Spell - Checking

The Spell commands are used to help you check that your documents are correctly spelt.

You can check spelling as you type; if you type a word which isn't in PipeDream's dictionary, the computer bleeps to let you know that you might have made a mistake. This is called 'auto-checking'.

If you prefer, you can check the whole document when you have finished typing, and point out possible errors all in one go.

When you find a mistake, or you want to check the spelling of a word of which you are unsure, you can browse through PipeDream's master dictionary to find the word for which you are looking.

Switching On Auto Check

Take the following steps:

1. Click Menu on the PipeDream icon on the icon bar to bring up the Icon menu.

2. Display the Choices sub-menu.

3. Click Select on the Auto check option. A tick will appear next to the option name, to show that it has been selected.

4. Type the following sentence. Be careful to include the deliberate mistakes!

The quick brown fox jimps over the lzay dug.

You will notice that the computer bleeps when you type jimps and lzay. Notice also that it does not bleep when you type dug. Of course, this is because 'dug' is a valid word in the PipeDream dictionary. This illustrates that spelling checkers can only check whether a word is valid in isolation, not whether the word is correct in context. However, you will find that most typing and spelling errors do not result in another real word, so the spelling checker will still prove invaluable!

When the computer bleeps, you should examine the word you have just typed and decide why it bleeped. Remember that PipeDream's rule is very simple: if the word is in the dictionary there will be no bleep; if the word is not in the dictionary, the computer will bleep.

The majority of words that you use will already be in PipeDream's dictionary, but if you type scientific or technical documents then you are more likely to encounter words which PipeDream does not know about.

Other types of word not in the dictionary are:

If you decide that you would like PipeDream to accept some of these, or any others, as valid words, then you can add them to a user dictionary. User dictionaries are described in the next section.

Once you have decided why the computer bleeped when you typed the word, you will know whether to correct the word, to add it to a dictionary or to leave it. To correct the word, use the usual PipeDream editing functions. When you have finished changing the word and you move the caret away, PipeDream will check the word again.

Browsing

You may be unsure of the spelling of a word when the computer bleeps. PipeDream allows you to look quickly through the dictionary so you can find the word you want. After the computer bleeps, give the Browse command:

Menu Command Ctrl-sequence Key
Spell Browse SB

The word which was at the caret when you gave the command will be in the dialogue box which appears. Press Enter, and the Browse window will appear, filled with words alphabetically near to the word in the dialogue box.

Now you can move about the dictionary using the mouse. Notice also the caret in the small box at the top of the window. Using the left and right arrow keys and the Backspace key, and also by typing, you can edit the word in this small box. The dictionary display in the larger window below will immediately jump to a new position as you change the word.

By using this feature, you will find that you can move quickly about the dictionary to search for words.

To leave the Browse window and return to the text, press the Esc key. If you click the OK button or press Enter to leave the Browse window, the word shown in the small box at the top of the Browse window will be inserted into the text at the caret position and will replace the original word.

Advanced browsing

When you give the Browse command, PipeDream puts the word at the caret into the Browse dialogue box for your convenience. You can edit the word which is shown, or substitute your own word to position the Browse window wherever in the dictionary you would like. If there is no word at the caret, PipeDream leaves the dialogue box blank, and you can enter your own word.

Browse also has a 'wildcard' facility which enables you to search the dictionary for a particular set of words. Say you wanted to look at all the words beginning with the letter 'a', all the words ending in '-ism' or all the words beginning in 's', ending in 'e' and with six letters. These are all things you can do with Browse, using wildcards.

'Wildcard' is a name for a set of symbols which you can put into a word which will allow one or more different letters to appear at that position in the word.

If you type a word containing one or more of these symbols into the Browse dialogue box, PipeDream will search the dictionary for all the words that fit the pattern that you have given. Any words which fit the pattern will appear in the Browse window after you click the OK button or press Enter.

For example:

a^#     will match all words starting with 'a'.

^#e     will match all words ending with 'e'.

s^?^?^?^?e will match all words beginning with 's', ending with 'e' and with six letters.

You will notice two things when you browse with wildcards:

You can press the Esc key to interrupt the search if it is taking too long.

Checking a Whole Document

Some people dislike automatic checking. You may not wish to have your creative impulse diverted by worrying about spelling or you may wish to check a document which already exists or which has come from a computer or word processor which does not have a spelling checker.

