Vocabulary Editor

This page describes the new features in the flashcards program version 2.0.

This version of the flashcards program provides a major new feature that I have had several requests for - it is now possible to define custom vocabulary through a vocabulary editor. Secondly, it is now possible to export vocabulary into database files that are also used by the PalmOS version of the flashcard program.

In the event that you do not wish to or need to edit vocabulary, and you are content with the existing vocabulary files that come with the PalmOS version, then upgrading to this version really doesn't give you much of anything.

Before you use the vocabulary editor, you will need to install and configure the IME for your system.  For details see the IME Tutorial.

Using the basic program is more or less the same as using the previous version. That part hasn't changed at all. To use a different set of vocabulary, you will need to either load or create a wordlist. If you are using it for the first time, you will need to create one. Start from the menu bar and select "File->New". This will create a blank vocabulary file, and here you will be asked to specify the name of the file on your disk to which the vocabulary will be written when you are done.

Next you will need to define a set of lessons. If the vocabulary is from a book of some sort, this would typically involve each lesson representing one chapter. From the menu bar select "File->Edit". This will bring up a new window which enumerates the lessons that are currently defined. To create a new lesson, enter the name of the new lesson in the edit box at the bottom of the window and click "Add Lesson". This should move the new lesson into the list of lessons. You can easily adjust the relative positions of the lessons with the buttons provided. You can also add new lessons at any time.

It also might make sense for you to define lessons simply in terms of vocabulary that you are interested in learning that might not have anything do with a book. You could just as well lesson name might be "03/01/02". In other words, feel free to use it in a way that makes sense for you.

Next you will need to add some Chinese words to the lesson you just created. Double-click on the lesson that you want to edit, and a new window will appear that will list all of the vocabulary that is currently in this lesson. If you have just created this lesson, then the list will be empty. Start by clicking the "Add New" button. This will bring up yet another window where you can edit the text for the word you wish to add to the lesson.

A few words here. There is a space there to enter both the simplified and the traditional variants of the word. For this you need to use the IME to enter the Chinese characters. You do not need to worry about entering both simplified and traditional variants of the word (if you are using the Pinyin IME, you really cannot enter the traditional forms at all). The reason is that as you will see the conversion is done automatically for you. The converse is true - if you are using a traditional character IME, the simplified characters will be filled in for you automatically.

Secondly, there is space for two definitions. A "full" dictionary definition, and the "Book" definition. In the past I have used the "Book" definition to mean literally exactly the definition that was used in the lesson, whereas the dictionary definition was a more complete definition. If you only enter text in one of the two fields, that definition will be automatically copied to the other one. Note that the Palm version of the program only uses the book definition.

That's pretty much it for entering vocabulary. As you might imagine it can be tedious to enter large amounts of text. To make it easier, the two fields where you use the IME to enter traditional and simplified variants of the words are presented in a substantially larger font to make them easier to read, and thus to make it easier to ensure that you have in fact picked the correct characters.

The second major feature of this release is the ability to extract vocabulary into files that can be used on the Palm version of flashcards. This obviously means that a newer version of the application for PalmOS is also required.

As always, comments are appreciated.

For information about bugfixes that are included here, and older versions of flash, click here

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