http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22164
Summary: Extra scrollbars in Langenscheidt e-Dictionaries Product: Wine Version: unspecified Platform: x86 OS/Version: Linux Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P2 Component: -unknown AssignedTo: wine-bugs@winehq.org ReportedBy: thuerrschmidt@gmail.com
Langenscheidt e-Dictionaries is a reference application that is mainly used in German-speaking countries, where it is called "Langenscheidt e-Wörterbücher". It works rather well with Wine, so much so that it has currently Gold status in the AppDB (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=10360). However, a few issues remain that need to be sorted out.
One of these issues are the extra scrollbars around the main application area. These can be seen clearly in the AppDB screenshot (http://appdb.winehq.org/screenshots.php?iAppId=10360&iVersionId=). The outermost horizontal and vertical scrollbars are not present when the application runs in any version of Windows, and they have no useful purpose in Wine. All they do is shift the main application area by one single pixel in upward/downward or right/left direction, respectively. I find them distracting when working with the application, and they take up valuable screen space on my portable computer.
From a few experiments that I have done, my guess is that there may be a
rounding error of some kind deep down in one of Wine's core libraries, possibly a ceil() where native Windows uses a floor() or the other way round. This would explain why the application has one pixel left over in each dimension when calculating the geometry of this part of its application window and, as a result, needs those extra scrollbars.
Another oddity, probably closely related, is that the publisher logo for the current book, which is displayed in the upper right corner of the main application area (in the screenshot it's a red and white Collins logo) is partly outside the visible screen area and also outside the scrollable area. This, however, changes as soon as the application window's initial maximized state changes. In the de-maximized window the full logo becomes visible, and it stays so even after the window is maximized again. This strange behavior too does not occur in Windows, only in Wine.
Langenscheidt e-Dictionaries is currently available in version 4.0, revision 20.1 (whatever that means). It can be downloaded gratis (i.e. free-as-in-beer) at http://www.langenscheidt.de/service/service_2784.html. Judging from the libraries it comes with, it is written in Visual C++ 8.0 and heavily MFC-based. The application functions as a front-end for a number of commercial electronic dictionaries published by Langenscheidt and a few other German publishers. These dictionaries come in a proprietary, closed format on CD-ROM or via paid download and have to be installed locally into the e-Dictionaries application, where they can be searched and accessed one at a time or all at once. There is also limited support for custom dictionaries. Langenscheidt e-Dictionaries is derived from its older, simpler (and in my view, better) predecessor application called PC-Bibliothek (or PC-Library in English), which also runs fine under Wine, but shows the exact same issues as described above. (To complicate matters further, there's a third member in this family of applications, called Office-Bibliothek, but that's not really relevant for this bug.)
Setting up Langenscheidt e-Dictionaries in Wine can be a bit tricky. The installer does not currently work (which is a separate issue that I won't go into here), so the application has to be installed manually by extracting all the right files from the unpacked installer exe to the right places. The interface language is German by default, but you can switch it to English via the menu (if you happend to find the right option among all the German). To see the scrollbar bug in action you need to have at least one dictionary installed, which you can get by creating a "user dictionary" and adding a few dummy entries to it.
If there's a Wine developer who wants to try and fix this bug, you shouldn't have to go through all this. Just give me a shout, and I'll provide you with a fully functioning test kit that you can simply unpack and fire up immediately. This shouldn't be a problem copyright-wise as the application itself is legally downloadable for anybody from Langenscheidt's website (see link above) and I won't share any actual dictionary content.