Technology Overview

System Structure

The SpellChecker.net system includes WebSpellChecker and SCAYT applications and consists of four parts:

Software, consisting of a spell checker, a grammar checker and a thesaurus, that resides on the SpellChecker.net server;
Proxy application (script) installed on the web server;
Inline JavaScript code embedded into the HTML code of web pages;
Samples of embedding WebSpellChecker and SCAYT applications (Optional).

System Operation

The WebSpellChecker application functions as follows:

A user clicks the SpellCheck button or link to initiate the session;
JavaScript code creates a pop-up window containing a form that displays the text to be checked;
The form is automatically submitted to a proxy application (script) file on the server, passing the language as parameters. This process identifies unrecognized text and outputs the results in the pop-up window, providing suggestions for correction;
Options are given to approve or ignore offered suggestions. When the user clicks any option button (except "Finish Checking") in the bottom frame, the center frame refreshes, showing current changes. Alternatively, if the user clicks an underlined word in the middle frame, the bottom frame refreshes, displaying alternatives for that word. This process continues until the user chooses "Finish Checking";
When the "Finish Checking" button is selected, results are submitted to a proxy application (script), located on the client's server;
The text passes from the proxy application (script) back to the location where the text originated. This workaround with proxy application (script) is necessary, due to security restrictions coded into most browsers.

Since the WebSpellChecker application is session-less it is easy to set up it to work under Network Load Balancing solutions. This will improve stability of your application which utilize the SpellChecker.

The SCAYT application functions as follows:

User opens web page with embedded HTML editor which use SCAYT application;
JavaScript loads additional scripts, initializes client side SCAYT engine and sends initial editor text to the SpellChecker.net server via proxy application (script) for checking;
Server checks text spelling and return marked content, which JavaScript paste in place of original text. Thus user receive initial checked text;
User type text in the HTML editor, at the same time JavaScript sends entered words to the server and highlight misspelled words;
User can corrects the misspelled words manually or using suggestions via context menu. Besides suggestions context menu allow ignore current word, ignore all entries of this word in whole document, add word to dictionary, change spelling checking options and spelling checking language.

SpellChecker Server Software

SpellChecker.net server software consists of a spell-checker, a grammar checker and a thesaurus, which support multiple languages. It runs on a several platforms, utilizing third-party API. The current version was designed for and tested under WinNT 4.0 Server (SP4+), Windows 2000 (SP2), Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, FreeBSD 3.x, Linux, Solaris, AIX.

An HTTP (web) server with proxy application (script) language support. The server invokes a proxy application (script) each time a check is requested. This script connects to an application server, which runs on this (or another) server and performs the required tasks. The application server then processes the request and returns the results to the proxy application (script). In turn, these results pass back to the user's browser.

Server performance is based on processor speed. Neither a large amount of memory nor a fast hard drive is necessary for performance. The current version of the SpellChecker engine occupies 10-20 MB of disk space, plus log files. The current application server version utilizes approximately 25 MB of RAM under heavy load. Therefore, a typical server containing an operating system, an application server, a web server, and proxy application (script) requires about 80 MB of memory.

Web Site Installation Requirements

The following steps are necessary to install the SpellChecker system:

Go to our sign up page to register and receive a CustomerID number;
Download the proxy application (script);
Deploy the proxy application (script). Some adjustments must be done to sproxy.ini;
Register WebSpellChecker or SCAYT JavaScript URL into HTML page (Some WYSIWYG editors are not require script registration for SCAYT);
Register page HTML editor in JavaScript.