A Spell Check IE Menu Extension

Shaun Wilde

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10 Sep 2002CPOL2 min read

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An IE menu extension that allows you to spell check your form submissions.

Compressed DLL - 62 Kb

Introduction

One of the many things that I have found lacking when using web based forums, such as CodeProject, is the lack of spell checking facilities within IE. So that I can post messages on forums that do not contain spelling mistakes, I created this little tool that allows you to check the spelling of certain words using the Google Spelling API.

Installation

Extract the signed TxtSpell.dll from the ZIP file and install using regsvr32. Visit and register with the Google Spelling API site to get a key to use with the DLL. This key will be stored in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Many Monkeys Limited\SpellChecker\Google. The object will ask you for the key when it requires it, so keep it to hand.

Usage

Once installed, the Spell Checker is easy to use. Select a word or words (up to 10) in the form that you wish to check the spelling of and select the Spell Check option from the context menu.

If Google decides that the words are incorrect then a new set of words will be returned and will be used to replace the currently selected text.

If there is an error, that maybe attributed to an incorrect or missing key (not 100%). Then the following install screen will popup. This install window can be used to install a new key and check if it works.

References

Limitations

Sometimes the install screen appears when the error is not due to an incorrect key but a problem with the Google service. However these are very rare.
The number of words that can be checked in one go is 10. This limit is imposed by the Google web service.
If all the words are correct or appear to be, then Google returns no answer and this is currently interpreted to be an error.

Future work

It is intended to use a different spell checking mechanism that will allow the user to select from a collection of words when a mis-spelt word is found. It is also intended to provide source code once I have integrated another spell checking mechanism such that there would be more than a few lines of non-wizard code.

I hope you find this tool useful. Please feel free to comment and offer suggestions.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Written By

Shaun Wilde

Employed (other) Purplebricks

Australia

All articles are supplied as-is, as a howto on a particular task that worked for me in the past. None of the articles are supposed to be out-of-the-box freeware controls and nor should they be treated as such. Caveat emptor.

Now living and working in Australia, trying to be involved in the local .NET and Agile communities when I can.

I spend a good chunk of my spare time building OpenCover and maintaining PartCover both of which are Code Coverage utilities for .NET.