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Patch a dictionary

Goal: replace a file a dictionary ships broken, or supply missing files.

wuDict looks in the ~/.wudict/db/<dict_dir>/res/ folder inside that dictionary's library folder first, and uses your file if one is there.

When a resource patch might be needed

A dictionary carries its own styles, scripts, images and audio. Some files can be missing of incorrect content.

Because a dictionary's own scripts usually load first, one bad .js or .css file can distort all articles in that dictionary.

wuDict warns when it serves a .js, .css, .html, .json, .xml, .svg or .txt file containing a NUL bytes. That byte cannot occur in those formats, so it proves the stored copy is broken. The warning names the res/ path that would replace it.

How to patch dictionary files

  1. Find the dictionary's library folder. The ☰ panel shows the path.
  2. Create a res/ folder inside it.
  3. Put your file there, under the same path the article asks for.
two replacements and one addition
~/.wudict/db/Cambridge English Dictionary Online/
  text.db
  res/
    jquery.js      replaces the dictionary's own copy
    js/entry.js    supplies a file the dictionary never had
    css/style.css  replaces the dictionary's stylesheet

Subfolders matter. Articles routinely ask for js/… and css/…, so mirror that path exactly.

Find the resource path

Open your browser's network panel and look for a request to /res/<dictionary_id>/<name>. The <name> part is the path you must mirror. A 404 there is the missing file.

Verify

Reload the article. Override files are served without caching, so an edit takes effect on the next reload.

To go back to the original, delete your file. Nothing inside the dictionary was ever changed.

What a dictionary's scripts can see

A dictionary that ships scripts runs them in a sandboxed frame of its own. The article gets its own document, its own styles and its own scripts, and it cannot reach wuDict's page - parent is a small fixed surface, not wuDict's own code.

Many MDict dictionaries ask their host what it is, usually to detect MDict's preview pane. wuDict answers honestly: it is none of them. Any host feature the dictionary then asks for reads as empty rather than failing, so the rest of the article still works.

If a dictionary's own script throws, wuDict marks that dictionary's row with a ⚠ - hover it for the message - and writes one line to the browser console. The article still renders; the parts that script would have driven do not run. That is usually a broken or missing .js file, which is what a res/ override fixes.

The one exception

A .spx file placed in res/ is served as it is, not converted to WAV. Browsers cannot play Speex, so supply .mp3 or .wav instead.