2.0.2 Beta 2 Bug Report / Feedback Thread
- Thread starter mikelove
- Start date
Cheers Mike - I've just now found the split/merge flashcard categories option quite useful for my purposes.
You were suggesting that you might implement a timed quiz in the future - I was showing a friend Pleco and (apart from being mightily impressed with it), he asked if Pleco could do exactly that. (I.e. A visual countdown for multiple choice quizzes).
I've noticed that the stroke order for the traditional rendition 禮 character doesn't seem correct.
I've noticed that setting up custom buttons doesn't seem to work for the reader module (E.g. If I have a button set to 'add flashcard'). Is this by design? Is it possible to use the reader one-handed (adding flashcards and selecting dictionaries for vocab)?
Thanks
Ben
You were suggesting that you might implement a timed quiz in the future - I was showing a friend Pleco and (apart from being mightily impressed with it), he asked if Pleco could do exactly that. (I.e. A visual countdown for multiple choice quizzes).
I've noticed that the stroke order for the traditional rendition 禮 character doesn't seem correct.
I've noticed that setting up custom buttons doesn't seem to work for the reader module (E.g. If I have a button set to 'add flashcard'). Is this by design? Is it possible to use the reader one-handed (adding flashcards and selecting dictionaries for vocab)?
Thanks
Ben
On Tapcis, I tried assigning a button to "Magnify Characters". When I use the 4 way buttons and select "Up" (code 00001B06) it works, but of course then I don't get the default "move up".
However, it does not work to assign the left side joystick up (code 000B000B). Although the code is in place, it seems to be ignored.
Second, there is no way to CLEAR a button selection. I.E. if the right side is "None", then if the left side is a button selection already, I cannot clear it (that I have found). This is OK if it doesn't cause any interference (i.e. same button code on multiple places, or disabling an existing default action)
However, it does not work to assign the left side joystick up (code 000B000B). Although the code is in place, it seems to be ignored.
Second, there is no way to CLEAR a button selection. I.E. if the right side is "None", then if the left side is a button selection already, I cannot clear it (that I have found). This is OK if it doesn't cause any interference (i.e. same button code on multiple places, or disabling an existing default action)
radioman
状元
The timer was not what I expected but works great for me. Basically, when drilling sentences, I want to know how long I am starring at the card and cycling it in my head. In flashcard mode, the timer will not do it for me because I need to reveal the card before running the timer. However, in review mode, it works exactly how I want to use it.
In short, works for me, thanks for the addition.
A additional feature that could be useful could be a settable timer to just show a card for so many seconds (or minutes) before auto-flipping to the next one for review.
In short, works for me, thanks for the addition.
A additional feature that could be useful could be a settable timer to just show a card for so many seconds (or minutes) before auto-flipping to the next one for review.
Alexis
状元
Not so much a bug as a it is a way to make up for a common entry error in the stroke order flashcard tests:
Sometimes I accidentally double-tap the right arrow key after entering a stroke order, which means I just accidentally tapped the next character's 嗒 key without having entered anything. It is then marked as wrong. Would it be possible to not accept any input on the 嗒 key unless the user has entered the strokes for the character?
Thanks!
Alexis
Sometimes I accidentally double-tap the right arrow key after entering a stroke order, which means I just accidentally tapped the next character's 嗒 key without having entered anything. It is then marked as wrong. Would it be possible to not accept any input on the 嗒 key unless the user has entered the strokes for the character?
Thanks!
Alexis
The pinyin conversion changes look good. Great job.
Oops, it appears that the fix to solve the "Back" button problem when full text searches ending with a "no matches" message was a little over aggressive.
When in the "English" dictionary, switching dictionaries, then pressing the "Back" button skips the last entry. It is necessary to then press the "Forward" button to get to the actual last entry.
Unfortunately, I'm even now discovering more severe problems. I'm in the English dictionary (make sure you press "Forward" until you are at the top of the current search stack), now switch dictionaries and press "Back", on my system nothing happens. It requires a second press of the "Back" button and it is skipped to the 4th entry on the stack. I think this has to do with the number of items from each English or Chinese dictionary on the stack.
