How is "Apple + Ctrl + D" implemented?

FROM : Ying Bian
DATE : Mon Apr 28 07:55:30 2008

Hi,



I am thinking of developing my own dictionary tool which can detects the
word

under the cursor and automatically (or when a modifier key is pressed) popup
a

translation window.



After researching for a while, I find it more tricky than I estimated.



The accessibility APIs may of help, but for text in a text view, the
returned information

is not enough to reproduce the layout and let me detect the "exact" word
over which the

mouse hovers.



There is a similar functionality in Lepoard (I am not sure if it exists
prior to 10.5):

in any cocoa-based applications, if you press Apple + Ctrl + D, the current
word under

cursor is automatically selected and translated in a popup window.  It seems
to me not

implemented with accessibility APIs as it does not require to enable access
for assistive

devices in the Universal Access System Preference panel.



Then, how is this implemented?  I want to get some hints from this.



Thanks,

--
B.Y.