Other people have asked this feature before as you can see here:

http://groups.google.com/group/zbedic/browse_thread/thread/14750d185da82af0

First, I would need to implement an interface to toMOTko that would accept input from external application. I have never done that but I think it's possible using QCop channel in Qt.

Then, your dictionary application would need to be updated as well to interoperate with toMOTko.

And finally, the hardest part, is for toMOTko to make sense of what it will receive from the external application and guess correctly to organize the data accordingly. Because toMOTko's data structure for a term/word is:

firstLanguageTerm testLanguageAlt testLanguageTerm firstAndTestLanguageComment

So assuming that the input from Qstardict is a text like:

cat: [kat] -Noun: 1. a small domesticated carnivore, Felis domestica or F. catus, bred in a number of varieties. 2. any of several carnivores of the family Felidae, as the lion, tiger, leopard or jaguar, etc. 3. Slang. a. a person, esp. a man. b. a devotee of jazz.

-Verb: 1. cat around, Slang. a. to spend one's time aimlessly or idly. b. to seek sexual activity indiscriminately; tomcat.

This is just an example. The textual data could vary significantly from a dictionay to another. And that's the problem... How can toMOTko guess what is the firstLanguageTerm, testLanguageAlt, testLanguageTerm, firstAndTestLanguageComment?

This is not trivial. Actually, I have no acceptable solution for that at the moment. That's why the feature have never been implemented.

The easiest way would be that the interoperating applications decide on a common protocol. This would require to update both applications though. So toMOTko would have a very specific interface like: addTerm( firstLanguageTerm, testLanguageAlt, testLanguageTerm, firstAndTestLanguageComment ) and Qstardict would transmit such a service call in the air whenever a lookup is performed. As Qstardict is probably aware of its data structure, it would be in a better position to guess what is firstLanguageTerm value, and so on.

If you have suggestions, please enlighten me. I think we should discuss that either by email or on the public forums of toMOTko on the SourceForge page or make a new thread in Maemo forum.

(I am posting this here since I did not find a talk thread for this app).

Would it be possible to integrate tomotko with a dictionary? My use case is: I am using a dictionary app on the phone (Qstardict) while I read a book in a foreign language. I would like the dictionary app to automatically add all words I look up to tomotko.

What would a dictionary app have to do to add words to tomotko?

It's also not enough for cyrillic languages. I'd say for all non-Latin languages, which is a lot.

As I thought then, it's most likely a bug coming from Qt implementation. I will investigate further and report the bug if needed.

Meanwhile, toMOTko comes with a built-in feature that allows a user to enter accentuated characters.

To enable this feature, you go to the Preferences window and check the Digraphs option in the Interface tab. It may already be enabled by default, I don't remember.

When this option is active, you can enter some accentuated characters using two characters. For example, to enter a β (useful when learning German), you type b, then backspace, then *. To enter ñ (useful when learning Spanish), you type a n, then backspace, then ~. This feature was inspired by the VIM (http://www.vim.org) editor.

To get a list of all available digraphs, click Digraphs hyperlink in the Help window.

If you're learning a european language, this may be a acceptable alternative. For asian languages, however, this is clearly not enough.

Not Ctrl-P nor Ctrl-S work on my device.

Do the other keyboard accelerators work in toMOTko? For example, CTRL+P should invoke the Preferences window or CTRL+S should start a quiz?

Concerning the UI rewriting (according to Fremantle Desing principles), it's something that I plan to do, probably for version 0.12. The problem is that I don't have a Nokia device at the moment so it's not really my priority. The application has been originally developed to work on a Zaurus, then has been ported to Windows/Mac/Linux. Not so long time ago, a user asked me to port it to Maemo and so did I for Diablo and Fremantle, but with as few modifications as possible. I understand it needs some customization for Maemo though.

I don't see any reasons why CTRL+Space should not work in toMOTko once the "Maximize" keyboard accelerator is cleared or set to a different value. I even wonder if any accelerators involving CTRL key work in Maemo for Qt4-based application? Anyone happening to read this could confirm that?

I tried to switch off Ctrl-Space keyboard accelerator in Tomotko but it didn't help much. It's still not possible to switch language by pressing Ctrl-Space. However, after that change Tomotko doesn't hang and it's possible to switch to another application, switch language there and then return back to Tomotko. Very inconvenient, but better than it was.

