SPELLCHK Help Index

Commands

File Menu Commands

Start Command

Options Menu Commands

Procedures

Add Button

Adding words to the auxiliary dictionary

Change All Button

Change Button

Changing misspelled words

Commind Line Options

General Description

Ignore All Button

Ignore ButtonIgnoring ubkbown words

Registration & Software License

Suggest Button

Suggesting alternate words


Commands from the Main Menu
Commands

File Menu Commands

Start Command

Options Menu Commands


Index to procedures
Procedures

Add Button

Adding words to the auxiliary dictionary

Change All Button

Change Button

Changing misspelled words

Commind Line Options

General Description

Ignore All Button

Ignore ButtonIgnoring ubkbown words

Registration & Software License

Suggest Button

Suggesting alternate words


A general description of SpellChk
General Description of SpellChk

SpellChk is a program which checks the spelling of text which may be presented to it as a file or as text in the Windows clipboard.  The input text is scanned starting at the beginning of the file.  Words which appear in the text are checked against a dictionary file.  If a word being checked is not in the dictionary, an alternate dictionary file is checked.  If the word is not in the alternate dictionary, the scan is halted with the word displayed.  The misspelled, or unknown, word may be ignored, or it may be corrected.  If desired, the word may be accepted and recorded in the alternate dictionary.  If the Suggest button is pressed, or if auto-suggest is turned on, SpellChk will suggest alternatives to  replace the unknown word.  If a change is made, SpellChk will modify the text to reflect the change.  If the text is in the clipboard, the clipboard is directly modified.  If the text is from a file, SpellChk makes the changes to a temporary file.  When checking is complete, the temporary file may be saved with a new file name, or it may replace the input file.

SpellChk provides a command line option which will allow an application program to load text to be checked into the clipboard and then invoke SpellChk to check the text.  When checking is completed, the application program may then pick up the corrected text from the clipboard.  A command line option is also available to specify a text file to be checked.


Commands in the File Menu
File Menu Commands

Open File

The Open File command is used to open a file which contains the text to be checked.  The Windows Common Open File Dialog Box is used to open the file.  If the auto-start option is turned on the checking will begin automatically.

Open Clipboard

The Open Clipboard command is used to open the clipboard which should contain the text that is to be checked.  If the auto-start option is turned on the checking will begin automatically.

Open Standard Dictionary

The Open Standard Dictionary command displays the Open File Dialog Box for selection of the standard dictionary file.  The file opened becomes the standard dictionary which is searched first for words being checked.  The selected file name is also saved in the spellchk.ini file as the default standard dictionary.  The standard dictionary supplied with SpellChk is standard.dic.

Open Auxiliary Dictionary

The Open Auxiliary Dictionary command displays the Open File Dialog Box for selection of the auxiliary dictionary file.  The file opened becomes the auxiliary dictionary which is searched after a word is not found in the standard dictionary.  It is also the recipient of words that are added by the user with the Add button.

Register

The Register command displays a dialog box which is used to enter the user name and license number which is assigned to you when you register the program.  See Registration & Software License for more information.


Start Menu Command
Start Command

The Start command will start the checking of text from a file or the clipboard.  If the Auto Start option is turned on, this menu item is grayed.


Commands in the Options Menu
Options Commands

Auto Start

The Auto Start command toggles the auto start option.  A checkmark will appear on the Options Menu beside the command when the option is turned on.  The checkmark is erased when the option is turned off.

Auto Suggest

The Auto Suggest command toggles the automatic suggest option.  A checkmark will appear on the Options Menu beside the command when the option is turned on.  The checkmark is erased when the option is turned off.


Options on the command line
Command Line Options

When SpellChk is executed, there may be one parameter included on the command line.  The parameter has two options.  It may indicate that SpellChk is to open the clipboard, check the text in the clipboard, return the updated text to the clipboard and exit.  The clipboard option is specified by including the parameter /C, or -C, on the command line.  The alternate option is to include the pathname of a text file to be opened, checked and updated if requested.   SpellChk will also exit after checking the specified file.  Note: Only one parameter should appear on the command line.


About the standard dictionary
The Standard Dictionary

SpellChk is released with a standard dictionary which contains over 50000 commonly used words.  The standard dictionary file is named "standard.dic".  SpellChk dictionaries are not ASCII text files.  To facilitate lookup, they are encoded index files.  When SpellChk is checking text, each word that it encounters is searched for in the standard dictionary.  If a word is not found in the standard dictionary, SpellChk will then search an auxiliary dictionary for the word if an auxiliary dictionary is present.  If the word is not found, the word is considered misspelled or unknown.

When SpellChk is installed, the default standard dictionary automatically is set to "standard.dic".  The Open Standard Dictionary command from the File menu may be used to open a different dictionary file.  The new file must be in the same format as the standard dictionary.  When you open a new standard dictionary, the new dictionary then becomes the default.


Registration of SpellChk
Registration and Software License

SpellChk is released as a shareware program.  It is not freeware, nor is it in the public domain.  SpellChk is not "cripple-ware".  The entire fully functional program is provided.  The author grants you a temporary license for a period of 21 days for the purposes of evaluation.  If  you utilize SpellChk after 21 days, you are obligated to register it.  Registration  of SpellChk is for a single user license on a single computer.   Registered users may use the program on different computers, but may not use the program on more than one computer at the same time.  The use of unlicensed copies of SpellChk by any person, business, corporation, government agency or any other entity is strictly prohibited.

