Messages

101

General Software Discussion / Re: RightNote version 3.0.0 released

« on: January 27, 2014, 09:40 AM »

Hello, tomos,

Illic and illac - well, I once attended a German "Gymnasium", and there I got the "Big Latinum", but that was ages ago, and my tries to differenciate the two, before using those terms here, by web search, was unsuccessful; they seem to be more or less synonyms, but perhaps not in all possible cases, so I'd be thankful for an expert to inform us of the minute differences in use of both (I suppose it's a "case" thing).

As for "viable tag M", "M" being "management", in all my posts (as "IM" is "information M" and "IMS" being "IM system"), but here, I just wanted to express that of course, a VERY basic condition for ANY tagging system should be to be able to (easily) combine tags not only in applicating them, but then again, when constituting any "collections" / "items' sub-groups" by combining them. (I'm even quite sure that in SOME way or another, that might be able in RN 3, but then, I asked for HOW to do this, explicitely in outlinersw forum, and, implicitely, here, but without getting any answer, and even IF it's possible in RN, it certainly is absolutely awful.)

Re clones: There's an "official" term for it used by some author, but which I quickly forgot; my today's synonym search for "clone" didn't bring it even (but brought "mimeo" which I kind of like). Again, the real prob doesn't lie in the term, but in its application:

Most outliners, once you clone an item, will NOT distinguish anymore between the "original" and the "clones", whilst conceptually, there should be an (updatable) difference, and which I call "natural parent" and "adoptive parent" - name it as you like, but it's evident any item in a tree hierarchy should have a "natural/main context", and then, perhaps multiple, "additional contexts" - and be it only for avoidance-of-recursion reasons: btw, I mentioned this problem within a discussion of InfoQube in the outlinerswforum, where the developer of IQ, Pierre Paul Landry, suberbly said (I'm citing from memory), "IQ allows for recursion"... when in fact, recursion is a PROBLEM of IM, and which has to be avoided/contained, and certainly not a feature of IM (development illac ;-) ).

102

General Software Discussion / Re: RightNote version 3.0.0 released

« on: January 26, 2014, 01:27 PM »

tomos, it will - but that' not the prob.

SOME people here mix up "keywords" / additional tags within an otherwise hierarchical data repository, and a tagging system (treed or not, and where such a contextual data hierarchy simply is not there) - these are two different worlds, conceptually. All about trees and tags in the outlinersoftware forum (whilst my very first musings about the difference in paradigm was here, in a discussion with Paul, some year ago).

So some current Surfulater users might be in for a shock if they really try to switch to NextGen (and if Neville does away with the non-tag tree indeed). For the casual reader who's not willing to delve into details: Just consider that today's tagging systems do not allow for "manual sort" of the items to be found in some tag tree subtree, whilst in outliners you do manually sort siblings in order to give them more "meaning", more "accessability", in a word/term, "natural order for current context", and of course, for some 20 or 30 such siblings, and for serious / efficient work, that's an important criterion for your data repository.

And yes, for SOME, very specific data collections, tags are best (here again, details in outlinersoftware.com).

But tag trees try to overcome the above-mentioned endless-keywords-lists probs, but try to apply the tagging concept to stuff that had better be put into a tree, with clones. Here again, for the casual reader: Tags are best for traditional db items, i.e. stuff that sometimes is considered in "collections", to compare, but which is treated "one-by-one"; whilst "tree stuff" is data that has to be "combined" to be useful, be it combinations of items(' partial content) in order to create additional items, or be it "just" for your "consideration", and your decision-making: Here, as I have developed illic, the "manually sorted context" of the tree concept (whilst subject to necessary amendmend, I perfectly acknowledge that (keyword here: in current realizations, no variants in sorting for different contexts, let alone subgroups / easy combination variants)) should be preferred.

Current RightNote neither has clones, nor has it viable tag M, so it's not good for anything, considering its bug make it doesn't even have working Boolean search. But there certainly will be a version 4, much better than the current one.

