About AddToDict

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Preamble:



The Newton has a lot of potential, but the recognition dictionary in the first

versions is appalling. Having to use the soft-keyboard to type stuff in all

the time is a drag. And then it asks you if you want to add the word to the

User Dictionary as well! This really gets in the way. AddToDict is a small

Newton application that allows multiple additions to your User Dictionary in

one sitting. It also has a couple of other goodies.



2.0 added some System management features and bulk addition from your "Notes"

and "Names". Take a look at the "Pro" features. 

They give you a look at the potential of a future do-it-all version.





Installation:



(Manually remove any copies of AddToDict's previous incarnation, "AddUserDict.")

Send the package file down to the Newton with your Connection Kit.

-That's it.



To install the sample word lists; open your backup Notes files with Connection

Kit, create a new Note and paste it the sample word list. Connection Kit should

break it up into more than one note if it is too big. (You may have to do this

by hand.) Synchronize your Newton. Now use the Newton 'Clipboard' feature to paste

the text into AddToDict or use the Notes button to add the entire contents of "Notes."





How It Works:



Launch the application from the Extras Drawer. Tap on the Keyboard button to

bring up the keyboard. Key the words you wish to add to your User Dictionary

into the text field and hit the button. It's as simple as that. 



You can try to write VERY neatly (as the recognition dictionary is turned off in

the field) or, as I suggest, use the keyboard. 



When you tap the "Add them to the Dictionary" button, you will hear two kinds

of sounds. The high-pitched 'ping' means a successful addition. The beep sound

(set in your preferences) means that the word was not added -probably because

it was already there.



* Warning: 

- Any punctuation or numbers will go in, so make careful lists.



Even better, you can paste large lists into the field.  Try importing a list of

words into your Notes using the Connection Kit. Once you have it in Notes,

select the text, drag it to the side of the screen so that it goes into the

Clipboard. Next launch AddToDict and drag the clip into the main field. Then just hit

the button. This saves a lot of soft-keyboard tapping. 



For long lists, the sounds can cause a racket, so you can turn them off with the

checkbox at the bottom of AddToDict.



Clicking on the button to the right of the Keyboard button brings up the User

Dictionary editing window. Use this to review your User list and remove

unwanted words.





Pro Features:



Version 2 includes a "Pro Palette" that add a number of extra features.



The "CG" does the memory garbage collection routine. Lets you keep going a little

longer even when you get told to restart. 



"Restart" does just that. There is no warning so be careful. Restarting will fix problems

caused by hopelessly fragmented memory. It will also remove all words added to

your User Dictionary that you have not saved. Be warned that Restarting can throw your

clock off. If you restart a lot, your Newton will become a time machine and you will

start slipping into the void. Also your sound preferences will mysteriously fade away

without the Extras "Volume" slide-bar knowing about it. -if this happens, poke the

slide-bar until it wakes up.



"Save" will store your User Dictionary in the permanent System Soup. Your word lists will

then be retained over Restarts and Backups. There is a limit to how many words the User

Dictionary will take, it is somewhere between 1000 & 3. When you reach the limit any future

attempts to save will give you a memory error. You can continue to add words to the User

Dictionary so long as you don't Save. They will be usable _until_ you Restart.

* Note  - On such memory errors you will be asked if you want to Restart. You do not have

to as nothing is broken. Just cancel and go on your merry way.  But I recommend you keep

your listsdown to a thousand or so until a new lookup mechanism is released.



"Get Names" will go through your Names soup and pull out First, Last, Company and

City names and offer them to the Dictionary. This will take a few minutes if you have

many entries.



"Get Notes" goes through all you notes and tries to add all the words it comes across.

Onceagain, this can take a while if you have a heap of notes there.



"Edit UD" just pulls up the orginal Edit UserDictionary dialog for the moment. Expect to

see a better one when the full Professional version ships.





System Related Issues:



Adding word lists to your UserDictionary does not slow down handwriting recognition

as it is held in RAM. But there _may_ be a slow down in global searches once you save

the dictionary to the System. There was a bug that prevented scrolling in the 

UserDictionary edit keyboard (that you call with the book shaped button.) This was fixed 

by the 1.05 System upgrade -which I suggest you use.





Word Lists:



The word lists included with AddToDict are just random samples, but are still useful.

For massive methodical word lists by categories, register your copy at the address below.





Note:



UserToDict is FreeWare, but it is also supported. I have prepared some large

word list ready to add into your User Dictionary. There are lists of proper nouns,

computer words and Japanese related words (including places, people and companies)

each in the thousands of words. There is also a really huge dictionary coming -when the

Newton can handle it, that is. You can also find various word lists on-line.





Send US$10 (to cover postage) and you will receive the latest version of AddToDict and all

the lists I have ready. 

(I was accepting checks until I found out it costs US$25 to have them cashed here.)

Just throw a $10 note in an envelope. If you are a PDS developer, a copy of your application

is enough.





Expect to see new features coming as soon as we are allowed card-based dictionaries. 

I am thinking of: an Assist feature;

printing; custom dictionary soups; direct import from text files. 

I will have some more useful word lists prepared soon including some specialized ones

such as medical terms or even NewtonScript.

In the meantime, Enfour has released a kit that enables the input of Japanese text on the Newton. If that is something you are interested in contact the address below.





Have fun and happy scratching.





Send generous donations to:



Richard Northcott

Enfour Inc.

5F 4-19-12 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku

Tokyo 151 JAPAN



eWorld/NewtonMail: ENFOUR

AppleLink: ENFOUR.DVJ

CIS: 101024,1503

NIFTY: GCE01503



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Version History:

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AddUserDict 1.0d1



Monday, August 9th 1993 -Tokyo time.

Nothing fancy, just getting the words in there. 

Searching string for Spaces. -No support for CR or tabs.





AddUserDict 1.0d2



Added icon, about and sounds





AddToDict 1.0d3



New name -for space reasons.

New sounds and icon.

Keyboard icon -at last.

New search routine (had to do things the old byte way).

Supports vertical and tab-delimited word lists.

No support for high-byte characters.





AddToDict 1.0d4



Now handles any Unicode Character.

Changed fonts and sounds.

No longer beeps when it runs across two spaces in a row.





AddToDict 1.0



First full release.

Added a Sound Off option.

Keyboard buttons work added edit dictionary feature.

Improved sample files.





AddToDict 1.01



Minor fix





AddToDict 1.02



Included Save button.

Changed the word list to a continuous list to make copying easier.





AddToDict 2.0



Removed the Save routine from adding process.

Changed "Save" button to "Pro" and added "Pro Palette."

Use "LookupWord" to strip out number only strings.

(It does not remove captials like the docs say.)

Changed the shipping creator to "DOCK."

Removed meaningless static strings from interface.

Started sharing the stripping/adding routine.

Now strips out brackets but keep hyphens.



AddToDict 2.1



Made some cosmetic changes.

Added an animated start up icon.

Fixed a bug in getting Notes' contents will non-text items.



AddToDict 2.1.1



Fixed a problem with the animated start-up icon and launch programs such as Keyboard.

New Finder icons.



AddToDict 2.1.2



Changed the way we do icons to fix quiting after Extras is closed.



AddToDict 2.1.3



Fixed about window icon and updated the company details.