jrh@openoffice.org
Revision History | ||
---|---|---|
Revision v0.50 | 2002/05/30 | Revised by: jrh |
Initial publication | ||
Revision v0.51 | 2002/06/05 | Revised by: jrh |
Additional shared dictionary information | ||
Revision v0.52 | 2002/06/09 | Revised by: jrh |
Support for hyphenation. Check fle status. Installation from local files. Repair option. Keep downloads. Copy old version. | ||
Revision v0.53 | 2002/06/15 | Revised by: jrh |
Tidy up User Interface Bug fixes | ||
Revision v0.54 | 2002/08/05 | Revised by: jrh |
French translation Potential 'linked dictionary' support | ||
Revision v0.55 | 2002/08/12 | Revised by: jrh |
Fixed local hyphenation load at first startup bug |
OOodi provides a dictionary installer for OpenOffice.org on Unix platforms. The program is written and tested on Linux but should be portable to other Unix platforms.
OOOdi will download a file describing available dictionaries (available.lst) from http://dict.progbits.com (or your choice of alternate site) and allow the user to select dictionaries to be installed. For OpenOffice.org v1.0, dictionaries are installed in the user's private directory. OpenOffice.org v1.0.1 will also allow a privileged user to install shared dictionaries in the system wide OpenOffice.org directory.
For OpenOffice.org v1.0.1, hyphenation dictionaries are also supported by OOodi.
OOodi is provided (by the author) in two forms, either as a source archive or a Linux binary archive.
The source archive has dependencies on the following:
To build and install the source distribution, unpack the archive to a suitable location, then:
./configure make make install (as root) |
The precompiled binary is available in a number of formats:
epm portable tar file (.tar.gz)
rpm
deb
The precompiled binary is available in two flavours:
Depends on X11, GTK+, popt
No dependencies
If GTK+ is installed on your system, then you should choose ooodi which is built against a static libcurl.
If GTK+ is not installed on your system, then you should choose ooodi-static.
The reason for this is that a version linked statically against GTK+ may not work correctly when your GTK+ theme uses a dynamic library GTK theme.
epm (Easy Package Manager) is used to create all binary distribution formats. To install the portable distribution:
Unpack the archive in a scratch directory (/tmp for example).
tar -xzvf ooodi-0.53-i386-linux.tar.gz -C /tmp/ |
As root, run the script /tmp/ooodi.install (or /tmp/ooodi-static.install for the static variant).
# /tmp/ooodi.install |
or
# /tmp/ooodi-static.install |
To bypass the Are you sure/do you accept this licence questions, use:
# /tmp/ooodi.install now |
or
# /tmp/ooodi-static.install now |
A script to remove the software is also installed ( /etc/software/ooodi.remove or /etc/software/ooodi-static.remove).
To install the .deb or .rpm distributions, use the standard tools on your system.
OOodi uses the InfoZip unzip program to unpack dictionary archives. unzip is usually supplied as part of a Linux distribution and is available for most commercial UNIXs. InfoZip may be downloaded, if required, from the InfoZip web site.
The first time it runs, OOodi creates a directory ~/.ooodi. It writes a (hidden) gtkrc file (.gtkrc) in this directory, which defines the fonts and sizes used for some labels for Western European fonts. OOodi is internationalised; translations are available for French, German, Greek, Italian and Japanese. Contributions of language files for other languages are welcome.
A file ~/.ooodi/ooodi.rc is also used. This file is maintained by the Preferences page. It allows, inter-alia the use of an HTTP proxy, if required (and a proxy user name).
The Preferences page is available from a right mouse popup menu, the -> menu or at startup if the available.lst file is not found.
From version 0.51, a menu bar is implemented. The menu options are essentially those available from the popup menu, with the addition of the Repair, Update Dictionary List, Copy old version, and Help entries.
OOodi is invoked by the command OOodi (note capitalisation is significant). When invoked by a unprivileged user, it can install and remove dictionaries from that user's private directory. If the user has write access to the system-wide shared dictionary area (for OpenOffice.org v1.0.1), then the user may install or remove system wide shared dictionaries. The root user may invoke OOodi with an additional option to allow installation and removal of shared dictionaries even if the root user does not have a personal OpenOffice.org installation (see here for further details). If the root invokes the program without the option, the a file selector is displayed to locate the installation directory.
$ OOodi [--base=directory] |
The --base=dir option is only available to the root user and defines where OpenOffice.org installation directory for (see shared dictionaries).