No one may modify or patch the SpellChk executable files or the standard dictionary file in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling or otherwise reverse engineering the programs.

You may make as many copies as you wish of the shareware distributed version of SpellChk and may distribute these copies to anyone, as long as it is in it's original unmodified form.  You may also distribute SpellChk in it's unmodified form via electronic means.  There is no charge for such distribution.  No fee, charge, or other compensation may be accepted, except  as follows:

A)   Vendors of user-supported or shareware software may charge a disk duplication and handling fee, not to exceed eight dollars.

B)	Operators of electronic bulletin board systems may make SpellChk available for download where an overall or time dependent charge is made for use of the bulletin board and there is no specific charge for SpellChk.

Disclaimer of Warranty -  This software is provided "as is" and without warranties as to the performance or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied.  Because of the various hardware & software environments into which SpellChk may be put, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered.  This program was designed and tested to operate as an interface to Autosig version 6.8, and may not work with previous or subsequent versions.  The user must assume the entire risk of using the program.  By using this software, the user agrees that the author shall not be held liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or other similar damages arising out of the use of the software.  In no case shall the author's liability exceed the registration fee paid to the author by the user.

Entering  Your Registration

On receipt of your registration order and fee, you will be supplied with your official registered identification (ID) and license number.  The registration ID is normally the name of an individual or company.  The license number supplied is connected to the ID by encryption.  This ID and license number must be entered into the program using the registration window displayed by selecting "Register" from the SpellChk File menu.  You must enter the Name or Company (ID) exactly as supplied, including upper and lower case characters where appropriate.  The license number must also be entered exactly as supplied with no imbedded spaces.

Evaluation Period

The idea behind shareware is to provide one the ability to try a program before paying for it.  If you continue to use the program after the evaluation period, you are legally and morally obliged to pay for it.

Adding words to the Auxiliary Dictionary

When SpellChk discovers a word which it cannot find in the standard dictionary it checks in an auxiliary dictionary for the word if an auxiliary dictionary is present.  An auxiliary dictionary can be defined by selecting the Open Auxiliary Dictionary from the File menu.  When an auxiliary dictionary is opened, it becomes the default auxiliary dictionary.  The default auxiliary dictionary is automatically opened whenever SpellChk is executed.

When an unknown word is found, SpellChk displays the message "Word not in dictionary".  The unknown word is displayed in the box which is below the message.  At this point, the Add button may be used to add the unknown word to the auxiliary dictionary.  If there is no auxiliary dictionary open a message will be displayed indicating so.  If there is an auxiliary dictionary open, the word will be added to the currently opened auxiliary dictionary file.  Thereafter, whenever that auxiliary dictionary is opened, SpellChk will accept the word as correct.


Changing misspelled words

When SpellChk has displayed a word that is not in the dictionary, the word may be corrected by changing the way it is spelled.  The edit box under the heading "Change to:" is used to modify the way the word is spelled.  If the auto suggest option is turned on, or the Suggest button is pressed, SpellChk will display a list of alternative words in the suggestion box  which is below the "Change to:" box.  The first alternative is automatically displayed and the cursor is placed in the "Change to:" box.  The alternative that is displayed may be manually modified by editing the word, or it may be changed to another alternative by selecting another alternative from the list.  If no suggestions are made by SpellChk, the correct word may be entered into the "Change to:" box.  When the correct word is displayed in the "Change to:" box, the Change button may be used to correct the original text.   If desired, the Change All button may be used to change the original text at it's current position and to also make the change anywhere in the remaining text if the same misspelled word is encountered.  Note: Change All does not look backward from the current position in the text to change any occurrences of the same misspelled word that had previously been ignored.  Additionally, Change All only applies to the current file or clipboard text, and does not apply to any subsequently checked files or clipboard text.


Suggesting alternate words

When SpellChk discovers an unknown word it displays the message "Word not in dictionary" and places the word in the box directly below the message.  If the "Auto Suggest" option is turned on or the Suggest button is pressed, SpellChk then searches the standard dictionary for alternate words which may be the correctly spelled word.  The alternates that it finds are listed in the box which is in the lower left corner of the SpellChk window.  The first word in the list is also copied to the "Change to:" box.  The word in the "Change to:" box may be changed by clicking the mouse on a different word in the suggest list.  The "Change to:" word may also be manually changed.  When the correctly spelled word is displayed in the "Change to:" box, the Change button may be used to correct the word in the original text.  If SpellChk cannot find any alternates, the list and the "Change to:" box will be blank.


Ignoring unknown words

When SpellChk discovers an unknown word it displays the message "Word not in dictionary" and places the word in the box directly below the message.  The Ignore button may be used to cause SpellChk to ignore the fact that the word is unknown.  Checking will proceed with the word following the unknown word.  The Ignore All button may be used to cause SpellChk to continue to ignore the word if it is encountered again in the remaining portion of the text being checked.  Note:  The Ignore All function only applies to the remainder of the current document.  It does not apply to subsequent files or clipboard text checked.


Displaying the unknown word in context
Displaying an unknown word in context

Use the Context button to display the unknown word shown in the context in which it is used.  The Context button displays a window containing the unknown word with some of the text before and after it.  The OK button closes the context window.