Here is my stack and the behavior, the top item is the last thing searched
English - OX - namely
Chinese - ABC - 黑金
English - 21C - Caen3
English - 21C - Caen1
Now while showing "namely" change dictionaries and the new stack is:
Chinese - ABC - 黑金
English - OX - namely
Chinese - ABC - 黑金
English - 21C - Caen3
English - 21C - Caen1
Oh, I understand why nothing is happening when I first press the "Back" button. The software jumps to the second "黑金" in the list and it appeared to me like nothing was happening and then it displays Caen3 like normal.
Hope that makes sense.
Oops, it appears that the fix to solve the "Back" button problem when full text searches ending with a "no matches" message was a little over aggressive.
When in the "English" dictionary, switching dictionaries, then pressing the "Back" button skips the last entry. It is necessary to then press the "Forward" button to get to the actual last entry.
Unfortunately, I'm even now discovering more severe problems. I'm in the English dictionary (make sure you press "Forward" until you are at the top of the current search stack), now switch dictionaries and press "Back", on my system nothing happens. It requires a second press of the "Back" button and it is skipped to the 4th entry on the stack. I think this has to do with the number of items from each English or Chinese dictionary on the stack.
Here is my stack and the behavior, the top item is the last thing searched
English - OX - namely
Chinese - ABC - 黑金
English - 21C - Caen3
English - 21C - Caen1
Now while showing "namely" change dictionaries and the new stack is:
Chinese - ABC - 黑金
English - OX - namely
Chinese - ABC - 黑金
English - 21C - Caen3
English - 21C - Caen1
Oh, I understand why nothing is happening when I first press the "Back" button. The software jumps to the second "黑金" in the list and it appeared to me like nothing was happening and then it displays Caen3 like normal.
Hope that makes sense.
The only bug I've noticed is a few times when I was studying some flashcards, I opened up the character information to look at the stroke order/compounds and character info and then find that I can't close this window to get back to my flashcard test (eventually, I have to kill Pleco using another app and then reload it). The last time this happened, I checked a character in a flashcard being studied and then popped-up one of the compounds. Then after closing the compound window, I couldn't close the character info area. I have been unable to deliberately replicate this but if it happens again, I'll try to get more details.
I'm very impressed with the pop-up functionality and realise that with this, it is now very very easy to generate flash-cards from English-Chinese dictionary entries while checking the meaning beforehand via reverse lookup. The original reason I had for wanting more extensive/multiple-choice English-Chinese flashcard testing is satiated by this. Of course, if you ever wanted to target the Chinese learners of English out there, it would be useful to them.
Also, one tiny thing for you if you're a perfectionist - there's a space at the very beginning of the Oxford 困境 entry where it shouldn't be - "difficult pos ition;".
What a great product you've developed, Mike!
[Using a Dell Axim 50V by the way]
I'm very impressed with the pop-up functionality and realise that with this, it is now very very easy to generate flash-cards from English-Chinese dictionary entries while checking the meaning beforehand via reverse lookup. The original reason I had for wanting more extensive/multiple-choice English-Chinese flashcard testing is satiated by this. Of course, if you ever wanted to target the Chinese learners of English out there, it would be useful to them.
Also, one tiny thing for you if you're a perfectionist - there's a space at the very beginning of the Oxford 困境 entry where it shouldn't be - "difficult pos ition;".
What a great product you've developed, Mike!
[Using a Dell Axim 50V by the way]
I have what might seem a strange request. I often can go through many cards, and recognize all the characters, how to pronounce them, tones, and meaning, but when I am faced with "real world" text (often the same text the words were drawn from), I cannot recognize or remember the words without a lot of effort.
I feel this is because of the different visual environment. That's why I classify this as perhaps "strange", since it doesn't seem that the majority of posters have this type of problem...
I feel there's a fairly easy solution, however.
When testing cards, I'd like an option to include random characters both before and after the word being drilled (when in character mode). The characters should change each time the card is viewed. I feel that either an equal number before and after OR a way to perhaps distinguish the characters wanted. But, the less "different" than natural text, the better, IMO. So, either 2,3, or 4 characters fore and aft, preferably drawn from real words.
Anything approaching this would be a big help, I think, for me.
I also feel it would be a good, and importantly, fairly new, approach to study.
I feel this is because of the different visual environment. That's why I classify this as perhaps "strange", since it doesn't seem that the majority of posters have this type of problem...
