[Lexicog] email to send to Lexicography list

Tue Oct 13 06:52:57 UTC 2009

Dear Ron Moe, 

Thank you for your very encouraging email.
OK, I shall keep on working on the cleaning activity of my database and experiment with Lexique Pro. I;m expecting to publish the dictionary in Aprill or May. I hope I shall avail your generous guidance in future.

Regards, 

Inam

--- On Tue, 10/13/09, Ronald Moe <ron_moe at sil.org> wrote:

From: Ronald Moe <ron_moe at sil.org>
Subject: RE: [Lexicog]  email to send to Lexicography list
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 11:04 AM

Dear Inam, 

I have found that the task of collecting
data for a dictionary and the task of preparing a dictionary for publication
are very different. Even if you have collected all your data, you may need help
getting the data in the correct form for publication. If you have been using
Toolbox for a long time and you are close to finishing, I would not recommend
that you change to FieldWorks. It would take a long time to learn the new
program. FieldWorks does some things differently from Toolbox and you may find
that you have to do a lot more work to get everything correct in FieldWorks. This
is especially true if you don’t know how to correctly import your data
into FieldWorks. You can easily create problems for yourself if your data is
not correct or if you don’t import your data correctly into FieldWorks. 

I would recommend that you finish
collecting your data. Then you should import your data into Lexique Pro and use
Lexique Pro to publish your dictionary. I would not recommend that you print
the dictionary using MDF. Lexique Pro is a very good program and fairly easy to
use. However you may need help, especially if you have not rigorously followed
the MDF standard. There are programs and techniques that you can use to clean
up your Toolbox database, but I cannot explain them all in a short email. You
may need to find someone who can help you. I am in Uganda doing research right now and
will not have any time until January. 

I hope this helps, 

Ron Moe 

From: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com [mailto: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com ] On Behalf Of Inam Ullah

Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009
10:07 AM

To: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com

Subject: RE: [Lexicog] email to
send to Lexicography list 

  Dear Ron, 

  I've been using Shoebox/Toolbox since long and my lexical database is still
  in the Toolbox program. I too had similar problems with MDF while exporting
  my database. I'm doing  experiments with Lexique Pro but not fully
  successful. My dictionary project is now closer to the end and I want to get
  my dictionary print. What I should do? Do you recommend me to the Fieldworks?
  Can my data file be opened in the Fieldworks program? 

  Regards, 

  Inam Ullah 

  Center for
  Research in Urdu Language Processing  (CRULP) 

  FAST National University, Faisal Town, Lahore Pakistan. 

  Cell: +92 0314 7651446 

  --- On Mon, 10/12/09, Ronald Moe <ron_moe at sil. org>
  wrote: 

  From: Ronald Moe <ron_moe at sil. org>

  Subject: RE: [Lexicog] email to send to Lexicography list

  To: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups. com

  Date: Monday, October 12, 2009, 11:22 AM 

  Naomi Keith wrote: 
  “Our team has a question about MDF - is MDF
  being maintained or is it basically a dead format now? Other than Toolbox,
  what programs can manipulate or import MDF files?” 

  My understanding is that MDF is no longer being maintained. I
  know of one person who made some changes a few years ago. The problem is that
  the Consistent Changes tables that are used to prepare the database for
  printing are very complicated. So trying to change one thing may require
  searching lots of code for unexpected consequences. 

  Another problem with MDF is that the user is limited to the
  standard fields. If you want to do anything nonstandard (for instance if your
  language family has a tradition of dictionaries that is different than the
  MDF format), you must “misuse” one of the standard fields or
  otherwise play with the standard fields to get MDF to format your dictionary
  the way you want it. 

  MDF was designed to be used with the Shoebox/Toolbox program. You
  can import an MDF database into Lexique Pro and FieldWorks. However I have
  never seen a Shoebox or Toolbox database that was clean and consistent. In my
  experience it has always required some cleanup and manipulation of the data
  to bring it up to the MDF standard. If you neglect to do this, you are very
  likely to get errors when trying to print with MDF or import the database
  into another program. Consequently newer programs like FieldWorks and WeSay
  use a standardized format to ensure that the data is consistent. In fact a
  number of programmers are working on a new standard for lexical data called
  LIFT. WeSay keeps its data in the LIFT format standard. FieldWorks can export
  and import from the LIFT standard, and Lexique Pro can import a LIFT file. 

  Toolbox users have also developed other tools to work with MDF
  files. For instance I know of one tool that helps to clean up an MDF file,
  but I’ve never used it. There is a Toolbox users email discussion list
  similar to this one. You might want to join it. 

  Having said all this, MDF is still useful and many people have
  successfully used it to organize and print their dictionaries, including me.
  However I have switched to FieldWorks, which I consider a vastly superior
  program for handling dictionaries. I still use Toolbox for other kinds of
  databases, but not for dictionaries. 

  Ron Moe 

  From: lexicographylist@ yahoogroups.
  com [mailto:lexicograph ylist at yahoogroup s.com] On Behalf Of Naomi Keith

  Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009
  8:49 AM

  To: lexicographylist@
  yahoogroups. com

  Cc: 'Robert Hunt'

  Subject: [Lexicog] email to send
  to Lexicography list 

  Hi, 
  Our team has a question about MDF - is MDF being
  maintained or is it basically a dead format now? Other than Toolbox, what
  programs can manipulate or import MDF files? 
  Thanks very much, 
  Naomi Keith 

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