Normally, OOodi is invoked as:
$ OOodi |
If a file defining the available dictionaries is available in the source directory defined by your preferences (or the current directory if you haven't defined a source directory), then the opening window is displayed, listing the available dictionaries and the user (U) and shared (S) dictionaries installed (indicated by a green tick). The final column in the list annotates the type of dictionary, either Dict for a spelling dictionary, or Hyph for a hyphenation dictionary. Hyphenation dictionaries are also colour-coded with a different background colour. Hyphenation dictionaries are only included if the Include hyphenation dictionaries preference is set. An asterisk after the type indicates that a more recent dictionary is available for download. The check is accessed from the menu option. ->
If a local available.lst file is not found, then the user is presented with a number of options:
Before you attempt to download a list of available dictionaries from the Internet, you may wish to edit your network options. Selecting this item will invoke the Preferences dialogue.
This option will attempt to download the list of available dictionaries from http://dict.progbits.com (or the URI entry in your preferences).
This option will display the GTK+ file selection window. You can select an existing available.lst in a different directory. The program enforces a restriction that the file must be named available.lst and must be readable by you.
Just in case it all gets too much!
If the Include hyphenation dictionaries preference is set, but the hyphavail.lst file is not found, then a similar dialogue is displayed. In this case it is possible to continue without using hyphenation dictionaries. The file selector will require hyphavail.lst.
Preferences are accessed either from the startup options, the
-> menu or from a right mouse button popup menu.
The address of the site holding the dictionary list and available dictionaries. The default is set to http://dict.progbits.com You should only change this if the dictionary site changes or you know better.
OOodi uses a browser to display its help pages. The browser will also be invoked for the link from the About box to the OOodi home page. If you don't define a browser, OOodi attempts to locate and use one of galeon, mozilla or netscape, in that order.
If there is a proxy between you and the Internet, then you should enter the proxy details here.
If you are behind a proxy and you have to supply a user name (and password) to access the proxy, then you should enter the user name here. You will be prompted for the password when you attempt to download information. OOodi does not store your password.
If this option is checked, then the downloaded zip files containing dictionary data files are retained in the Directory. This enables the installer to reinstall such dictionaries without having to download them again if Prefer local files is checked.
If this option is checked, then OOodi will attempt to use local zip files containing dictionary data before downloading such files from the Internet. OOodi expects to find such files in the Directory (or current directory if the Directory is undefined).
The directory in which OOodi stores the list of available dictionaries and downloaded zip files containing dictionary data. Note that the zip files are only retained if the checkbox Keep zip files is checked. If zip files are retained, they can be reinstalled again if the Prefer local files entry is checked. The first time the program is run, this directory is set to $HOME/.ooodi.
The Directory can be changed by clicking on the ellipsis (...). A file selector will be displayed allowing the user to choose an alternate directory.
![]() | After the initial list of dictionaries has been downloaded, OOodi will attempt to use this local dictionary list. If you want a new dictionary list, just delete the available.lst (and/or) hyphavail.lstfile(s). The next time you run OOodi it will download new lists. Alternatively, you can use the Update Dictionary List menu option to check that your local files are current. |
If this option is checked, OOodi will also maintain OpenOffice.org v1.0.1 hyphenation dictionaries and will expect to find or download a list of available hyphenation dictionaries (hyphavail.lst).
If this option is checked, then when you remove dictionary entries, the data files *.dic and *.aff are also deleted. This will prevent the Repair menu option from being able to rebuild your installed dictionary list from the data files.
Once the list of available dictionaries is displayed, dictionaries may be selected for installation or removal. Once items have been selected, the Install and Remove buttons are available if you have a local OOodi installation. If you are running OpenOffice.org v1.01 or later and have write access to the shared dictionary directory, then the Install Shared and Remove Shared buttons are also enabled.
Dictionaries may be installed or deleted by pressing the appropriate button. If necessary, the dictionary file will be downloaded from the Internet. In this case, the file name and progress will be shown in the status bar, and the Cancel D/L button is enabled. The screenshot illustrates the root user installing a shared dictionary.
if you cancel a download or errors occur, a dialogue will be displayed.
Shared dictionaries may be installed either by:
A user with a current OpenOffice.org installation in their home directory and write access to the shared dictionary area. A symbolic link from the user area is followed to determine the shared dictionary area.
