Re: A number of issues I've collected
Thank you very much for that wonderfully detailed bug report. I'll respond to this point-by-point:
Lockup after powering on the Pocket PC with PlecoDict already loaded
Have you tried moving your font files to main memory (instead of leaving them on the storage card)? This is recommended in Beta 3 and will be automatic in the next release. Let me know if moving those files doesn't fix this.
This error actually isn't related to Windows power messages, it's related to the file system. Basically, whenever a Pocket PC is powered off there's the potential that Windows CE may decide to invalidate the links to all files on storage cards when the system is powered on again. When that happens, programs are expected to notice it and reopen all of their files. PlecoDict does this (though it's certainly possible there might be a bug in that code), but Windows CE's font system does not, so if you're accessing a font from a storage card, that can create all sorts of errors when you power the system on after leaving it off for a while.
Recognizer and Flashcard writing area problem
Thanks for pointing that out, looks like there's a bug in the code that continues a line after your stylus has briefly left the recognizer area.
Using the arrow keys to scroll up and down through the entries does not change the definition on the left to the selected entry on the right
This is an odd one - are you sure it doesn't do it after you finish your scrolling? Are you running any utilities or other programs that might interfere with key input even when they're not running (e.g. an application launcher that uses hardware button combinations?)
What it's supposed to do is scroll through the lines rapidly while you hold down the arrow button but then bring up the correct entry as soon as you let go - we don't update the entry every time for performance reasons. Try enabling the "Limit scroll rate" option in Preferences and that should take care of this, since with that option enabled it updates the definition along with the list.
If you use the magnifier to view a character, then type in another word using an attached keyboard, the listed definition will be partially visible, but the old character will still be hovering above it.
We've now fixed this in our latest build, but thanks for the bug report nonetheless.
I've lost all my flashcards in Beta 2 as well as Beta 3.
I completely agree with you that this is unacceptable. It looks like it has something to do with Windows' file caching system, so we're going through and forcing it to write the updated data to disk every time there's a major change. (in general it's better not to do that, since it can slow things down and drain the battery, but if you keep your flashcards in main memory the impact should be minimal, and if not it's still better than losing your data)
When selecting Chinese text that spans across two lines, then tapping the search-paste button (or whatever it's called), quite often a character or two will be dropped from the selection.
This is actually caused by a workaround for another bug, namely that Chinese characters don't word wrap correctly (causing them to leak off the edge of the form and creating a messy horizontal scrollbar) in HTML-based text controls like the one we use to draw dictionary definitions. This bug appears to have been fixed in Windows Mobile 5 (so we can disable the workaround on that), but on WM2003, unless we can find another workaround we feel this bug is preferable to having characters trail off the page.
Some words are not listed in order in the entry table.
This is actually present on Palm as well (the problem is in the system we use to sort the databases) - you're correct that it relates to the entry having extra characters in parentheses. Changing this would be rather disruptive, since it would require us to alter the database files and that would invalidate everyone's flashcards (as their references to particular line #s in the dictionary would no longer be accurate). We're eventually planning to add a facility to migrate flashcards from one version of a database to another, but that's not going to happen for a while.
Request: Now that I'm using the Chinese OS and am familiar with its input methods, I've realized that it would be nice if PlecoDict could recognize it.
Thanks for that suggestion. It's too late to add anything new in 1.0, but we'll certainly keep it in mind for a future update.
Thanks again for the very helpful feedback,
Michael Love
Pleco Software
