dict.cc Plugin for OS X's Dictionary.App

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Submitted by lipflip on 2008, February 24 - 23:23

I just wrote a little Python script that imports the vocabulary data from Paul Hemetsberger's dict.cc project into Leopard's Dictionary.app.
This is great if you need this fabulous online dictionary while on the move.

Update: A new and much easier installable version can be found here.

Screenshot of the <code>dict.cc</code> Plugin
Screenshot of the dict.cc Plugin

The code is quick 'n dirty and some strings aren't processed correctly. This is compensated by the links to OS X's build-in New Oxford American Dictionary.

Regrettably dict.cc's license prohibits redistributing the vocabulary database. So, if you want to use Dictionary.app to translate words from german to english you'll have to build it yourself:

  • get my script (just email me, about 50k download it below)
  • Join the Apple Developer Connection and get the OS X Developer Tools (approx. 1 Gig)
  • get dict.cc's Database
  • Type make and grab a cup of coffee :)

Update: From now on you can import de-en, en-de, or both databases into Dictionary.App.

Update 2: Script is now downloadable. Get it below.
Follow the instructions in Readme.txt and don't forget that you'll need dictionary data from dict.cc and Apple's Developer Tools.

Update 3: It also works inside OS X's Dictionary widget :)

Screenshot of dict.cc in OS X's dictionary widget

Update 4: A new and much easier installable version can be found here.

Documentation of the Dictionary Development Kit

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AttachmentSize
dictplugin-distrib.zip7.25 KB

Comments

noam661 (not verified)

2008, August 7 - 08:16

Thanks for sharing mate. I was looking for the new version.

Matt Serwin (not verified)

2008, September 10 - 20:43

Thanks for the info, that is a cool feature.

Anonymous (not verified)

2008, September 28 - 20:38

why dont you simply link to the file, and not to a web page which linx to another webpage? and so on? like with warez

lipflip

2008, September 29 - 00:28

historical reasons. this page is the blog post announcing the plugin, later on i set up a "timeless" landing-page with additional information, installation/deinstallation instructions etc.. good point, though. i'll set up an redirect...

Georg Graf (not verified)

2011, April 2 - 00:10

Hey there, fyi: there are now only unicode database files available on dict.cc - so I rewrote your code to make it working with unicode files now. If someone ever wants to do that, replace the code from line 66 to 80 in input2xml.py with:

input = codecs.open(fileName, encoding='utf-8') print 'Processing "'+fileName+'"' except IOError: print '*** File "' + fileName + '" not found.' else: for line in input: lines=lines+1 # trow away comments if (p_comment.match(line)) or (len(line)<=2): comments=comments+1 continue # split entry into english and german part data = line.split("\t", 1);

Greetings, Georg!