July 19, 2005
I saw in this post that the Google toolbar could be extracted and looked at. So, I spend an afternoon reverse engineering the spell checker api. The api ends up to be very easy to use. Checking is done with an HTTP post to https://www.google.com/tbproxy/spell?lang=en&hl=en.
The xml structure looks like this…
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<spellrequest textalreadyclipped="0" ignoredups="0" ignoredigits="1" ignoreallcaps="1">
<text>Ths is a tst</text>
</spellrequest>
The response look like …
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<spellresult error="0" clipped="0" charschecked="12">
<c o="0" l="3" s="1">This Th's Thus Th HS</c>
<c o="9" l="3" s="1">test tat ST St st</c>
</spellresult>
Tag |
Description |
o |
The offset from the start of the text of the word |
l |
Length of misspelled word |
s |
Confidence of the suggestion |
text |
Tab delimited list of suggestions |
I created a complete C# GoogleSpell library as a demo. The library can be download at http://www.loresoft.com/files/uploads/GoogleSpell.zip
Here is an example on how to use GoogleSpell …
string text = "ths is a tst";
SpellRequest request = new SpellRequest(text);
SpellResult result = SpellCheck.Check(request);
foreach (SpellCorrection correction in result.Corrections)
{
Console.WriteLine("Misspelled: {0} ({1}:{2})",
text.Substring(correction.Offset, correction.Length),
correction.Offset, correction.Length);
foreach(string suggestion in correction.Suggestions)
{
Console.WriteLine(" {0}", suggestion);
}
}
I plan to develop an ajax web client for the google spell api. This will be really sweet as it won’t require anything to be installed on the sever other then a js file. I’ll post again when I have the web client complete.
July 1, 2005
Here is the handy Stopwatch class from .net 2.0 framework back ported .net 1.1. Enjoy…
/// <summary>Provides a set of methods and properties that you can use to accurately measure elapsed time.</summary>
public class Stopwatch
{
#region SafeNativeMethods
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
private static extern bool QueryPerformanceFrequency(out long lpFrequency);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
private static extern bool QueryPerformanceCounter(out long lpPerformanceCount);
#endregion //SafeNativeMethods
#region Public Fields
/// <summary>Gets the frequency of the timer as the number of ticks per second. This field is read-only.</summary>
public static readonly long Frequency;
/// <summary>Indicates whether the timer is based on a high-resolution performance counter. This field is read-only.</summary>
public static readonly bool IsHighResolution;
#endregion //Public Fields
#region Private Fields
private long elapsed;
private bool isRunning;
private long startTimeStamp;
private static readonly double tickFrequency;
#endregion //Private Fields
#region Constructors
static Stopwatch()
{
if (!QueryPerformanceFrequency(out Stopwatch.Frequency))
{
Stopwatch.IsHighResolution = false;
Stopwatch.Frequency = TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond;
Stopwatch.tickFrequency = 1;
}
else
{
Stopwatch.IsHighResolution = true;
Stopwatch.tickFrequency = TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond;
Stopwatch.tickFrequency /= ((double)Stopwatch.Frequency);
}
}
/// <summary>Initializes a new instance of the Stopwatch class.</summary>
public Stopwatch()
{
this.Reset();
}
#endregion //Constructors
#region Private Methods
private long GetElapsedDateTimeTicks()
{
long ticks = this.GetRawElapsedTicks();
if (Stopwatch.IsHighResolution)
{
double highTicks = ticks;
highTicks *= Stopwatch.tickFrequency;
return (long)highTicks;
}
return ticks;
}
private long GetRawElapsedTicks()
{
long elapsedTimestamp = this.elapsed;
if (this.isRunning)
{
long currentTimestamp = Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();
long endTimestamp = currentTimestamp - this.startTimeStamp;
elapsedTimestamp += endTimestamp;
}
return elapsedTimestamp;
}
#endregion //Private Methods
#region Public Methods
/// <summary>Gets the current number of ticks in the timer mechanism.</summary>
