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Documentation
The following Dictionary App Builder documents can be downloaded as PDF files. You are free to print them for personal use and training workshops.
1. Installation Instructions –
For both Windows and Linux: how to download and install each of the three components needed for Dictionary App Builder: the Java Development Kit (JDK), the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) and Dictionary App Builder itself.
2. Building Apps –
Takes you through the steps of building your first app, answers frequently asked questions, and gives you more details about font handling, audio, images and analytics.
3. Installing and Building Apps on a Mac –
How to install Dictionary App Builder on a Mac, create certificates and provisioning profiles, and build both Android and iOS apps.
4. Distributing Apps –
Describes different ways of distributing your apps, including publishing on the Google Play store, distributing by memory card, and transferring from phone to phone with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi transfer. Includes a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
Dictionary Making Software
Dictionary App Builder can create apps with data from the following dictionary making programs:
Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx) – FLEx is designed to help field linguists perform many common language documentation and analysis tasks. It can help you: elicit and record lexical information, create dictionaries, interlinearize texts, analyze discourse features and study morphology.
WeSay – WeSay helps non-linguists build a dictionary in their own language. It has various ways to help native speakers to think of words in their language and enter some basic data about them. The program is customizable and task-oriented, giving the advisor the ability to turn on/off tasks as needed and as the user receives training for those tasks.
Lexique Pro – Lexique Pro is an interactive lexicon viewer and editor, with hyperlinks between entries, category views, dictionary reversal, search, and export tools. It’s designed to display your data in a user-friendly format so you can distribute it to others.
Development Kits
These software development kits are a necessary part of Dictionary App Builder and will need to be installed in order to build the Android apps. These links take you to pages that have both the installation and help files.
Java Development Kit – You need version 17 of the Java Development Kit (JDK). Use the Install Android SDK wizard within Dictionary App Builder to download and install the JDK.
Android Software Development Kit – Use the Install Android SDK wizard within Dictionary App Builder to download and install the Android SDK.
Other Links and Resources
Android Asset Studio – Android Asset Studio provides an online tool, the Launcher Icon Generator, which can create a set of app icons for you from a single image file.
Audacity – Audacity is a free and open source audio editor. It can be used to record sound files for your app.
Firebase – The apps you build with Dictionary App Builder can be linked with a Firebase account for analytics, crash reporting and push notifications.