DICToMatic

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Getting Started
3. The Menus
1. File
2. Edit
3. Server
4. Font
5. History
4. The windows
1. Floating Window
2. Main Window
3. Preferences Window
4. Terminal Window
5. Known Bugs and Issues
6. MacOS Specifics
7. Trouble Shooting

1. Introduction

   DICToMatic is a handy application that allows you to access online dictionaries via the DICT protocol. One of the main features of DICToMatic is its ability to allow you to quickly retrieve definitions for words stored on the clipboard. Most email and word processing applications will check the spelling of words for you but very few will tell you what those words actually mean. DICToMatic will also allow you to enter more complicated queries via it's main window. DICToMatic also features quick cross references by simply clicking on a eligible word in a definition (much like clicking a link in a web page).

   for more information on the DICT protocol see RFC 2229 or visit dict.org

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2. Getting Started

   Okay well there's not a lot you have to to do to get underway, simply ensure you have some sort of internet connection available (or access to a dict server on your LAN) and double click the DICToMatic icon. (The default settings for MacOS differ to those for Windows, The documentation will assume you are using windows, Mac specific info can be found here). You should see a small Icon floating somewhere on your screen. If you left click this window, you should see a contextual menu listing the words currently on the clipboard (if the clipboard is empty then you won't see a menu at all). If you right click on this window you'll just see the items Show and Quit. If the word you wish to define is listed then simply selected it and DICToMatic will (depending on setup) search the internet and display either all the definitions found or a list of all matching definitions and the dictionaries they came from. If you simply select Show then the main window will appear and you can search the DICT server directly from there.

   From the main display you can browse the retrieved definitions, enter more searches or cross reference words used in the definitions. If you find the default operation of DICToMatic is not to your liking you can easily fool round with any of the preferences to make more suitable.

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3. The Menus

   1. File

      • About - Displays the about box with version info and BrokenToaster web address.
      • Save - Save the contents of the main window (definition only) to a text file.
      • Hide - Hides the main window and displays the floating window
      • Exit - Find something better to do.

   2. Edit

      • Find - Opens a dialog to perform an incremental search on the current definition
      • Prefs - Display the Preferences window
      • Check Clipboard - Updates the list area with the current contents of the clipboard.

   3. Server

      • Get Server Info - Retrieve all available information about the current DICt server including number of databases and query methods
      • Get Dictionary Info - Retrieve information about a dictionary on the current DICT server.
      • Reset - Resets the current connection and attempts to reconnect, flushing the current command queue (this is used only if it appears the server is not responding.)
      • Terminal - (This is only displayed when "debugInfo" option is turned on in the .ini file). This brings up a simple terminal window to talk directly to the dict server

   4. Fonts

      This menu simply displays all the fonts available on your system, and allows you to set the default font (and size) for displaying definitions. Note: This menu tends to get pretty big on Windows.

   5. History

      This menu displays a list of the most recent dictionary queries. The length of this menu can be set in the preferences.

4. The Windows

   1. Floating Window

      

      The floating window acts as your portal to DICToMatic while using other applications, depending on how this has been setup in the preferences, it can act in the following ways.

      • No Popup Menu - A right or left click on the window will cause the main window to be displayed.
      • Single Menu Mode - A contextual menu will display on either right or left mouse click. The menu will contain a list of words currently on the clipboard. The last to items will be "Show" and "Quit" (after the separator Bar)
      • Normal Mode - A left mouse click on the window will result in a menu of clipboard words being displayed and a right click will display a menu for the control of DICToMatic (show and Quit)

   2. Main Window

      

      This window is the interface to the DICT Protocol. It has three main areas:

      • the query area at the top which consists of the text box and buttons "Match" and "Define";
      • the list area which will either list the current contents of the clipboard or multiple definitions (signified by an entry in the dictionary column)
      • the definition area consisting of the large text area filling the bottom half of the window. this is where definitions, server and database information is displayed

      Once you have entered you query in the text box in the query area you can either select match or define. match will use the current matching strategy to find a match for your query, the results ill be displayed in the list area. Define will look for an exact match for you word and depending on you preferences will retrieve the first available definition or all available definitions and display the information in the main text area.

      When items are listed in the list area you can double click an entry do retrieve the relavant information. The list area has two columns, the word column and the dictionary column. If the the dictionary column is empty then the list area is displaying the contents of the clipboard. If the dictionary column contains entries like "wn" or "web1913" then it is a list of the results to your last "match" query.Note: you can select multiple entries to concatenate them into one query, although this is only experimental at this stage

      The main text area displays server and dictionary information, but is mainly used for displaying retrieved definitions. If a definition contains a word that is cross referenced in the same online dictionary then it is shown as an underlined hyper-link (the default color is blue but this can be changed in the preferences). If the word is double clicked then DICToMatic will automatically look up that definition. (you can easily use the history menu to go back to your previous entry.