In this case you can leave automatic checking switched off and use PipeDream to check the whole document in one go. First, the document must be loaded into PipeDream. Give the Check Document command:

Menu Command Ctrl-sequence Key
Spell Check document SC

You will see the Check Document dialogue box. If you have a block marked which you wish to check, click Select on the Check marked block option to turn it on. Click the OK button or press Enter when you are ready to start checking the document. PipeDream starts at the top of the document and checking proceeds word by word through the document until PipeDream comes across a word which is not in the dictionary. Then the Checking dialogue box will appear. The top line of the document's window has the unrecognised word on it, which also appears in the Checking dialogue box.

Now you must decide what you want to do:

Click the OK button or press Enter. Once you have accepted a word as it is, PipeDream will remember the word, and you won't be asked about further occurrences of the word until you leave and restart PipeDream.

Edit the word and click the Change word button. The word in the document will be changed.

Click Select on the Browse option. The Browse window will appear, positioned at the word in the dialogue box, and then you may browse through the dictionary.

When you finish browsing, you will switch back to the Checking dialogue box - if you press the Esc key to leave the Browse window, the word in the dialogue box will be left unaltered; if you click the OK button or press Enter, the current word in the Browse window will replace the original word in the Checking dialogue box.

Once you are back in the Checking dialogue box, you may choose again any of the options available in it.

Turn on the Add word to user dictionary option and type in the name of the user dictionary to which you want to add the word. The word shown in the Checking dialogue box will be added to the user dictionary indicated. You can select a different user dictionary, if you wish, by editing the user dictionary name in the usual way.

When you are ready to add the word, click the OK button or press Enter.

You can stop checking the document, before PipeDream has finished, by pressing the Esc key when the Checking dialogue box appears.

When the whole document has been checked, an information box will appear showing how many words were not recognised, and how many words were added to user dictionaries. Press Enter or click the OK button to return to the document; PipeDream will replace the caret at the position in the document where you were before starting the document check.

Dictionary Locking

If you have are using removable media, such as a floppy disc, with PipeDream on your computer, there are two different ways that you can choose to operate PipeDream:

This frees the disc drive for a data disc containing user dictionaries or documents to be checked. It also results in faster operation. However, it uses up a large slice of memory (about 240KB for the master dictionary) which may not be desirable if you are short of memory.

In order to lock the dictionary, place the media containing the dictionary into the computer and give the Lock Dictionary command:

Menu Command Ctrl-sequence Key
Spell Lock dictionary SL

You can also lock user dictionaries if you wish. PipeDream will load the dictionary from the disc and it will remain in memory until you unlock it by giving the Unlock Dictionary command, or until you leave PipeDream:

Menu Command Ctrl-sequence Key
Spell Unlock dictionary SK

If the dictionary is not locked, you can change disks to load or save files, but the dictionary disc must be in the disc drive when PipeDream needs to check a word. If it is not, you will be prompted to insert the dictionary disc as necessary.

PipeDream will automatically keep as much of the dictionary as it can in the free memory of the machine, and will only access the dictionary disc when it needs to. If the dictionary is locked, the whole dictionary will remain in memory until you unlock it.

Anagrams

PipeDream has an anagram command which enables you to find quickly the possible anagrams of a collection of letters or a word.

To find an anagram, give the Anagrams command:

Menu Command Ctrl-sequence Key
Spell Anagrams SG

In the Word field in the Anagram dialogue box, type the word or the collection of letters for which you wish to find the anagrams. Specify a user dictionary if you like - though normally you will search the main dictionary since this contains many more possibilities.

Click the OK button or press Enter when you are ready, and PipeDream will begin searching for anagrams.

The Anagram window will display the anagrams as it finds them. If no anagrams have been found, this window will be blank.

Some examples of words with anagrams are:

orb, star, conversation, Easter, spear.

If you give a very long word or large number of letters, it may take PipeDream some time to find the anagrams. You can always stop the anagram search by clicking on the Stop or Pause buttons.

Press Enter or click the OK button when you are ready to return to the text.

Subgrams

Subgrams are words which can be made from the some or all of the letters of a specified word.

For example, some subgrams of 'dream' are 'a','me', 'ear', 'read' and 'armed'.

To find the subgrams of a word, give the Subgrams command:

Menu Command Ctrl-sequence Key
Spell Subgrams SH

When the dialogue box appears, type in the word whose subgrams you want to find.

Click the OK button or press Enter to see a window listing the word's subgrams.

Saving your Spell Checking Set-up

You can instruct PipeDream to remember whether automatic checking is switched on or off by saving a Choices file. When you restart PipeDream, the automatic checking status which you were using will be set.

For information on See
Saving your automatic checking status Saving Choices