Pleco for Android 3.2.36 Beta

[mikelove]

Thanks.

The problem isn't unintentional duplicates; we can (and do) also check against other fields to confirm a match. We're actually worried about the opposite problem, not finding duplicates at all.

For the initial query of the AnkiDroid database to find *potential* matches (for which we can then fetch / compare whatever fields we like to confirm a match), we have to be able to search on something that we can match exactly - that search happens through a mathematical hash, not a text match, so even just an extra space will screw it up. And that hash is based on the first field (and can't be made to use any other instead). So that's why the first field needs to be something that's relatively consistent / reliable, like characters or pinyin.

(though even pinyin is sub-optimal, since the orthography can change - next beta will most likely generate a bunch of different hashes for different combinations of spacing / capitalization in order to help reduce the likelihood of that)

 

[mikelove]

Another beta out now at http://cdn.pleco.com/androidapps/plecodroid-161025-website.apk and on Play. Changes:

• Added support for Android 7.1 launcher shortcuts; these can be customized in Settings / Miscellaneous.
• Added an Android 7.1 round application icon.
• Made 'share'ing with Pleco generally no longer open the keyboard.
• Fixed a crash when trying to take photos for still OCR in Android 7.
• Made Yale romanization for vowel-less 'm' and 'ng' syllables add 'h'es where appropriate.
• Fixed AnkiDroid integration bug that prevented the deck list from loading correctly.
• Added options to change the spacing between pinyin sylalbles in AnkiDroid cards.
• Added the ability to include the definition in the first AnkiDroid field if a particular model is not used for duplicate checking.
• Fixed a bug that caused text in not-yet-created custom cards to be cleared after changing categories.

 

[leguan]

Just wondering if you were able to reproduce the non-resetting of the scroll window position issue? I've tried changing a few settings to see if it occurs only with specific settings but nothing tried so far makes the issue go away.

 

[mikelove]

Yes, we actually had a fix which seems to have vanished in this update - will address in another beta shortly.

 

[leguan]

Thanks! I'm glad it wasn't just me!

 

[mikelove]

OK, fix up at http://cdn.pleco.com/androidapps/plecodroid-161026-website.apk and on Play.

 

[Wan]

Quick question. I haven’t used pleco much recently, so I’m not sure if it’s related to this update (probably not?).
The handwriting recognition (the paid “Enhanced Handwriting Recognizer”, if that matters) has become very sluggish. I have to write strokes very slowly for pleco to recognize their whole length, otherwise I’m just getting dots or short lines. Also, the recognition used to be extremely powerful. I could write complex characters in one to three strokes and still get correct suggestions. Now, even when I write slowly and overly correct, the characters often do not turn up in the suggestions.
I have a new phone, a Vernee Thor, but I’m pretty sure it worked perfectly on the new device at first. Also, could it be related to any other feature (I have installed the Handwriting Recognizer, the Enhanced Handwriting Recognizer, the extended Unihan Character DB, the extended Chinese Font, the Thesaurus, the KaiTi Stroke Order Diagrams and regular Stroke Order Diagrams, next to most dictionaries)? The device is powerful enough to handle all of that.

edit:
I should say that in settings -> input methods -> handwriting, I have enabled all types of characters. Unchecking all but common simplifieds does improve everything. I remember there used to be an option to only interpret the written character after a break (e.g., this could be set to 300ms, or even to only interpret it after you press the corresponding button). This would probably get rid of the phone being too slow to process fast input. I would love to have that option back.

 

[mikelove]

The recognition engine itself is a tidy little native C library so it's very unlikely that the behavior of that would change on a different device - more likely it's getting weird / garbled data from the input box. None of those other items would be likely to interfere with the box either, all operate in different parts of our app. It's also extremely unlikely that the recognizer itself is causing those slowdowns - that old delay option was from back when we were dealing with much much slower phones, we dropped it as soon as we stopped supporting old '08/'09 vintage devices with warmed-over DVD player processors.

So yeah, this probably has to do with the drawing box UI. Are you running any apps on your phone that overlay the screen (our Screen Reader, or a screen dimming utility like f.lux, or anything else along those lines)? Does it help matters if you disable those? Does the sketch box in flashcards act similarly sluggish or does that one work more smoothly?

 

[Wan]

Thanks, Mike. I had recently enabled the screen reader function, and forgotten about it. Disabling it solved the issue, 100%.
I use flux for X on my computer and didn’t encounter any problems when I still had pleco installed in Archon. But then, a 1st gen i7 is still a lot faster than a modern SoC.

As to the screen reader: It’s useful, but a bit buggy still, as it often doesn’t recognize text. Copying content to the clipboard and using the reader is the simpler solution on my phone.

 

[mikelove]

Which apps are you finding it doesn't recognize text in?

Also, there's an option in Settings / Miscellaneous to hide the Screen Reader when Pleco is active, which should prevent it from interfering with the sketch box.

 

[Wan]

The app is MuPDF (using a pdf created from a text document, not from an image). And the option “Settings -> External Access -> Hide while Pleco active” did the trick, as did disabling the external access altogether.
Thank you!