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Quick start |
This is an illustrated quick start guide. It
presumes you have already successfully installed the application into
your handheld. Note all files must be installed in main memory (RAM) and
not on a media card.
For help with installation please see the
Installation chapter or contact
support@beiks.com .
I.
Configuring the resident invocation method (how to start
proofing from other applications)
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1. Launch LexSpell from the main
application launcher |
2.
A registration reminder window
will show. Tap "Later" or, better yet, purchase an
unlocking key right away :-) |
3.
Tap the "Resident settings" tab from the main LexSpell window.
(if there is nothing in the field
next to the "Lexicon >" label you need to install a word
database lexicon first) |
4. A
default method for starting proofing in other applications
will normally be selected by the program.
Devices with hardware keyboards would use Hotkeys, the rest
would normally use Command Bar.
Tap OK and go back to main Launcher. |
II.a: Start from another application with Hot key combination
/use when Hotkeys was selected in Resident settings/
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1. Launch the email or text
processing application you want to use. In our example this
will be the Memo Pad.
When MemoPad starts tap New to start a new memo. |
2.
Enter some text. In this example, we are
entering the word "dictionary" incorrectly.
Make sure the cursor is in the
field which contents you want to proof! |
3. Press and release the "Menu" button on the device's keyboard.
The application's menu appears.
Press and release the "."
button, while the menu is still shown.
Note: the exact buttons to
press are configured in the Resident Settings. |
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4. If everything is right you will
see either this or the next form of LexSpell.
If nothing happens, you may give
it another try or, alternatively, do a soft reset of the device
once. See the FAQ section
for more help. |
5. The spelling correction window
comes up to suggest correction of misspelled words.
It works much the same way as the
spelling checker in desktop applications. |
6. When ready, LexSpell will
display a message informing you that the proofing session is
complete. |
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II.b: Start from another application with Command Bar
/use when Cmd Bar was selected in Resident settings/
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1. Launch the email or text
processing application you will want to use. In our example this
will be the Memo Pad.
When MemoPad starts tap New to start a new memo. |
2.
Enter the text you normally would. In this example, we are
entering the word "dictionary" incorrectly.
Make sure the cursor is in the
field which contents you want to proof! |
3. In the display area designed for entering Graffiti®
draw a short diagonal line from low-left to up-right as
displayed in the image above.
This is a standard Palm OS command
for invoking the command bar. |
4. The command bar shows up,
displaying the currently available command shortcuts.
To start proofing session tap the
LexSpell icon (the one with ABC).
If the LexSpell icon is
missing, refer to the FAQ
section. |
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4. If everything is right you will
see either this or the next form by LexSpell.
If nothing happens, you may give
it another try or, alternatively, do a soft reset of the device
once. See the FAQ section
for more help. |
5. The spelling correction window
comes up to suggest correction of misspelled words.
It works much the same way as the
spelling checker in desktop applications. |
6. When ready, LexSpell will
display a message informing you that the proofing session is
complete. |
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LexSpell can be started in two different modes - Standard and
Resident.
Standard Mode
In standard mode you run the program like you would run any other Palm
OS application - from the main application launcher or through an assigned
shortcut button.
LexSpell occupies the full screen and lets you configure it or do a spell
checking of the text you would enter.
Resident Mode
This mode allows you to invoke the program from within almost any other
program through either a hotkey combination or through the command
toolbar.
Note the program must have been run at least once in Standard Mode
in order for the resident lookup to be activated.
When invoked in Resident mode, the
program will first look to see if there is a blinking cursor inside a
field on the current screen.
If there isn't, LexSpell will bring up its own little data entry form
where you can quickly enter and verify a word or a phrase.
If there is, LexSpell will get the text
contents of the field and automatically run spell-checking for it,
highlighting each word being processed.
When encountering an unknown word, LexSpell will bring up a form showing
you the word and asking you what to do.
