using of Mac OSX Dictionary.app formated Dictionarys

[marcoxyz]

Hi All

To have the possibility of using custom Dictionary's in your app would be an big advantage. So one question ist this pice of code possible in iOS (a short lookup in the iOS Developer Library says "yes" to me):

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7...64254#16764254

See the last Post with Code.

Then we could use under ../Documents/Dictionarys dict's like this:

http://www1.dict.cc/download/macosx1...dictionary.zip

(Simple install it on OSX and copy the Dictionary)

Thank You

Marco

[At_Libitum]

and those of us without OSX? Me thinks a solution that works for the Windows users too would be preferable

Plus, we already have the ability to use custom dictionary apps as long as these use an urlscheme. That may limit your choices perhaps but at least it's useable for all.

However, I seem to recall reading a remark that dictionary enhancements are on the drawing board.

[marcoxyz]

Hi

There ar free tools on Linux, Windows or Mac OS to generate these Dictionarys. And i dont want to pay $10 or $20 for a dictionary what i also can have for free with 3 times more words.
If we had a function like this in the app, beleve me that in one week you can download 20+ Dictionarys from the cloud. From me you will get english-german-english, same in spanish, french and italian.

Ciao Marco

[Faterson]

That sounds almost too good to be true, Marco. Would those alternative options be legal? And what about the quality of those alternative dictionaries? I find it difficult to believe it would be comparable to dictionaries from reputable publishers like Oxford UP or Collins.

But perhaps I'm wrong. I'll be happy to learn more about this.

Currently, consulting a 3rd-party dictionary app while reading a book in Marvin, is unwieldy. iOS doesn't support split screens, so after Marvin sends you to a 3rd-party dictionary app (if you're lucky enough to discover its URL launch scheme), you need to return manually to Marvin every time. (Particularly irksome on the iPhone.)

[marcoxyz]

Yes it is for private Use legal, have a look here:

http://www1.dict.cc/translation_file_request.php

(for example a perfect German - English - German Dictionary what i use on my jailbroken iPad2 as global dictionary with 500000 words)

http://lipflip.org/articles/dictcc-dictionary-plugin

That means, the Developer of Marvin can give us a interface without the Dictionarys. The Dictionary's by them self you have to install separately. You can find hundreds of them from other guys who have it already done the work for you. Otherwise you have the possibility to use this Tool:

http://code.google.com/p/mac-dictionary-kit/

To convert Stardict Dictionarys. Most of this Dictionarys have the GPL as license or are free. I think this will be a good start :-)

http://abloz.com/huzheng/stardict-dic/freedict.de/

(go one level UP to see tons of more dictionarys)

Ciao Marco

[Faterson]

That looks nice, Marco, but it's not going to work for Marvin. Among the terms of use for the dictionaries you linked, the very first condition says:

Using the data within computer programs is permitted, as long as the following terms are observed:

1. Programs using data of dict.cc must be subject to the terms of the GPL.

This means, amongst other rules, that the source code of the program must be made available to the public.

This just doesn't apply to Marvin, and surely we can't expect Kris to abandon his development model for the sake of those dictionaries. On the other hand, Kris could develop the "empty" interface, leaving it up to the responsibility of individual Marvin users to only load dictionary sets in accordance with their terms of use.

Also, while the dictionaries certainly look nice and usable, I'm betting you will get a better quality when purchasing those Oxford or Collins dictionaries, even if it were for $10 per dictionary. As a linguist, I'm willing to pay for quality dictionaries. I recommend the Lingvo app, because you can load many top-quality dictionaries there. Many dictionaries inside Lingvo are free, while many top-notch dictionaries can be added to Lingvo as an in-app purchase.

What has me worried more is that paltry usability of dictionary lookups in Marvin. It's not primarily (or at all) Marvin's fault, of course. I find that the display of dictionaries is best handled by Kindle: pop up the dictionary definition/translation at the top or bottom of the screen; tap there to read more, if necessary. That seems better to me than popping up a bubble overlaying the text you are reading -- let alone switching to a different screen/app completely, and having to return to Marvin manually every time. If iOS allowed for split screens, which might make it possible to simulate the Kindle functionality in Marvin (definition/translation might pop up towards the bottom or top edge of the screen), that would go a long way towards improving the usability of dictionary lookups in Marvin.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Faterson

having to return to Marvin manually every time.

By the way, that's a huge advantage of the Android platform right there: the back button is constantly available in the user interface! So, "returning to Marvin" from a dictionary on Android would be a simple tap, on both tablets or phones. Whereas in iOS, you need the 4-finger swipe (iPad) or double-tapping the Home button + another tap on the screen (iPhone -- infuriatingly, the 4-finger swipe is not available on the iPhone). That's very long-winded and time-consuming compared to a single tap on the always visible back button on Android.

[At_Libitum]

nvrmind

[marcoxyz]

Hi Faterson

Did you really read what i wrote? Nobody talks about bundling dictionarys in Marvin. Also Nobody wants to download 100 megabytes only for an ebook reader.

I only suggest to make a Interface to the Mac OS X Dictionary format what already is used in iOS or maybe to the StarDict format.

