Ok, everything works for me.
1/ I locked my existing user dictionary (so I wouldn't accidentally make a mess)
2/ Next, I made a new user dictionary called "Measure Words", abbreviated MW
3/ Under settings, manage dicts, I reordered my dictionaries so MW was at the very top
4/ Under the MW dictionary settings, I noticed there is an "import entries" that I never noticed before - so I imported the above text file directly, just to see what would happen. Basically it worked, although a couple of entries were not quite right. Oh, I used the original file. I did not create a full text index (yet)
Then, I went to search for dang4 as the David was doing. The second entry that showed up was 档 (the first being 当). Selecting this entry showed my MW definition first and my PLC dictionary definition second.
So, basically it works as I thought it should work. The user dictionaries can be created from a flashcard import file directly and the import seems to ignore the // category lines in the text file.
There are only two problems with the source file (a) there is an extra tab in the definition field. The import is not bothered by it, but tabs are used as field delimiters and it might cause a problem in the future and (b) line 143 looks like
平方公里 <tab> 平方公裡 <tab> píngfāng gōnglǐ <tab> square kilometer <tab> 地 山地 土地
Which messes up the pin yin pronounciation field for that entry.
Step 4 is a new thing for me. Previously, I would make the flashcards, and then convert them to a user dictionary. One advantage of doing it this way is that missing fields will get filled in, like the Cantonese pronunciations, or the traditional character version (? at least I think it will - this set seems to have no difference between simplified and traditional)
So, let's test that.
- delete the flashcards,
- delete the user dictionary and recreate it.
- import the file with line 143 fixed
- definition source, file only
- store in user dict, on
- fill in missing fields, on
- missing entries, create blank
Oh, when you do the import flashcards, store in user dictionary - make sure your user dictionary is listed and is at the top of the import list
After I am done, I have 217 flash cards all linked to my newly populated user dictionary.
Doing a search for particular measure words always shows my measure word user dictionary first.
(I'm using the iOS version of Pleco)
Hope this helps.
PS: I didn't get things right the first time, nor the second. Make sure every user dictionary you don't want modified is locked while you are importing. Make sure your flash cards are imported into their own unique category. This way, if you need to delete the data and start again, your other data will remain untouched.