Setting up the folder and properties file

This page specifies the overall setup of files for a new language. You can either do the steps here right at the beginning, or at the end, once you've actually got your data in the right format.

1. You will need to keep the data files that Kirrkirr works on for the language you are adding in a folder (subdirectory) immediately contained in the folder where Kirrkirr is installed. (Note: advanced users can get around this by using aliases or symbolic links, but the present version of Kirrkirr only supports relative addressing of dictionaries contained inside the Kirrkirr folder.) The name of the folder does not matter, but should be suggestive of the language or dictionary name, since users will select it if changing between dictionaries. You may want to include a version indicator in it if you have multiple versions of your dictionary. You must put the items discussed below inside this folder.
2. You need a file called dictionary.properties which exists in the folder you just created, and which gives the names of the other files that Kirrkirr uses. You should enter it using a plain text editor (or you can do it with Word but only if you save the file as plain text). It's contents should look like the following example:

   # dictionary.properties file
   dictionary.dictionary=Wrl.xml
   dictionary.dictSpecFile=specs.xml
   dictionary.index=Wrlw.clk
   dictionary.reverseIndex=Wrle.clk
   dictionary.domainFile=Wrldom.xml
   

   The first line is a comment describing the file. The rest pair a property name with a value (which is here always a filename). We show here the values used for the Warlpiri dictionary, but you can choose any valid filename for them. The property name must always be entered exactly as shown (including capitalization), and the filename must match a file that does or will exist in the folder you just created. The first property gives the name of the file containing your XML dictionary, the second gives the name of another XML file that specifies the structure of your XML dictionary in a way that Kirrkirr can interpret. The other 3 properties (2 binary files and 1 XML file) are indices computed from your dictionary. At least the first must exist, and the other two are needed to give additional functionality (dictionary reversal, and to provide the new semantic domains view). These files will be built for you by Kirrkirr from the first two files, so you can just choose any names for them and then use those names when making the index files. If you are not initially going to have the second and third index file, still leave the property names in the file, but just have nothing after the equals sign.
3. Finally, create some more folders inside the folder for the dictionary you just created. You must have a subfolder xsl, and if you have pictures or sounds, you must have subfolders named images and audio. Files of these types go in these folders. These folder names are hardwired in Kirrkirr, and must be named exactly as shown (including capitalization if the filesystem is case sensitive).

This is probably the easiest step, but you're now ready to go on to preparing the dictionary for use with Kirrkirr.

Advanced users can also update the dictionaryDirectory property in the kirrkirr.properties file in the main Kirrkirr directory to have the name of your new directory. But, alternatively, you can run Kirrkirr, and select the new dictionary directory under Options | Preferences | Directories, and then exit Kirrkirr and restart to begin using the new dictionary.

Proceed to Getting the dictionary into a suitable XML format.