Downloading and installing can every user by them self and it not violates the GPL or the dict.cc License Terms.

Ciao Marco

[Faterson]

Have you read the above quote from the licence terms, Marco? It seems clear. But, you might write to Paul Hemetsberger and ask him: paul@dict.cc

By the way, the dict.cc app for iOS is freely available:

https://itunes.apple.com/sk/app/dict...327732352?mt=8

So, you can already use it with Marvin today (just like the Lingvo app), provided we can determine the URL launch scheme for the dict.cc app. (Paul could help with that, too.)

[kguil]

If the target app supports x-callback, you can construct a URL scheme to add a "back button" to Marvin. Marvin's launch URL scheme is marvinapp://

[Faterson]

I have now sent an email to Paul myself, asking him about the URL launch scheme of the dict.cc app. I tried a few "blind guesses" myself, but couldn't get dict.cc to launch from within Marvin.

If Paul replies, I'll let you guys know. If Paul is very responsive, he might also implement an x-callback button in the dict.cc app. I'm not holding my breath, because I have yet to encounter a developer as responsive as Kris.

I could also write to ABBYY and ask them to implement an x-callback button in Lingvo. But, since it took ABBYY about half a year to respond to Kris when he asked them about their URL launch scheme... well, I'm not optimistic.

The dict.cc dictionaries are nice, although not on the top professional level of dictionaries offered in Lingvo. Another limiting feature they have is that they only focus on language pairs German <-> another language or English <-> another language. So, you probably wouldn't find a dictionary like Spanish <-> French there. Lingvo is more versatile, offering many language pairs of the any language <-> any language type, although, being a Russian app, Lingvo also has its focus on a specific language (Russian).

Marco's suggestion is for Kris to develop an "empty interface" in Marvin, into which Marvin users could later independently load the dict.cc datasets, on their own responsibility, even if it were (ostensibly, possibly) to contradict dict.cc terms of use. I wonder if Kris would be willing to develop such an "empty interface" for dictionaries inside Marvin, and if so, if the display of those dictionaries could then be customised in the "Kindle way" (no pop-up bubble overlaying the text, but show the definitions towards the top or bottom of the screen; or, let the user decide in what way the definitions/translations should be shown). These are probably futuristic considerations at this point.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Faterson

I have now sent an email to Paul myself, asking him about the URL launch scheme of the dict.cc app. I tried a few "blind guesses" myself, but couldn't get dict.cc to launch from within Marvin.

I also (via iFunBox) took a look inside the Info.plist file of the dict.cc app on the iPhone, and the relevant passage goes like this:

_CFBundleURLSchemes^cc.dict.dictcc¡(Wdict-ccS6.0¤+,-._

Maybe someone here can reconstruct this? [That's an inverted exclamation sign following the "dictcc".] When I tried

cc.dict.dictcc://{define}

inside Marvin, I only got the usual error pop-up message saying the app is not installed or the URL is incorrect.

If we found the URL scheme, the display of dict.cc definitions should work. The dict.cc app is so smart as to include a switch, in its settings, to "activate the clipboard" and automatically launch the search with whatever is in the clipboard. So, the dict.cc app is "well-behaved" and willing to cooperate, similarly to Lingvo or the Larousse app, and unlike the Merriam-Webster or the Google Translate apps, for which it does not even help to know their URL launch scheme, because they refuse to "accept" the search string sent to them from Marvin.

[marcoxyz]

Hi Faterson, Hi Kris

Fatherson please send me the Source code of the Dictionary.app in OSX it must be under the GPL since i can use hundreds of Dictionary, especialy this from dict.cc (see link above) with this app in GPL Licensed Dictionarys (see the other link).

If you have an program what have build in a interface that can interpret only data from a well known data format, then everything is fine until you have to license the dataformat and that, with your developer license from Apple, you already have done.
It is the same with, for example, a movie player with subtitles, what you have to do as a developer to check the licenses for the codecs. You not have to check the source or the content of the played movie.

License Therms of dict.cc for use of the databases:

PERSONAL USE
Utilizing the data for personal use is granted provided that the data is not given away to third parties or published in any way.

What "personal use" is that? Print it out and put it on your walls in your flat? Simply not. It is for personal use for translate things. I simply did it with a gpl and a dict.cc dictionary on the Kindle followed this:

http://learnoutlive.com/add-german-e...or-iphone-ios/

...and it simply works (see the screenshots). Need now Kindle distributed under the GPL?

Stop the wast of time with playing around with URLs of proprietary apps when X well documented dictionary formats exists (StarDict, OSX Dict, WordNet....) what is easy to implement...

I do a small scrip or app, and publish it under the GPL and that script or app gives you the possibility to create a OS X like Dictionary usable in the OSX Dictionary.app and on iOS (if you have an jailbreak) or in Marvin if we had the interface for "personal use".

Ciao Marco

[marcoxyz]

PS: Here have somebody a API ready for Marvin ;-). The Database Format is Wordnet. Come on i pay the $20.

http://www.lexicontext.com/support.html

Ciao Marco