aspell

This IPython notebook extension allows spellchecking using aspell (http://aspell.net/). It allows spell checking as you type in markdown cells or on demand using a toolbar button for any cell type.

The technical implementation is a server side spell checker, that communicates with the IPython notebook over a websocket.

A short demo video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk5ID5SAlLw

Installation

• First you need to have the program aspell installed on a computer.
• Next, you need the aspell-python package (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/aspell-python).
• Finally, start ipy-aspell-server.py. If you want to run it in background, use something like nohup python ipy-aspell-server.py &

For now the spell check language is configured to english in the line s = aspell.Speller('lang', 'en') of ipy-aspell.py.

Now install the IPython notebook extension:

Add require(['/static/custom/aspell/ipy-aspell.js']) to your custom.js Copy the directory aspell to your /static/custom/ directory of your IPython profile and add

require(['/static/custom/aspell/ipy-aspell.js']);

to your custom.js file so it looks like this:

$([IPython.events]).on('app_initialized.NotebookApp', function(){
    //...
    require(['/static/custom/aspell/ipy-aspell.js']);
});

If the computer ipy-aspell.py is running on is als running the IPython notebook server, add the line var wsUri = "ws://" + document.domain + ":8889/"+ "websocket"; to ipy-aspell.js. If you use another computer, pleas add var wsUri = "ws://" + "**my computer name**" + ":8889/"+ "websocket";

This extension needs some testing. Also, it does not do much error checking for now. Feedback and enhancements are welcome.

Internals

The communication between the computer running ipy-aspell.py and the IPython notebook extension ipy-aspell.js running in your browser is realized using websockets at port 8989.

The notebook extensions sends each word to be spell checked using a JSON string "text":word, "line": i, "start":start, "end":end, "id":cell.cell_id and receives back antother JSON string "text":curWord, "line": cur.line, "start":start, "end":end, "id":cell.cell_id. If curWord is returned as true from aspell, then it is not a valid word in the dictionary and will be marked using CodeMirrors markText()`. The marking can be cleared either by typing on or by clicking on the trashcan toolbar symbol.