Removing wrong parses (Wordlist linked with Interlinearizer)

Question

In PT 7.5 it was possible to have only one parse per word. If I changed my mind about how to gloss a word I could edit the parse in the interlinearizer or in the Wordlist tool.

In PT 8.0 the Wordlist tool will not allow me to delete a wrong parse that was entered in 7.5-6 via the Interlinearizer. A message comes up: The morphology for words with multiple parses can be edited only in the Project Interlinearizer.

However, this message did not appear when I edited the morpheme breaks in a large number of verb forms in the Word list. It only appeared when I next reopened the Wordlist tool (it wasn’t refreshing during the first editing session, I guess). The multiple parses only appeared for words with parses previously approved in the Interlinearizer, but I have no way of distinguishing these from words with parses approved in the Wordlist tool. Now I have many, many Wordlist entries with two parses, only one of which is correct. The only way I can find to remove a wrong parse is to

1. click on a word in the Wordlist that has two parses
2. double-click on a verse containing this word to bring forward the main PT window with interlinearizer open
3. click on the interlinearizer window to focus it (the project text is in focus upon a jump from the Wordlist)
4. click on the word that has two parses and delete one of them (an indication of this in the Interlinearizer would be very helpful, such as the little + next to a gloss with multiple possibilities).
5. return to the Wordlist window and do File > Refresh to see that it worked.

This is terribly tedious and time-consuming. Is there an easier way to delete unwanted multiple parses?

If there is no other way to remove unwanted parses, then I’d like to make a feature request for this, please.

Answer 1

More information on the wrong parses that I need to change: Actually I think this should be labeled as a bug rather than a “Question”. Do I need to use “Report a problem” to enter it into the bug tracker?

If you want to edit morphology in Paratext 8 using the Wordlist tool, beware! You can unknowingly add a parse instead of editing an existing parse.

In case this is helpful to anyone else, here it is.

In the screenshot the first word has two approved parses. It seems that I must go to a verse containing this word. In the Interlinearizer I can delete one of the parses by clicking on the Word (top level). This is a big problem, because I had already added many parses to verb forms without ever realizing I was adding a parse rather than just changing a parse.

For example, the second word in the screenshot contains an approved parse. If I click on that parse and edit it, it looks as if I have changed the parse. However, if a word in the Interlinearizer has been approved with the old parse, the old one is not deleted; the new one is silently added by the Wordlist tool. It is not until I Refresh the Wordlist that I see the second parse added, as in the first word in the screenshot.

At this point it looks as if the only morphology I can specify in my project using the Wordlist tool is for words with no approved parse, as in my third word above.

If an existing parse was previously approved in the Wordlist and it has not been approved in the Interlinearizer then I can edit the Wordlist’s entry. But there is no way to tell whether an Interlinearizer-approved parse exists. I really need to get the bad parses out of there.

Any ideas?

Comments

KimB:

Actually I think this should be labeled as a bug rather than a “Question”. Do I need to use “Report a problem” to enter it into the bug tracker?

@KimB, did you report it? Did it get fixed?

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No, I have not reported it as a bug. I can only work on PT during certain months. While I was waiting for an answer to my “Any ideas?” question I had to move on and haven’t been able to return to the Word List tool (I’ve been on sick leave for a while).

It would be nice to know whether anyone else has seen this problem. Unfortunately, others also are often too busy doing “real work” (tongue in cheek) to track down or check out a problem. Frustrating! I will see what I can do about re-checking it out, but it might take a while to get to it.

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KimB:

… others also are often too busy doing “real work” (tongue in cheek) to track down or check out a problem.

Yes, whereas I’m too busy tracking down problems to do any real work!! That’s my kasali – my sickness – as we say in Tajik Persian.

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Yes… I’ve had that experience as well at times! Thanking God for you and the other troubleshooters.