/// <returns>A long integer representing the tick counter value of the underlying timer mechanism.</returns>
public static long GetTimestamp()
{
if (Stopwatch.IsHighResolution)
{
long ticks = 0;
QueryPerformanceCounter(out ticks);
return ticks;
}
return DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks;
}
/// <summary>Stops time interval measurement and resets the elapsed time to zero.</summary>
public void Reset()
{
this.elapsed = 0;
this.isRunning = false;
this.startTimeStamp = 0;
}
/// <summary>Starts, or resumes, measuring elapsed time for an interval.</summary>
public void Start()
{
if (!this.isRunning)
{
this.startTimeStamp = Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();
this.isRunning = true;
}
}
/// <summary>Initializes a new Stopwatch instance, sets the elapsed time property to zero, and starts measuring elapsed time.</summary>
/// <returns>A Stopwatch that has just begun measuring elapsed time.</returns>
public static Stopwatch StartNew()
{
Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
stopwatch.Start();
return stopwatch;
}
/// <summary>Stops measuring elapsed time for an interval.</summary>
public void Stop()
{
if (this.isRunning)
{
long currentTimestamp = Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();
long endTimestamp = currentTimestamp - this.startTimeStamp;
this.elapsed += endTimestamp;
this.isRunning = false;
}
}
#endregion //Public Methods
#region Public Properties
/// <summary>Gets the total elapsed time measured by the current instance.</summary>
/// <value>A read-only System.TimeSpan representing the total elapsed time measured by the current instance.</value>
public TimeSpan Elapsed
{
get { return new TimeSpan(this.GetElapsedDateTimeTicks()); }
}
/// <summary>Gets the total elapsed time measured by the current instance, in milliseconds.</summary>
public long ElapsedMilliseconds
{
get { return (this.GetElapsedDateTimeTicks() / TimeSpan.TicksPerMillisecond); }
}
/// <summary>Gets the total elapsed time measured by the current instance, in timer ticks.</summary>
public long ElapsedTicks
{
get { return this.GetRawElapsedTicks(); }
}
/// <summary>Gets a value indicating whether the Stopwatch timer is running.</summary>
public bool IsRunning
{
get { return this.isRunning; }
}
#endregion //Public Properties
}
September 3, 2004
Here is a useful code snippet to convert the tense of a word from single to plural and vise versa. The code uses a series of regular expression to examine the word and convert it using the correct grammar.
public string MakePlural(string name)
{
Regex plural1 = new Regex("(?<keep>[^aeiou])y$");
Regex plural2 = new Regex("(?<keep>[aeiou]y)$");
Regex plural3 = new Regex("(?<keep>[sxzh])$");
Regex plural4 = new Regex("(?<keep>[^sxzhy])$");
if(plural1.IsMatch(name))
return plural1.Replace(name, "${keep}ies");
else if(plural2.IsMatch(name))
return plural2.Replace(name, "${keep}s");
else if(plural3.IsMatch(name))
return plural3.Replace(name, "${keep}es");
else if(plural4.IsMatch(name))
return plural4.Replace(name, "${keep}s");
return name;
}
public string MakeSingle(string name)
{
Regex single1 = new Regex("(?<keep>[^aeiou])ies$");
Regex single2 = new Regex("(?<keep>[aeiou]y)s$");
Regex single3 = new Regex("(?<keep>[sxzh])es$");
Regex single4 = new Regex("(?<keep>[^sxzhy])s$");
if(single1.IsMatch(name))
return single1.Replace(name, "${keep}y");
else if(single2.IsMatch(name))
return single2.Replace(name, "${keep}");
else if(single3.IsMatch(name))
return single3.Replace(name, "${keep}");
else if(single4.IsMatch(name))
return single4.Replace(name, "${keep}");
return name;
}
August 6, 2004
In my work with the RichTextBox control, I’ve often run into this bug in the RichEdit control. You can read more about this bug by looking at Microsoft’s knowledge base article - 812943. If you are unable to get the latest Riched20.dll then you can get around the problem using the following code …
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace TextUndoBuffer
{
/// <summary>
/// Work around for KB 812943, The RichEdit Control Undo
/// Information May Be Lost When the Control Retrieves Text.
