Support for DictionaryForMIDs needed !!

Want to be part of an open source project ? The DictionaryForMIDs project gives you a lot of opportunities to get engaged ! There are plenty of different tasks in the project, much much more than just Java programming ! See below for the areas where the project needs support.

When you want do some work on DictionaryForMIDs, be invited to do some co-ordination with us (see contact.html).
 

Publicity - this is the most important support that we need !

The DictionaryForMIDs application is freely available for all - but there are many people who don't know that DictionaryForMIDs exists !! Who can do some publicity/advertisement for DictionaryForMIDs so that people who are searching a dictionary application for their cell phone/PDA know DictionaryForMIDs ? For example in internet forums, or uploading a dictionary to an application hoster from which people can download the dictionary (and please do 'maintain' your uploaded dictionaries: if there is a new version of DfM, then please do update the updloaded dictionary to that version).
 

WebApp: HTML5/Javascript user interface for DictionaryForMIDs

Who likes to work with HTML5/JavaScript? Here is a short overview of the WebApp: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebAppWhat.html. And here is more information on the WebApp development: http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/WebAppDevelopment.html. And just actively participate in our DictionaryForMIDs forum.
 

Setting up additional dictionaries for DictionaryForMIDs

Who is also working on setting up additional good-quality dictionaries for DictionaryForMIDs ?

If you have a dictionary that you think people would like to use, see the section on setting up dictionaries, and just do it ... you can make DictionaryForMIDs with that dictionary available for download yourself. Please send us a notice if you made an additional dictionary available for download, then I can put a link there.

When you set up a dictionary for DictionaryForMIDs, you need to convert this dictionary to a standard 'Comma Separated File' (CSV-File). The DictionaryGeneration tool reads such standard CSV-Files. Coverting to a CSV-format can typically be easily done with a text processing utility such as Word or Star Office, or by writing a simple script. Just contact us if you plan to set up an additional dictionary and we can give you a few tips.

Beyond language dictionaries, also domain dictionaries (medical, technical, ...), acronym lists, and other lists/dictionaries can bet set up with DicionaryForMIDs !

List of some dictionaries:

There is a plan to set up the popular Wikipedia dictionaries ("wiktionary": http://www.wiktionary.org) for DictionaryForMIDs. As a tool there is Wik2dict (http://www.industree.org/guaka/index.php/Wik2dict). Someone could do a great job and set these dictionaries up for DictionaryForMIDs with Wik2dict !! These Wikipedia dictionaries supposedly have a bright future, so extracting the translations from these to DictionaryForMIDs would be of enormous help ! The wikipedia dictionaries can be downloaded from http://download.wikimedia.org/#wiktionary . The format is explained at http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Entry_layout_explained.
Also the format of the "Ultimate Wiktionary" (now also called "WiktionaryZ") can be interesting once it is available.

An important task is to get incorporated in the build process of FreeDict: The FreeDict dictionaries (http://www.freedict.org) are a great source of dictionaries. There you find a lot of languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, German, Dutch, Hungarian, Czech, Turkish, etc. Interesting are also the other dictionaries that are listed at http://freedict.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Other_DICT_databases, plus see the big DICT dictionary archive at ftp://dict.kurtwerks.com/pub/dict/pre/. The tool DictdToDictionaryForMIDs which is able to convert those DICT-format directories to a CSV-file that can be read by DictionaryGeneration. Via DictdToDictionaryForMIDs all of the DICT dictionaries can be used for DictionaryForMIDs (please check the dictionary's copyright statement).
The plan is to incorporate DictionaryForMIDs in the build process for FreeDict. This means that for each FreeDict dictionary, automatically the set up for DictionaryForMIDs will be done. By this all of the FreeDict dictionaries will be available for DictionaryForMIDs in their latest version. Who can do the job to incorporate DictionaryForMIDs in the build process of FreeDict ? Contact us for support on this task !

The Stardict project is an open source project too and the plan is that DictionaryForMIDs will bring the Stardict dictionaries to cell phones / PDAs (search our DictionaryForMIDs Forum for "Stardict"). They have plenty of dictionaries, and their format is derived from the DICT format. So with the DictdToDictionaryForMIDs tool, these dictionaries can be converted to DictionaryForMIDs. The DictionaryForMIDs format is much more powerful than the original DICT format (see the DfM content feature). Maybe Stardict uses some extensions to the DICT format, that makes the dictionaries nicer to look, such as with the DfM content feature. Could someone check this on http://stardict.sourceforge.net/Documentation.php and convert the Stardict dictionaries for DictionaryForMIDs ? There is also the tool stardict2txt which may be useful.

