CACCHT

CACCHT Explorer · Guide

Questions and problems

The program doesn't start

  • Windows says Windows protected your PC, or macOS won't open it. The program isn't signed yet; see Starting the program for how to open it anyway.
  • On Windows, nothing happens, or the window stays empty. Right-click the downloaded zip, choose Properties, tick Unblock, and unpack it again. Keep the folder cfabric-browser together: the program needs its _internal folder.
  • A message says CACCHT Explorer could not start. The log says why; see The log.
  • On Linux, a web browser opens instead of a window. The window needs GTK with WebKit2GTK, or Qt with WebEngine. In the web browser, the program works the same.

It is slow

  • The first time a corpus opens, the program prepares it once, which takes from half a minute to a few minutes, the BHSA longest. After that it opens in a few seconds. A new version of the program sometimes prepares the corpora once more.
  • A search that takes long can be stopped with Stop. A search stops by itself after 60 seconds. Searches with many objects at the same level, or without anything to narrow them down, take longest: put the objects inside one another where you can, and add features. See Searching.

Something doesn't work

  • A corpus doesn't open (Could not open it: …). Close the program and start it again. If it still fails, delete the corpus' .cfr folder (in text-fabric-data/github/<organisation>/<corpus>/tf/<version> in your home folder): the program then prepares it again. If that doesn't help, download it again from the library.
  • A download fails (Could not download it: …). Check the internet connection and click Try again; what was downloaded already is kept.
  • The page says The browser server cannot be reached. The program has stopped, or was closed while the page was still open in a web browser. Start the program again and reload the page.
  • Hovering over a word shows a single letter, or the text looks otherwise wrong. If you have your own display settings in .cfabric/display in your home folder, move them away and start the program again: they take precedence over the program's.
  • Claude can't reach the program. The program must be running first. See Asking Claude.

The log

The program writes what it does, and any error, to a log: .cfabric/logs/cfabric-browser.log in your home folder. It starts afresh each time the program starts. The log also gives the address the program uses, such as http://localhost:8107/: 8107 is the usual port, and if another program has taken it, the Explorer takes the next free one.

Reporting a problem

Please report what goes wrong, and what you would like to see, in an issue on GitHub or by email to martijn.naaijer@uzh.ch. Say which computer you use (Windows, Mac with Apple silicon or Intel, Linux), which version of the Explorer (in Cite), what you did and what happened, and send the log along.

Contents of the guide

  1. Guide to CACCHT Explorer
  2. Getting started
  3. The datasets
  4. The five ways of working
  5. Reading and comparing
  6. Words
  7. Searching
  8. The Concordance
  9. Asking Claude
  10. Adding texts
  11. Notes, workspaces and citing
  12. Questions and problems