Apply Spell Check (Settings/Preferences tab)

The "Apply Spell Check" box controls whether or not unknown words will be intercepted by either built-in or custom error handlers. When this box is cleared, there is no error handling. For instance, "List the supliers" will present a message box: Unfamiliar word(s) supliers. Checking this box enables the Access ELF Spelling window to appear, giving the user a chance to correct any mis-typings. In this case, clicking "supplier" and then the Change button fixes the error and allows the translation to proceed normally.

Here's a quick review of how the Spelling window buttons are used.

If the unknown word conveys no important information, click the Ignore button to delete it from the question. For example, "list the gnarly suppliers" will generate a list of alternatives from "gangly" to "gyrate". Click Ignore to change the question into non-surfer dialect, ie "list the suppliers".

This is also an opportunity to substitute a more apt word for the problem-word. For instance, we might type "California" into the Change To textbox, then click Change. Of course, this feature will more often be used to correct typos and misspellings. The Suggestions panel gives a range of choices to help simplify the spelling correction process.

In case the word in question is not misspelled, but simply unknown in the context of the database, the Add button lets you enter the new term into the lexicon. As an example, say we enter the question "List the suppliers from Greece." Because Greece is not among the countries we deal with, "Greece" is not in the lexicon. Because our reference dictionary doesn't contain the names of all places and things either, "Greece" is completely unknown. That's why the Spelling window will pop up, giving us a change to correct this "typo".

If we want the software to act like Greece is a country-of-origin for suppliers (even though no supplier happens to come from Greece currently), we can use the Add feature. First use the Data Source button to select Suppliers / Country. Then click Add to continue. For this question, and from now on, Access ELF will treat the term "Greece" just as if it appeared in the Country field of Suppliers. Notice that this means that the translated SQL won't product any matching results!

SELECT DISTINCT Suppliers.SupplierID , Suppliers.CompanyName FROM Suppliers WHERE Suppliers.Country = "Greece" ;

To undo this action and remove the definition of "Greece", open the Lex Lookup window. Enter Greece in the Lookup box, click the Data radio button, and click Delete. Questions about Greece will once again trigger the Spellcheck window.