[Adolf Hipster]

Here's a little program I created today.

The code is quite shitty BUT I dont think anyone has released anything like this so here we go.

What this basically does is lets say you're on reddit and reading something and you see a word you dont know what it means. You simply highlight the word in your browser and copy it, and the program will automatically look up the definition of the word and read it out loud for you via text 2 speech (and so on with all other words you copy)

Here's the code copy pastable
Spoiler (Click to View)

Code

Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions

Public Class Form1
    Dim Word As String
    Dim PrevWord As String
    Dim URL As String = "http://services.aonaware.com/DictService/Default.aspx?action=define&dict=wn&query=" & Word

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Timer1.Enabled = True
        Timer1.Start()


    End Sub

    Private Function GetBetween(ByVal input As String, ByVal str1 As String, ByVal str2 As String, ByVal index As Integer) As String
        Dim temp As String = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Split(input, str1)(index + 1)
        Return System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Split(temp, str2)(0)
    End Function

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick


        Log("-----------------")
        Log("Timer1 Ticked")

        Word = Clipboard.GetText()
        If Word = "" Or Word.Length > 64 Then
            'long or empty
            Log("Word is too long or empty")
        Else
            'Word is not empty and is less than 10 chars
            Log("Word from clipboard is " & Word)

            'preparing to look up word, setting variable prevword to our current word
            PrevWord = Word
            Log("Set PrevWord to " & Word)
            Log("Looking up word: " & Word)

            Dim Source As String
            Dim Definition As String
            Dim URL As String = "http://services.aonaware.com/DictService/Default.aspx?action=define&dict=wn&query=" & Word

            Using WC As New Net.WebClient
                Source = WC.DownloadString(URL)
                If Source.Contains("No definitions found for") Then
                    'couldnt find def
                    Log("No definition for word: " & Word)
                Else


                    Definition = GetBetween(Source, ": ", ":", 0).Replace(" [syn", String.Empty).Replace(""", String.Empty)
                    Definition = CleanString(Definition)


                    Log("Definition: " & Definition)

                    ListBox2.Items.Add("Word: " & Word & " - Definition: " & Definition)

                    Log("Reading the definition to the user")
                    Dim SAPI
                    SAPI = CreateObject("SAPI.spvoice")
                    SAPI.Speak(Definition)

                    Log("Done reading definition to user")
                End If
            End Using

            Timer1.Enabled = False
            Timer1.Stop()

            'lookup here
            Word = ""
            Log("Word Checkup Done, setting word to BLANK and waiting for new word")

            Clipboard.Clear()

            Timer1.Enabled = True
            Timer1.Start()
        End If


    End Sub
    Function Log(ByVal Message As String)
        ListBox1.Items.Add("[" & DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString() & "] - " & Message)

        Try
            ListBox1.SelectedIndex = ListBox1.Items.Count - 1
        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Function

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Timer1.Enabled = False
        Timer1.Stop()

        ListBox1.Items.Clear()

        Timer1.Enabled = True
        Timer1.Start()
    End Sub

    Function CleanString(ByVal Str As String)
        'remove all excessive spaces
        Dim cleaned As String = Regex.Replace(Str, "\s{2,}", " ")

        'remove all numerals
        Dim RemovedNumerals As String = Regex.Replace(cleaned, "[\d-]", String.Empty)


        Return Regex.Replace(RemovedNumerals, "<.*?>", "")
    End Function
End Class

Here's an Image of the program (nothing fancy)
Spoiler (Click to View)

First three ticks I had no word in my clipboard, and then the last one I copied the word Bird into my clipboard and it read out the definition.

The upper listbox is for defined words only to get listed, the listbox down under is like a logger for my program (showing everything that happens)

SOME IDEAS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT!

• Hook the keyboard and wait for a certan set of keys to be pressed and then define the word (instead of using a timer like im doing now)
  


• The service Im using is offering several definitions of words and synonyms, why not parse out them also and read/show it to the user
  


• Allow the user to chose from other dictionaries to use (currently using Wordnet , check the URL im downloading in the code)
  

Hope anyone finds use of this.

[ze-slade]

That's actually pretty cool op, nice job.

[Odus]

I like the idea. You could use a clipboard hook though and ditch the timer. Might write my own version of this, there's a lot I would do differently.

[Adolf Hipster]

I like the idea. You could use a clipboard hook though and ditch the timer. Might write my own version of this, there's a lot I would do differently.

Yeah I understand there are plenty of other (and better) ways to do this.
This was just something I threw together in 30-40 minutes.

---

I like the idea. You could use a clipboard hook though and ditch the timer. Might write my own version of this, there's a lot I would do differently.

Hmm I looked into clipboard hooking and it was fairly simple to set up.
I'll experiment with it and release a proper version.

Thanks for telling me about clipboard hooking.