PlecoDict for Pocket PC Beta 1 Bug Report Thread

[mikelove]

Strange, I wonder if these space problems could have anything to do with the difficulties other people have had with PlecoDict failing to find its data files. We haven't been able to find a good cause for that yet, so the plan now is to simply write our own file search library (right now we're using one that's built into Windows CE) and hopefully the problem can be avoided in our own code.

And yeah, the interface is a little unusual when you first start playing around with it, but I think once you get accustomed to it it's a pretty good way to get around a dictionary. (though we're always open to suggestions if there's anything that's unclear or awkward) There are also some little refinements and usability tweaks that we haven't yet made on Pocket PC - for example, the Palm version captures all keystrokes and always redirects the up/down scroll buttons to the Entry List and character input to the Input Field, whereas in the current Pocket PC version we let keystrokes go to whatever part of the screen has the keyboard focus.

 

[sk2370]

Error message locating handwriting recognition library

Thanks for getting the Pocket PC version out--it looks great.

I've purchased and installed the program on a HP IPAQ 4150. But I'm receiving an error message when I try to access the handwriting recognition part of the program. When I press the "bi3" key at the top of the main screen I receive the following message:

"Cannot locate the handwriting recognition library. Please make sure that you've installed the "PlecoHWR.dll" file to your handheld."

I tried reinstalling the program, and then updating with the Beta .11 patch you just released, but still no luck.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

-Ian

 

[vrixon]

Error meddages on loading software

Thinking about it on the plane - I came to the conclusion that it might be your error trapping defaulting to the "lack of space" error on other conditions that is causing the confusion.

 

[mikelove]

sk2370 - looks like you didn't download the demo-to-full upgrade installer; we're not permitted to include the PlecoHWR library in the demo verison, so we provide an installer for it after you purchase the software. Log onto My Orders and there'll be a link for it in the section on upgrading the demo version.

vrixon - it's unlikely, our error trapping basically just calls a system function which will report whatever the last system error experienced was. But PlecoDict creates its custom dictionary and flashcard data files in main memory - is there any chance you might be extremely low on space there?

 

[vrixon]

Lack of space

Still had about 5Mb free when I started loading the dictionary, but removing programs did not seem to make any difference ... but you never know what it really means with some Windows error messages.

The dictionary has been quite stable since loading, I have only had to soft reset once. I will probably upload the Beta updatge patch tonight - I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Anonymous]

Flashcard test

Mike,
I can't seem to get the Flashcard part of the program working completely. It will not display the results of a test after I have run through the cards. I suspect the card ranks are not being recognized either, as the ones I continually miss are not showing up any more often than others, but I am going to mess around with it some more today to see if I am the cause of this. Thanks for a great program!

 

[mikelove]

The flashcard session summary doesn't work yet; one of the few little features that we didn't implement in time for Beta 1. But the answers should definitely be recorded - make sure that the rank settings are set up correctly, and check the "Card Info" screen to see the answer history and the current rank for each card.

 

[Anonymous]

Flashcards

I'm also having problems with the flashcards. Although I can create lists and add cards from the dictionary just fine, other settings for the cards are not saved (ranks, flags, etc). Despite changing all possible settings, all the tests are the same -- the cards are just presented in the exact same order, first to last. No way to get the random feature working, or any other "sort by" choice. The results of the tests simply do not appear to be recorded at all. Doesn't matter where the flashcard file is stored (Storage card or internal memory).

 

[sfrrr]

Mike--I'm sorry I haven't checked in until now. I'm in rural Maine on a 28.8 dialup that discourages any online use.

Consequently, I don't have the patience to read the previous posts. I hope I'm not repeating stuff you already know. All of this is on an Axim x50v with a 128 memory upgrade, 1G each SD and CF card. The betas I'm running are Wisbar Advanced Desktop and ContactBreeze.

When I activate both the search and erase icons, they reverse their functions: erase searches and search erases. If I uncheck either one, the other works as preordained. This happens whether the require button is checked or unchecked.

When I search, the results page flashes on the precise term, then switches to some longer phrase starting with my search word/s.

When I'm about to type in a search phrase (English or Chinese), I first have to click in the text box to activate the cursor, then click on the input icon in the bottom taskbar to bring up the keyboard. Many PPC programs either bring up the keyboard as soon as you activate a cursor in a text box or automatically activate the cursor (and sometimes even bring up the keyboard) whenever you open a test box.

More when I return to a grownup online service--in a couple of days. In the meantime, I must tell you I LOVE PLECODICT FOR THE PPC. Thanks for this,

Sandra

 

[mikelove]

Jerry - I'm not seeing this here. What type/model of Pocket PC are you using? Have you tried exiting and reopening the flashcard session screen to check if the settings are saved that long at least?

sfrrr- thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad you're (finally) getting to enjoy PlecoDict for PPC.

The search/erase thing has been reported a few times now, and should be very easy to fix. Nobody's reported this other search problem yet - could you give me an example of a search query that causes it to happen, and how exactly you entered it on your PPC?