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Specifications |
- Functionality
- Spell-checking services in multiple
languages
- 100,000 to over 300,000 words in each
major language
- Custom user extensions of the built-in
word sets
- Instant spell-checking in most e-mail
clients for Palm OS, including GoodLink's email form, as well as in other applications
- Word replacement suggestions
- Widely configurable for speed, depth
and quality of suggestions
- Uniquely optimized for convenience
during the spell-checking process
- Runs on all handhelds with Palm OS 3.5
or higher
- High speed and excellent lexicon
compression based on proven spell-checking technologies
- Fully-functional evaluation version
for each language
- Available language
modules (lexicons)
- English (American) /100,000 in 308 kB/
- English (British)
/100,000 in 311 kB/
- German (Classic) /290,000
in 826 kB/
- Spanish
/320,000 in 795 kB/
- French
/140,00 in 337 kB/
- Italian
/210,000 in 513 kB/
More languages may have already been
developed and made available by the time you read this, so make sure to
check out the LexSpell home page.
- Requirements
- Any device running Palm OS 3.5 or
higher
- At least 500 kB free RAM
- Limitations
- LexSpell is not guaranteed to work
with all application displaying text.
Because Palm OS does not define a standard, uniform way of providing
applications with a proofing services, there is no solution on the
market (as of 2006) that could possibly guarantee compliance with all
applications.
Instead, all proofing applications take the "best guess" or "good will"
type of approach, which relies on the host applications (the one
containing the text to proof) to sort of collaborate - reveal the text
for proofing and then take it back.
A wide range of applications would work this way, but there are some
that will not.
BEIKS offers a fully functional trial preview of
LexSpell for the purpose of evaluating its ability to meet your demands
for a spelling checker. Make sure it works for you before you place an
order!
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Installation |
LexSpell is distributed in ZIP and EXE.
Over-the-air installations from the
BEIKS mobile site and enterprise installations may also come in
native PDB/PRC format.
EXE installations are self-installing
distributive packages for the Microsoft Windows operating system. All you
need to do is double-click the EXE file and follow the on-screen
instructions.
ZIP files are composite files containing
the necessary program, data and documentation files for an application.
They are widely used in Internet data delivery because of their high
compression (faster downloads) and data integrity improvements. To extract
(unpack) the contents of the ZIP file users usually need additional
application such as WinZIP (www.winzip.com) or StuffIt (www.stuffit.com).
Note you do not even need to purchase any of those applications (although
we recommend it) - you can actually extract the ZIP file with the trial
version available for free download!
Windows XP has built-in support for opening reading ZIP files, but that
also presents certain problems:
Note: Whether opening ZIP files
from within the built-in Windows XP browser or from within a third party
application (WinZIP, StuffIt or other) it is highly recommended
that you create special folder on your computer and drag or extract the
ZIP file contents there as opposed to directly attempting to install them
from within the ZIP file!
If you do not do that chances are good you will see the Palm Install
Tool complaining it can not find the file you want to install (when you
double-click it).
Note:
Some web sites offer automated download and extraction/installation of
ZIP or other files. They would usually take care of downloading and
extracting the files for you, some may even automatically prepare them for
installation during the next HotSync®.
There are two program files that need to be installed:
LexSpell.prc and LexLib.prc.
You will also want to install the one or more language lexicon databases
for the spell checker. You will find the available files with
self-explanatory names in the in the "Lexicons" folder of the
distributive.
Important note:
All LexSpell files, including the lexicon files, must be
installed in the main handheld memory (RAM) in order for the program to
function properly!
For more details and uninstallation instructions, please refer to the FAQ section. |
Pricing and registration |
To end users, LexSpell is licensed per language installation on a
single device.For example, an American
would typically
want to use the American English spelling checker and would have to
register that lexicon for use.
A French would most likely want the French language spelling checker
database, so they will
only want registration for it.
The price for using a single language
lexicon is $14.95.
Discounts apply for multiple languages.
For volume licensing and
educational discounts, please call +1 214 774 2806 or send an email to sales@beiks.com.
Our education, government and enterprise licenses start at 20% and we
enjoy a wide and growing array of licensees!
LexSpell allows for a fully functional evaluation period with the
lexicon(s) of your choice. The evaluation starts the first time
a lexicon is used for performing a spelling check and allows 30
more such services, whether in Standard or Resident mode.
A reminder will show how many times are
left until the evaluation expires. At expiration the lexicon will no
longer be available for use until unlocked.
To unlock a lexicon for permanent use,
you need to purchase an unlocking (registration) key as instructed by the
program.