/// </summary>
public class RichTextBoxEx : RichTextBox
{
// RichEdit messages (Richedit.h)
private const int EM_GETTEXTEX = (WM_USER + 94);
private const int EM_GETTEXTLENGTHEX = (WM_USER + 95);
// Flags for the GETEXTEX data structure
private const int GT_DEFAULT = 0;
// Flags for the GETTEXTLENGTHEX data structure
// Fast computation of a "close" answer
private const int GTL_CLOSE = 4;
// Do default (return # of chars)
private const int GTL_DEFAULT = 0;
private const int WM_USER = 0x0400;
public override string Text
{
get
{
GETTEXTLENGTHEX getLength = new GETTEXTLENGTHEX();
getLength.flags = GTL_CLOSE; //get buffer size
getLength.codepage = 1200; //Unicode
int textLength = SendMessage(
base.Handle, EM_GETTEXTLENGTHEX,
ref getLength, 0);
GETTEXTEX getText = new GETTEXTEX();
//add space for null terminator
getText.cb = textLength + 2;
getText.flags = GT_DEFAULT;
getText.codepage = 1200; //Unicode
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(getText.cb);
SendMessage(base.Handle, EM_GETTEXTEX, ref getText, sb);
return sb.ToString();
}
set
{
base.Text = value;
}
}
public override int TextLength
{
get
{
GETTEXTLENGTHEX getLength = new GETTEXTLENGTHEX();
//Returns the number of characters
getLength.flags = GTL_DEFAULT;
getLength.codepage = 1200; //Unicode
return SendMessage(base.Handle, EM_GETTEXTLENGTHEX, ref getLength, 0);
}
}
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "SendMessage", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int msg,
ref GETTEXTEX wParam, StringBuilder lParam);
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "SendMessage", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int msg,
ref GETTEXTLENGTHEX wParam, int lParam);
#region Nested type: GETTEXTEX
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct GETTEXTEX
{
public Int32 cb;
public Int32 flags;
public Int32 codepage;
public IntPtr lpDefaultChar;
public IntPtr lpUsedDefChar;
}
#endregion
#region Nested type: GETTEXTLENGTHEX
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct GETTEXTLENGTHEX
{
public Int32 flags;
public Int32 codepage;
}
#endregion
}
}
March 26, 2004
The following code snippet show how intergrate NetSpell with FreeTextBox.
Download the latest version of FreeTextBox and NetSpell.
Copy NetSpell.SpellChecker.dll to the bin folder and add the following files to the same folder as default.aspx for FreeTextBox.
- spell.css
- spell.js
- SpellCheck.aspx
Copy the dic folder to the FreeTextBox folder. Then modify the web.config file so the path to the dic folder matches.
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="DictionaryFolder" value="dic" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
Modify Default.aspx to look like this
<script language="JavaScript" src="spell.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<FTB:FREETEXTBOX id="FreeTextBox1" runat="Server">
<TOOLBARS>
<FTB:TOOLBAR runat="server">
<FTB:NetSpell runat="server" />
</FTB:TOOLBAR>
</TOOLBARS>
</FTB:FREETEXTBOX>
Now when you run the web site there should be a new toolbar that has a spell check button. When the spell check button is clicked, NetSpell should load and start checking the text in the FreeTextBox.
You can look in the demo\Demo.Web.FreeTextBox folder of the latest package of NetSpell for an example of how to integrate NetSpell with FreeTextBox.
3.x UPDATE:
As of FreeTextBox 3.0, NetSpell is intergrated. The sample code above has been update to reflect what is needed in 3.0