Bug? Some dictionary content not copied to custom flashcards

caesartg

榜眼
Hi Mike

I noticed this problem a long long time ago on both Android and Iphone and may as well piggy-back it with the other bug report.

Some dictionaries' definitions are not copied when I create a custom flashcard. I have purchased many of the dictionaries and any of them might have the best definition for my intended custom FC. I can manually copy the content across but it is a pain. Usually, I end up just using one of the dictionaries that don't experience this bug (E.g. The PLC or ABC). Sometimes, the Oxford C-E entry is really good though and I have to manually copy it across. Because I can manually copy it across, I think it is probably a bug rather than some integral issue with some dictionary content that means it doesn't get copied.

Best

Ben
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
It's a DRM issue, actually - manually copying is fine because there's no way to do that in bulk, we're not banning people from copying and pasting or whatever, but with some dictionaries we can't allow potential automated / bulk exports of unencrypted data.

However, if you just go into the flashcard info screen and choose "change dictionary / entry" you can pick whatever dictionary you want to link it to without copying the entry at all; it's only putting it into plain unencrypted text that's a problem.
 

caesartg

榜眼
Thanks Mike - a lot of my flashcards are custom, based on that initial copied dictionary data (I'm guessing I am adding info to around half of my 4000+ (with 6000+ waiting) cards to enable some of the tests and to make notes around regional differences, homonyms, synonyms, etc). If the DRM issue legally stops you allowing some dictionaries to copy automatically for single items, I guess that makes sense but if not, maybe you could allow the single custom card creation definition field to be filled for the single entry screen and that would solve the issue. Failing that, I'll just keep copy and pasting when necessary.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
We're looking at a way of fixing this by basically letting you embed a fixed dictionary entry as a link with an optional section specifier, so it's still DRM'ed and nicely formatted and receives bug fixes but can be pared down + mixed with other content.

That basic function is already working internally, in fact we've been using it since 3.0 for partial variants within dictionaries; the trickiest bit is the user-facing side, how to keep section IDs consistent if we update the dictionary - we might simply do some sort of versioning and let you have more than one, or we might flag changes to users to manually review.
 

caesartg

榜眼
That sounds great! Just to add my two cents - in the custom card definition field, I often add content before and after the dictionary entry text (and fix anything in the definition text that is misleading or missing, or that the test presenting algorithm fails to hide that spoils the test - usually revealing some part of the pronunciation if I'm testing that). The content I add before the dictionary entry is a few characters of information that allows me to elicit the headword instead of any synonym words or characters (E.g. a number for the length of the headword, 1+ characters that are in synonyms but not the headword [or if the headword is a character, similar characters]). The content I add after the dictionary entry is usually notes, such as if the Taiwan tone is different from the mainland tone, or if a written component is different. Ideally, I'd add notes to flashcards as I'm learning stuff in class - there's a huge amount of information teachers and textbooks give out around characters, vocab and sentence patterns that is ideal for adding to relevant flashcards. The custom card allows for all of this through the flexibility of the definition field. I have thoughts about adding one or more 'notes' fields to cards but my guess is you'll want to keep things simple for basic users while allowing a general flexibility for advanced users via the current custom card setup.
 
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caesartg

榜眼
Thanks. We're adding notes too, this is just how you intersperse stuff.
That's great! Two NOTES fields might work - one that can appear in the question/front of the flashcard (for providing info that helps elicits the answer from synonym words and characters) - and one that can appear in the answer/back of the flashcard for general notes that don't help elicit the answer. Maybe you would (or are) consider(ing) having the latter appear in a form that only appears alongside the fixed dictionary entry in an 'expandable icon' form when the 'answer notes' content exists, and not otherwise.

According to my statistics, I've studied around 100K flashcard repetitions in the last 6 months and the system works pretty well for allowing me to get into a flow and stay motivated, while efficiently absorbing info and allowing me many methods to adjust according to need or fix an issue. I tried Anki as I was using it for all sorts of other study, but it is absolutely no match for Pleco here for serious Chinese study, not just for the rich content and vast functionality but the stability too.
 
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