WJG (10/08/06). The University of Chicago (http://machaut.uchicago.edu ) provides a useful portal to a large number of language resources amongst which are the Webster Dictionaries and Roget's Thesaurus (made available by the Gutenberg Project). Naturally, as an Englishman I prefer the Oxford English Dictionary, however, as I don't have a copy (who does?) the Webster dictionary is a fine alternative. Indeed, the placement of etymological notes at the head of each entry is precisely what I'm interested in. Rather than searching through the portal itself, I hacked up a few lines of code today to enable me to add some query buttons to my Tk apps. Good ol' Tcl/Tk!
To use the demo, type in some text, select the word that needs to be queried and click on "W" for a Webster Dictionary search or "R" for Roget's thesaurus. Some further enhancements could be made, any comments warmly welcomed.
#---------------
# webster.tcl
#---------------
#
# Provide access to online text resources
#
# Ref:
# https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/4094
#---------------
package require optcl
# create toolbar icons
image create photo W -data {
R0lGODlhEAAQAMQAAP////bw7+3g4OPR0NGyscijob6UkbWFgqx1cqNmYppX
UpBHQ4c4M34pI3UZFGwLBQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACwAAAAAEAAQAAAFTSAgjmRpnmiqrssiDu0g
tmTzCEDxPAYgPK6R4XEAMHYMwOFRIP0aP8XiMWg4AiXF41jQTRMmws4hcuxk
JhtClHg0UNJmbqFY2e/4/CgEADs=
}
#---------------
image create photo R -data {
R0lGODlhEAAQAMQAAP////bw7+3g4OPR0NrCwNGyscijob6UkbWFgqx1cqNm
YppXUpBHQ4c4M3UZFGwLBQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACwAAAAAEAAQAAAFSCAgjmRpnmhqGkzrIkZw
PnRNN3JJE+JgOA+DaUdqPA7DhwKBSBgfOZKttuAleQJgAkUEHLq6hxWweDii
okILMVIzFKq4fE4KAQA7
}
#---------------
# add toolbar buttons
#---------------
# w is name of the container
proc WR:toolbar {c} {
set base [frame $c._wb]
# Webster's Dictionaries
button $base._w -image W -command { WR:search W }
# Roget's thesaurus
button $base._r -image R -command { WR:search R }
pack $base $base._w $base._r -side left
}
#---------------
# performs request
#---------------
# type = W or R
proc WR:search {type} {
if {[selection own] == ""} {return}
set word [selection get]
# create browser
destroy .wb
toplevel .wb
wm withdraw .wb
set htm [optcl::new -window .wb.htm Shell.Explorer.2]
.wb.htm config -width 600 -height 400
pack .wb.htm -fill both -expand 1
# search for word
if {$word != "" } {
switch -- $type {
W { set url http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster%27s&word=${word}&use1913=on&use1828=on
wm title .wb "Webster's Dictionary: Lookup \"$word\""
}
R { set url http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?action=search&resource=Roget%27s&word=${word}&searchtype=fulltext
wm title .wb "Roget's Thesaurus: Lookup \"$word\""
}
}
catch {$htm navigate $url}
wm deiconify .wb
focus .wb
}
}
#---------------
# the ubiquitous demo
#---------------
proc demo {} {
frame .tb
pack .tb -side top -anchor nw -fill x
WR:toolbar .tb
text .txt
pack .txt -side top -anchor nw -fill both -expand 1
}
demo