path: root/README

Emacs package for talking to a dictionary server

Introduction

Recently I installed the dictd server, which can be used to access several
dictionaries using a simple protocol as defined in RFC 2229 (Text Version).

As my primary working environment is XEmacs 20.4, I decided to write an
Emacs-Lisp package for accessing this dictionary server. The older
webster.el didn't worked with the newer protocol. After starting the
implementation I was pointed to an already existing implementation, but this
was basically a wrapper to the dict client program and didn't have all the
features I wanted.

If you didn't received this file from its original location you can visit it
at http://www.in-berlin.de/User/myrkr/dictionary.html

Features

The dictionary mode provides the following features:

   * looking up word definitions in all dictionaries
   * search for matching word
   * words/phrases marked with { } in the dictionary definitions are
     recognized as hyper links and browseable
   * easy selection of dictionary and search strategy
   * backward moving through the visited definitions

Here is a sample screenshot showing the dictionary mode in action within a
XEmacs buffer:

[Image]

This buffer shows the result of searching the definition for Emacs. Two
entries have been found. The bold text on the top are buttons for selecting
action using the mouse or keyboard, the blue words are hyper links that
points to the definitions of these words.

Installation

Download and Requirements

I have tested the package with a native GNU Emacs 19.34.1 and XEmacs 20.4. I
implemented some hacks to work with the very very old custom.el file in the
above GNU Emacs. Please update to the current version whenever possible.

   * Current version (1.2.1) of this package
   * Version 1.1 of this package
   * Version 1.0 of this package

I you want to know more about the differences please look at the ChangeLog.

You will need the custom package to use this package. For full support
please check if your system knows the defface function, if not please
download the current version.

For best usuability I suggest using the mouse, but it provide good keyboard
support as well.

Unpacking the archive

The package is distributed as tar.gz file. You unpack it using:

gunzip dictionary-1.2.1.tar.gz | tar xf -

or

tar -xzf dictionary-1.2.1.tar.gz

(with the version number subject to change) depending on whether you are
using GNU tar which support the z flag for compression. After unpacking the
archive a directory dictionary-1.2.1 has been created containing the
necessary files.

Byte compiling

For faster loading and executing of the package I strongly suggest that you
bytecompile the files. Emacs user please call make within the create
subdirectory, XEmacs user has to specifiy there favorite tool using make
EMACS=xemacs. If your custom package is not up-to-date expect some warnings
about free variables.

Installing the files

To install the files into your GNU Emacs/XEmacs installation please copy the
*.elc files into a directory being in your load-path variable. On most
installations /usr/lib/emacs/site-lisp or /usr/local/lib/emacs/site-lisp are
suitable locations.

Loading the package

You have to insert some instructions into your .emacs file to load the
dictionary package whenever needed. I suggest using the following lines:

(autoload 'dictionary-search "dictionary"
  "Ask for a word and search it in all dictionaries" t)
(autoload 'dictionary-match-words "dictionary"
  "Ask for a word and search all matching words in the dictionaries" t)
(autoload 'dictionary "dictionary"
  "Create a new dictionary buffer" t)

In addition, some keybindings for faster access can be useful. I use the
following ones in my installation:

(global-set-key [(control c) ?s] 'dictionary-search)
(global-set-key [(control c) ?m] 'dictionary-match-words)

I will describe the user-callable functions and the keybindings within
dictionary mode later in this document.

Using the package

Glossary

Before I start describing how you use this package, please let me explain
some words as they are used in this text:

word
     This is a word you want to lookup in the dictionaries verbatim.
pattern
     This is used for looking up matching words. A pattern can be as simple
     as a single word but also as complex as a POSIX regular expression. The
     meaning of a pattern depends on the strategy used for matching words.
dictionary
     The server can handle serveral distinct dictionaries. You can select
     specific dictionaries or ask the server to search in all dictionaries
     or until matches or definitions are found. To search in all
     dictionaries the special name * is used, the special name ! requests to
     search until definitions are found. For more details please take a look
     at the standards definition.
definition
     A dictionary entry that can be the result of a word search.
search
     The operation of looking up a word in the dictionaries.
match
     The operation of comparing a pattern to all words in the dictionary.
strategy
     While matching in a dictionary serveral methods for comparing words can
     be used. These methods are named strategies and include exact match,
     regualare expression match, and soundex match. The available strategies
     depends on the server, but a special name . can be used to denote a
     server-default strategy.

Invoking

There are four different (documented) ways of invoking the package. By
calling dictionary you can start a new dictionary buffer waiting for your
commands. If you want to create multiple buffers for searching the
dictionary, you can run this function muliple times. dictionary-search will
ask for a word a search defaulting to the word at point and present all
definitions found.

If you want to lookup the word near the point without further confirmation
use the dictionary-lookup-definition function. The last one is
dictionary-match-words which will ask for a pattern and display all matching
words.

If you get an error message that the server could not be contacted, please
check the values of the variables dictionary-server and dictionary-port. The
port should usually be 2628, the default server as distributed is dict.org.

You can have multiple independent dictionary buffer. If the above functions
are called from within dictionary mode they reuse the existing buffer.
Otherwise they create a new buffer.

If you encounter emacs blocking forever while searching an entry and you are
using MULE you should check the value of the connection-broken-end-of-line
variable, which can be set to t in this case.

Quitting

Once a dictionary buffer is created you can close it by simply typing q
(dictionary-close). Another, more cruel, way is to use the kill-buffer
function which is handled correctly.

The dictionary mode save the window configuration on startup and try to
reestablish it when the buffer is being closed.

