I'm trying to use Jim Breen's WWWJDIC server backdoor entry/api to query example sentences via indexed Japanese words, but my requests keep getting 500 internal server errors.

The API details can be found here: .html#backdoor_tag

Here is the code I'm using to make my GET request:

var lookupword = "辛い";
var kana = "からい";

// dictionary to use (1 = EDICT)
var n = 1;

// backdoor entry (Z = raw dictionary display)
var M = "Z";

// search type (E = example sentences via indexed Japanese words)
var t = "E"; 

// key type (U = UTF8, followed by "lookupword=n=kana=")
var k = $"U{System.Net.WebUtility.UrlEncode(lookupword)}=1={System.Net.WebUtility.UrlEncode(kana)}=";

var url = $"?{n}{M}{t}{k}";

using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
    var request = await client.GetAsync(url);
    var response = await request.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
    Console.WriteLine(response);
}

Here is the url for the example above: =%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%84=

I'm trying to use Jim Breen's WWWJDIC server backdoor entry/api to query example sentences via indexed Japanese words, but my requests keep getting 500 internal server errors.

The API details can be found here: https://www.edrdg./wwwjdic/wwwjdicinf.html#backdoor_tag

Here is the code I'm using to make my GET request:

var lookupword = "辛い";
var kana = "からい";

// dictionary to use (1 = EDICT)
var n = 1;

// backdoor entry (Z = raw dictionary display)
var M = "Z";

// search type (E = example sentences via indexed Japanese words)
var t = "E"; 

// key type (U = UTF8, followed by "lookupword=n=kana=")
var k = $"U{System.Net.WebUtility.UrlEncode(lookupword)}=1={System.Net.WebUtility.UrlEncode(kana)}=";

var url = $"https://www.edrdg./cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?{n}{M}{t}{k}";

using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
    var request = await client.GetAsync(url);
    var response = await request.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
    Console.WriteLine(response);
}

Here is the url for the example above: https://www.edrdg./cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1ZEU%E8%BE%9B%E3%81%84=1=%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%84=

• c#

1 Answer 1

I contacted Mr. Breen who said this may have been a bug.

They've updated the API and doco at https://www.edrdg./wwwjdic/wwwjdicinf.html#backdoor_tag, and the keytype lookupword=n=kana= has been replaced with lookupword|n|kana|.

I can now query example sentences using this URL format: https://www.edrdg./cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1ZEUlookupword|n|kana|

For example: https://www.edrdg./cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1ZEU%E8%BE%9B%E3%81%84|1|%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%84|