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526

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy Pre Release

« Last post by daddydave on September 20, 2010, 11:29 AM »

Here's my quick idea:
We could also use 2 special characters to seperate a part:

-DeVamp (September 20, 2010, 08:08 AM)

Isn't whitespace special enough to indicate it is a new part? Looking at your examples, you seem to suggest that a doubled character be required to signal that a part is out of sequence. But there is no such thing as out of sequence in TaskDaddy. You can specify the parts in any order.

Admittedly I kind of asked for this, I gave up on finding the cure for the general problem as the only cures I could come up with were worse than the disease.

527

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy Pre Release

« Last post by daddydave on September 20, 2010, 10:02 AM »

For the colons:
My first idea:
As it is programmed now, we need to use 2 colons to keep 1:

@Stuff New stuff 2 #01/11/2010 the stuff @important_stuff hupla, do stuff @stiff_this even more stuff :: todostuff

gives
... even more stuff : todostuff

-DeVamp (September 20, 2010, 08:08 AM)

Hadn't thought of that, but you're right, and that's pretty consistent with what I'm doing with categories and the @@. In that case it kind of happens automatically without any special programming, but I could extend that to make it so that ## creates a subject that starts with #.

(I've never understood why to use a '@' in front of a category, so I don't use them)

Still processing the rest of what you said, but I will address this. The @ in the category name, is basically fan service to David Allen's Getting Things Done book and method. Someone could use the @ symbol for categories that refer to GTD contexts, and use some other naming convention for regular categories or GTD projects.

One more thing:
I'm assuming you parse the string from left to right, but since I have no idea how you programmed it, I'm may be wrong.
BUT:
in ex1, after you've parsed the Subject, you know that you already have a subject, so I would assume the rest is automatically body, and then you have to parse the "body" for dates and categories and remove then from the body.

EDIT: True on the first part about parsing left to right, but as for the second part:

Nope, at no time are dates or categories part of the body. All TaskDaddy does is look at the first character of each word. If it's @, we have a category. If it's #, we have a due date. If it's a :, it's a body. If it's anything else unadorned, it has to decide whether to add it to the subject or the body (this bit is a bit clunky, if you look in TaskDaddyCore.au3 source attached in the original post, you will see kind of a funky DecideSubjectOrBody function)

the ugly code (some of it)

Code: AutoIt [Select]

1. For $I = 1 To $MyArgs[0]
2.                 Switch StringLeft($MyArgs[$I], 1)
3.                         Case "@"
4.                                 If $Subject <> "" Then $GotSubject = True
5.                                 If $Categories <> "" Then $Categories = $Categories & ","
6.                                 $Categories = $Categories & StringRight($MyArgs[$I], StringLen($MyArgs[$I]) - 1)
7.                         Case "#"
8.                                 If $Subject <> "" Then $GotSubject = True
9.                                 $DueDate = StringRight($MyArgs[$I], StringLen($MyArgs[$I]) - 1)
10.                         Case ":"
11.                                 If $Subject <> "" Then $GotSubject = True
12.                                 $Body = $Body & " " & StringRight($MyArgs[$I], StringLen($MyArgs[$I]) - 1)
13.                         Case "?"
14.  
15.                                 If $GotSubject = False Then
16.                                         $Subject = StringRight($MyArgs[$I], StringLen($MyArgs[$I]) - 1)
17.  
18.                                         $Importance = $olImportanceLow
19.                                 Else
20.  
21.                                         DecideSubjectOrBody($MyArgs[$I], $GotSubject, $Subject, $Body)
22.                                 EndIf
23.                         Case "!"
24.  
25.                                 If $GotSubject = False Then
26.  
27.                                         $Subject = StringRight($MyArgs[$I], StringLen($MyArgs[$I]) - 1)
28.                                         $Importance = $olImportanceHigh
29.                                 Else
30.  
31.                                         DecideSubjectOrBody($MyArgs[$I], $GotSubject, $Subject, $Body)
32.                                 EndIf
33.                         Case Else
34.                                 DecideSubjectOrBody($MyArgs[$I], $GotSubject, $Subject, $Body)
35.                 EndSwitch
36.         Next

528

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy Pre Release

« Last post by daddydave on September 20, 2010, 07:07 AM »

Personally I had in mind that while the body can be determined after the due date, it wouldn't check for a colon in the text and just take it all :-)

-DeVamp (September 20, 2010, 05:18 AM)

But then it would miss the second category here:

@Stuff New stuff 2 #01/11/2010 the stuff @Project_Stuffy : hupla

and the due date here:

@Stuff New stuff 2 @Project_Stuffy the stuff  : hupla #01/11/2010

But I am open to suggestions if you see a way out without requiring the parts of the task to be in a certain order.

It's just that I find the result strange:
You check for a colon to split the title and the body, but you still return the whole part after the due date. And not just the part after the colon.

