Some bugs and features request

[chulai]

So far I have loaded the app with around 60 dictionaries and it behaves quite fast. That's amazing! I'm going to try to add the rest of the dictionaries I use with my desktop version and see what happens. I'm also very glad that we have the same full formating, image and sounds support as on the desktop program.


I know this is the very first version of the app so we can expect some bugs. I think I have found a couple of them:

1) Of all the dictionaries I loaded, there were 2 GD couldn't index. It doesn't display any error it just returns to the menu where you can select the dictionaries to add to the index. The dictionaries with this issue are Babylon_Spanish_English_dictio.BGL and A_Spanish_English_Dictionary_Granada_University_Spain.BGL

2) It seems GD doesn't remember zoom setting on restart and the default one is to small for me. Edit: Now it works correctly. Not sure what happened.

3) Some phonetics symbols show a square glyph. Examples: "ʊ", "ɒ", "ʹ". I guess is a font issue.


And now let's continue with some features requests; can we expect any of these in the future?:

1) Select/Copy text in the dictionary results.

2) Lookup selected text in the dictionary results.

3) Dictionary groups so we can enable/disable specific dictionaries and no need to reindex. This is partially covered by the button language pair.

4) Morphologies support if there are no entries found.

5) An iOS version would be great. Any plan to have GoldenDict in our Apple gadgets?

Finally, I also noticed that you added lingoes ld2 format to the mobile version. Are you going to add support of this to the desktop version? Personally I don't mind but it's another format choice for some people.

Regards,

Chulai

[ikm]

Thanks for the report. I'll take a closer look to those two Babylon dicts you're having problem with. As for phonetics, which Android version do you have? GD provides support for all IPA symbols starting from 2.2. However, providing support for any glyph in Unicode is much more expensive.

[C2BlEv]

Since we are talking about feature requests, my suggestions are:
1. to have separate free packages in the Android Market for copyright-free dictionaries (WordNet, etc.) for newbies who are not familiar with all the formats we are talking about. Just to get the folks started.
2. to have an interface option for tablets that follows closer the desktop's interface with non-disappearing windows for word entry and search results, and article text. I know my Xoom has enough space for this.
3. I second the request for a look up of selected text from other applications. I'd also welcome the ability to look-up a word in the article text (in the Desktop version this is done through double-click on the word).

[ikm]

For for 3, you can actually look up text from other apps. Copy it to clipboard and long-press the Search button. There's also an ebook reader integration (ColorDict 3.x).

[chulai]

I have a LG GT540 Optimus with Android 2.1.

Thanks for the report. I'll take a closer look to those two Babylon dicts you're having problem with. As for phonetics, which Android version do you have? GD provides support for all IPA symbols starting from 2.2. However, providing support for any glyph in Unicode is much more expensive.

[chulai]

Yes, C2BlEv was talking about something different. I was talking about copy/lookup functions inside GoldenDict. The integration with other apps thru the clipboard works great.

For for 3, you can actually look up text from other apps. Copy it to clipboard and long-press the Search button. There's also an ebook reader integration (ColorDict 3.x).

[ikm]

I have a LG GT540 Optimus with Android 2.1.

IPA isn't yet working in 2.1. The internal browser there doesn't support embedding of custom fonts. I'll try to find a solution for that problem.

[bradm]

1) Of all the dictionaries I loaded, there were 2 GD couldn't index. It doesn't display any error it just returns to the menu where you can select the dictionaries to add to the index. The dictionaries with this issue are Babylon_Spanish_English_dictio.BGL and A_Spanish_English_Dictionary_Granada_University_Spain.BGL

I would also like to report the inability to index seven separate French Larousse Multidico BGL dictionaries (not to be mistaken for the five Larousse Compact ones) in the mobile paid version (Asus TF101 32 GB tablet); under Windows, all seven index flawlessly.
I'd like to add that the same content Larousse Multidico dictionary "in one piece" BGL file indexed without problems on my tablet.

Don't index in GD Android 1.0.3:
Lar_Illico_Mult_synonymes.bgl
Lar_Illico_Mult_homonymes.bgl
Lar_Illico_Mult_expressions.bgl
Lar_Illico_Mult_difficultes.bgl
Lar_Illico_Mult_definitions.bgl
Lar_Illico_Mult_conjtables.bgl
Lar_Illico_Mult_citations.bgl

Indexes OK in GD Android 1.0.3:
larousse_multidico.bgl

Thanks, and, yes, congratulations for the happy September 10 GD publication! Bravo!

[jennie]

I've been waiting for an android version for almost a year now, and I'm so happy it's finally here!
And it really is an excellent app, miles ahead of all other android apps available!

I'm testing this on an HTC Chacha with Android 2.3. Please note that this phone has a blackberryish form factor (candybar with physical keyboard), and it defaults to landscape orientation. No problems so far, either with the keyboard, or landscape mode.
Some quick bugs (or not quite bugs):
1. Hyperlinks to keywords with non-ASCII characters don't seem to work. E.g.: FR-EN Larousse Chambers, stardict version, keyword "suis". There's a link to "suivre", which works, and a link to "être", which doesn't. Same thing with links in Greek.
2. When I choose a new FROM language, the TO language gets reset. Which means one more click to set the TO language. I would rather see the following: When I choose a new FROM language, the previously selected TO language remains selected. If the previously selected TO language is not available, select ANY by default.
3. For phones with a physical keyboard, it would be useful if the enter key displayed the translation for the first match.

Also, is there any chance of having the transliteration feature implemented?

If you are interested in other cool features for long-term development, there is an interesting feature offered by the PONS dictionaries (I use German-Greek). You can get demo versions here: http://www.penreader.com/android-software/PONS.html . They provide a quick search box option, where, every time you start typing, possible results appear together with a preview of the first line of the dictionary explanation. Very often this preview is enough to understand what the word means.

[ikm]

Hi jennie,

Good to know that it works with your physical keyboard. If you could PM me the troubling dictionary, I could make sure it works as it should.

Yes, I feel the same thing about FROM-TO thingie - I hope to amend it in future versions. Pressing 'enter', either physical or on-screen, is another thing to add.

As for getting one-liners - yes, seen that, could be neat