Bug: GD display not only the target entry!

[Groyuoda]

Many, many thanks for GoldenDict; it’s a great Project and is highly appreciated it!
Could we do something to fix the “Display not only the target entry!”?
To look up for a word receiving also a few different ones (many times before the right one) is a big bug. In my opinion, it undermines the whole dictionary or program.
Could we do something to force it to present only the correct entry? Or could we add that as an option?

[Tvangeste]

Could we do something to force it to present only the correct entry? Or could we add that as an option?

The best solution is, naturally, to fix the broken dictionaries that do these stupid things like adding unrelated entries as alternative words for the main entry. Or not use such broken dictionaries at all.

Mostry BGL dictionaries do that.

The feature itself *is* useful when used with proper/correct dictionaries and some users do rely on that.

[Groyuoda]

Many thanks for the replay!

GD is very useful and a great program, and with all the future improvements the next versions will be amazing.

Mostry BGL dictionaries do that.

Or not use such broken dictionaries at all.

Yes, mostly the BGLs are the ones constantly failing. Unfortunately they contain the best dictionaries, with a great selection of dictionaries in other languages, and they are in a nice format (color entries, etc.). For me, not use them, would not be a solution, but a bigger problem. My copies (licensed ones) work great with Babylon, so I know for sure they are not broken.

The best solution is, naturally, to fix the broken dictionaries that do these stupid things

For a newbie like me is not easy at all to fix a BGL. If anyone has already done it please let me know so we can get in communication outside the forum.

I converted a BGL dictionary to Dict using “pyglossary-2011.06.16”. The conversion was a “success” and I could run it on GD; it worked. However each time I was looking up a word, although I receive the right one (and only the right one), I also got "a big number of 7 digits long" on the top of the entry word. Additionally, after the conversion most of the nice BGL formats (entry with font colors, etc.) was lost; I just had plain black fonts, etc.

Could you (or someone else) please explain me how to covert a BGL file to another format supported for GD in order to resolve the “Display not only the target entry!” problem? There is a better way that using "pyglossary"? (I use only windows)

If you could consider to change the program to force it to present us only the correct entry would be amazing. I believe for people who want to use BGL with GD, and who are newbies, is the only real solution.

[Tvangeste]

I do understand your concerns and agree that there should be some way to disable this feature.

Btw, we have a bug opened for this, juts in case: https://github.com/goldendict/goldendict/issues/198

I don't have many BGL dictionaries (I prefer good old plain text-based DSL format that allows for great formatting too), but I also noticed that most of the BGLs I have I keep them disabled since they pollute the results seriously and make it hard to properly work with other dictionaries.

[Groyuoda]

Thanks for the bug link (I didn’t know it was there)

I love @chulai and @AshkanV's ideas:

even if the issue lies in the dictionaries it wouldn't hurt to allow the user to tweak how many suggestions/alternatives wants to receive per dictionary/glossary in order to correct this issue. It could be a property of the dictionary in the config file:
<dictionary name="WordNet® 3.0 (En-En)" maxAlternates="3">ca40f7f962072fed1680c5432d9f5342</dictionary>

A newbie question: if right now I just add that in my config file, it will works? If so, where I need to add it?

I would be great to have something working like that!!

[chulai]

Thanks for the bug link (I didn’t know it was there)

I love @chulai and @AshkanV's ideas:

even if the issue lies in the dictionaries it wouldn't hurt to allow the user to tweak how many suggestions/alternatives wants to receive per dictionary/glossary in order to correct this issue. It could be a property of the dictionary in the config file:
<dictionary name="WordNet® 3.0 (En-En)" maxAlternates="3">ca40f7f962072fed1680c5432d9f5342</dictionary>

A newbie question: if right now I just add that in my config file, it will works? If so, where I need to add it?

I would be great to have something working like that!!

No, it won't work as it's not implemented yet. And that was just an idea/suggestion for developers. That's why there is a ticket in the issue tracker: https://github.com/goldendict/goldendict/issues/198
The problem IS in the dictionaries. But GoldenDict could do a better job to prevent the noise. Granted. Hopefully one day we will have this option available.