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Crawly Crypt Collection 1
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dbwriter
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readme.txt
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1992-07-08
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8KB
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182 lines
dbWRITER Dictionary and Thesaurus Desk Accessory 1.0
----------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1992, David Becker
Compuserve 73030,3562
GEnie D.Becker8
* Search the 40,000 word dbWRITER dictionary from within any GEM application.
* Access the dbWRITER 30,000 word thesaurus from within any GEM program.
* Many different search and seek options including a recursive thesaurus.
* Scroll through the dictionary page by page.
* Print out text from the dictionary or the thesaurus.
* Built-in help screen.
* Load and use custom supplemental dictionaries.
This accessory is freeware along with its support utilities. You will need
about 170K of free memory, a hard drive and a monochrome monitor.
Installation
------------
Included with this desk accessory is a utility called METAMRPH.PRG used to
convert your existing dbWRITER dictionary file into a form used by the
accessory. When run, this DICTIONARY METAMORPHOSIS UTILITY will ask you to
find your original copy of the dbWRITER dictionary file named DICTIONA.RY
(this ASCII dictionary is freeware and available on GEnie and Compuserve or
through your local user group).
After reading this file into memory, the utility will create a folder on
hard drive partition C: named DICT
Next it will copy 24 new dictionary files into this directory. You will need
400K of free disk space. Make sure your hard disk is not write protected
(yes, there are programs that write protect hard disks) and that you do not
already have a folder named DICT in the root of drive C:
Do not interrupt the creation process once it has begun! A bar graph will
display the progress. It's only going to take a minute.
When all the new dictionary files have been written you can exit the
utility and copy the file THESDICT.ACC onto drive C:
Reboot your computer to install the desk accessory.
The dbWRITER thesaurus files, THES1.DAT, THES2.DAT, THES3.DAT AND THES4.DAT
should also be placed within this new folder (the thesaurus is also freeware
and available on GEnie and Compuserve).
If you also use dbWRITER, don't worry, version 1.8 of this freeware text
processor will be able to share the new dictionary and thesaurus so you
won't need two copies.
Operation
---------
The new desk accessory menu is titled "dbWRITER Acc 1.0". Click on it from within
the desktop and a window will open right smack in the centre of your screen.
The first word in the dictionary is "aardvark" and this will appear within
the input box.
To search and see if a word is spelled correctly you click the left mouse
button within the rectangular box at the bottom left of the window. You can
now enter a word into this box and press RETURN.
The dbWRITER desk accessory stores only one letter of the alphabet in
memory at any given time. If the word you have chosen begins with "a" then
it will search resident memory. If it began with another letter the
correct chapter of the dictionary will first be loaded from the hard disk
and then searched. This is still really fast.
You can use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the dictionary page
by page or the right and left arrows to fast forward and fast reverse. If you
scroll past the current letter in memory, the next letter's chapter will be
loaded quickly from the hard disk.
You can also touch any alphabet key on the keyboard to load a letter chapter
from the hard drive.
If you wish to look up the word visible in the input box (perhaps the word
was input for the thesaurus) you can do so by pressing RETURN (not ENTER).
Hit ESC to redraw the desk accessory window.
Searching
---------
The dbWRITER desk accessory first searches for an exact match to the word you
have input.
If it does not find an exact match then the next search level kicks in and
removes the last character from the input word. The search then continues.
This scan is visible within the input window. You can see the last letters
being greyed out as the computer searches!
If the computer scans right down the the first two letters and still hasn't
found a match it will next begin to replace the second letter of the input
word. You can also watch this being done within the input box. As the
computer replaces the second letter with lesser letters it continues to
search for the closest possible match within the dictionary. In the worst
of all possible search situations you will be dumped at the very beginning of
the letter chapter and left to fend for yourself.
You can use a wildcard within your input word by replacing the unknown
letter with a question mark.
Example: d?ssolve
The computer will replace the question mark with every letter from a-z
until it finds a match. You can watch this happen within the input box.
After finding "dissolve" you can continue searching for another match by
pressing RETURN. You can't use more than one wildcard and you can't put
the wildcard at the beginning of your word.
You can search for dictionary entries with the same ending as the input word
by using the function keys. Press F1 to search for words ending with the
last character, F2 for the last two characters, F3 for the last three
characters, F4 for the last four characters, etc.
Thesaurus
---------
Simply click within the input box using the RIGHT mouse button to search the
thesaurus. The search will continue until you press UNDO or until it exhausts
itself. You can't use wildcards within the thesaurus. If you wish to look up
the word visible in the input box (perhaps the word was input for the
dictionary) you can do so by pressing ENTER (not RETURN).
Icons
-----
There are five icons available at the bottom of the window next to the
input box. From left to right they are:
* The thesaurus recursion icon. When highlighted, the thesaurus continues
its search using every word found as a keyword itself. Press UNDO to
cancel the search at any time. As the search widens it sometimes becomes
abstract. I have, however, found some meaningful words using this option!
* The next is the intelligent search icon. If all else fails, try clicking
on this icon. The computer will analyze the input word and try to figure
out what word you are searching for. Press UNDO to exit this search at
any time.
* The next icon sends the thesaurus or dictionary text in the window to
your printer.
* The help icon follows. Click here to review all the basic functions and
commands.
* The last icon is the supplemental dictionary icon. You can load and use a
custom dictionary file by clicking here. I will be uploading custom
dictionaries (legal, medical, pharmaceutical, math, biblical, computer,
electronic) for use with this desk accessory. There will also be a
utility available to transform ASCII lists into dbWRITER supplemental
dictionary format.
After you have clicked on this icon, the fileselector will appear.
Choose a supplemental dictionary file ending in .DAT and this will be
loaded from the hard disk into memory. As long as the icon remains
highlighted, the custom dictionary will be in use. Click the icon
again to unload the supplemental dictionary and return to the normal
dictionary. If later on you need the same supplemental dictionary,
click this icon with the RIGHT mouse button and it will automatically
load your last choice without displaying the fileselector. Click the
LEFT mouse button to load a different supplemental dictionary.
Extras
------
If you change the extension from .ACC to .PRG you can run the dbWRITER
desk accessory as a program. All the same instructions apply.
Don't hesitate to contact me online. I hope you enjoy this accessory!
This program is freeware.
You use the dbWRITER desk accessory and utilities at your own risk.