IM is about making available anything possibly relevant info in an optimized way, and without the (academic or corporate) user going crazy in the process, i.e. complexity reduction, yes, but not to the point of leaving relevant things out; and in tagging systems for academic stuff, it's the poverty of the tool that then triggers unnecessary manual, additional work "on arrival" - dont mix up neatness and primitiveness. Join me illac, and let's see if we can find some improvement of either concept together.

103

General Software Discussion / Re: RightNote version 3.0.0 released

« on: January 25, 2014, 07:47 AM »

"Well, I'll add some RightNote love, to balance out the negative views."

Add love where you want if there's a chance for it to be returned to you, but don't call facts "views".

104

General Software Discussion / Re: AHK / Autohotkey / Auto Hotkey tutorial for absolute beginners

« on: January 25, 2014, 07:40 AM »

VERY IMPORTANT ADDITION

The tutorial above mentions the "autoexec section" two times, but it's very important to clearly identify that section, in order to not run into probs since AHK "allows" for very sloppy programming/scripting, i.e. it doesn't notify that when loading the script, but you'll have to work it out afterwards, often without knowing where the error might lie.

So, first you'll have the auto execute section (aes) "à proprement parler", i.e. the one you THINK is the aes.

Then you do the menus (if you have any), which also belong to the aes. (Here, it's very important to list the sub-menus BEFORE the respective parent menus, in order for AHK to "find" them. This is worth mentioning since logic and "script beauty" would ask otherwise.)

Menu example:

Menu, File Managers, add, &SC 25, speedcommander25
Menu, File Managers, add, &TC, totalcommander
; and so on

This is then the real end of the aes (or that is what you think).

Then you do the labels, example:

speedcommander25:
   run, "C:\Programme\SpeedProject\SpeedCommander 25\SpeedCommander.exe"
   return

So this is the very first element of the "persistent" (= continuously running) part of your script
( see above:
; #Persistent : not necessary here since this script is persistent anyway because it contains hotkey assignments
) - or so you think.

Similar with key assignment and such, as for example

a:: send, Some Text to appear in the currently active applic

Now, the AHK help http://www.autohotke...com/docs/Scripts.htm says,

"The Top of the Script (the Auto-execute Section)
After the script has been loaded, it begins executing at the top line, continuing until a Return, Exit, hotkey/hotstring label, or the physical end of the script is encountered (whichever comes first). This top portion of the script is referred to as the auto-execute section."

Now, with VERY careful reading, you could indeed deduct from this that the above label is NOT included in what the help file says here, but it's exactly such "you must read it oh so carefully up to the finest details" AHK "help" file style that makes the fortune of paid macro tool developers; I did never grasp that detail in two years of AHK with thousands of lines in my scripts, and it wasn't at the moment that very first program was NOT loaded automatically anymore from the little and highly recommendable tool

"Startup Control Panel 2.8 by Mike Lin"

that I became aware of my having done something wrong, since any (first or re-) loading of my main AHK script loaded that very program, again and again, anyway. I then "out-commented" that very first label, and now, the second label was executed for every script loading, and here I grasped my error...

I have to say that I had put all my key assignments BELOW my labels; if I had it done the other way round, the problem would not have arisen.

Now, you will do this, in order to avoid any such fuss:

- Have your "real" autoexecute section

- Then, have your possible menus (which you want to be available anytime)

- Then, in any case (with menus or not before), insert these lines into your script:


; End of autoexec section (return) (or any other comment to remind you)
return


- then, do labels, key assignments, etc., etc., in every which order you want

Some very important details ain't obvious in AHK; it's important to list them in any intro. Sorry for sharing this one so late.

105

General Software Discussion / Re: RightNote version 3.0.0 released

« on: January 25, 2014, 07:04 AM »

I'm not flooding the web with RightNote "hate", but since RN is described here, I'll have my word.

Switching from Ultra Recall to RightNote (as J-Mac has done) seems a little bit excentric.

