--- loncom/interface/loncommon.pm	2012/08/07 10:52:17	1.1090
+++ 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 1.1090 2012/08/07 10:52:17 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);
@@ -3063,41 +3064,27 @@ Note: This sub assumes that aspell is in
 
 sub check_spelling {
     my ($wordlist, $language) = @_;
+    my @misspellings;
+    
+    # Generate the speller and set the langauge.
+    # if explicitly selected:
 
-    # Format the command.  If $language is null then
-    # don't request a language  - Note that's dangerous
-    # because there's no assurance the server is running the intended default
-    # language.
-
-    my $langswitch = '';
+    my $speller = Text::Aspell->new;
     if ($language) {
-	$langswitch = "--lang=$language";
+	$speller->set_option('lang', $language);
     }
 
-    my $aspell_command = "aspell -a $language";
-    my $full_command   = "echo $wordlist | $aspell_command";
-    
-    my $ispell_result  = `$full_command`;
+    # Turn the word list into an array of words by splittingon whitespace
 
-    # The result is several lines of text.
-    # the first line will start with @(#).  Other wise
-    # There's an error.  With an error our fallback is to declare 
-    # all the words are correctly spelled (return empty string).
+    my @words = split(/\s+/, $wordlist);
 
-    my @misspellings;
-    my @lines = split(/\n/, $ispell_result);
-    my $heading = shift(@lines);	# header
-    if ($heading =~ /^\@\(#\) /) {
-	foreach my $word   (split(/\s+/, $wordlist)) {
-	    my $spellok = pop(@lines);
-	    if (!($spellok =~ /^\*/)) {
-		push(@misspellings, $word);
-	    }
+    foreach my $word (@words) {
+	if(! $speller->check($word)) {
+	    push(@misspellings, $word);
 	}
-	return join(' ', (@misspellings)); # empty if all words ok.
-    } else {
-	return "";
     }
+    return join(' ', @misspellings);
+    
 }
 
 # -------------------------------------------------------------- Plaintext name