Using the buffer

After a successful search the buffer is devided into two sections. The first
one is the button area at the top, the other one is the text buffer
displaying the result. By pressing the buttons you can select some functions
that are otherwise inaccessible with the mouse.

In the text are each definition is introduced by the name of the database
that contains it. In the default configuration this text is in italic face.
The definition itself can contains hyperlinks that are marked using blue
foreground and both sensitive to clicking with the mouse and pressing return
while being within the link.

Each link selection or otherwise selected new search or match will create a
new buffer showing the new result. You can use the Back button on the top or
the l key (dictionary-previous) to return the previous buffer contents.

Pressing Meta while clicking on a link to start the search will extent the
search to all dictionaries (dictionary-default-dictionary to be more
precisly).

If you prefer using the keyboard it can be very frustrating to use the
cursor key to position the point before pressing return to visit the link is
possible. Therefore, I defined the Tab and the n keys to jump to the next
link (dictionary-next-link) and the Shift-Tab and p keys to jump to the
previous one (dictionary-prev-link).

Searching

The search operation can be invoked by using the Search Definition button on
the top or by pressing s (dictionary-search). It will ask for a word to
search and will default to the word near point. This allows you to edit the
word before starting the search. The found definitions will be displayed
inside the buffer. If no entries could not be found an error message will be
displayed.

If you want to quickly lookup the word at the point without further
confirmation use the d key (dictionary-lookup-definition). Except for not
allowing to edit the search word before asking the server it behaves the
same way as the normal search operation.

Matching

The match operation is started upon pressing the Matching Words button or
pressing the m key (dictionary-match-words). It will use the current
database and the current strategy and list matching words for the one you
entered at the prompt. The output is grouped by dictionary and each found
word can be looked up by clicking the word or pressing return. Please note
that in some cases not only the requested definition but some similiar
definitions are shown. This behaviour is caused by the keyword lookup in the
server. E.g., when you ask for the definition of from in Webster you will
presented with the definitions of from and Thrust, the latter includes the
phrase To thrust away or from which causes the display.

Selecting dictionary

By default all dictionaries (special name is "*") are searched for a word
definition or for matching words. You can select a specific word for both
modi by pressing the Select Default Dictionary button or the D key
(dictionary-select-dictionary). You will get a message about successful
selection.

If you hold Meta while selecting a dictionary you will get more information
displayed instead.

If you want to restore the original behaviour select All dictionaries. The
first matching dictionary is a special dictionary (named "!") where the
search will stop at the first dictionary with found definitions or matching
words.

Selection search strategy

While searching matching words to the pattern you entered the server can use
different comparison algorithm (aka search strategy). Every server provides
a default strategy which is internally known as ".".

After pressing the Select Match Strategy button or pressing the M key
(dictionary-select-strategy) all available strategies on this server are
presented. As in the "select dictionary" mode you can select it by pressing
the mouse button 2 or typing return.

Going backward

If you visited a link and want to go back to the previous definition, simply
choose the Back button or press the l key (dictionary-previous). The buffer
contents and cursor position will be restored. If you intented to go beyond
the first definition an error message will appear.

Getting Help

If you are totally confused what all the keys do in your dictionary buffer
some help will displayed by pressing the h key. Press q to make the help go
away. This help buffer will display the default key bindings only as I had
problems with displaying multiple bindings for a single function (e.g., both
button2 and return select a link). Any suggestions are welcome.

Customizing

If you have an sufficient recent custom version installed (e.g., the one
provided in XEmacs 20.4) you can use the customize-group with the dictionary
group to customize this package. For using the customize buffer please refer
to its online help.

Of course you can set all the variables and hooks you want in the startup
file. Here is a little example that I use for selecting the server on my
local machine and for binding some function to the user-reserved keys
starting from C-c a to C-c z.

(global-set-key [(control c) ?s] 'dictionary-search)
(global-set-key [(control c) ?m] 'dictionary-match-words)
(setq dictionary-server "localhost")

Thanks

I want to thank Sam Steingold, Baoqiu Cui, and Bruce Ravel for their
valuable suggestions (including patches) for improving this package.

License

This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
version.

This file is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version 2
along with this package; see the file GPL.

ChangeLogs

Version 1.2 - 1.2.1

   * Corrected dictionary command to draw the button bar.
   * Improved documentation on dictionary to explicitly mention the use of
     multiple buffers.

Version 1.1.1 - 1.2

   * Some users reported problems with GNU Emacs 20.3 and MULE. So I
     introduced a new variable connection-broken-end-of-line which controls
     whether a line is ended by \n or by \r\n. You can use the
     customize-group command on dictionary to change the setting of the
     variable.

Version 1.1 - 1.1.1

   * dictionary-search now allows editing the word to search for
   * dictionary-search-word-near-point has been removed, you can use
     dictionary-lookup-definition instead. It behaves like dictionary-search
     but don't allow the search word to be edited (to speed up looking up
     words).

Version 1.0 - 1.1

   * all dictionary buffers now share a single connection
   * added kill-all-local-variables
   * use cons instead of list where possible
   * dictionary-search now:
        o use word as point as default (implementing
          dictionary-search-word-near-point too)
        o asks for dictionary with prefix argument
   * added help-echo tags which are used in XEmacs
   * mark has been replaced by generic marker
   * added messages for communications to the dictionary server that may
     take a while
   * fixed bug with going to the previous link
   * replaced word-at-point by current-word

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Torsten Hilbrich
Last modified: Sun May 7 11:06:16 CEST 2000