I read with interest the previous Forum posts about a possible Skritter API that would be accessible by other programs. It sounds as if you were working on this but I noticed that Google have discontinued Google Wave - have you moved the discussion somewhere else? I was thinking of something much more simple than trying to recreate the marvellous Skritter writing pad in a different client, which would be to just have the client program host a web browser which could then go to a cut down web page hosted on your site (i.e. a page with just the writing pad). The user's name and password could be sent in as part of the HTML request. This would also include the character that you wanted to practise which would be presented to you straight away and also added to one of your current lists. I use my own flashcard type program for learning vocabulary, as I am sure many other programmers do, and since I discovered Skritter I often find myself looking at a character and wishing I could "Skritter" it then and there to help fix it in my memory. Something as simple as I just described would let me do that. Does something like this already perhaps exist?

We've done what you suggest with the Scratchpad, so there's no Skritter authentication or progress tracking, but you get to write the characters and do the tones.

It's possible that we could do a similar type of iframe embed for a logged-in version. I'm curious as to the main desired use case: to write the character right now, to review it in Skritter later, or both? In the browser context, there's already a quick-add link you can use to add words to Skritter for the currently-logged-in user.

We're also just about ready with an API for things like accessing users' vocabulary, adding words, serving progress stats, etc. Are any of these things also interesting?

Nick, keep me on the notification list for when that API is finished and I'll update the Add to Skritter app for Android.

Aha, I hadn't found Scratchpad until now. It does seem to go a long way to doing everything I want. I can program a button in my app to copy the desired characters to the clipboard and at the same time shell a browser and open Scratchpad. Then I can paste the characters in and I am ready to Skritter.

That was the main thing I was after. Adding the characters to a list makes more sense if it is there as an option on the web page because you might not always want to do that.

I do think it would be a nice feature though if I could pass my log-in details and the character(s) in the request string, just to save a few clicks and a bit of typing each time. First of all because I might not have a current session and this would save me logging in, should I want to add the characters to a list, and also to automatically paste them into the text area.

I know this makes me sound both lazy and demanding but you seem to be working on these sort of features so it is just my ten cents' worth :)

zaphekiah, try it like this, with the words you wanted as an underscore_separated list:

http://www.skritter.com/scratchpad?words=你好_例子_蘑菇_斩

If it's IE, you'd need to URL-encode the characters.

This would get you there with no login required.

Wahey!! That works likes a charm, I am up and running!

The only thing I haven't worked out yet is how to add the items to my lists once I have practised them. I am definitely logged in because my user name appears at the top of the page but I can't find that quick add link. Is it a text link or a button? Where should I be looking? I am using IE9.

I actually have a website where I keep an updated version of my vocabulary program available as a freeware download. You can probably guess my next question, which is whether it is OK to include this feature in the public version. I am guessing it is because Scratchpad seems to be designed as a teaser for the full Skritter package, but is there are a EULA or something I should be including with my program if I add this feature, and is it OK to use the Skritter logo on the button etc? I will be happy to send you links to the program and website if you wanted to take a look.

The scratchpad that you can link to like that doesn't have anything directly on the page, but you can always press Shift+A on any Skritter page to get a quick add dialogue, including that Scratchpad.

There's also this URL for adding words right now:

http://www.skritter.com/vocab/api/add?from=name_of_your_vocab_source&lang=zh&word=例子

Yeah, let me take a look at it--send me the links.

Cool!

The program is at

http://www.charactermine.com

The version for download there doesn't include the Skritter buttons though, I have uploaded that version to:

http://www.charactermine.com/downloads/charactermineskritterbeta.zip

The easiest way to see the Skritter button in action would be to do a dictionary search (search button on left of main screen) and then right click on any of the results for a context menu. Basically it is just using the "words" parameter as explained earlier.

I'm on Mac right now so I haven't tried it, but it looks like everything should be cool. Go ahead and add it to the software. It's possible that we may change some of these links in the future, though, so please be prepared for that.

OK, that is cool, I understand the links might change. I just uploaded the Skritter version and updated the website to advertise this feature.

I still have one small doubt concerning adding words from Scratchpad which looking on the help page doesn't resolve for me. I have been using the Shift-A dialog to add a few items but so far they haven't shown up in any of my tests. What list are they added to by default, is it the most recent one that you are still adding from? Perhaps I just need to be a bit more patient, but is there any possibility that they have been added to a list that is no longer active?

By the way, I also noticed one thing that probably isn't relevant to anything but I mention it in case it is important. When going through my daily test I used to see a green tick or a red cross icon next to the word and the tones to tell me which bits I had got right or wrong. It seems that ever since the first time I logged in via Scratchpad those icons no longer appear. This doesn't bother me at all in itself because I know whether I got the character and the tones right or wrong, but like I say I mention it just because it is unexpected behaviour and you might be interested.

They are added to the Miscellaneous list, or whichever list you last added the words to. Check all the self-made lists to see if the words are in there. You do have to get to the end of those lists for the new words to be added into My Words.

The Scratchpad without progress tracking doesn't show those grading indicators because it doesn't use the grading. The normal study page, though, shouldn't be affected. THere are some word-level grading icon bugs in Internet Explorer, so I think that if those aren't showing up, it's because of a bug with Skritter in IE9 that we haven't worked around yet.

OK, if the added items are at the end of the list I am adding from I will just have to be a bit more patient.

Re the icons that is exactly what it was. I had switched to using IE9 while I was at home for a week. I use Chrome at work.