Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
SQLNotes...what is it exactly?
Armando:
A bunch of questions and/or suggestions:
UI related :
- Is there an option for the “refreshing rate” of the UI? I wonder if SQLNotes could refresh grids more often — e.g.: every time an item is moved, changed, etc. I know one can press F5, but at first I didn’t know I HAD to and I didn’t understand why, for example, the “grid tab” said “(5)” when there were only 4 items in the grid.
- In the little video demo of SQLNotes, you show how the detailed texts (HTML, I guess) of your items appear inside the hierarchy, as a “normal” outlined text… That’s really nice. How do you do that?
- Can one “force” SQLNotes to save the UI exactly as it is EACH time it exits and then restore it EXACTLY as it was on startup? Right now, all my “grid tabs” are closed except for one on restore, and I’d like to have all of them opened as they were when I exited SQLNotes.
- Sometimes, I switch items but the html editor displays the same data, a bit like if it was stuck. For example, it’s “title” will say something like “HTML: blabla (ID=17)” and will remain like that, whatever the select item. Why? Some related questions :
* How is the HTML “field” (I’m not even sure how to call it because it’s one of those “special fields”) treated and linked to the items : is it like an independent but “linked” item, or is it really an inherent part of the item?
* Could the HTML field be shown in someway in the “properties” pane ? so that if there’s something in it, it shows somewhere, even if the HTML pane is not opened.
- Shouldn’t the AlphaNumeric and Date filter toolbars be added to the “toolbars selection menu” (when one right clicks on a toolbar)?
* Related to that… In the “View” menu, there could be a “toolbars” option where we can select the toolbars to display. I know that it’s possible to right click on the toolbars, but it would just add to the ease if use, IMO
- It’s possible to customize keyboard shortcuts by right clicking on a toolbar and selecting “customize. I think that this “Customize” option should be added to the “tools” menu.
- I’d like to have a “Save” feature/option in the “file” menu (not only “save as”). So if I want to save, I can… Even if I’ve set it to save every minute! :)
- It would be great to be able to set/have/save different views for the same Grid (a bit like Outlook “views”)
- It would be nice to be able to dock the image viewer like other panes (property, HTML…) and have the images appear beside the HTML pane, or autohide for instance… (it can really get in the way otherwise).
* Also, related to the image viewer, a feature to set the "resizing mode" of the picture (according to the windows width or height, or to even keep the original size) would be great.
Others :
- Could the html pane use… MS Word as a word processor, as an option ??? Oh my god, that would be sooooooo nice… That might be completely impossible though. :-[
- I find that SQLNotes is always using bewteen 2-9% CPU (I’ve got a core duo 1.8 ghz) when it’s opened, even if it’s not being used… Why is that? It’s a pretty high value for an app that’s just sitting the background. too high for my taste anyway.
- The “show picture” feature in the “view” menu could have the option of always resize pictures to fit certain dimensions (and it the dimensions should be pretty small by default because it can really become unusabe if one has big pictures in there)
Ok... that was maybe too long -- and long to write!!!! Next time I should probably just phone you Pierre...???
Armando:
OK, last contribution for today…
I mean, do you guys see how powerful this program is? It's like I'm creating my own mini-programs here. I bet there is someone out there selling some kind of transcript software.
-superboyac (January 11, 2008, 01:03 PM)
--- End quote ---
I really share that love for SQLNotes. In my case, I really have to fight against my inner geek to not start using it more. And the reason for that is that it would be a bit suicidal to move my data from Outlook to SQLNotes now…. because I rely so much on my palm. I still need Outlook, UNFORTUNATELY. :(
I told Pierre that the palm syncing thing was primordial to me (so is the calendar…), and so is the transfer of all of my Outlook data.
I think that the most important things now to have more people trying SQLNotes (and see all its huge potential -- literally) are:
1- In time, A better manual/- a good helpfile + even MORE tooltips (for columns, etc.). SQLNotes is not yet exactly that... “intuitive”… Remember, superboyac : at the beginning you said that you couldn’t “get your head around it”...
So… The “getting started” page is a good… start… I like it, but I’m sure that there are still some basic and important questions that should soon be answered about data manipulation. Like:
* Where's the data when it's not in the grids and how to populate the grids with that "invisible" data ? (An “empty” search shows all items in the data base… but…)
* What’s the searching syntax all about ? I know its probably SQL syntax — which I admit I don’t know much about… but, eventually, a little guide for the user will be a big +. And also, some more prefabricated syntax suggestions in a drop down menu.
* How does one use the pivot tables (a very simple, “walk through”, guide… like : 1- right click on the “empty” pivot chart, 2- select “Field List”, etc.)
* What does that mean exactly (in the "getting started guide") : "the basic concept is to arrange pieces of information (items) using a tree outline, put these items into folders and assign values.” Which folders ? Personally, I don’t see folders anywhere.
