Babbletower - The Dictionary Screen

Dictionary Screen

Lookup

lookup field Type the word or words to look up into this field. Start the lookup by pressing Enter.

paste button If you want to look up a word that appears in the lookup results screen, first highlight this word, then tap on the lookup field or press the paste button. This copies the selection into the lookup field. Pressing the paste button without anything selected clears the lookup field.

installed
dictionaries These tabs represent the installed dictionaries. By tapping on a tab you select the according dictionary for lookup. The lookup result screen will switch to the most recent lookup result for that dictionary. Also, the comment of the selected dictionary appears below the row of tabs.
When the tab appears in a darker color, then it is contained in the lookup group. This means that after a word has been looked up in this dictionary, the same word will be looked up in all dictionaries that are in the lookup group. To select or deselect a dictionary for the lookup group, press and hold its tab. A menu with a group lookup option will open.

lookup history Pressing this button will open a drop down list that contains a lookup history for the currently selected dictionary. The maximum number of entries is 16, the most recent entry appears at the top of the list. This list also remembers the first ten hits for each item. They are copied to the lookup result screen when an item is selected. Lookups that did not yield any results are not put in to the history list.

Shortcuts & Misc.

A faster way to look up a word from the lookup results screen, is to first highlight the word, then select the tab of the dictionary in which you want to look up. This will copy the selection into the lookup field and automatically start the lookup. If the selected dictionary is in the lookup group, the whole group is searched. The dictionary from which the word was copied, however will be skipped should it also be in the group.
To lookup the highlighted word in the current dictionary -and the lookup group, if applicable- just press Enter.

When a lookup yielded hits for the currently selected dictionary, key input focus will change to the lookup results screen. By pressing the cursor up and cursor down keys, you can jump back and forth between entries, with cursor left and cursor right between the dictionaries that contain hits for the most recent lookup.

To stop a lookup, tap on the progress bar. Starting a new lookup will also stop a lookup still in progress.

Lookup Settings

By tapping on the label with the name of the selected dictionary, the lookup result screen can be switched to the lookup settings panel, and back.

General Lookup Settings settings equal for all dictionaries

ignore case If selected, the case of the word to look up will be ignored, i.e. Lauf matches lauf.

from begin When selected, finds words that start with the lookup term(s). If this is deselected, lookup may be very slow since the index file can not be used to speed up the search with this type of lookup.

to end When selected, finds words that end with the lookup term(s).

If both of the above checkboxes are selected, only words that exactly match the lookup term(s) will be found.

examples: assuming that case is ignored, when looking up Lauf:

both deselected would match for example Lauf, laufen, auslaufen, Auslauf

begin selected
end deselected would match Lauf and laufen, but not auslaufen and Auslauf

begin deselected
end selected would match Lauf and Auslauf, but not auslaufen and laufen

both selected would only match Lauf

Dictionary Lookup Settings settings for the selected dictionary

hit must be in head fields When selected, finds only entries where the lookup term is in the one of the head fields (head entry or reading). This is useful when working with monolingual dictionaries, to suppress entries where the lookup term only appears in the translation field of the entry.

hit must be in translation When selected, finds only entries where the lookup term is in the translation field.

If both of the above checkboxes are selected, search results are not restricted.

sort If selected, sorts found entries. Entries are sorted based on the length of the field in which a lookup term was found (hit field), and the position of the first hit in the hit field. The shorter the hit field of an entry, and the further the first hit in the hit field appears towards the start of that field, the further the entry will move up in the list. The importance (weight) for these two criteria can be set in the following two fields.

length weight Importance (1 - 10) of the length of the hit field.
This and the next setting, position weight, are used when sorting hits. Their values tell Babbletower what importance to give to the length of the field in which the hit was found, and the position it was found at. Hits in short fields and hits close to the start of the field move towards the top of the hit list. By setting these two values you can adjust their balance, and that way 'tweak' hit sorting for a dictionary. Values are from 1 (less important) through 10 (very important).

position weight Importance (1 - 10) of the position of the first hit in the hit field

,;. When selected, moves all entries where the hit is immediately followed by ",", ";", or "." before all other entries. This is particularly useful when looking up words in the translation field. If the found word is not followed by any of the above characters, e.g. by a space, this usually indicates that the found word is merely used within an explanation, so the found entry is most likely of less interest.

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lookup field	Type the word or words to look up into this field. Start the lookup by pressing Enter.
paste button	If you want to look up a word that appears in the lookup results screen, first highlight this word, then tap on the lookup field or press the paste button. This copies the selection into the lookup field. Pressing the paste button without anything selected clears the lookup field.
installed dictionaries	These tabs represent the installed dictionaries. By tapping on a tab you select the according dictionary for lookup. The lookup result screen will switch to the most recent lookup result for that dictionary. Also, the comment of the selected dictionary appears below the row of tabs. When the tab appears in a darker color, then it is contained in the lookup group. This means that after a word has been looked up in this dictionary, the same word will be looked up in all dictionaries that are in the lookup group. To select or deselect a dictionary for the lookup group, press and hold its tab. A menu with a group lookup option will open.
lookup history	Pressing this button will open a drop down list that contains a lookup history for the currently selected dictionary. The maximum number of entries is 16, the most recent entry appears at the top of the list. This list also remembers the first ten hits for each item. They are copied to the lookup result screen when an item is selected. Lookups that did not yield any results are not put in to the history list.

Dictionary Lookup Settings	settings for the selected dictionary
hit must be in head fields	When selected, finds only entries where the lookup term is in the one of the head fields (head entry or reading). This is useful when working with monolingual dictionaries, to suppress entries where the lookup term only appears in the translation field of the entry.
hit must be in translation	When selected, finds only entries where the lookup term is in the translation field.
	If both of the above checkboxes are selected, search results are not restricted.
sort	If selected, sorts found entries. Entries are sorted based on the length of the field in which a lookup term was found (hit field), and the position of the first hit in the hit field. The shorter the hit field of an entry, and the further the first hit in the hit field appears towards the start of that field, the further the entry will move up in the list. The importance (weight) for these two criteria can be set in the following two fields.
length weight	Importance (1 - 10) of the length of the hit field. This and the next setting, position weight, are used when sorting hits. Their values tell Babbletower what importance to give to the length of the field in which the hit was found, and the position it was found at. Hits in short fields and hits close to the start of the field move towards the top of the hit list. By setting these two values you can adjust their balance, and that way 'tweak' hit sorting for a dictionary. Values are from 1 (less important) through 10 (very important).
position weight	Importance (1 - 10) of the position of the first hit in the hit field
,;.	When selected, moves all entries where the hit is immediately followed by ",", ";", or "." before all other entries. This is particularly useful when looking up words in the translation field. If the found word is not followed by any of the above characters, e.g. by a space, this usually indicates that the found word is merely used within an explanation, so the found entry is most likely of less interest.