Starred List Builder

[daymo]

Hi EmberMitre and fellow learners.

Something I (among others) requested a while back was to have the ability to import lists, share them etc.
I thought about this issue again recently and about being able to search and build a list based on the parenthetic words in the CC-CEDICT dictionary.

So, I started to investigate whether or not I could create an app. After a little investigating on how the Hanping database is constructed I've managed to create an app (run on the PC not mobile) which allows you to search the CC-CEDICT dictionary and store the results in the starred.db.

Hopefully I've understood the inner workings of the database, the results are stored as unique entries in the starred.db which each separate starred list refers to.
I've run a test searching on '(Chemistry)' and it created a new starred list with all the results.
The one issue I have at the moment is the contents of the database on the mobile compared to that downloaded from MDBG.net. The above search on Chemistry produces results which don't seem to appear in the database on my mobile but if I look them up in the CC-CEDICT file or even using google's translator they exist.
I'm not sure where the database on the mobile would normally exist and whether or not there is another CC-CEDICT file specific to hanping or mobile phones in general.
Anyway, it's still in its infancy but I'm hoping to expand on this and allow multiple searches, and even be able to add to existing starred lists.
I would like to know if anyone including EmberMitre would be interested in using this and if so what other features would be useful.

Of course, if someone has already produced something like this and probably better let me know

[hanping]

Awesome, thanks very much!

The CC-CEDICT file used to create the cccedict.dsd hanping database is the same one used by MDBG.net (as far as I know). However, MDBG always uses the latest version (I think) whereas Hanping updates it every 6-12 months.

Regarding the issue you mentioned, that looks like a bug. I'll get that fixed in the next version.

[daymo]

A couple of things I forgot to ask:

1) Can you confirm that the ULS files stored in the lists folder are no longer used for storing starred entries. It seems to be case, but want to be sure.
2) What's the correct way to create the timestamp entry? At present I've simply copied an existing entry and use that to fill each new record.
3) I'm curious about why the entries in the starred database contain everything (chinese, pin yin and english), this to me seems to indicate that I can create my own custom entries such as slang, local/social phrases or any other phrases which don't officially exist in the CC-CEDICT dictionary. If what you said about 'that looks like a bug' is true, could this then be possible?


Thanks

[hanping]

1) The ULS files are very old and can be deleted. All the starred items are stored in the starred.db file
2) The timestamp is the number of milliseconds since 1970. The closest I can find in SQLite is: select 1000*strftime('%s', 'now')
3) The starred db contains the hanzi and pinyin for matching against the dictionary. If no match is found then that row in the starred db is shown as if it is like a dictionary entry itself (so it needs all the items including english)

[daymo]

Hi all, further update.....
Things are looking good so far. My app will now create multiple Starred Tags based on the words and/or phrases you search for in the CC-CEDICT dictionary (English or Chinese). You can then pick and choose which of the results to remove before finally saving it to the HanPing DB (see attached screenshot).

I think I still need to run a few more tests to make sure I've ironed out all the bugs, but if anyone is interested in using it and becoming a beta tester themselves maybe I can upload it somewhere.

[hanping]

Thanks!

I will certainly to be happy to beta test

BTW, I'm not 100% sure, but you might need to lower case the pinyin.

It will be interesting to see the results of this with the ABC English-Chinese Dictionary installed. In other words, build the lists using CC-CEDICT and then view them using Hanping with ABC English-Dictionary installed.

[daymo]

what you see in the results list is exactly how it appears in the CC-EDICT dictionary, thanks I'll test that.
I don't use ABC because from what I've seen of it it only displays pinyin not bopomof and only simplified Chinese , but it would be nice to know that it doesn't produce any problems.

ok, I'll sort out a little documentation on how to use my editor, and about how everything is constructed.

[hanping]

Hi - the Zhuyin feature is an app-wide feature so is available to all dictionaries. Traditional characters are currently supported in the ABC headwords but not the ABC definitions. We plan to improve on that soon.

Searching ABC CE for deguo and displaying traditional, simplified and zhuyin

search_abcce_deguo_zhuyin.png (179.83 KiB) Viewed 11303 times

[daymo]

Apologies for the delay in response, I had problems with my FTP.

OK, here we go. First beta release of HPSTE (HanPing Starred Tag Editor).
Obvious caveats for all those wishing to use it:
Please read the manual provided; as mentioned although backups of the starred.db are automatically created it's recommended that you create your own prior to using HPSTE.
As mentioned it's still in its infancy at this stage, but tests so far are good. EmbreMitre, you're right the pinyin needs to be lowercase, strange why certain pinyin in the dictionary has capital letters (certain cities or towns), the app has been corrected and now no longer shows starred tag entries with errors on my mobile.

The PDF and EXE can be found here:
http://www.limbicsys.co.uk/apps/HPSTE/HPSTE.pdf

http://www.limbicsys.co.uk/apps/HPSTE/HPSTE.exe

Let me know you get on with it. My next step is to edit existing tags in the database.

[daymo]

Latest update... Beta v0.14

I've now included the function to add to existing starred lists in the database and tweaked a few things here and there. You don't need to worry about whether or not a dictionary entry is already in your starred list HPSTE will do this for you. The manual has been updated accordingly:

http://www.limbicsys.co.uk/apps/HPSTE/HPSTE.exe

http://www.limbicsys.co.uk/apps/HPSTE/HPSTE.pdf