WSpell ActiveX Spelling Checker

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Frequently Asked Support Questions

1. I set WSpell's TextControlHWnd property. It's finding spelling errors, but why aren't they being highlighted in the text box?

See Misspelled words not highlighted in text box being checked.

2. I'm using WSpell with TX Text Control (or some other third-party text control). Why doesn't it work?

See Using WSpell with TX Text Control. For other third-party controls, see Using WSpell with a 3rd-party edit control

3. I've created an application which uses WSpell, and now I want to install it. What files need to be included, and what settings do I have to make?

This is described in the WSpell programmer's guide: "Using WSpell": "How to redistribute WSpell with your application."

4. How do I get WSpell to check HTML (or XML)?

Starting in version 5.13, WSpell supports the IgnoreHTMLMarkups property, which causes it to skip over any HTML markups contained in text (see the description of property IgnoreHTMLMarkups in the WSpell Programmer's Guide for detailed information on how the property behaves).

In earlier versions, and formats other than HTML: WSpell expects text to be in a simple format: words, numbers, and punctuation surrounded by white space. If you want to check text in more complex formats, you may have to take over responsibility for extracting plain text from the document and passing only the plain text to WSpell for checking.

5. The WSpell license agreement states I have to publish a copyright notice with my application. Where should this go?

You can place the copyright notice in any reasonably visible location: With other copyright notices (including your own), in your application's help file, splash screen, about box, printed user's manual, etc. If you use WSpell in a Web page, the copyright notice must be placed on the Web page.

6. I looked at ssceam.tlx (or sscebr.tlx, etc.) with Notepad, and it only contains about 1000 words. I thought the dictionary was supposed to contain 100,000 words. Where are the rest?

The file ssceXX.tlx (e.g., ssceam.tlx) is a text-format dictionary file that contains the most common words in a given language. Text-format dictionaries can be accessed more quickly than large compressed dictionaries. The file ssceam.tlx contains very common American English words like the, of, is, and, etc. These common words are located quickly in ssceam.tlx so they don't have to be located in ssceam2.clx, which is a large compressed dictionary containing about 100,000 words. Both files should be opened, and ssceam.tlx should be opened first.

7. I looked at userdic.tlx or correct.tlx with Notepad, and saw that each word is followed by a letter like "i" or "c". What do these mean?

These characters are "action codes" that tell WSpell what to do if a word being checked is found in the dictionary.

In general, you shouldn't manually edit a ".tlx" file used by WSpell. If you want to change the contents, use the ShowUserDictionaryDialog method and edit the contents with the dialog.

8. How can I disable or get rid of the Options or Dictionaries buttons in the spelling checker dialog?

In version 5.15 and later, these buttons can be hidden by setting WSpell's ShowDictionariesButton and ShowOptionsButton properties to False.

In versions before 5.15, the only way to change the appearance of the built-in dialogs is to define your own dialog. See the "Custom dialog box" examples (e.g., in the wspell\vb\examples directory).

9a. How can I make the spelling checker dialog box behave modelessly?
9b. How can I make the spelling checker dialog box stay visible?

The built-in spelling checker dialog box is modal. There is no way to make it behave modelessly. The dialog box appears while checking text when the Start method is called, and disappears when checking is finished or the user cancels, at which point the Start function call returns to your application. To change this behavior, you could create your own modeless dialog.

10. How can I tell if the user presses the Cancel button in the spelling checker dialog box?

See the return value from the Start method in the "WSpell Reference" section of the WSpell Programmer's Guide.

11. We licensed the German (or French, etc.) dictionary from Wintertree Software and use it in our application, but the text in the spelling checker dialog box still appears in English. How do I make the text appear in German (or French, etc.), and do you have or sell a German (or French, etc.) user interface for WSpell?

Dictionaries have nothing to do with the language of text in WSpell's built-in dialogs boxes. A dictionary is just a database of words. There is currently no way to translate the text in the built-in dialog boxes. However, you can define your own dialog boxes. See the "Custom Dialog Box" demos (e.g., in the wspell\vb\examples directory) for an example of how to do this.

12. I have a form containing several text fields. How can I get WSpell to check all of the fields?

There is no way to do this directly. Each call to WSpell's Start method checks a single "document," which is the value of the Text property or the contents of a control referenced through the TextControlHWnd property. In a form containing several text fields, each field is like a separate document. The simplest approach is to have WSpell check each field separately, one by one.

13. I have a form containing several text fields. I check each field individually using WSpell. If a field contains no spelling errors, the spelling checker dialog box appears and disappears quickly, which makes an annoying flashing effect. How can I get rid of this?

When WSpell's "ShowContext" property is set to True, the spelling dialog will appear briefly even if the checked text contains no spelling errors. This behavior is necessary to prevent other problems. The solution is to check the text in the field first with the ShowDialog property set to False to determine if it contains any spelling errors. Use the MisspelledWordCount property to determine if any spelling errors were found. If the text contains no spelling errors, no further processing is required on that field, so you can skip it and proceed to the next field. If the text does contain spelling errors, set the ShowDialog property to True, set the Text or TextControlHWnd property again, then call the Start method.

14. I notice that the language codes listed in the WSpell Programmer's Guide contain codes for languages like Russian and Polish, but you don't have dictionaries for these languages listed in your catalog. Will these languages be made available?

There is no relationship between the language codes listed in the Programmer's Guide and Wintertree Software's product line. Language codes may be used by customers who provided their own dictionaries.

15. I'm trying to use WSpell in a Web page with Internet Explorer, and I'm having all kinds of problems. How do I get it to work?

Using ActiveX controls like WSpell with Internet Explorer is difficult. Internet Explorer is very fussy about how things are set up, and if things aren't done right, it gives you little information about the cause of the problem. Also, WSpell is a licensed ActiveX control, which makes the situation a little more complex. This is not to say it can't be done, just that the procedure will take time, patience, and lots of trial-and-error. See Problems with using WSpell on Web pages for help.

16. WSpell reports that all (or most) words are misspelled.

Please see Most or all words reported as misspelled for help with this problem.

17. What is the difference between a "main" and "user" dictionary?

Main dictionary files are read only. They can't be modified at run time (though the .tlx files forming part of the main dictionary can be modified "off line"). User dictionary files are intended to be modified at run time.

Main dictionary files do not appear in the "Add words to" drop-down list in the spelling dialog box, whereas user dictionary files do. Main dictionary files do not appear in the Dictionaries dialog box, whereas user dictionary files do.

WSpell uses the MainDictionaryFiles and UserDictionaryFiles properties to determine whether a given file is a user dictionary or main dictionary. To make a dictionary read-only (to prevent users from updating it) add it to MainDictionaryFiles instead of UserDictionaryFiles.