Dictionary app with Marvin

[slayda]

I knwo you can use an online dictionary with Marvin but is it possible to use a dictionary app with Marvin? Often I'm reading on my WiFi only iPad away from any WiFi so I can't use the online dictionaries then. However I have a very nice dictionary app I like.

Originally Posted by slayda

I knwo you can use an online dictionary with Marvin but is it possible to use a dictionary app with Marvin? Often I'm reading on my WiFi only iPad away from any WiFi so I can't use the online dictionaries then. However I have a very nice dictionary app I like.

Yes you can download a dictionary within Marvin then access it without a WiFi/cellular connection. I just verified this with Marvin for iPad running on iOS 7.

Within Marvin, select a word then select to define it. On the Dictionary popup window select the Manage button, then select a dictionary to download from the list that is displayed. To DLed a dictionary, select the cloud symbol with down arrow beside the dictionary you want.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Yes you can download a dictionary within Marvin then access it without a WiFi/cellular connection. I just verified this with Marvin for iPad running on iOS 7.

Can you tell me how or point me in the right direction. I haven't been able to find it yet.

Originally Posted by slayda

Can you tell me how or point me in the right direction. I haven't been able to find it yet.

See above as I edited my original post. I hope this helps!

[slayda]

Ok, guess I'll have to bite the bullet and upgrade to iOS 7.

Originally Posted by slayda

Ok, guess I'll have to bite the bullet and upgrade to iOS 7.

It might work in iOS 6, I never tried it though and no longer have an iDevice with iOS 6 installed on it.

[slayda]

Yeah, I tried but just got the Apple dictionary. Faterson implied there was a way to setup another dictionary in 6 but I've not found how yet. I'll probably hold off on 7 for awhile. Most of what I hear is not making me enthusiastic to upgrade. Only the added dictionary capability is an incitement so far.

[Faterson]

Slayda, it works on iOS 6, too, but you must know the so-called "URL scheme" of your dictionary app.

For example, my preferred external (and off-line!) dictionary app is Lingvo, and its URL scheme is:

abbyy.lingvo://show_word/{define}

You can set up a custom menu button in Marvin using this text, and then pressing that button will look up that word for you in your preferred dictionary app, instead of in one of the internal iOS dictionaries.

iOS 7 is butt-ugly and I'm upset by it (much prefer the smoothness of Android 4.3). However, the internal iOS dictionaries in iOS 7, while still very lame (see details), are a definite improvement over iOS 6. I love the Oxford dictionaries by themselves -- they are just badly implemented in iOS 7.

And, the range of available internal iOS 7 dictionaries is still extremely narrow (just a handful of languages, virtually no translation dictionaries, and there is still no option to add your own dictionary), so the dictionary you are looking for might not be there in iOS 7 anyway.

[slayda]

Thanks Faterson. That works for that dictionary but is there some method for finding the 'URL scheme' for other dictionaries. I have a Merriam-Webster dictionary that has a good pronouncing capability that I like. I can use the online version when connected but prefer the app even then. Although the online version is probably more robust.

Sorry but MR won't let me give you more karma right now.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by slayda

is there some method for finding the 'URL scheme' for other dictionaries. I have a Merriam-Webster dictionary

You might ask Merriam-Webster app support about that, or look at their website, etc. Some app developers officially publish the URL scheme as assistance to other app developers; Lingvo did just that.

It might also be possible to find the URL scheme by "diving" inside an IPA file (iFunBox makes that possible); the URL scheme should be contained in the Info.plist file there.

[vikarti]

Originally Posted by Faterson

You might ask Merriam-Webster app support about that, or look at their website, etc. Some app developers officially publish the URL scheme as assistance to other app developers; Lingvo did just that.

It might also be possible to find the URL scheme by "diving" inside an IPA file (iFunBox makes that possible); the URL scheme should be contained in the Info.plist file there.

or look at
http://handleopenurl.com/scheme
http://wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes
app you wanted may be here

[Faterson]

Merriam-Webster not listed in either resource for now, unfortunately.

[Heitor]

Merriam-Webster is accessible through iFunbox, but it shows as "Dictionary". Surely I was expecting "Merriam-Webster".

Inside Merriam-Webster, you need to open the "MerriamWebster.app" folder. Inside it, you have to look for the Info.plist file. Then you can look at its content with Notepad (just drag Info.plist toward it).

Info.plist is an XML file, with several "key" and "string" pairs. One of the keys is "CFBundleURLSchemes", its string is "fb178450008855735iphonefree". It means that Merriam-Webster's URL scheme is "fb178450008855735iphonefree://", as odd it may sound. I've tested it and it worked.

There is a problem. I couldn't find a way of passing the word to the dictionary app. It means that you can create a menu button in Marvin for Merriam-Webster, but it just calls the app without showing the word. I think that you already could do this by multitasking. Unfortunately I can't find out how to pass arguments through the URL scheme. It should be documented by the developer. I tried to google it, and found this site with some URL schemes: http://schemes.zwapp.com/?page=185 (still no way to pass arguments).

This is how far I could get, sorry.

[Faterson]

There is a Feedback menu item in the app, sending an email to the Merriam-Webster app support. What about asking them which argument should be used? It's too bad that simply attaching {define} to the URL scheme does not work; it works in some other apps I tried.

[slayda]

Thanks, Heitor. That worked after I changed the "iphonefree" to "ipadpro" to correspond to my version's info.plist. I tried various possibilities but none worked. Will take another look at the info.plist for clues. In the mean time, I had already sent email to Merriam-Webster support but no word back yet.

And thank you too Faterson.