Script Converter

A .NET 8 solution for transliterating text between Urdu (Arabic script), Hindi (Devanagari), and Romanised forms — with dictionary-enhanced conversion and GoldenDict-compatible natural dictionary support.

Projects

Project	Description
Nawishta	Core library — rule-based transliteration engine, character mappings, and dictionary store
Nawishta.NaturalDictionary	GoldenDict-compatible dictionary import — StarDict and DSL parsers, SQLite storage
Nawishta.Web	ASP.NET Core web API + React SPA frontend
Nawishta.Tests	xUnit test suite

Features

Script Transliteration

All six conversion directions between three scripts:

• Roman ↔ Urdu Arabic
• Roman ↔ Hindi Devanagari
• Urdu Arabic ↔ Hindi Devanagari

Conversion uses a rule-based engine with character mapping tables, enhanced by a dictionary for known words (providing correct spellings that rule-based mapping can't always produce).

Natural Dictionary (GoldenDict-compatible)

Upload any GoldenDict-compatible dictionary source and use it as a lookup dictionary within the app.

Supported formats:

• StarDict — .ifo + .idx + .dict (or .dict.dz / .dict.gz)
• DSL — ABBYY Lingvo .dsl (or .dsl.dz)

Capabilities:

• Upload dictionaries as .zip or .tar.gz archives
• Auto-detection of dictionary format
• Browse entries alphabetically with pagination
• Search headwords within a dictionary
• Cross-dictionary word lookup
• Autocomplete suggestions

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK
• Node.js 18+ (for the frontend)

Build

# Restore and build all projects
dotnet build

# Build the frontend
cd Nawishta.Web/ClientApp
npm install
npm run build

Run

# Run the web app (API + SPA)
dotnet run --project Nawishta.Web

The app will be available at http://localhost:5000 (or the port configured in launchSettings.json).

API Reference

Conversion

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/convert	Convert text between scripts

Request body:

{ "text": "salam", "from": "Roman", "to": "UrduArabic" }

Transliteration Dictionary (built-in)

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/dictionary?q=&limit=	List/search entries
GET	/api/dictionary/stats	Dictionary statistics
POST	/api/dictionary	Add an entry
PUT	/api/dictionary/{id}	Update an entry
DELETE	/api/dictionary/{id}	Delete an entry
POST	/api/dictionary/bulk	Bulk import entries

Natural Dictionary (GoldenDict)

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/natural-dictionary/upload	Upload a dictionary archive (multipart form, field: file)
GET	/api/natural-dictionary	List all imported dictionaries
GET	/api/natural-dictionary/{id}	Get dictionary metadata
DELETE	/api/natural-dictionary/{id}	Delete a dictionary
GET	/api/natural-dictionary/lookup?word=	Look up a word across all dictionaries
GET	/api/natural-dictionary/suggest?prefix=	Autocomplete headword suggestions
GET	/api/natural-dictionary/{id}/browse?page=&pageSize=	Browse entries in a dictionary
GET	/api/natural-dictionary/{id}/search?q=&page=&pageSize=	Search within a dictionary

Configuration

Configuration is in Nawishta.Web/appsettings.json:

{
  "Dictionary": {
    "Provider": "Json",
    "ConnectionString": "Data/dictionary.json",
    "SeedIfEmpty": true
  },
  "NaturalDictionary": {
    "ConnectionString": "Data Source=Data/natural_dictionaries.db"
  }
}

Dictionary providers: Json (default, file-based), Sqlite, MySql

Tests

dotnet test

Project Structure

Nawishta/
  Converters/        — Script-specific converter implementations
  Mappings/          — Character mapping tables (Urdu-Roman, Hindi-Roman, Urdu-Hindi)
  Dictionary/        — Built-in transliteration dictionary (JSON/SQLite/MySQL storage)

Nawishta.NaturalDictionary/
  Models/            — Domain models (NaturalDictionaryInfo, Article, BrowseResult)
  Parsers/           — Format parsers (StarDictParser, DslParser)
  Services/          — DictionaryImportService (archive extraction + format detection)
  Storage/           — EF Core entities, DbContext, and store implementation

Nawishta.Web/
  Program.cs         — API endpoints (minimal APIs)
  ClientApp/src/     — React SPA (Converter, DictionaryManager, NaturalDictionary, DictionaryBrowser)

License

Private project.