Since releasing Version 2 just over 2 years ago, I have been aware that CEL's window has been misbehaving. It hasn't always popped up automatically when a search is initiated; and when the "always on top" option is selected CEL hasn't always been floating above other windows.
For Version 3 I have rather unambitiously restricted myself to fixing these problems. Otherwise, Version 3 is pretty much the same as Version 2.
Since this is a new release, I would appreciate any bug reports or comments from users at this time, especially if they relate to CEL's automatic pop-up behaviour or the "always on top" option.
Now that I've worked on CEL for the first time in over 2 years, I would like to take the opportunity to develop it further, along lines that I have already sketched out long ago, while the code is fresh in my mind.
Contains the executable file CEL3BETA.EXE (version 3-Beta of CEL),
the documentation file CEL2DOC.TXT (not modified since Ver. 2),
and two auxiliary files needed to run CEL3BETA, CMDIALOG.VBX
and ACTIVATE.EXE.
Contains the Chinese-English dictionary CEDICT.B5 (Big5-encoded) and its accompanying information file CEDICT_README.TXT.
CEDICT is updated from time to time. The version I have here was released on
18th January 2001.
The latest Big5 and GB versions of CEDICT are at Erik Peterson's
MandarinTools website.
The Visual Basic 3.0 runtime file. Unzips to
VBRUN300.DLL. You may well have it already in your Windows directory,
or the System sub-directory, in which case you need not download it.
Important note for users of Internet Explorer, Word, Outlook, etc.
These Microsoft products place copied Chinese text onto the Clipboard in a form that CEL can not interpret. The problem can be fixed by running a utility called ClipConvert while you are using CEL. The problem does not arise if you are reading Chinese text in other applications including Netscape Navigator, Notepad, and NJStar Chinese Word Processor.
ClipConvert is a freeware utility for Windows 9x and NT 4.x, written by Yves Savourel.
See his webpage for ClipConvert.
To download ClipConvert you will need these two files:
Contains the executable, on-line help and support for all Windows languages, except Japanese, Chinese and Korean. To install: Create a folder and extract all the files in it.
Asian codepage tables. Contains support for Japanese, Chinese and Korean. To install: Extract all the files in the folder where ClipConvert.exe is located.
When you fire up ClipConvert you can set various options. To use ClipConvert with CEL:
Check the Auto-convert option, and
Set the Code set option to Windows/DOS, Traditional Chinese if you are using the Big5 version of the dictionary CEDICT, or Windows/DOS, Simplified Chinese if you are using the GB version.
I have heard from the author of ClipConvert that he is writing a similar utility which doesn't need to be re-configured each time you run it. I'll put a copy of it here when it is released.