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SPELLPRUF
By: Mark Murphy

SPELLPRUF is a program that will check your word processor documents for spelling errors.  By comparing the words in your text against its dictionary, it will determine which words it does not recognize.  You can then opt to add them to the dictionary, if you wish, or simply skip them.  By comparing the screen to a printed copy, you can find and mark all spelling errors.  Later, these can be changed using your word processor.

To use SPELLPRUF, you need a 64K Apple II (any version will do). If you don't know what this means, don't worry.

SPELLPRUF uses a lot of disk space, mainly because its dictionary can expand to any size you wish.  For that reason, it needs to create a disk for itself, which is called the SPELLPRUF Master disk.  Follow the screen prompts.  Once all is correct, SPELLPRUF will create the Master disk.

To check a word processor document, you must first prepare it for use with SPELLPRUF.  It must be in the form of a DOS 3.3 text (or ASCII) file.  Some word processors (like Write Away) save their files as text files in DOS 3.3--these are ready to go as is.  Some word processors have a menu option to save or print a file as a text file.  You must use this feature to translate your files to text (consult your word processor manual for help).  In short, to determine if a file is ready for use by SPELLPRUF, put the disk with the file in question on it in drive 1 and type CATALOG from the Applesoft prompt (]).  If an I/O error occurs, your word processor more than likely using ProDOS to use SPELLPRUF just convert the file to DOS 3.3 using your System Master or Copy II+ from Central Point Software.  If the file appears like this:

       T 014 FILE.WP

then it is ready to be spell-checked (the T stands for text file).  If the file appears with a B (for binary file) instead of a T, you must use the word processor to create a text file for the document.

Once your file is ready for checking, place the SPELLPRUF Master disk in drive 1, and turn on your computer (or press [Control]-[Open-Apple]-[Reset] if it's already on).  SPELLPRUF will show a catalog of your word processor files disk.  Enter the name of the file to be checked.  SPELLPRUF will then compare the file against its first dictionary, showing you a total word count and an error count as it goes.  If there is more than one dictionary (meaning if this is not the first time you've used the program), it will then check the errors against those dictionaries, keeping you informed of its progress through the file.

Once all errors have been found and determined to be absent from all the dictionaries, SPELLPRUF will display your file, highlighting each error as it comes to it.  "Errors" may be either true spelling errors or words simply not in any dictionary.  If the word is spelled incorrectly, mark it down on a printed copy of your document for later editing.  If it is correct, and you want it to be remembered for future documents, press the [SPACEBAR].  If you want it to skip that word, press [Return].  Once it has shown you all the errors, it will sort and index the words that you told it to remember.  It will then save these words in a new dictionary.  You can then either check another document or reboot your system.

The author suggests that you print a copy of these instructions, as you may need to refer to them in the future.

Files Needed:

INSTALL.SP
INSTALL.1
SPELLPRUF
SPELL
SPELL.0
SPELL.2
SPELL.3
BANKN.SP
BANK1.SP
NAME.SP
LIST1.SP
TRANSFER.SP
TRANSFER.1 
SPELLPRUF.FIX 

NOTE: At press time the author has developed a utility to merge several SPELLPRUF dictionaries into one.  This will greatly reduce the time it takes to check a document.  Watch for it in UpTime soon!
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