MakePdfDictionary
There are many ways to actually make a print dictionary using WeSay. You can:
- Import the LIFT file into FieldWorks Language Explorer, which has extensive configuration options, and then export from there to various word processing programs.
- Use the "Open in Lexique Pro" option, again to export to word processing programs, and also to make static web pages.
- Use the "Make PDF Dictionary" option, which is the focus of this page.
"Under the hood", WeSay uses an engine called "Prince Xml" for creating pdf documents. If you use this feature for any commercial purposes, you'll need to get a license from the authors of PrinceXml.
While PrinceXml itself is flexible and powerful, WeSay currently uses it for printouts using just the most common fields. If you need something more extensive, please consider SIL's Lexique Pro or SIL's FieldWorks Language Explorer (both free, both for Windows only). These are less convenient, but more powerful. The idea is that WeSay can give you one-click dictionaries to get an idea of how it will look, and then these others can be used to prepare the final, printable version.
To enable this feature, go to princexml.com, get PrinceXml, and install it.
If you like what comes out, great. If you want to do some tweaking, then look in the Export folder of your WeSay project. There, you'll see two files which you can edit: "customLayout.css" and "customFonts.css". These are simply "Cascading Stylesheet" (CSS3) files. The web is full of free references and tutorials on CSS. The way this works is that WeSay first generates a "plift" xml file (also in this exports directory). It then converts that to xhtml. Finally, asks PrinceXML to create the PDF, using the four stylesheets. The precedence of these is such that the "custom" ones overrule the "auto" ones.
The most recent version of PrinceXml with which we have tested WeSay is 7.0.
