--- loncom/interface/loncommon.pm	2012/08/07 09:25:39	1.1089
+++ loncom/interface/loncommon.pm	2012/08/14 10:22:25	1.1091
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # The LearningOnline Network with CAPA
 # a pile of common routines
 #
-# $Id: loncommon.pm,v 1.1089 2012/08/07 09:25:39 foxr Exp $
+# $Id: loncommon.pm,v 1.1091 2012/08/14 10:22:25 foxr Exp $
 #
 # Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees
 #
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ use Apache::lonclonecourse();
 use LONCAPA qw(:DEFAULT :match);
 use DateTime::TimeZone;
 use DateTime::Locale::Catalog;
+use Text::Aspell;
 
 # ---------------------------------------------- Designs
 use vars qw(%defaultdesign);
@@ -3015,13 +3016,77 @@ sub get_related_words {
     untie %thesaurus_db;
     return @Words;
 }
+###############################################################
+#
+#  Spell checking
+#
 
 =pod
 
+=head1 Spell checking
+
+=over 4
+
+=item * &check_spelling($wordlist $language)
+
+Takes a string containing words and feeds it to an external
+spellcheck program via a pipeline. Returns a string containing
+them mis-spelled words.
+
+Parameters:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item - $wordlist
+
+String that will be fed into the spellcheck program.
+
+=item - $language
+
+Language string that specifies the language for which the spell
+check will be performed.
+
 =back
 
+=back
+
+Note: This sub assumes that aspell is installed.
+
+
 =cut
 
+
+=pod
+
+=back
+
+=cut
+
+sub check_spelling {
+    my ($wordlist, $language) = @_;
+    my @misspellings;
+    
+    # Generate the speller and set the langauge.
+    # if explicitly selected:
+
+    my $speller = Text::Aspell->new;
+    if ($language) {
+	$speller->set_option('lang', $language);
+    }
+
+    # Turn the word list into an array of words by splittingon whitespace
+
+    my @words = split(/\s+/, $wordlist);
+
+    foreach my $word (@words) {
+	if(! $speller->check($word)) {
+	    push(@misspellings, $word);
+	}
+    }
+    return join(' ', @misspellings);
+    
+}
+
 # -------------------------------------------------------------- Plaintext name
 =pod