Babbletower - Adding Dictionaries

Adding Dictionaries

Following the steps for adding dictionaries to Babbletower:

Encoding

Depending on what encodings are supported by your Java runtime, you may have to change the encoding of your dictionaries. Read more about the details here.

Indexing

Create index files for your dictionaries. Do this on your desktop/notebook computer.

Create Dictionary Setup File

Information about a dictionary has to be provided in its own setup file. The name of this file is the name of the dictionary file itself, with the ending .dictionary appended to it.

Note: The file name of a dictionary may not contain spaces. Choose short names if possible.

Setup files need to be placed in Babbletower's dictionary directory. If you did not explicitly specify a dictionary directory, then this defaults to Babbletower's working directory.

The basic format for setting a dictionary property is:

property_name.sub_property = value

Following a table with the properties you can set, along with their default values. You don't have to specify a property if the default value is already what you would like to set

property meaning default value can also be set interactively
encoding text encoding of dictionary UTF8 no

format name of the entry format definition to be used with the dictionary. Predefined formats are:
default
edict
edict_pda
kanjidic
More about formats and how to define your own custom formats here. default no

file If you want to place a dictionary in a directory different from the dictionary directory, specify its full file name here. Note that the accompanying index file will have to be stored in the same directory. none no

comment short dictionary comment none no

hits.sort Whether to sort the result of a lookup in this dictionary. Values are on or off. on yes

hits.weight. length This and the next property, the position weight, are used when sorting hits (see manual). Values are from 1 (less important) through 10 (very important). 1 yes

hits.weight. position See comments for length weight. 10 yes

hits.checkend Trail checking during hit sort (see manual). Values are on or off. on yes

legend If you want to place the dictionary's legend file in a directory different from the dictionary directory, specify its full file name here, including the .legend extension. Alternatively, you can specify the name of a different dictionary, from which to use the legend file. none no

property	meaning	default value	can also be set interactively
`encoding`	text encoding of dictionary	`UTF8`	no
`format`	name of the entry format definition to be used with the dictionary. Predefined formats are: default edict edict_pda kanjidic More about formats and how to define your own custom formats here.	`default`	no
`file`	If you want to place a dictionary in a directory different from the dictionary directory, specify its full file name here. Note that the accompanying index file will have to be stored in the same directory.	none	no
`comment`	short dictionary comment	none	no
`hits.sort`	Whether to sort the result of a lookup in this dictionary. Values are `on` or `off`.	`on`	yes
`hits.weight. length`	This and the next property, the position weight, are used when sorting hits (see manual). Values are from 1 (less important) through 10 (very important).	`1`	yes
`hits.weight. position`	See comments for length weight.	`10`	yes
`hits.checkend`	Trail checking during hit sort (see manual). Values are `on` or `off`.	`on`	yes
`legend`	If you want to place the dictionary's legend file in a directory different from the dictionary directory, specify its full file name here, including the `.legend` extension. Alternatively, you can specify the name of a different dictionary, from which to use the legend file.	none	no

Example

Here two examples for the dictionaries kanjidic and eijiro:

setup file kanjidic.dictionary:

format = kanjidic
comment = Kanji Dictionary
hits.sort = off

setup file eijiro.dictionary:

format = eijiro
comment = English - Japanese (Eijiro)
hits.weight.length = 3
file = /mnt/cf2/dictio/eijiro

Optional
You can place dictionary settings also in Babbletower's optional properties file. Note however that in that case the name of the dictionary has to be prepended to all property keys, e.g. encoding = EUC_JP for dictionary edict needs to be written as edict.encoding = EUC_JP. If a dictionary is defined both in its own setup file and in Babbletower's properties file, the settings from the dictionary setup file take precedence.

Copy Dictionary, Index and Setup Files

When you've created both the index file and setup file for the dictionary you want to install, copy them together with the dictionary file to your device. As pointed out above, the dictionary setup file needs to be placed into Babbletower's dictionary directory, which is the working directory by default. If you have not specified the file property in the setup file, copy the dictionary and index file into the same directory. If you did specify the file property, be careful to place both dictionary and index file into that location

Add Dictionary to a Shelf

Finally, you have to add the dictionary you've installed to one of the shelves. Restart Babbletower, then follow the instructions for managing dictionaries and shelves.