Some details have been given by J-Mac above, and here's some other stuff:

http://www.outliners...htnote-total-rubbish

Of course that false dichotomy was for fun (both elements), but Rael should do something about the issues with his very uneven prog, and fast.

106

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Code Sector software 50% off through January 7, 2014

« on: January 14, 2014, 02:31 PM »

"This is not a usual request, however it can be done in Listary Options - By
Window Type: Select the application, and then uncheck "Find as you type"."

Channing even replied to some real dumb questions of mine (in fact, the forum is for users asking and for Channing to reply, in reality, no real "community" there) so I have to be thankful for that, but he will not answer questions addressing real problems with the sw - perhaps it's a question of pride or such, and he addresses those problems secretely, then - at least I hope so.

In my case, it was not possible to have his program NOT to interfere with anything I did, and do, so I had to deinstall it in order to regain control over my system. I should have tried the free version first, instead of buying. In fact, this programs intervenes in many more applications than it says it does, and this means that just deselecting programs from the Listary list will NOT do any good for programs that ain't even listed there to begin with.

It's been a quite terrible experience, all the more so since you cannot stop it from displaying lots of unwanted entries from "anywhere" even in programs where you'd just want it to display "hits" from the "immediate vicinity" (e.g. the current folder), and thus it creates "chaos lists", instead of just presenting just the hits you're looking for, and things are neither arranged by this awful, very intrusive red color nor by the fact that additional window overlays exactly the relevant file commander pane, hiding the entries there, instead of appearing elsewhere (e.g. on the opposite pane of a two-pane file manager).

Overall, it's totally functional, but those functions are intruding when you don't need them, and the visuals might be considered "very cute" by a 10-year-old girl.

I spiced up my file commanders with ahk scriptlets instead, and for "global search" I (rarely) use "Search Everything" (which is free and just appears whenever I really need it, not in 10 hours of my 12-14 hours work day).

Channing, if you read this, it's okay you're really proud of your tool, but make it a little bit more discrete, both by its function and by its visuals, nobody wants a green (or in this case, red) alien popping up and sitting on his desk almost all the time when trying to do serious work.

107

General Software Discussion / Re: AHK / Autohotkey / Auto Hotkey tutorial for absolute beginners

« on: January 14, 2014, 01:49 PM »

Contro, I never said the scriptlet was for downloading, it's for visioning those vids YT deems to be unsuitable for you if you don't "register" with them.

As for downloading YT vids, I unfortunately don't know how to automatically fetch the "best quality", and which in the case of music would NOT be the "first on the list" of "best available" in standard YT downloaders: you get even better music quality with often MUCH less file size, e.g. when the "video" just shows the lp sleeve (or a turntable) anyway, with the alternative format.

Btw, the scriptlet was meant for showing people how to integrate little, basic scriplets into their main script, and how to write such little tools on their own (where the basic steps to automate by ahk are KNOWN by a standard pc user, which is obviously not the case with downloading from YT), AND to show people how to process strings in ahk, since that is not totally obvious in ahk, but it's a core element of that language you will need again and again for any such little automation task.

I deliberately used 2 different variables, not only one (which would have been possible, but which would have made it rather inscrutable for "beginners"), but I also deliberately used the combination of TWO string processing functions in ONE line, in order to teach "beginners" how to combine them, and of course, I presume that "beginners" will google for both of them "ahk nameoffunction()", and scrutinize them both in order to "understand" the combination, and that will be then of big help for any such task, even if they ask for other such text processing function combos.

So the scriptlet was published for educative purposes within the context of this ahk intro (and btw, the info how to arrange the target within the target url can be found in the web, the scriptlet just automates this).

For downloading YT vids, many free add-ins both for FF and for Chrome exist, but this being said, if somebody gave me the "internals", i.e. the info how to identify the available different audio/visual quality settings offered by YT for any given vid, I'd be happy to share the corresponding ahk scriptlet I would then write for my purposes.