Not bringing up the keyboard automatically when you click in the search query box was a design decision - a lot of searches in PlecoDict are entered with characters rather than Pinyin, and in those cases bringing up the keyboard could be rather annoying.

 

[Anonymous]

Pleco compatibility with iPaq 6515

Just wanted to add my story so far...

I've been a really satisfied Pleco user for the Palm OS (using it on my Treo 650 for a long time, and I love it). However, after having gotten caught up in one too many of the Treo's infinite reset loops, I wanted to try a Pocket PC out of frustration.

I got the iPaq 6515 because it's the only portable device that I could find that had a keyboard, and was kinda Treo-ish/Blackberry-ish in terms of form factor. I had been warned that some software had some compatability issues due to the screen form factor... basically it's a 1:1 ratio instead of the usual 4:3 ratio (in this case, I believe it's 240 pixels x 240 pixels).

I installed Verichat, no problem other than a little weirdness on the buddy list screen. Basically you sometimes have to scroll down whereas normally you wouldn't have to. And then I tried to install Pleco Beta 1 on it, and it seemed to install correctly. It gave me an error message after installing saying that the software is designed for an older version of windows and might not display correctly. I try running the program, and it gives me the Windows Mobile equivalent of the hourglass. The hourglass just sits there, spinning indefinitely. I've let it spin for half an hour, and it doesn't resolve itself. I've tried installing it to my SD card, main memory, etc., but that doesn't solve the problem. I've tried wiping my memory, doing a hard reset, that doesn't solve the problem. The install appeared to be clean, so I take it this might be one of those aforementioned incompatabilities, except more serious this time.

The two programs I absolutely need to survive in China are Verichat and Pleco. Can't live without them. But I'm kind of stuck with this device because the chances that they will give me my money back in China is approximately zero. And it was an expensive device too... about $750 with my lousy bargaining skills, but even the list MSRP is really expensive. I would like to not pay so much money and end up with significantly less functionality than I did with my Treo. Any ideas of how to make it work with this device, or any potential solutions/patches/fixes coming in the near future? Would appreciate it very much.

 

[Anonymous]

Forgot to mention:

Tried using both of the demos of Beta 1, but not the actual Beta 1 itself.

 

[mikelove]

Hmm... this is very troubling, we actually have tested 240x240 screen support in the Pocket PC Device Emulator and it seems to work fine. So I don't think this is related to the 240x240 screen; it's more likely HP made some minor technical change on the 6515 which has for whatever reason caused problems with our software.

And as the 6515 isn't available in the US yet, there's not really any way we can find and fix this problem right now. So unless some other bug fix manages to take care of this, it's likely we'll have to release 1.0 with a warning against using it on the 6515 and fix this bug in a future 1.0.1 update.

When you say you tried using both of the demos, are you referring to the .cab and .exe demo verisons, or to the demo version and the bug-fix update posted in this forum? If you haven't tried that bug fix yet, go to http://www.plecoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=302 and do so - it relates to file search on startup, so it certainly might have something to do with this bug. If you've already tried it and it doesn't help, there are a lot of other fixes in the Beta 2 update (coming very soon) and there's a good chance that one of them will fix whatever this problem is.

 

[Anonymous]

The bug fix fixed it! Thanks so much! (Off to purchase the Pocket PC version...hehe...)

 

[mikelove]

Great! That's quite a relief, I didn't want to have to cut off all those users for want of a test system. Thanks for the quick update.

 

[Anonymous]

Finally. In answer to your request for examples, it's not entirely reproducable, but try searching on huanjing (environment) and huoji (turkey).

Also, almost immediately after I posted my kudos on Roddy's Chinese forums, PlecoDict scrambled my user dictionary and, thus, my custom flashcards. Just FYI. (This is the original beta, not the bug fix.)

Sandra

 

[mikelove]

I'm not seeing those now, but perhaps one of the Beta 2 bug fixes took care of it... it might be related to the problem of the dictionary going back to previous search results when you enter characters too quickly, which we've already found and fixed for the imminent Beta 2 release.

The scrambled dictionary is a little more baffling... we did fix one bug (on both Palm and Pocket PC in fact) which could in rare cases cause some minor corruption of the dictionary index, but nothing that would corrupt the actual dictionary entries. Is there any chance that you might still have that corrupted user dictionary file around? If so, could you please e-mail me a copy?

 

[sfrrr]

Finally. In answer to your request for examples, it's not entirely reproducable, but try searching on huanjing (environment) and huoji (turkey).

Also, almost immediately after I posted my kudos on Roddy's Chinese forums, PlecoDict scrambled my user dictionary and, thus, my custom flashcards. Just FYI. (This is the original beta, not the bug fix.)

Sandra

That was I. Sorry. Corrupted user dictionaries winging their way to you via email. at least I think they are the currupted user dictionaries.

Will install the bug fix and see whether it helps.

Sandra

 

[mikelove]

Thanks, we're working on this now though I can't be certain it'll be fixed for the (still-imminent) Beta 2 release. Luckily it doesn't seem to corrupt the data beyond hope of repair, so if anybody else encounters this bug it should be possible for us to recover the entry data to a text file that you can then reimport.