Remake of OSX's Dictionary

[OS923]

I can read OSX dictionaries into a REALbasic program. This works fine on Windows, but on OS 9 the weird pronunciation characters are replaced with question marks.

Then I read this:

Because OS 9 can't draw Unicode directly; we have to convert to the encoding associated with the font you're using. But our code that does this conversion is clever enough to short-cut the process when your string contains only ASCII characters, and you're converting from one ASCII superset to another (e.g., UTF-8 to MacRoman). That's why it's faster when there are no non-ASCII characters in your string.

Do I have to install a special Unicode font and script?

[OS923]

I made a test page with all different Unicode characters which are used in the American dictionary.
Then I tried the code2000 font on Windows.
Some characters were missing.

I didn't find such a font for OS 9.

Is it possible to convert OSX fonts to OS 9 fonts?

[MacTron]

Is it possible to convert OSX fonts to OS 9 fonts?

If the fonts are in truetype format, then it can work on Mac Os 9. But you'll need a converter, probably.

BTW: Long time ago I had worked in a little project that use unicode text. I have used the WASTE text engine to deal with UTF8 and UTF16 encodings.
ATSUI and WorldScript II can be used also.

[OS923]

I'm going to try the Google Noto fonts.

[OS923]

REALbasic 5.5.5 has unicode support, but some characters are drawn as 2 characters, like a letter followed by an accent.

I had 2 possible solutions:

• draw the special characters as pictures.
• make a temporary HTML file and open it in the browser.

I consider doing them both.

[OS923]

I converted the dictionary to a 7-bit ASCII Scheme expression without backslash.
Then I converted it to a binary format that contains the dictionary, thesaurus and index.
It's half the size of the original.

[OS923]

The versions for Windows and Linux will be able to draw all characters as text.

[MacTron]

REALbasic 5.5.5 has unicode support, but some characters are drawn as 2 characters, like a letter followed by an accent.

but it seems that it can't deal well with UTF-16 (2 bytes per char) ...

[OS923]

Is there a plugin for REALbasic which can show the Unicode correctly?

[OS923]

I fragmalyzed REALbasic 5.5.5.
It doesn't use Text Services while this is necessary for Unicode support.
Thus OSX's Dictionary can't be remade with REALbasic 5.5.5.

[OS923]

I remade it with REALbasic 5.5.5.
On OS9 the weird characters are replaced with ? but I don't care.
It's still very useful.
It looks OK on Windows.
Now I'm adding custom style with preferences.

[InsectorX]

Sounds cool, I'd love a copy whenever it's "ready".  even with some question marks, it sounds cool

I'm impressed

[OS923]

See attachment for preview.

[OS923]

There are still problems with the style on Windows.

[OS923]

It's finished.
http://shareware.gangstalkingwiki.com/Dictionary98_manual.htm

[DieHard]

That is really nifty to have this available on OS 9.. I will definitely download, thanks for all the effort

[OS923]

I rewrote this program in C++. See attachment.

[MacTron]

Thank you for sharing your work.
But unfortunately I couldn't try it because it closes immediately after open it, not even show a window ...
I have booted with a brand new standar 9.2.2 System folder in a G4 MDD and the result is the same.

[OS923]

You need to have 300 MB of free memory and I think that it requires that you install the Unicode support (which you didn't because your system is "brand new"). (I never tried it without Unicode support.) If I remember correctly, on the install CD there's an "Extras" folder with a "Unicode" folder. This contains 3 files and if you drag this to the system folder then it installs 4 things, because the script file contains also another thing. You also need to install the "Noto Sans" font (which is included in the download). It doesn't work without the font.

[IIO]

sitx