108

General Software Discussion / Re: AHK / Autohotkey / Auto Hotkey tutorial for absolute beginners

« on: January 06, 2014, 04:57 PM »

Grown-ups will find a fine AHK scriptlet example in order to tame Youtube legal guardian attitudes.

You're under 18? Be a good boy/girl, and don't follow this link!:

http://www.outliners...251/0/into-the-night

109

General Software Discussion / NoteScribe or An extraordinary example of how not to market software

« on: December 07, 2013, 04:00 PM »

(I shifted this post from the "bury your software here" sub-forum.)

I revive this 5-year-old thread since I wanted to see reviews for it. Now they got a redactional "review" from PCWorld, and a user review on CNet (no, not mine), both 5 years old, and the user told them the awful dark tree background had to be done with - no reaction to this in 5 years; they've got 13 screen shots on their websites, 5 years later, and every one of them makes you wish to flee - this software's gui is incredibly ugly - which is probably a shame since it has much functionality, of which many cannot be found elsewhere in that combination. But of course, developers "so bad in looks" should better listen when kind people give them some design advice, no?

And what about having changed the db engine, in 5 years? No info on that (that I would have found at least).

And then, why did I search for a review on it in the first place? Because they had had the chuzpe to more or less ask a review from Prof. Kühn, in his famed takingnotenow blog, and said he might download a trial from their website for this.

Of course, my immediate, spontaneous reaction to this was thinking, are those people nuts? I think that if you want a review on a blog that will give your product lots of exposure, the most basic thing on earth would be to offer a free version to the blogger, instead of inviting him to download himself a trial one.

Some people are so bad in marketing (incl. not listening to the only real reviewer in five years they've got) that their lack of success cannot be but worded as "they buried it deliberately".

I'm writing this in order to kindly invite other developers to learn from this exorbitant example in what-not-to-do.

And oh, yes, they rose the price from 22 to 50 $, but that's not the problem at all.

But allow for my shifting this post into the general software forum, since, as said, it is meant as a general example.

110

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Notescribe not taking software - request for reviews

« on: December 07, 2013, 03:54 PM »

Shifted elsewhere.

111

General Software Discussion / Re: delete some space in every page of a pdf file

« on: October 24, 2013, 04:20 PM »

Contro, you're always asking for some, more or less dedicated, tool. Now you must start to get acquainted with the idea, I think, that there will be no other way than to lern a scripting language, like AHK, AI or one of the paid ones, and then script your own "tools", which might imply some 10 or 25 lines (not counting the braces, in AHK).

There is a decisive difference between cheap, bad macro tools, and the better ones (even macro tools costing 40, 50, 50 dollars are valid contenders here): The better ones (and all the scripting languages, of course) permit the analysis of what formerly you brought into the clipboard, then the script, by control-c. So wherever you are able to do such a copy of text parts (and of course the selection of text, beforehand), script languages, or the better ones of the macro tools, can check for the content, and act accordingly to this content, i.e. to elements of it, in the way of "if whole string contains abc, then do x, else if it contains bcd, then do y", and so on.

There is a lot of fun in running such little scriptlets, since you become aware you are able of "programming": It's very satisfying to see the computer do things for you, at last, instead of just using it, "manually", in a kind of "typewriter" setting, not getting out of it anything else than more erudite third parties set it up to do for you.

Then, you could publish 25 lines of script here, complaining, but it doesn't do this or that yet, and people who do such a script in 8 minutes, would be happy to guide you to the tiny element you will have overlooked.

And a last word. Many people here ain't "native (English) speakers", but we all try to learn from the native speakers' (presumed) correct English, and that's why most non-native speakers here would not write something like "Is not edit." in their 1,525th post anymore.

112

General Software Discussion / Re: SOLVED Some knowledge about folder symbols?

« on: September 14, 2013, 07:06 AM »

If individual icon assignments are done very differently from type assignments, both can be changed very easily, or then, buy some 30 dollars tool as I did not.

