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Developer Docs

Everything you need to build, understand, and extend Lexicon. The codebase is small, focused, and easy to get into — a classic Qt Widgets desktop application with a clean data layer.

Technology stack

Repository layout

lexicon/
├── CMakeLists.txt        # single-target CMake build
├── src/
│   ├── main.cpp              # entry point: DB init + MainWindow
│   ├── MainWindow.{h,cpp}    # main window: filters, table, pagination, preview
│   ├── TermEditDialog.{h,cpp}# 5-tab term editor
│   ├── MapManagerDialog.{h,cpp}  # map CRUD dialog
│   ├── ValueListDialog.{h,cpp}   # read-only tag/flag/alias overviews
│   ├── DatabaseManager.{h,cpp}   # all SQL: schema, migrations, queries
│   └── MarkdownConverter.{h,cpp} # Markdown → HTML via md4qt
├── 3rdparty/md4qt/       # vendored Markdown parser
├── resources/            # application icon
├── images/               # screenshots used by README and this site
├── lexicon.desktop       # Linux desktop entry
└── LICENSE               # MIT

How it fits together

1. main.cpp initializes the database (creating lexicon.db next to the executable and applying migrations), then shows the MainWindow.
2. MainWindow drives the whole browsing experience — filters, search, the paginated term table, and the rendered preview pane.
3. Dialogs (TermEditDialog, MapManagerDialog, ValueListDialog) handle editing and overviews.
4. DatabaseManager is the single gateway to SQLite — a static API used by all UI classes. No SQL lives outside it.
5. MarkdownConverter turns term content into HTML for the preview panes using md4qt.

Read the full walkthrough in Architecture.

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