttpRequest
- HTRInputStreamAccess - implementation for DfMInputStreamAccess (refers to HTRInputStream)
- UtilJs - for logging

Not one of the existing classes will need to be reworked !

Well, still it was still quite an effort to get there: I use the Google Web Toolkit for translating Java to Javascript. Thanks to Google for this fantastic tool ! However, I spent quite some time to implement missing classes such as InputStreamReader etc (those are not included in the Google Web Toolkit).

I will work more on that "when I find time"; I will also provide a detailed documentation for those who want to write an HTML5 User Interface.

Who wants to implement the "HMI Layer" in HTML5 for DictionaryForMIDs ?

I don't expect that an HTML5 implementation of DictionaryForMIDs will ever be as powerful as a native implementation such as Achim's Android implementation. And it still may take a long time before the browsers of mobile devices are powerful enough to be run DictionaryForMIDs as HTML5 application. Execution time may be an issue; remember that DictionaryForMIDs offers the capability of an offline dictionary (no need to have an internet connection for translations !), so the whole dictionary search needs to be run as Javascript in the browser.

More to follow in a few weeks.

Best regards,
Gert

P.S.: Only the Translation Layer is ported; there is no User Interface yet; still I quickly hacked some lines of code to present the translation results, see the attached screenshot. By the way, the search was accomplished surprisingly fast.
#40
Background:

Concerning an HTML5 version of DictionaryForMIDs: DictionaryForMIDs will have to store the dictionay files locally on the device; HTML5 provides "Web Storage" for that purpose.

The problem there is: the browsers limit the space provided for Web Storage, typically the default limit is 5 MB. A browser should allow the user to increase that limit. However I have no clue (a) what the default limit in the iPhone is and (b) more important, how an iPhone user can increase that limit in the Safari browser.


The script:

I created a quick JavaScript html page that writes 1000000 characters in the Web Storage for the domain'dictionarmid.sourceforge.net'. Each time that html page is loaded another 1000000 characters will be added - see the attached screenshot; until the limit is reached, then an 'exception' is printed.


Request (a): run this script on an iPhone

[I think I read that only iOS version 3 or higher support Web Storage]

Here is the html page: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/html5/webstorage.html
Please load this page a few times; each time 1000000 characters will be added; until there is an 'exception' message. And then report how many characters were added in total.

You can erase the created Web Storage with this html page: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/html5/clearwebstorage.html



Request (b): how to increase space limit for Web Storage on iPhone

Please check how the space limit for Web Storage on iPhone can be increased, in order to allow storing of big dictionaries, e.g. 30 MB.

Maybe for the iPhone there will be a question to the user for increasing the space when more space is needed by the script ?

Or there will be a property that can be adjusted ? Just as an example: on Firefox you can easily set under about:config the property dom.storage.default_quota to 30000. How is this done for Safari under iPhone ?

Thanks for testing,
Gert


P.S.1: iPhone users will rarely read this forum; if you know an iPhone user, please just ask him to run that script.

P.S.2: also for other devices, Android, Nokia, Samsung, LG, etc. it will be interesting to know the result of the script; you will need to have an up-to-date web browser that supports Web Storage.