Side note: Please, consider rewriting UI using Fremantle Desing principles: http://sw.nokia.com/id/47b16e3f-da39-4d37-9d6a-33e18496b9ef/Hildon_2_2_UI_Style_Guide_v1_0_en.pdf. Current UI is very confusing and hard to use.

I'm pretty sure that redefining system keymappings is a bug. Ctrl-space is a standard combination to switch between languages in Fremantle. It's not related to Notes or any other application, it works everywhere. Moreover, in the application like Tomotko it must work, because it must be able to input words in different languages. I'll try to redefine ctrl-space as you suggested and report if it helps or not.

I'm not able to reproduce this bug using the emulator. I need help to fix that.

Someone reported to me that CTRL+SPACE triggers an Input Language Switch in some applications, or it may also be system-related and work everywhere (in this case, it's probably not related to Notes application).

In toMOTko, the CTRL+SPACE keyboard accelerator is mapped, by default, to the Maximize action. This action, basically, expands some parts of the toMOTko window. You can also click the double-square button (blue and purple, on the top-right area of the application) to "maximize" the window.

I wonder if you would clear the Maximize keyboard accelerator (or set it to a different value) if it will prevent the bug from occurring.

To clear the keyboard accelerator (or set it to a different value), you must go in the Preferences window (either CTRL+P or in the Actions menu, select Preferences), and go to the Interface tab. In the bottom of the pane, you will have a section titled Keyboard Accelerators. Locate the Maximize action, select it, and click Clear Key button. Click Ok button, at the bottom of the window, to apply the change. And try to reproduce the bug again.

If that works, I will release a new version with a different keyboard accelerator mapping and prevent the use of CTRL+SPACE. I'm not sure but this bug is maybe more related to Qt than to toMOTko.

It's impossible to switch language using ctrl+space combination. After I launched Notes and switched language there and switched back to Tomotko it stopped to respond to any clicks and even to attempt to close its window.

There is no mechanism, at the moment, to download (or upload) glossaries directly from (to) the web site. This item is already on the todo list.

Actually, when you use the application for real, I mean, to learn foreign vocabulary, I think most users enter their own words and do not bother to download existing glossaries.

This is because people tend to learn the words that they use or want to use and this varies a lot from a person to another.

To test the application or to start from a base list of words, it may be convenient though.

To enter your own words, in the "?" menu, there is a Help item where you will find a Getting Started section that should be useful.

Any possibility to have a mechanism to download from within the application?

Also, I installed this while connected through wireless and only tried out later without connection. It was somewhat disappointing to see I couldn't actually do anything with it until I had a chance to download one of these glossary files. Maybe a message during installation?

Any possibility to have a mechanism to download from within the application?

Also, I installed this while connected through wireless and only tried out later without connection. It was somewhat disappointing to see I couldn't actually do anything with it until I had a chance to download one of these glossary files. Maybe a message during installation?

Any possibility to have a mechanism to download from within the application?

Also, I installed this while connected through wireless and only tried out later without connection. It was somewhat disappointing to see I couldn't actually do anything with it until I had a chance to download one of these glossary files. Maybe a message during installation?

as @mikko mentioned, the learning-curve is steep. After importing a eng-jap glossary (JapanesePhrases.zip) the word-list (in the 'Words' tab) didn't display until the row was highlighted. UI needs a fremantle overhaul.

Once you get how the word selection works, I think it gets easier to use.

I could have some Help Tips that pop up the first time the application is used. There is a Getting Started section in the Help section but people tend to not read Help...

Also, I'm open to suggestions. If you have any ideas to improve the usability, you're welcome.

It's still in development so... I ported the application on Maemo because a user asked for it. It may be a little bit too early though.

$HOME is the correct place to store user data. $HOME is also on 2GB partition.

Tomotko works now, but it was very hard to use for a first timer.

This version uses the home directory to store user data ($HOME/.toMOTko). Previous version was trying to use /opt/tomotko/.toMOTko but it was unable to create the directory because of permissions. This problem should not occur anymore.

To test the application, you can download glossary files from:

http://tomotko.sourceforge.net/en/glossaries.shtml

and import them, as they are (without uncompressing them) into the application.