113

General Software Discussion / SOLVED Some knowledge about folder symbols?

« on: September 04, 2013, 02:19 PM »

I kindly ask for some knowledge about folder symbols some experts here might have; I'm going to trial some tools and am very willing to share my experience with them afterwards, it's just I don't have any knowledge on this subject yet, so I hope to better adjust my approach with some additional info.

There are some tools; one free tool just has got the same (closed) folder symbol we all know, in just a few (ugly) colors; I would need many more, and especially, many more (and brighter) colors for that same symbol. It seems there are many symbol collections out there, both free and paid, so the question here would be, in what format such symbol should / would have to be imported into the tool, in order to be as tiny and without problems as possible.

Then, there is a paid tool in two versions, where the free (or cheaper) one just replaces your folder symbols on your current system, but not for any use, for example by usb stick, on another pc (where the symbols of the folders in question you might have re-colored before, would then revert to the original yellow).

Of course, this intrigues me, not because I want just buy the cheaper version but have the functionality of the more expensive one, but because I would like to understand what's going on.

Of course, I know I can replace folder symbols by delving into the right-click menu, without buying any tool for this, but here again, the question arises if such a replacement will only work on the current pc, in light of what can be concluded by the different versions of the above-mentioned tool.

Why such replacements (other symbol and/or just other color) would not be persistent to begin with? What does Windows do with such symbols, meaning does it process them in any way, instead of just displaying them?

Of course, we have the problem here with two concurrent folder symbols, closed and open; I don't assume I would be able to use them both, I just would be happy to have the "closed" symbol, but in as many different colors as I need them.

And if Windows does indeed some processing of such folder symbols, the question arises if this processing is different between my XP, Vista, 7 and now 8.

And finally, it would be of interest to know if such new symbols work invariably in any file commander or if, depending on the file manager in question, you should be up for bad surprises, again, in case, because of some special processing the layman would not expect to be done behind the scenes.

That's why I greatly would appreciate some more info, also perhaps by links I didn't find (yet) on my own.

114

General Software Discussion / Re: How to get rid of underlined entries in Q-Dir

« on: August 02, 2013, 11:10 AM »

This is perhaps even a better way to answer my initial question:

- How comes every entry in Windows Explorer is underlined, and how to get rid of that?

- And perhaps then do similar for Q-Dir, or even, with step 1 this problem should already have been solved altogether, since Q-Dir is said to mimick Explorer as far as it is possible, so it might get / actively fetch some settings from it.

SOLVED:
Well, that was the right idea. I changed the "Folders Display Settings" within Explorer, and that got me rid of underlined entries within Q-Dir, too.

115

General Software Discussion / Re: How to get rid of underlined entries in Q-Dir

« on: August 02, 2013, 09:44 AM »

I am not even sure it is a bug, it could be a "feature", since in the Windows Explorer it's likewise, but not in any of paid file managers, and as my screenshot shows, it is horrible.

116

General Software Discussion / SOLVED: How to get rid of underlined entries in Q-Dir

« on: August 02, 2013, 07:15 AM »

For Q-Dir, there is a common problem with partial underlining, depending on the settings for "compute directory size". This problem is addressed wherever you search for "Q-Dir underline".

I am NOT speaking of this particular problem. I am speaking of the GENERAL problem that EVERY entry in Q-Dir is underlined FULL-LENGTH in my system (XP) where every other file manager I bought does NOT underline these entries, be it folders or files.

Of course I asked the developer, but he did not respond, just deleted my question from his blog, and there is no answer to my question world-wide, and it goes without saying that I spent HOURS with trying to get rid of this underlining.

So I would delete this Q-Dir shidt from my system, was it not for its being able to display 4 (!) different folders simultaneously, which is not possible with any of my expensive, paid file managers.

Hence my question here how to get rid of general underlining of every entry, folder or file, in Q-Dir.

Thank you!

Do you know other web sites where I could post such a question? I already did on superuser.com, but don't know any other.