I feel there's a fairly easy solution, however.
When testing cards, I'd like an option to include random characters both before and after the word being drilled (when in character mode). The characters should change each time the card is viewed. I feel that either an equal number before and after OR a way to perhaps distinguish the characters wanted. But, the less "different" than natural text, the better, IMO. So, either 2,3, or 4 characters fore and aft, preferably drawn from real words.
Anything approaching this would be a big help, I think, for me.
I also feel it would be a good, and importantly, fairly new, approach to study.
stephanhodges, why not add sentences that include the character/word you want to learn instead or in addition to learning characters? I started studying characters and then realized the same problem you mention above. A slightly better approach is to study words, and now I exclusively study sentences. Between the 21C, Guifan, NWP, & TL dictionaries, Pleco 2.0 is full of sentences.
Thanks, all!
caesartg - hardware buttons aren't supported in the reader yet, no - it's not really very customizable in general, in 2.1 it should get its own preferences screen, like the flashcard system has now, and at that point we'll be able to add a lot of those extra customizations (not just hardware buttons but toolbars too).
stephanhodges - the direction button issue may be something Tapwave-specific, actually - I think there's a mode-switch in there somewhere, so the button can end up outputting several different codes depending on what state the system software perceives Pleco's UI as being in.
There's no way to clear individual button selections, unfortunately, only to "Clear All" - might make sense to replace that "Clear All" with a "Clear This" button when a given switch is selected, though. (not sure why I didn't think of that before)
radioman - good point, it might make sense to add another timer for after the card is revealed at some point. Auto-advance should get in there eventually, but since it's a lot trickier than just displaying a clock counter it has to wait a bit.
Alexis - that should actually have been covered by the new "require filled" option for free-answer tests, but checking just now it doesn't seem to be - we'll check to see if this can be fixed for 2.0.2 final.
sthubbar - eek, yeah, that's not good - probably best to just roll back this change for now and take another stab at it for 2.0.3.
caesartg again - I think I noticed that screen failing to close once or twice too, actually - do let me know if it happens again. Glad the pop-up function helps, and thanks a lot!
stephanhodges - sthubbar's suggestion about sentence-based flashcards makes sense, but I like the idea of filling in surrounding characters automatically too, particularly because it keeps the flashcard database nice and clean (each record = one word instead of a sentence that happens to contain the desired word). And with the full-text index it might not even be that difficult to implement, though it'd probably be better if it were paired with the new sentence-oriented study features we're planning for 2.1 / 3.0.
caesartg - hardware buttons aren't supported in the reader yet, no - it's not really very customizable in general, in 2.1 it should get its own preferences screen, like the flashcard system has now, and at that point we'll be able to add a lot of those extra customizations (not just hardware buttons but toolbars too).
stephanhodges - the direction button issue may be something Tapwave-specific, actually - I think there's a mode-switch in there somewhere, so the button can end up outputting several different codes depending on what state the system software perceives Pleco's UI as being in.
There's no way to clear individual button selections, unfortunately, only to "Clear All" - might make sense to replace that "Clear All" with a "Clear This" button when a given switch is selected, though. (not sure why I didn't think of that before)
radioman - good point, it might make sense to add another timer for after the card is revealed at some point. Auto-advance should get in there eventually, but since it's a lot trickier than just displaying a clock counter it has to wait a bit.
Alexis - that should actually have been covered by the new "require filled" option for free-answer tests, but checking just now it doesn't seem to be - we'll check to see if this can be fixed for 2.0.2 final.
sthubbar - eek, yeah, that's not good - probably best to just roll back this change for now and take another stab at it for 2.0.3.
caesartg again - I think I noticed that screen failing to close once or twice too, actually - do let me know if it happens again. Glad the pop-up function helps, and thanks a lot!
stephanhodges - sthubbar's suggestion about sentence-based flashcards makes sense, but I like the idea of filling in surrounding characters automatically too, particularly because it keeps the flashcard database nice and clean (each record = one word instead of a sentence that happens to contain the desired word). And with the full-text index it might not even be that difficult to implement, though it'd probably be better if it were paired with the new sentence-oriented study features we're planning for 2.1 / 3.0.