All bug fixes and minor
application updates are free of charge to the user. Beiks reserves the
right to charge an update fee (usually 20%-40% of the sale price) for any
major functionality or platform updates, but no more than once in a
calendar year.
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Compatible applications |
Due to the lack of a system-wide standard for text exchange LexSpell may
not be able to perform a proper resident spelling check service in certain
applications.
For further explanation of this limitation please refer to the FAQ section.
The short rule of thumb is that LexSpell
should and will work for any applications that use standard device input
controls (fields).
Applications that implement proprietary and enhanced input (e.g. most word
processors) will fail to either give or accept back data from another
application.
Below are some popular
applications that LexSpell was tested against and found to be successfully
working with.
The best way to know for sure, however, is to just try on your own
handheld!
Application |
Version |
Comment |
Mail |
All |
Mail is the name of a standard
built-in mail application to be found on some old Palm and CLIE
handhelds. |
MemoPad |
All |
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Memos |
All |
Memos is the new MemoPad found on some
new Palm Tungsten handhelds |
NotePad |
All |
LexSpell will work for the text portion
of the note as long as invoked when the cursor is in it |
GoodLink Compose® |
All |
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PalmMail |
All |
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Snapper Mail® |
All |
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Versa Mail® |
All |
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CLIE Mail |
All |
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Iambic Mail |
All |
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Support and contacts |
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For technical support please write to
support@beiks.com or visit our website at
www.beiks.com.
For sales questions, site and school
licensing please write to sales@beiks.com. |
Frequently Asked Questions |
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Q. Why do all LexSpell files need to be
in RAM? Why can't we install the large lexical files on an SD card?
A. The short answer is: to avoid the slow process of tunneling data back
and forth between the media card and the device itself. This is where the
bottleneck is.
Because the communication between the card and the device is serial,
it is going bit by bit, which can be fairly slow, especially if the
content is compressed.
A dictionary program, for example, would always load only a portion of
that content corresponding to the word being looked up, but the words in a
dictionary are ordered and displayed alphabetically, so it all makes
sense. A spell-checker, on the other hand, may need to verify words from
the opposite ends of the alphabet in three words next to each other!
The decision for RAM requirement was made for best interest of the
customer experience and after some real experiments.
Q. Why can't LexSpell work with some
applications (WordToGo, WordSmith etc.)?
A. Because the text entry and output in those applications is implemented
used proprietary means and not the standard Palm OS technology;
like any normal program, LexSpell is only aware of so many methods of
communicating with other programs and when it encounters a new one it does
not know how to approach it. To avoid potential problems it simply does
not do anything in such case, just as if there is no text on the screen.
It is important to note that proprietary text input and output in such
programs does not mean they are bad: the proprietary technologies are
usually developed to provide better user experience.
We encourage you to contact the developers of these applications and let
them contact us: the fact is they can easily provide spell-checking
functionality through LexLib or LexSpell if they want and we are willing
to work with them for making it happen.
Q. How do I uninstall LexSpell?
A. (Please let us know why you would want to uninstall it!)
To uninstall the program you will first have to run it once, go to the
resident settings screen and turn the resident invocation method OFF.
Alternatively, if the program could not start for whatever reason, try
performing a soft reset of the device while holding down the UP ARROW
button and then deleting the files the regular way.
Note that both LexLib and the language lexicon files may also be
used by other applications than LexLib (e.g. WordToGo) and you may want to
leave them in the device.
Q. Can I edit the list with my additions
(the user lexicon)?
A. Not in this version, but it is in works and will hopefully be
available in the very next release.
Q. Can I edit the list with my additions
(the user lexicon)?
A. Not in this version, but it is in works and will hopefully be
available soon. |
LexSpell and
LexLib are (c) 2001-2006 BEIKS LLC, portions (c) Wintertree software.
Palm OS is registered trade mark of Palm Source; Palm, PalmOne and
VersaMail are registered trade marks of Palm, Inc.; Iambic and Iambic
Mail are trade marks of Iambic Inc.; SnapperMail is trade mark of
SnapperFish LLC; Sony and CLIE are registered trade marks of Sony Inc. All
other registered trade marks used in this document belong to their owners. |