Download.com finally approved my submission of Find As You Type 1.3, so now you can algo get it there.
October 1st was the start of the winter semester here in Japan, and next week Japanese courses will begin again, which I have decided to continue.
I decided that this was the perfect occasion for an update to Pocket Dictionary. Besides some bug fixes and performance improvements, there are two features in particular that I wish to highlight.
The first is the ability to download and update dictionary files from within the application. This comes in two flavours: when you first start Pocket Dictionary 1.1, a configuration wizard will ask you which dictionaries you wish to configure, and afterwards it will download these dictionaries for you. This means the tedious task of copying dictionary files to the device using ActiveSync and setting them up manually is no longer required. Additionally, you can go to Menu, Dictionaries, Check for updates at any time and it will check if updated dictionary files are available, and if so, download them.
The second feature is the improved formatting of search results. In Pocket Dictionary 1.0, what you saw in the search results was the raw entry from the dictionary. For Edict, such an entry might look like this:
本 [ほん] /(n) (1) book/volume/(pref) (2) main/head/this/our/present/real/(ctr) (3) counter for long cylindrical things/(P)/
In Pocket Dictionary 1.1, the results are reformatted which leads to a much nicer display:
本【ほん】(n) (1) book; volume; (pref) (2) main; head; this; our; present; real; (ctr) (3) counter for long cylindrical things; (P)
Something similar is done for Kanjidic, and there it can now also filter out the numerous information which you're not likely to need most of the time.
Like the previous version, Pocket Dictionary works on Windows Mobile 2003 and up, and requires the .Net Compact Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2.
I'm proud to announce the availability of Find As You Type 1.3!
This new version is not a very big release, but it contains some critical bugfixes and other minor improvements. For the full list, see the change log.
The biggest change perhaps is the availability of localized versions. That's right, Find As You Type is going international. Available right now are German and Dutch versions next to the usual English version. I'd like to thank Christian Liensberger for the German translations.
Unfortunately, support for Windows 2000 has been dropped. No, it's not just that the installer won't let you install it; if you'd try to use it, it wouldn't work. Windows 2000 users should continue to use version 1.2.
The coders among you will like to know that the source code has been cleaned up significantly and many comments have been added, so more than ever Find As You Type can be used as an example for IE toolbar writers everywhere. I plan to do some articles about some of the changes I made, time permitting.
A long time ago, after Visual Studio 2005 had just been released, I created the Visual Basic 2005 XML Comment Checker. This application aimed to fix the fact that the VB compiler, which now for the first time supported XML comments, did not warn you if you left publicly visible members uncommented.
I have now rewritten and extended this application to provide far more extensive checks, making it useful for C# programmers as well as VB programmers. The application is geared towards making sure your comments are up to scratch if you intend to build documentation using Microsoft Sandcastle. It checks whether required sections are present, whether parameters, generic arguments, return values and exceptions are properly documented, and it checks for certain keywords that Sandcastle allows to be put in a <see langword="..." /> element to automatically customize them to the current documentation language.
Best of all, it's fully configurable, though the CommentChecker.exe.config file and the command line arguments.
I have released a (very) small update to my Japanese Input application. The update consists of an update stroke data file. I discovered that the old file did not include the kanji 場 (Unicode U+5384), which is a fairly common kanji (and a jouyou kanji). The new file includes this kanji so you will be able to write it using Japanese Input.
The CAB and source files on the Japanese Input page now include the updated stroke data, so if you downloaded it after this post was made you should be fine. If you're not sure, simply try to write the kanji 場. If it recognizes it, you've got the new version (be sure not to confuse it with the kanji 揚, which the old (and new) version does recognize).
If you have the old version, you can either download the updated CAB file and reinstall (I recommend you soft-reset your device before doing this), or you can manually update the stroke data file, using the procedure described below.
If you are using Japanese Input and notice any other common kanji (especially if they are jouyou kanji) that are missing, please let me know.
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