Thanks for the suggestion, I had thought of that, although I haven't tried to add up the extra time that would take (inputting sentences). I don't feel it would help me very much. In my case, I have a very different "visual" memory than many people. It took me a year in China just to be able to recognize the same character in different fonts (because it looks different). The word "different" in the previous sentence is different, for example.
I would need it to be random. I recognize words now, but it takes a lot of time (1+ seconds) when reading to recall words in textual contexts because the surroundings are different. Reading out loud is very slow.
Regardless of my problem, I've seen other research that also indicates randomness (in all contexts) does improve memory ability, and it does work for me.
By the way, I've about 58 years old, so that might also explain some of it! :shock:
stephanhodges - Sure, sounds like you know what works best for you. 
Mike - I don't know if this is new or was always there.
In the GF dictionary, full text searches do not scroll down entries to show the highlighted search string. In particular I did a full-text search for 两败俱伤. In the 21 dictionary it scrolls down entries and highlights the search string, though not in the GF dictionary.
Well, I just double checked and I should clarify some. It does scroll down in the GF dictionary, just not enough. I just scrolls down one line, though the highlighted text is still not visible.
Mike - I don't know if this is new or was always there.
In the GF dictionary, full text searches do not scroll down entries to show the highlighted search string. In particular I did a full-text search for 两败俱伤. In the 21 dictionary it scrolls down entries and highlights the search string, though not in the GF dictionary.
Well, I just double checked and I should clarify some. It does scroll down in the GF dictionary, just not enough. I just scrolls down one line, though the highlighted text is still not visible.
radioman
状元
For what it's worth, I am now studying sentences almost exclusively. I have hired local students to put the sentences into an excel spreadsheet. Hanzi column A, Pinyin column B, English column C. I just hand them my text (whatever that might be) and it shows up in my email.
It is very easy to export/save to UTF-16 which Pleco picks up nicely. I can bring them into my flashcard program (iFlash on Mac) where I can export to Pleco. I imagine its easy to also get excel exported such that Pleco can just pick it up and put it into flashcards.
Also, even without a full import, exporting to UTF-16, Pleco reader can pick it up and deal with it quite nicely - just another way to review the sentences.
So now with the new timer, during flashcard review, I can bring up the card and cycle the sentences in my head for 2 minutes (more or less) and move on, once I have reviewed all of them with the rhythm of the sentence, I can then put the cards into regular flashcard mode to see if I remember the translations, etc.
It is very easy to export/save to UTF-16 which Pleco picks up nicely. I can bring them into my flashcard program (iFlash on Mac) where I can export to Pleco. I imagine its easy to also get excel exported such that Pleco can just pick it up and put it into flashcards.
Also, even without a full import, exporting to UTF-16, Pleco reader can pick it up and deal with it quite nicely - just another way to review the sentences.
So now with the new timer, during flashcard review, I can bring up the card and cycle the sentences in my head for 2 minutes (more or less) and move on, once I have reviewed all of them with the rhythm of the sentence, I can then put the cards into regular flashcard mode to see if I remember the translations, etc.
sthubbar said:
While interested in sentence mode, I particularly want the random characters "surrounding" the word.
Tapcis Palm
I have a crash resulting in a reset dialog: Table.c line 2598 Invalid parameter.
I had a list that I imported, but encoded it accidentally to go into Z/Z20/2200,Z/Z20/ 2210, Z/Z20/2220, etc. Should have been "Z/Z22/2200", etc.
So I manually created a "Z/Z22" category, then opened the Z/Z20 category, and selected 2200, clicked "Group" button, and then selected new "Z/Z22" category.
That caused the crash.
I have a crash resulting in a reset dialog: Table.c line 2598 Invalid parameter.
I had a list that I imported, but encoded it accidentally to go into Z/Z20/2200,Z/Z20/ 2210, Z/Z20/2220, etc. Should have been "Z/Z22/2200", etc.
So I manually created a "Z/Z22" category, then opened the Z/Z20 category, and selected 2200, clicked "Group" button, and then selected new "Z/Z22" category.
That caused the crash.
sthubbar - might be an issue with the lack of English in those entries, at least that's my first theory - something in the word-wrapping algorithm for line scrolls maybe.
stephanhodges - looks like an error involving a row / column being outside of the bounds of the table... were the source / destination categories at the very top or bottom of the (visible) list by any chance?
stephanhodges - looks like an error involving a row / column being outside of the bounds of the table... were the source / destination categories at the very top or bottom of the (visible) list by any chance?
