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Inside Macintosh: Text /


Chapter 8 - Dictionary Manager

This chapter describes how you can use the Dictionary Manager to create and work with dictionaries for input methods or other text services. The Dictionary Manager supplies a uniform and public dictionary format that lets you perform searching, insertion, and deletion.

Read this chapter if you are developing or enhancing an input method or other text service component that uses dictionaries.

To use this chapter, you should be familiar with the Macintosh script management system, the Text Services Manager, and parts of the File Manager. The script management system is described in the chapter "Introduction to Text on the Macintosh" in this book. The Text Services Manager is described in the chapter "Text Services Manager" in this book. The organization of the Dictionary Manager is based on B*-trees, used by the File Manager and the Finder. For more on the B*-trees, see the File Manager chapter of Inside Macintosh: Files.

This chapter presents a brief introduction to dictionaries and then discusses how you can make, access, locate records in, and modify them.


Chapter Contents
About Dictionaries for Input Methods
About the Dictionary Manager
The Structure of a Dictionary
Garbage Data
Dictionary Manager Limitations
Using the Dictionary Manager
Testing for the Presence of the Dictionary Manager
Making a Dictionary
Creating the File
Constructing the Dictionary
Accessing a Dictionary
Opening and Closing the Dictionary
Obtaining Information About the Dictionary
Locating Records in a Dictionary
Locating Records by Key
Locating Records by Index
Modifying a Dictionary
Compacting a Dictionary
Dictionary Manager Reference
Data Structures
Routines
Making a Dictionary
Accessing a Dictionary
Locating Records in a Dictionary
Modifying a Dictionary
Compacting a Dictionary
Summary of the Dictionary Manager
Pascal Summary
Constants
Data Types
C Summary
Constants
Data Types
Routines
Assembly-Language Summary
Trap Macros
Result Codes

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© Apple Computer, Inc.
6 JUL 1996




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