The British English dictionary for Thunderbird 3 wasn’t working, I’ve hacked it about a bit so it’s now version 3.0.* compatible, you can download the .xpi from me here at
http://russtaylor.co.uk/files/british_english_dictionary-1.19-fx+zm+tb-version-3-compatible.xpi
The original file can be found at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3366
Thanks for that, Russ.
Don’t drink beer, Czech proverb says that he who drinks beer is like a watermelon – belly is growing tip is pining away
Hi there,
Very interested in this. I got your English dictionary working with Thunderbird 3.0, so thanks for that!! However, I’ve also been trying to find a version of the Welsh dictionary that will work with Thunderbird 3.0 (they haven’t made the official version work with Firefox 3.0 yet, so I’m not holding my breath!!)
How do you go about creating these XPI files? Can I download some development tools from the net for free, or do I need to buy expensive C++ compilers?
I hope these questions aren’t too vague, and that you can help me get on the right track.
Thanks in advance,
osian
Hi osian,
No it’s pretty simple
You can open (extract) the .xpi files with Winzip or Winrar. Extract the .xpi file somewhere, and edit the install.rdf file (you can do this in Notepad) change the tags to 3.0.* e.g.
<em:maxVersion>3.0.*</em:maxVersion>
Then you need to re-zip all the contents, I just use the built in Windows zip program (Right click -> Send to -> Compressed Zip folder) then rename it from .zip to .xpi and it should work
I’ve gone ahead and done it for you, geiriadur_cymraeg-0.02-fx+zm+tb-version-3-compatible.xpi, let me know if it works please
Hi Russ,
Thanks for the info and for replying so fast!! Easy when you know how
I always assumed that those XPI files were compiled C++ code – never crossed my mind to try and unzip them.
Just a few things though:
1. This morning it took about 1 hour to open your comments page to get the link for the download (I don’t know how much traffic your site is configured to receive, but I hope that the Welsh community didn’t flood it with excessive demands for your new dictionary
)
2. The link in your page has one too many spaces in it, which results in an Error 404. Correct link should be http://russtaylor.co.uk/files/geiriadur_cymraeg-0.02-fx+zm+tb-version-3-compatible.xpi
3. I followed your instructions, and changed the line in the install.rdf file as follows:
3.*
This way I can install the dictionary on Thunderbird 3.0, but also Firefox 3.5. I suppose I could change the 3 to a 4 as well to build in some future-proofing!?!
Anyway – thanks very much for your help. Really is much appreciated. I’ll keep an eye on your blog in future as it seems to be quite useful and informative.
osian
Oh wait! That seems to have disappeared my XML tags!! The line in the file should read:
3.*
Oh… you know what I mean… :-S
Hi Osian,
Yeah I thought they’d be compiled or something
You could just go straight for version 99.* and cover the rest of our lives, but I’d go with a low version number and prove it works with it, then just change it every time a version comes out. Otherwise there is a danger we release something that claims to work with version 4 that won’t. What Mozilla needs is a way for fans to update the addons so I could just test the dictionary and re-release it on the authors behalf.
Thanks for the website feedback, I have felt it is running slow, will get in touch with my hosts
Cheers
I have downloaded the file. what do i do now/ I have opened and selected the install icon but i get lead to the windows scrpt host. The error says “object expected”
What do i do? I am new to thunderbird but realy need a spell checker.
Thanks.
In Thunderbird go to Tools -> Add Ons -> Install and browse to the .xpi file
I think you may even be able to just drag and drop the .xpi file into thunderbird and that’ll do it.
Good luck
Assuming that it keeps working thank you very much ! ive just updated to thunderbird 3 and cant do either spellcheck or connect with vtigercrm,
It looks like you’ve solved the 1st problem for me ! if you’ve any ideas on the vtigercrm they would be greatly appreciated. there is only so much a girl wants to copy/paste !
Thanks again. Sarah.
Brilliant, thanks for that! I’ve been looking for about 3 weeks for the Welsh dictionary.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi,
I just wanted to add a huge thankyou to you for coming up with this add-on. I’ve only just started with Thunderbird and was all for abandoning it for various reasons – the lack of a dictionary being one.
Why Thunderbird can’t come up with a working version themselves defeats me. (I haven’t been able to to transfer across to my new Windows 7 PC any emails/address book from my previous email program, Outlook Express. That may be just me, though I understand other people have problems, too. Still, this is one out of the way so, again, thank you for taking the trouble to sort this one out for those of us who would otherwise be lost.)
Jim
Hi Russ,
Thanks so much for this link. I have spent hours trying to get a dictionary to work without success and then I stumbled upon this and had it done in minutes.
Cheers
Simon
New Zealand
Must give you a big thanks for the file. The original one was incompatible with version 3, but yours worked perfectly well, thanks to you. Cheers
It is also worth pointing out that in Windows Vista the extensions live in:
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profile\Whatever.default\extensions
.
You’ll know ‘Whatever’ when you reach the Profiles directory, and ‘UserName’ is probably the windows login name.
.
The extension English directory name might look like:
en-GB@dictionaries.addons.mozilla.org
.
Intuition takes on a whole other level within Windows . . .
Thank you Russ
Great. Had to restart the PC not just Thunderbird to get it to install but now its all good.