Destination was newly created, so that might fit your definition of "very top", since I moved it to the top of the "Z" group before trying to move things. I put the most recent chapter (Z/Z22 in this case) at the top to save time getting to them.
radioman
状元
Not a big deal, but a bit of an annoyance on my Palm T5. It seems that Pleco does not get registered in the "last used programs" list when hitting the soft home button on the Palm. At one point it was registered in the list, and was very useful as it served to hot "restart" full Pleco when in flashcard session rather than doing a multi-button bail-out.
Running Filez, and various other programs seems to populate the list properly. Also, the problem was not limited to the latest beta. Not sure if its an issue with my personal configuration, but since I liked the way it worked when Pleco was in that list, I thought I would bring it up.
Running Filez, and various other programs seems to populate the list properly. Also, the problem was not limited to the latest beta. Not sure if its an issue with my personal configuration, but since I liked the way it worked when Pleco was in that list, I thought I would bring it up.
Dear Mike
I'm running stroke order flashcard tests and I'm getting a mixture of the traditional and simplified font stroke order diagrams popping up (I assume where the simplified is the same as the traditional stroke order, the system shows the more beautiful simplified stroke order diagram). However, I wonder if perhaps the mainland and Hong Kong/Taiwan have different stroke orders for character components, which might explain why I keep making errors in some characters, change my writing behaviour unconsciously, and then make errors in other characters later on, to change my behaviour and make errors in the first characters again. I use repetition spacing and two characters that I keep being asked about because I'm repeatedly getting them wrong are 國 and 或 and I wonder if it's because the first features a different stroke order (being from the traditional batch) from the second, which defaults to the simplified batch [the last two strokes of the 或 part are different]. It would make sense, as I know from studying Japanese in the past that they have different stroke orders for some characters.
If this is the case, then is there a way I can force either the traditional or simplified stroke orders to be used. If it is the case, I would recommend that this would also be the default set-up for stroke order testing and indeed for the front end dictionary where users examine stroke orders from that end the value of the 'simplified/traditional' selector should be used to absolutely determine stroke orders. Of course it would mean traditional character learners missing out on the simplified font calligraphy, but better that than being stuck in a kind of 'learning loop'!
I wouldn't have noticed this but both 國 and 或 kept coming up near each other in daily testing (thanks to the repetition spacing) and I became aware that I'd only recently corrected my stroke order writing only to be told it was incorrect again! Urgh! Doublethink!
The other possibility is of course that one of the two stroke orders is just wrong!
Cheers
Ben
I'm running stroke order flashcard tests and I'm getting a mixture of the traditional and simplified font stroke order diagrams popping up (I assume where the simplified is the same as the traditional stroke order, the system shows the more beautiful simplified stroke order diagram). However, I wonder if perhaps the mainland and Hong Kong/Taiwan have different stroke orders for character components, which might explain why I keep making errors in some characters, change my writing behaviour unconsciously, and then make errors in other characters later on, to change my behaviour and make errors in the first characters again. I use repetition spacing and two characters that I keep being asked about because I'm repeatedly getting them wrong are 國 and 或 and I wonder if it's because the first features a different stroke order (being from the traditional batch) from the second, which defaults to the simplified batch [the last two strokes of the 或 part are different]. It would make sense, as I know from studying Japanese in the past that they have different stroke orders for some characters.
If this is the case, then is there a way I can force either the traditional or simplified stroke orders to be used. If it is the case, I would recommend that this would also be the default set-up for stroke order testing and indeed for the front end dictionary where users examine stroke orders from that end the value of the 'simplified/traditional' selector should be used to absolutely determine stroke orders. Of course it would mean traditional character learners missing out on the simplified font calligraphy, but better that than being stuck in a kind of 'learning loop'!
I wouldn't have noticed this but both 國 and 或 kept coming up near each other in daily testing (thanks to the repetition spacing) and I became aware that I'd only recently corrected my stroke order writing only to be told it was incorrect again! Urgh! Doublethink!
The other possibility is of course that one of the two stroke orders is just wrong!
Cheers
Ben