Dictionary production

[Karl Rolfe]

Hello group,
I have been asked to train a person in dictionary production using FLEx.
We haven't taught flex here yet. I have had a read through the flex
documentation but I'm finding it difficult to establish the exact
training pathway from introducing a person to FLEx for the first time to
producing a printed dictionary - in a word processor as in MDF from
Toolbox.

My understanding is that one needs to do all inputting in FLEx then
export to Lexique Pro, for production of a printed product, is that correct?

I have noted from the link in an earlier message in this group the
institutions who are teaching FLEx however there are no resources for
sharing there. Is anyone willing to share resources so we don't have to
begin inventing the wheel from scratch (I know there are distinct
advantages from beginning from scratch but I also like the sharing
principle).

Best,

--
Karl Rolfe
IT Trainer

EQUIP Training
70 Graham Rd
Kangaroo Ground 3097
AUSTRALIA

[Susanna]

> I have noted from the link in an earlier message in this group the
> institutions who are teaching FLEx however there are no resources for
> sharing there. Is anyone willing to share resources so we don't have to
> begin inventing the wheel from scratch (I know there are distinct
> advantages from beginning from scratch but I also like the sharing
> principle).

Hi Rolf,

If you look in the section "Files" in this Group you'll see that ETP
and AGS have uploaded their course materials.

> I have been asked to train a person in dictionary production using FLEx.
> We haven't taught flex here yet. I have had a read through the flex
> documentation but I'm finding it difficult to establish the exact
> training pathway from introducing a person to FLEx for the first time to
> producing a printed dictionary - in a word processor as in MDF from
> Toolbox.
>
> My understanding is that one needs to do all inputting in FLEx then
> export to Lexique Pro, for production of a printed product, is that correct?

A smooth publication pathway is under construction at the moment. If
you want to hear more about the progress being made to provide a
straightforward publication path from FLEx, please contact Greg
Trihus. There is a yahoo group you can join on that very topic.

-Susanna

[Snofriacus]

Susanna wrote:

If you look in the section "Files" in this Group you'll see that ETP
and AGS have uploaded their course materials.
  

Hi Karl,

For a focus on dictionary making, the existing AGS materials are probably only of limited use. We didn't get very deep into dictionary making in that Field Methods course. I have a more recent set of procedures called "PLI Lexicography" that was developed specifically for a two-week dictionary making class, and which I'd recommend in place of the AGS materials. I'll post it so you can take a look.

Ok, I've just posted a zip file called "PLI Lexicography.zip". PLI stands for Philippine Linguistic Institute. The zip file contains the following:

PLI Lexicography programs.html - This provides convenient links to the download locations of the various pieces of software.
PLI Lexicography.odt /.doc - This is a brief intro and discussion of the relative merits of various lexicography programs.
PLI Procedures.odt /.doc - This provides explicit procedures for various tasks in using FLEx for Lexicography.
LexProImport3.cct - This assists with importing the FLEx dictionary to Lexique Pro.

I have been asked to train a person in dictionary production using FLEx.
We haven't taught flex here yet. I have had a read through the flex
documentation but I'm finding it difficult to establish the exact
training pathway from introducing a person to FLEx for the first time to
producing a printed dictionary - in a word processor as in MDF from
Toolbox.

My understanding is that one needs to do all inputting in FLEx then
export to Lexique Pro, for production of a printed product, is that correct?
    

A smooth publication pathway is under construction at the moment. If
you want to hear more about the progress being made to provide a
straightforward publication path from FLEx, please contact Greg
Trihus. There is a yahoo group you can join on that very topic.
  

What the PLI Procedures outline is the use of Lexique Pro for export of a dictionary from FLEx to a word processor. This is just filling in the gap until the FLEx export process that Susanna mentioned has been developed, so you won't find it to be the ideal way of doing things. One difficulty is that the codes used in the SFM export from FLEx aren't identical to the MDF codes. "LexProImport3.cct" is intended to help out with this. Then there's the difficulty of sometimes having to work through some sort order details in Lexique Pro even though the exported data is already sorted. These and maybe some other small hurdles are addressed in the procedures.

FLEx has a powerful dictionary configuration capability, letting the user specify precisely what each part of a dictionary entry will look like in print, including any desired surrounding punctuation and labels. Maybe the thing that bothers me most in using Lexique Pro for export is that it doesn't allow me to make full use of this. After carefully configuring the dictionary to look the way I want, Lexique Pro then reworks all of this in its own way for the actual export to RTF. So I'm very much looking forward to the completion of the FLEx export process.

For the most recent dictionary project I worked with, we ended up deciding to skip the Lexique Pro part and just wait patiently for the completion of the FLEx dictionary export capability. For now the team can go ahead and configure the dictionary in FLEx, and the Dictionary view will show the result of the configuration options they choose. If they need a sample printout, there is a way to get one that reflects the configuration options. For this they can use the Print function, either directly to a printer or to the "PDF Creator" printer driver. It won't have the nice page formatting expected for a dictionary, such as headers and double columns. For this they would need Lexique Pro or the FLEx export that's still under development. But the formatting within each entry will be true to the FLEx configuration settings.

Allan

[Karl Rolfe]

Susanna and Allan thanks so much for your pointers. Allan I have
downloaded your zip file, it's very useful thanks. As I get the group
messages by email I had totally forgotten about the file repository.

Thanks again.