Dictionaries not downloading from inside app

[poperigby]

When you try to download a dictionary from inside the app. Nothing happens.

[starbrights]

I do have same problem. I am using LineageOS 15.1. Does the app use the download manager of the OS? Might be it has bugs. Any workaround? Where can I download the dictioanries for manual install?

[rdoeffinger]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, your issue should be a disabled or broken DownloadManager on your phone. Sometimes it can also be just an old version that does not accept github's https certificate. Use the menu and choose "download in browser" (sorry for the long list you will have to search through, maybe I should add a more direct method), download the zip and open it in the app to install it.

[smaragdus]

I cannot download any dictionary from inside QuickDic (version 5.4.9 (104) downloaded from F-Droid). To which version shall I downgrade QuickDic to be able to download dictionaries from inside the program?

[starbrights]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, your issue should be a disabled or broken DownloadManager on your phone. Sometimes it can also be just an old version that does not accept github's https certificate. Use the menu and choose "download in browser" (sorry for the long list you will have to search through, maybe I should add a more direct method), download the zip and open it in the app to install it.

Mh, it seems to happen more often than expected that the OS-download manager fails. The "Download in browser" imho only downloads the app, (which I don't need, as I call it from the app ;) ) but not the dictionaries. Or am I wrong? At least I couldn't solve my issues - I neither found a ways to do it in app, or found a source to download dictionaries by browser. After 2 month I get an updated LOS, the Download Manager works - so I am fine. But maybe next LOS beta makes trouble again ...

[contrapunctus-1]

I have the same issue on my Nokia 6.1, Android v9 (Pie). And as @starbrights says, 'Download from browser' just shows app releases, not dictionaries (and is UX-wise a hacky workaround anyway...)

[rdoeffinger]

The download in browser link should direct you to https://github.com/rdoeffinger/Dictionary/releases/tag/v0.2-dictionaries which contains a long list of dictionaries, not app releases. Of course it's a bad workaround, while LOS gets a pass, I kind of expect someone selling a phone for actual money to actually test the stuff they ship (i.e. please try to report the bug also to the vendor who broke it, not just me). That said I have an idea of adding an option in the preferences that sends you directly to the selected dictionary in your browser instead of trying to use the download manager. Don't know when I'll get around to it though.

[contrapunctus-1]

I guess this is a FastHub(libre) issue, as opening your link in Firefox displays the dictionaries as expected. (Tap the 'Assets' link.)

[Mikaela]

I am experiencing this on Nokia 1 which is Android Go device and as Android Go is part of Android One, I don't think manufacturer adjusts things radically so either something is wrong with this app or Android itself.

[smaragdus]

Perhaps the developer may consider integrating a download manager in QuickDic, for example Fetch, which will (hopefully) resolve all the problems mentioned above.

[rdoeffinger]

As long as I am the only active developer on this project duplicating OS features is not an option. Though as mentioned I should make it easier to use some other app like a browser instead, then users can fall back to whichever download/sharing method works best for them.

[smaragdus]

@rdoeffinger

I installed QuickDic again and this time the download works just fine- I have no explanation why the previous time the download didn't work- same phone (Sony Xperia), same OS.

I have a question- what is the difference for example between EN.quickdic.v006.zip and EN.quickdic.v007.zip? Version 007 is almost 2 times bigger than version 006.

One last question- if I download dictionaries to PC and then transfer them to phone to save bandwidth, where should I put them? In the default download directory?

[palbr]

I am using Sailfish OS on a Sony Xperia X device. In-App download of dictionaries doesn't work for me, too. The workaround (download by browser, unzip manual and place "*.quickdic" file in app data directory) helped. Now I can use QuickDic. Thank you! Great app!

@smaragdus : You can change the "dictionary directory" in the app settings. Use the three dots in the upper right corner to open "settings". The default directory seems to be: Android/data/de.reimardoeffinger.quickdic/files

I tried both dictionary versions "DE-IT.quickdic.v006.zip" and "DE-IT.quickdic.v007.zip". Both show the same number of words after loading them in QuickDic. So I would guess version 7 has higher compression than version 6.

[smaragdus]

@palbr

Thank you for the detailed information you provided and especially for the default directory. Off-topic- was it hard to replace Android with Sailfish? I have been considering to switch to Lineage or Sailfish but haven't found enough time to do some research on the topic.

[palbr]

@smaragdus : This is really off-topic ;) Flashing SailfishOS on your Xperia device is not very difficult. There is a good how-to at https://jolla.com/sailfishxinstall/. Have a look at this how-to.

General SailfishX project: https://jolla.com/sailfishx/

There is also a free SailfishOS demo available for testing available.

[smaragdus]

@palbr

Thanks for the links, I had a look at the tutorial, it is very detailed indeed.

Regards

[dphender]

I had the same problems using Android 8.0.0 on a Moto E5 phone. After fiddling around with it for a while I figured out that the storage access permission wasn't set for the app so it couldn't save the dic. Every other app I have sends a request to the OS and then I get prompted to allow the permission, but Quikdic doesn't do that. I'm guessing that it's because the original version was made when Android used to set permissions when installing instead of the new way of doing it only when they are actually needed. Anyway, going into settings and manually turning that permission on fixed it and now I can dl more dictionaries just fine. Just sharing this to see if it works for anyone else.

[rdoeffinger]

Very interesting thanks! However the app does not have storage permissions on any of my phones (most Android 9, but were Android 8 before) and works just fine there. The permission is supposed to be requested only if the dictionaries are stored in a path that needs them, and the default path is an app-specific directory which does not. What path are you using as the dictionary storage location?

[rdoeffinger]

General update: I could reproduce some issues related to github, so for the older Android versions having the issues 5.5 uses a different server. But then again none of you seem to have used such an old version.

@smaragdus sorry missed your questions

I have a question- what is the difference for example between EN.quickdic.v006.zip and EN.quickdic.v007.zip? Version 007 is almost 2 times bigger than version 006.

007 versions use a new, efficient format and for the same content they are 2x to 6x smaller. So if the 007 version is larger that means it now contains a lot more data.

One last question- if I download dictionaries to PC and then transfer them to phone to save bandwidth, where should I put them? In the default download directory?

Doesn't matter, just somewhere the file manager can access them (and do NOT unzip them before), then just open them with QuickDic and they will be installed in the proper location as selected in the app.

[smaragdus]

@rdoeffinger

Thank you for answering my questions.

Best regards

[doniks]

I seem to have the same issue. When I tap a download button the label changes to X, but nothing else happens. Xperia X, Android 8. Seems to be the same with f-Droid and Aurora (play) store version. Fwiw, I see in the permissions that storage is turned off, but even when I turn it on manually I don't see a difference. Awesome app though! Thanks!