The root user. As root is unlikely to have a local OpenOffice.org installation, a file requester is displayed enabling root to define the base of the OpenOffice.org installation (as the --base=dir command line option).
A number of options are available only from the menus.
If you have not checked the Remove also unlinks preferences item, then selecting the option will rebuild your list of installed dictionaries from any dictionary data files it finds in the user dictionary area.
This option will merge the user dictionary entries from compatible (i.e. OpenOffice.org v641 and later) versions into your current user dictionaries.
The list of old versions is displayed in a combo box. Choose the version required and press OK. If no compatible versions are found, then this item is not available.
This option will cause OOodi to perform the following checks:
Verify that the local file available.lst is current. If it is not, then download the latest version from http://dict.progbits.com (or the location set in preferences).
If Include hyphenation dictionaries is checked, verify that the local file hyphavail.lst is current. If it is not, then download the latest version from http://dict.progbits.com (or the location set in preferences).
For each currently installed dictionary, verify that the dictionary is current. This is done by firstly checking the local zip files against the latest version from http://dict.progbits.com (or the location set in preferences), or if a local file is not available, checking the installed dictionary *.dic file. Note that checking the local dictionary file is likely to give false positives, as the contents from the zip files will necessarily be older than the zip file itself. In order to mitigate this, an arbitrary offset of one week is applied to the dictionary file date.
This option will invoke your browser to display this document.
When Install is clicked, the program (attempts to) download the selected dictionaries from http://dict.progbits.com. The download is checked for a ZIP signature. If the file is a zip file, then the .dic and .aff files are installed under user/wordbook and dictionary.lst is updated. If the file is not a valid zip file, then the file is preserved as xx_XX.zip.failed. This may contain a HTTP or proxy error message. Likewise, if the program repeated fails to download a valid list of available dictionaries, then the available.lst file may contain a HTTP or proxy error message.
This is the quick explanation of how to use your newly installed dictionaries in OpenOffice.org. If you want a better explanation, then you should read Lee Corbin's document from the Windows DictInstaller project.
Download all required dictionaries using OOodi
If you're using the QuickStarter, then disable it
Select Tools / Options / Language Settings / Writing Aids
Select Edit
Select from the Language pulldown list. The downloaded dictionaries have an 'ABC' logo next to them. Check the 'OpenOffice MySpell Spellchecker' box.
Select Close
Select Languages. Ensure the correct 'Default Language for Documents' is shown.
Select OK
Restart OpenOffice.org (or re-enable the QuickStarter). Enjoy spell checking.
The program cannot distinguish between two different dictionaries where the locale code is the same (el_GR and el_GR_enhanced and it_IT and it_IT_latin). Fixing this in OOodi would be quite ugly. As OpenOffice.org v1.01 will allow multiple dictionaries for a given locale, then hopefully the names in the dictionary distributions will be modified to make this problem go away.
OOodi is (c) Jonathan Hudson <jrh@openoffice.org>, 2002. This software is released under the LGPL (please see the file COPYING included with the source archive for further information).
Mark Finlay <sisob@eircom.net> who maintains the Evolvedoo site has improved the user interface.
Bug reports, translations and change requests are welcomed. I am grateful to Marco Huggenberger (de_DE), Takeshi Aihana (ja_JP), Michalis Kabrianis (el_GR), Andrea Sanavia (it_IT) and Andre Mazouer (fr_FR) for their translations. Any omissions are entirely mine as OOodi has been something of a moving target.
http://ooodi.sourceforge.net. OOodi home page.
http://www.openoffice.org. The main OfficeOffice.org site.
http://evolvedoo.dyndns.org. Evolved OpenOffice.org aims to bring together as much third party work as possible into one easy to use pre-compiled package for Linux Desktops. Includes RPMs for GNOME and KDE providing QuickStart applications, OOodi, icons, integration into GNOME and KDE control centres.
http://www.ooodocs.org. OOoDocs provides news, HOWTOs and the Windows Dictionary Installer.
http://ooextras.sourceforge.net. OOExtras provides a community repository for third party templates, macros, and a clip art image library.
http://ooqstart.sourceforge.net. Quickstart applet for GNOME (ooqstart).
http://segfaultskde.berlios.de/oooqs. Quickstart applet for KDE (ooqs).
http://dict.progbits.com. Dictionary files and documentation, maintained by Kevin Hendricks.
http://www.ooodocs.org/dictinstall. Dictionary Installer for Microsoft Windows.