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Beta 0.8: Edict loading and menus redone

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@LaurensWeyn LaurensWeyn released this 15 Dec 20:02

I've finally gotten around to it: Another release!

This release changes a lot. Most notably, the context menu button is now a menubar, and the Edict dictionary file format has changed and improved in general.

Even this changelist is essentially a summary, but here's a rundown of the most major changes since 0.7:

Wareya's changes:

  • Support for more (and fixes for some old) conjugations
  • Added definition blacklist
  • Added dropshadow ('glow') text background option
  • Variable width text support: roman characters are now spaced correctly
  • Stick to window feature: Finally a use for the Win32 APIs. Keeps Spark Reader aligned with the target program. I'll build upon this in the future.

Laurens's changes:

  • Added 'want to learn' word list (no documentation on how to use this yet, though...), in the future this can be used to mark N1-5, top 2000 words etc. so you know what to export as flashcards.
  • Added persistent statistics: see how much you've read and more. More stats and a better UI will be added in later versions.
  • Major UI changes: the furigana bar is now a menu bar, and the old menu button is now a minimise button. Minor fixes as well.
  • Major dictionary changes: Now using JMDict instead of the older Edict2 format. This takes up more disk space but provides many advantages, and much more data for Spark Reader to work with.
  • Major Dictionary entry changes: now shows readings, tags and definitions based on the context the word was used in. Entry UI changed accordingly.
  • Enter key passthrough (advanced): for games that require Spark Reader to stay focussed but you still want enter to advance the text.
  • Various performance improvements for startup speed, memory usage and rendering.

Important notes:

  • Due to some changes, your preferred definitions will be reset on upgrading to this version! Shouldn't be too big of a deal, and the JMDict upgrade fixes some of the wrong definitions anyway (ignore if you're a new user).
  • You can delete the 'edict2' file from your old installation's dictionaries folder, and make sure the new 'JMDict' file is in there instead (ignore if you're a new user).
  • The manual is now comically out of date with these UI changes... I'll probably rewrite it from scratch if/when I ever update it. Message me if you have any problems getting it working, I'll try my best to help.

Coming up in the next update will be some changes in how the UI and internal dictionary model are connected, which will open up the way to things like mouseover definitions/'rikaisama mode', amongst other major UI changes.

Happy reading!