349882 - No way to download dictionaries if no dictionaries are installed

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Brett Wilson]

The only way to download dictionaries currently (without knowing the link) is through the context menu in text fields. When there is no dictionary installed, there is no spellcheck menu so there is no link to download dictionaries.

It kind of sucks to display the spellcheck menu on every textarea when there is no way we can spellcheck. I suggest having a button in the pref panel next to the spellcheck option that brings up the same thing that the context menu does as well. But I'm not sure this would work because it needs to bring up a web page, but we can't because the pref panel is open. Beltzner, any ideas?

Comment 1

[Peter Kasting]

I think a good solution would be:

If a textarea would otherwise be spellcheckable but we have no dictionaries installed, then show the normal spellcheck menus on the context menu, but with all options removed except the ones to download dictionaries.  In other words, eliminate the useless options in the menu (like enabling spellchecking), but not everything.

I think whether we also provide somewhere to "get dictionaries" besides the context menu is a separate question, and one equally applicable to en-US.  Maybe we want somewhere in add-ons or prefs to get dictionaries regardless of what's installed.  That seems like a worthwhile separate bug.

Comment 2

[Frédéric Buclin]

(In reply to comment #0)
> I suggest having a button in the pref panel next to
> the spellcheck option that brings up the same thing that the context menu does
> as well.

I think that's the best place for it, yes. At least, that's where I was looking for it (when beltzner told me to look for dictionaries). Things which are related (such as the spellchecker option and dictionaries) should be grouped together.

Comment 3

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

--> blocking Firefox 2, pretty sure we can do this without string changes

Comment 4

[Brett Wilson]

Attachment: Patch (apply in browser/base/content)

Comment 5

[Ben Goodger (use ben at mozilla dot org for email)]

Comment on attachment 235117 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch (apply in browser/base/content)

>@@ -4741,16 +4753,17 @@ nsContextMenu.prototype = {
>             this.onKeywordField    = false;
>             this.onImage           = false;
>             this.onLoadedImage     = false;
>             this.onMetaDataItem    = false;
>             this.onMathML          = false;
>             this.inFrame           = false;
>             this.hasBGImage        = false;
>             this.isDesignMode      = true;
>+            this.possibleSpellChecking - true;

- true; ?

typo..

otherwise looks ok. Fix the typo, retest and attach a new patch.

Comment 6

[Brett Wilson]

Attachment: Fixed patch

This time I tested it on designmode also.

Comment 7

[Ben Goodger (use ben at mozilla dot org for email)]

Comment on attachment 235119 [details] [diff] [review]
Fixed patch

r=[e-mail]

Comment 8

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

If I'm reading this patch right, and I like to think that I am, it's suggesting that we simply add a "Add Dictionaries..." item to the bottom of the shortcut menu for text areas when no dictionaries are available. Which is the right thing to do.

Brett, after a quick bake and test cycle on trunk, please nominate this for 181. Thanks.

Comment 9

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

(ugh, ze clobber due to reload-not-picking-up-the-changes-screwiness)

Comment 10

[Brett Wilson]

Beltzner: your explanation is correct.

Fixed on trunk, leaving open for branch.

Comment 11

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

Note that I've also filed bug 349945 to try and mitigate the god-awful UE of not having dictionaries shipped with some locales (see http://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Dictionaries for the current licensing status)

Comment 12

[Peter Kasting]

Brett, if you close this bug as FIXED once this is on branch, it's probably worth filing a followup bug for comment 0.

Comment 13

[Brett Wilson]

(In reply to comment #12)
> Brett, if you close this bug as FIXED once this is on branch, it's probably
> worth filing a followup bug for comment 0.

I filed bug 350026.

Comment 14

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

Comment on attachment 235119 [details] [diff] [review]
Fixed patch

a=beltzner on behalf of drivers for the MOZILLA_1_8_BRANCH

Comment 15

[Brett Wilson]

Fixed on 1.8.1 branch.