Who knows further useful dictionaries ?

Again: contact us if you need some support for setting up new dictionaries.
 

Translations for DictionaryForMIDs user interface

DictionaryForMIDs supports different languages for the user interface. That means that DictionaryForMIDs will display all menu texts, dialogue texts, etc. in people's native language. For example French users will have French language and Vietnamese users will have Vietnamese language. Well, we need support to get the translations of for additional languages ! See User Interface Translations for more information.
If you are working on the translations for the DictionaryForMIDs user interface, please also send an email to Gert and Vu Van Quynh (see contact.html).
 

Java ME Development (Java Micro Edition, partly also Java SE)

Supporting Java development for DictionaryForMIDs: that would be appreciated also ! Here are some features that need to be implemented:

• Java ME: the "coloured display" seems not to work correctly on a few devices. The implementing class StringColourItem should be re-implemented, see our DictionaryForMIDs forum for more information on this problem.
• Java ME: support for 'Loadable Dictionaries': Already mostly implemented, but still lacking the 'certificate' from a Certificate Authority. DictionaryForMIDs will then also run on several entry level cell phones that allow only small JAR-file sizes. See here for more information. This task also involves to check about a 'certificate' for DictionaryForMIDs, because a certificate is needed to access dictionary files in the file system (the problem is that certificates from commercial 'Certificate Authorities' cost money).
• The different pieces of information of a dictionary (e.g. pronounciation, explanation) can be declared as contents. The user shall be able to switch on and off the display of certain contents, i.e. that content where languageXContentNNDisplaySelectable is true. This could be done by implementing a 'content display' dialogue and/or possibly by implementing an expand/shrink functionality in the translation result. Who can implement this ?
• A fundamental extension: 'multimedia support' ! There shall be the new specific 'predefined contents' (see contents) contentRefVoice, contentRefPicture and possibly more. These contentRefxxx contain the file name with the corresponding content, such as [01house][02voice/house.mp3]. When the translation result is displayed to the user, then the user shall be able to play/display a multimedia content. That's a rough thought how it should work - but nothing of this is implemented - who can work on this interesting task ?

One word on Java development: if you send us some Java source code, please do an effort to provide a good implementation. Ensure proper modularisation and break down your code in well-thought classes and methods. Also take care to have meaningful identifiers for variables etc. And do a thorough testing !
Don't send us any 'quick and dirty' implementation please - DictionaryForMIDs shall serve as a good example for education purposes !
 

Java SE Development (Java Standard Edition)

• The current version of 'DictionaryForMIDs on PC' should be improved specifically for the horizontal scrollbars, see DictionaryForMIDs on PC, "Known Bugs". We need a real Java Swing expert to help on this problem !
   

Web page improvements

These web pages should be further improved. For example

• The "Instructions & Usage" section should be updated by a nicely animated introduction (the current description is still for version 2.0). Who has a didactic talent for this ?
• Making the "Dictionaries for Download" section more attractive (needs to be co-ordinated with Peter, see contact).
• Any other ideas that you can implement ? Highly appreciated !
   

Icon design

We need an icon designer: for more information see here.
 

Testing

Who can work as a tester ? Before a new release of DictionaryForMIDs is done, there needs to be done a thorough test, to ensure that there are no bugs.  

Testing for iPhone, Windows Phone, FirefoxOS and Tizen

iPhone, Windows Phone, FirefoxOS and Tizen are all supported with the Web App, see above. Please report your feedback on the WebApp in the DictionaryForMIDs forum.

 

Collecting information on different cell phones and PDAs

Who can collect further information for the section "Supported cell phones & PDAs" and keep this section updated for new devices ?
 

Support for users of DictionaryForMIDs

Who would answer questions and requests from people who are using DictionaryForMIDs or would like to use DictionaryForMIDs ? The job would be responding to forum posts and emails. Many questions are around using DictionaryForMIDs on specific cell phone models. While in general DictionaryForMIDs works fine on most cell phone models (as long as the JAR-file size is supported), there are also people who have questions such as "why can't I install DictionaryForMIDs on my cell phone, is there anything that I can try ?".