Explain how to manipulate existing dictionaries adding more info in changes for developers in 2026.2

[nvdaes]

The dictionaries symbol has been removed from speechDictHandler in NVDA 2026.2. This is not documented in changes.md.
I am maintaining the emoticons add-on, available in the store, which manipulates the temporary dictionary dynamically, providing translations for emoticons based in regular expressions, translated into several languages. Also, this add-on makes possible to modify the generated dictionary with a Dictionary dialog, so that different emoticons/emoji dictionaries can be used in different profiles.
Currently, I created PR 63 in the emoticon repo, with this code: tempDict = speechDictHandler.definitions._getDictionaryDefinition(DictionaryType.TEMP).dictionary

But the definitions and DictionaryType symbols aren't documented in the changelog.
I've discussed this on the NVDA developers list, and @LeonarddeR is not sure about what should be added or not to the changelog regarding this, as mentioned in this message.
I'm not sure about how to proceed. Can you provide some guidance, @seanbudd or @SaschaCowley ?

Thanks.

[seanbudd]

Can you clarify what your code was before? Did it also rely on private API functions like _getDictionaryDefinition? Are you asking for a change in code, or just updating changes.md?

[nvdaes]

Previously, I didn't rely on a private function. Instead, the used symbol was public: speechDictHandler.dictionaries["temp"].extend(sD)
But the speechDictHandler.dictionaries symbol has been removed, not deprecated.
Perhaps it would be good to deprecate it, and create a getSpeechDictionary function which accepts a DictionaryTypeParameter, or something similar. In this case, should the _getDictionaryDefinition be private?

[nvdaes]

Sorry, I mean that the dictionaries symbol is removed, deprecated but without a public replacement announced.

[seanbudd]

Isn't speechDict.TemporaryDictionaryDialog.definition.dictionary the same as speechDictHandler.definitions._getDictionaryDefinition(DictionaryType.TEMP).dictionary?

I will open a PR to update the changelog entry, as a deprecation notice was missing for #19558
We will need to do another beta and extend the translation freeze due to #20655

[seanbudd]

oh right the dialog window needs to be instantiated to get the speech dict from it. I think we should consider making _getDictionaryDefinition a public function in 2026.3

[nvdaes]

I agree about making getDictionaryDefinition a public function. I'll open an issue for this.

[seanbudd]

If it's updating documentation, it might be better to use the developerGuide for detailed instructions, and just add a passing reference in the change log

[nvdaes]

I think that an explanation in the developer guide would be useful.
But should be this done against beta? Beta 10 is the last planned beta, I think.