Or some UI related questions like :
* How do you "reactivate" some special toolbars if you make them disappear by mistake ? (I'm thinking of the "menu tool bars", like the "View" --> "Grids " tool bar – I now know that you can drag menus and create new toolbars, but… I mention this one because it really took me a while to find out how to restore that damn tool bar I "deleted" by mistake :( )
Etc.
I believe that these minor but important additions to the "getting started guide" will help.
2- Better import of Outlook or ____ (fill with your favorite app’s name) data in SQLNotes (I’m mentioning Outlook because it’s still a pretty popular choice… and I use it everyday :) ),
3- Less stability issues. OK, it's generally pretty stable, but certain things will just crash it. Some examples of what crashed it this morning (I know I've just been somewhat unlucky -- it's never been like that before... I mean, it'S a bit like if I did all the "wrong" things ;D):
* mix of shortcut keys and other UI configurations : an hour ago I pressed ctrl+alt+1 (and then I also tried all other 1-9 numbers) and it crashed SQLNotes. (Pierre : I think I now know what’s doing it : if you remove the Grid “menu toolbar”, SQLNotes won’t be happy about it.
* I wanted to see the “itemHTML” field in my Grid, and the app froze (maybe because it was trying to display in the grid something that was to “big”???? Don’t know)
* I wanted to move an item to another Grid (by drag and drop) and I got a “Runtime error ’94’ Invalid use of Null. I was then able to achieve the same thing by enabling the right field in the "properties" pane/window.
* Some times, when the panes are docked to the right, a weird thing happens :
Resizing the “blank pane” or trying to make it disappear will eventually crash the application.
When SQLNotes crashes, some data just disappears from the grids, and customized columns (and UI customizations in general) usually disappear too… I know it's not all necessarily gone for ever (especially the data), but it can be a bit traumatizing when you don't know where it's all gone and how to get it back.
For now, I’m sure these crashes could discourage someone with a busy schedule… :) It’s still beta software though, so it’s normal to have stability issues.
4- Some other important (and soon coming, I know) features like a good calendar, gantt charting and easy tagging will be major attractions.
Another suggestion (I just thought about that while writing) : I wonder if grid could be displayed as a kind of folder hierarchy. So we could also group grids according to themes, etc. What do you think?
Armando:
Pierre : Ok… Last last comments... (I hope you find these useful :-[)
about the « tagging” feature. I think that this "terminology" can be a bit misleading . But it might well be just MY OWN misunderstanding.
This is how you explain the tagging option:
The Tagged list: Tagging items is a bit like selecting items. Except that they remain tagged until you explicitly un-tag them. Many operations can be performed using selected items or tagged items.
--- End quote ---
....I still don’t really get all you can do with what you call “tagging”. It seems to me that tagging in SQLNotes is more like linking or even bookmarking. (If so, couldn’t you change the “tag” term by something like “bookmark” or "Link" ? IMO, it’s more a bookmarking feature than a tagging one. Bookmarking-tagging something could also be shown by an asterisk beside the Item #, or a color change, or even HAVE ITS OWN FIELD... Right now, I believe it appears only in the properties pane, as somekind of special “non-dragable to the grid” field.)
As for “web 2.0” style tagging (like the “book index” metaphor I mentioned earlier in this thread... or somewhere else), will that be implemented in a way that’s more directly usable?
Yes, the present “category” field allows tagging in a broad sense (as would any field used for that purpose, in fact), but the categories inserted there form a “sentence” so to speak and each term is not inherently differentiated (to allow proper sorting and complex manipulations).
For example : in Outlook, by inserting “;” between terms in the category window or field, you get clearly diffentiated terns/categories. Then :
- “Items-tasks-events” can be dragged dropped from one category (or tag) to another when viewed in a “grid”
- “Items-tasks-events” can be clearly sorted according to each individual tag term,
- users can also choose tags in a list that’s updated everytime a new category/tag is created -- so that (for example) a theme is not tagged differently multiple times,
- etc.
I’m pretty sure that there are already ways to do some of that… I just don’t know how (I don't fully understand all the field's parameter).
(BTW : I think EverNote has created one of the finest categorizing/tagging system. Tag2find’s one is also pretty neat.)
PPLandry:
Wow Armando, you a all or nothing kind of guy. It will take me a few hours to digest (and reply) to all that you wrote. :Thmbsup:
If I could summarize in one word, it would be : Yes (to all you said)... but I'll respond one by one later on!
PPLandry:
Attention all... I created a Wikipedia page to explain what SQLNotes is. The page is not very different from pages of numerous other software.
However for some reason (I know very little about Wikipedia rules/regulations), it has been marked as proposed for deletions in 3 days. One reason given is that only one person contributed... hence the appeal to all to add to the page. Thanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sqlnotes
p.s. grap a reference of what you write (and put it ironically into SQLNotes if you wish) in case the deletion is eventually done.
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