Is anyone maintaining Lexique Pro? - application window does not appear

#1

Hi - (Sorry for putting this in the wrong category, but there isn’t one for Lexique Pro)
I don’t know if anyone’s maintaining Lexique Pro (last update 2012) but we find it a very useful tool in our translation project as a light-weight dictionary viewer.

L-Pro did work on this computer (Windows 10 Pro), but suddenly it stopped. The application launches and shows the splash screen with progress indicator, but the main window never appears. I’ve tried reinstalling, deleting all L-Pro registry entries and reinstalling again, but the problem persists.
The only things that have changed since it DID work were:
Changing Windows 10 Pro from unregistered to a full licence.
Removing Office 2016 (unregistered) and replacing with a full licence of Office 2019 Pro.

I don’t know why either of these things could have affected L-Pro, but I guess some library somewhere could have been affected.

Many thanks
Phil Reid
SIM

#2

Hi Phil,

Lexique Pro was never maintained or supported by SIL Language Software Development. It was developed by Richard Margetts. @richard may have additional information.

Blessings,

Chris

#3

I’m using Lexique Pro. Checked today: still working with Windows 10 (registered) + MS Office 2016 (registered). I’ve found its simpler to manage lexicons than the SIL’s Language Explorer because I’m making very simple dictionaries of medical terminology. Language Explorer is very versatile, but for me very complicated to handle. I don’t use both for data entries, but use Excel and a small program named Sheetswiper to convert my data to db file, then import it into either FLEx or Lexique Pro.

#4

I also have Lexique Pro maintenance needs, and have tried to get issues and bugs worked on but to no avail. I have not experienced your particular problem, Phil, but I hope you can get a solution. My Lexique Pro program doesn’t have any problem loading on Windows 10 (registered) with Office 365 (registered) installed on my computer.
I agree that it’s a great program for a certain niche market, and I haven’t found anything else that is currently being maintained that can really replace it as a relatively user-friendly Windows product that can’t be easily altered by the end user once distributed.

#5

Thanks - I think it’s software worth keeping alive. At some point I might try and dive into the source code etc, but not for now. Glad I’m not the only one who uses it.

#6

The source code isn’t open-source (I’ve asked). @richard needs to open source it first.

#7

I recently learned that installing SIL’s Pathway gives me some great FLEx export options, eliminating my need for Lexique Pro.

For easy browsing, I use the Dictionary App Builder to make a dictionary app. Although, admittedly, this requires an Android device! (Or at least an emulator.)

What about Webionay for browsing?

I think FLEx has some HTML export options too.

#8

Webonary is fine if you have constant and good internet access.

An app with DAB is not too bad if you’re using an Android device.

The beauty of Lexique Pro is that it is right there on Windows, where the translators are already working, on their Windows laptops or working in Bloom. No need to go grab their phone off the charger in the other room, no need to switch devices, no distractions from social media messages in the phone. Also, searching is usually easier and quicker because there is a full keyboard.

#9

Ah, now I understand your use case better! I see your Lexique Pro advantages better now. Maybe a temporary bridge-gap could be to make a PDF using FLEX to Pathway to Word to PDF.

#10

Yes, I suppose a PDF would be the next best thing, although the searchability goes way down, so it is definitely a far inferior second place.

#11

@kklcclkk Or, what about installing flex on all machines and even syncing with Language Depot? It has some pros and cons, but could be an option.

#12

Right. In my experience, flex would be great for this if:

  1. It was faster/didn’t take up so much computing power for a relatively simple word search
  2. There was a setting to prevent (less computer-savvy) users from making accidental changes to the database
  3. The search interface was more intuitive (it makes sense the way they’ve done it in flex but it was not designed to be used the way we would be trying to use it).
#13

Have you considered running a DAB app in an Android emulator? E.g. BlueStacks? It’s a bit off-putting in that it’s aimed at gamers. But there may be other emulators that would work for you.

#14

For completeness:

Another approach would be SIL’s languageforge or webonary. Both require Internet access, though. There was some work making languageforge work offline, but it looks like it’s stalled at the moment.