   3. Preferences

      

      The preferences window is where you tweak the operation of DICToMatic to make it more to you liking, It has 3 Tabs:

      • Interface - Preferences to do with the floating window and working with the clipboard.
      • Server - Preferences associated with accessing the DICT server.
      • Misc - Stuff I added later :)

      The interface Tab contains the following options:

      • Use Floating Window - Enables or disables the use of the floating window when accessing DICToMatic
      • Hide Floating Window - Hides the Floating window when the main window is visible, reappears when the main window is hidden.
      • Use Popup menu - Enables the use of popup menu's to access the clipboard from the floating window, if this is disabled then clicking on the floating window will simply cause the main window to appear
      • Single Menu Mode - In this mode the floating window uses the same combined menu for both right and left menu clicks.(recommended for MacOS :) )
      • Use Match Instead - When a word is selected from a popup menu a "match" query is issued rather than a "define" (this is good for spell checking)
      • Min Word Length - This is the minimum word length to for a word to be grabbed from the clipboard. ie. words shorter than this will not be displayed in the contextual menus of in the list area.

      The Server tab has the following settings:

      • DICT Server - This is the URL of the DICT server you want to access. (the Default is dict.org)
      • Port - This is the TCP/IP port the DICT server runs on. (2628 is the default, if you don't know then don't touch it :) )
      • Get first available definition - When issuing a "Define" query the DICT server will only send the first matching entry. (in the Default Dictionary)
      • Get all available definitions - when issuing a "Define" query the DICT server will send all definitions available.(in the Default Dictionary)
      • Default Dictionary - This selects the dictionary to be used for querying. The menu is constructed at runtime after connecting to a server and so only lists those items available on the selected server. (the default value is "All"
      • Default Strategy - This is the default strategy to be used by the DICT server when issuing "match" queries. Not all strategies are available on all servers, the "default" strategy is the best available strategy for spell checking, but for more advanced queries you can change the strategy here.

      The Misc page has currently allows you to select the colour used for hypertext links and also number of items to be displayed in the history menu.

   4. The Terminal

      

      The terminal window is only available when the application is running in debug mode, (this can be changed by editing the "debuginfo" line in the .ini file. The terminal window provides a direct connection to the DICT server. You should only use this if you have read rfc 2229 and understand exactly what you are doing.

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5. Known Bugs and Issues

   Apart from the MacOS specific issues noted here. There are the following known bugs or issues with this version: (if you think you've find another then let me know)

   • Crossrefencing (double clicking an underlined word) can cause eratic results in some cases and higlighting of text can cause DICToMatic to search for more definitions.
   • Font menu can be rather large and awkward if you have alot of fonts installed.
   • The program can sometimes freeze up while waiting for a reply from the server and report that the server has dropped connection (try the reset server option). I've only ever seen this happen on a mac and I haven't the foggiest as to why.
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6. MacOS Specifics

   There are several issues with the MacOS version that users need to be aware of. The MacOS version of DICToMatic differs from the Windows version in the following ways.

   • The contextual menu accesed from the floating window does not update to clipboard changes while the main application is hidden
   • The floating window is unable to activate the main window while another application is frontmost.

   These issues are being looked at but it is unlikely that they will be fixed anytime soon. Effectifly the global window is rather useless when the program is used on the Mac. But the upside is that your using a Mac so smile :) because you can easily access the DICToMatic from the menu in the top right corner (on ClassicOS at least) when another application (such as your word proccessor) is frontmost.

   Due to these issues the default setup for DICToMatic on MacOS is that the floating window and popup menu are disabled and the app simply starts with its main window displayed.

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7. Trouble Shooting

   Here are a few tips to help should everything not go as smoothly as I have hoped.

   • The most common complaint will be something like DICToMatic freezes when the main window or preferences is opened and then does nothing (or says TCP/IP error). This means that DICToMatic is unable to locat the DICT server. Things to check are as follows:
     1. You are connected to the internet.(or a LAN running a DICt server)
     2. The DICT server name given in the preferences is correct (the default is dict.org)
     3. The port given in the preferences is correct (2628 is the default)
   • More items to be add as problems arise .... :)

   When all else fails....

   If you've checked all of the above and still no joy then try the default settings given above. If this still doesn't work then something has gone drastically wrong somewhere either the dict server is down (you can check www.dict.org to confirm this although it is rather unlikely. More likely is that DICToMatic is having a bad day. If this is the case then note the version number given in the about box and email me, ensuring the subject contains "DICToMatic" and explain the nature of the error (Information such as OS, processor etc will help) and a copy of the prefs (INI on Windows) file would be helpful as well. Hopefully I'll tell you that I've fixed the error and send you a new version or I'll have some idea as to why it's not working.

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