MS Access Lexicon?

[Fëorpáþ]

I have been building my lexicon bit by bit when I have time. But simply keeping a table is becoming cumbersome so before I go any further I would like to make a searchable database. Has anyone here actually done this themselves? I haven't actually used Access since about 2002 so I'm very rusty.

[Click]

This should be in the Questions Thread in Ephemera or in C&C Quickies at most, but anyway here’s a solution. You don’t need to use database to have a searchable lexicon – just hit Ctrl+F to get a search box.

[Soap]

Ive been using Excel since about 2004 for my conlangs. I tried porting it into Access once but it seemed like it'd be more trouble than it was worth so I've remained with Excel. I dont remember specifically why I didnt like Access, I just vaguely remember it being difficult to use. I guess Access also cant color-code columns, which is what I use to highlight the more important columns at the expense of the less important ones in Excel.

[Pazmivaniye]

I use html for my lexicon because I feel like it gives the nicest results, is easy to make pdfs from, and is easy to search. The major drawback is that it takes a lot of typing just to add one entry, even when I define my own tags for stuff. I'm not actually sure if I recommend it, but it works for me.

[Cúlro]

I use html for my lexicon because I feel like it gives the nicest results, is easy to make pdfs from, and is easy to search. The major drawback is that it takes a lot of typing just to add one entry, even when I define my own tags for stuff. I'm not actually sure if I recommend it, but it works for me.

Your post gave me an idea: storing the lexicon as a plain text file using markdown syntax, and using the text editor's regular expression search function for searching and to generate specific lists (eg all verbs), which could then be converted to pdf quickly (eg by pandoc).

I'll confess to not entirely knowing how you do it in html, but this way seems like it might save on some of the typing.

Does it seem practical?

[Sakir]

Excel (or any other spreadsheet) should really do fine for any typical conlanger needs: when you start to outgrow it, though, dump out a Comma-Separated-Values (.csv) file and import it into a SQL (or noSQL, if that's your style) database. If you do that, you can (easily most of the time) put it on a website and write a quick form for lookup. Going this route, you'll find yourself having an easier time porting the information around than with MS Access, from my personal experience.

But yeah, more of a C&CQ question.

[Pazmivaniye]

Your post gave me an idea: storing the lexicon as a plain text file using markdown syntax, and using the text editor's regular expression search function for searching and to generate specific lists (eg all verbs), which could then be converted to pdf quickly (eg by pandoc).

I'll confess to not entirely knowing how you do it in html, but this way seems like it might save on some of the typing.

Does it seem practical?

To give you an example, this is an entry and a subentry:

Code: Select all

<ent>balie <i>adj</i> free <etm>< Zmln. balen < PC balni</etm>
    <ent>baliera, balieradi <i>n</i> freedom (eg. <i>baliera e iliato</i> "freedom of the press")</ent>
</ent>

The amount of typing went down a lot recently because I stopped including IPA for each word and basic form (plurals and verb stems). That being said, your idea might be more efficient but I don't know enough about markdown to judge.