I had in mind the user may want to specify multiple body fragments, just as the user may want to specify multiple categories. (Multiple due dates don't make sense obviously, probably I didn't check for this. Hmmm)

I need a little time to think about this, because you are raising a point which I had not thought of, which is a good thing.  

Actually there is a general problem to be solved here that I would very much like to solve..how to allow special characters to be non-special without cluttering up the syntax..for example what if I want a subject that starts with #? I thought about allowing something like a backslash..

But who wants to type:

\#This is not a due date just a weird subject @@Test
@Stuff New stuff 2 #01/11/2010 the stuff \: hupla

Yuck.

529

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy Pre Release

« Last post by daddydave on September 20, 2010, 06:45 AM »

a farr alias for TaskDaddy would be nice.

-mouser (September 20, 2010, 05:09 AM)

Mouser, could you elaborate on this a bit more? It seems to me that after the first time you launch TaskDaddy using, say, td, then the next time I punch in td, it is going to go to TaskDaddy anyway, so why the need for an alias?

530

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy Pre Release

« Last post by daddydave on September 20, 2010, 04:40 AM »

@Stuff New stuff 2 #01/11/2010 the stuff : hupla

The colon is removed by design, it is just a trigger to indicate that the word that follows is part of the body. Just like the # is removed from the due date. The first part of the body is "the stuff" and the second part is " hupla".

Notice that if you use the colon in normal English* way, without a precediing space (afaik in other languages, too), the colon is not treated specially. So for example, you can say

@Stuff New stuff 2 #01/11/2010 the stuff: hupla

and TaskDaddy will do the right thing and make "the stuff: hupla" the body including the colon.


And as you probably know, the stuff is considered part of the body on the basis that the due date ends the task subject.

------snip

@@Home Dust ceiling fan #1/31/2010 turn off fan first

Since the due date “interrupts” the task subject, the task subject is considered complete and TaskDaddy deduces that any remaining unmarked text is the subject body, in spite of not including the colon. Task body deduction is the only time the order of the task attributes matters.

However, there is no harm in including the colon every time you specify a task body.

------end snip

Is this good enough or are you requesting it to be interpreted differently?



* On further reflection, I think I learned this in typing class and not in English class, so I am not sure if it is a grammar rule or not.

531

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy Pre Release

« Last post by daddydave on September 19, 2010, 10:50 PM »

I have uploaded a new version of TaskDaddy and I am calling it a pre-release. Here are the changes made:

• Fixed label wrapping bug.
• Fixed duplicate GUI window bug.
• "Skip" and "Cancel All" buttons added to the GUI window when confirming individual tasks in file input (using /f and /p).
• Blank lines now ignored when using file input.
• Help file completely reorganized and rewritten, some of the changes include (1) the command line interface de-emphasized; (2) removal of screenshots with old name LaserTask, including the examples of command line use within shortcuts; and (3) removal of version number from help file.

Mouser has generously provided hosting and a subdomain for TaskDaddy, which I am starting to do something with, finally. I just posted the helpfile in the HTML/Javascript for now, converted for the web by CHMDecoder. I don't much care for the navigation tree being invisible without Javascript, and it inherits a lot of Word artifacts from my new system of using Word documents to generate CHM files. chmProcessor has an option to output files for the web too, but overall I like the CHMDecoder look better.  I may end up doing something different like save the Word doc to HTML directly and try to tidy it up. Here is the link:

http://daddydave.dcmembers.com

532

Living Room / Re: Does Flash or java make websites suck?

« Last post by daddydave on September 18, 2010, 10:14 AM »

I had a rant about this issue earlier. Unfortunately, it's in Turkish. And saying Google translate sucks in Turkish to English translations would be a compliment.

-eleman (September 18, 2010, 08:09 AM)

Thanks for taking the time to summarize your main points in English. You've nailed the main problems with Flash.

533

Living Room / Re: Oh, shift!

« Last post by daddydave on September 17, 2010, 12:43 PM »

 

534

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Poll To Help Decide Mouser's App

« Last post by daddydave on September 17, 2010, 12:09 PM »

Originally I voted based on the fact that I have neither a touchpad nor a webcam, so logically (and selfishly) I chose the Workout tool and the Card and Board Robot . However the "Webcam Recording/Diary Utility" sounds like a great way for parents to make a video scrapbook of their kids as they are growing up, so I changed my Workout/Exercise vote to the Webcam one.

535

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy

« Last post by daddydave on September 17, 2010, 11:27 AM »

so you will not see a new version [of the help file] in the next release as of yet.

-daddydave (September 10, 2010, 07:16 AM)

Changed my mind. I will not make any dramatic changes yet, but I do want to make some slight structural improvements. I am no longer using KEL's CHM Creator, I am using chmProcessor which has some minor UI quirks (it is in alpha) but I am finding it almost too good to be true. You can write your help files as a Word DOC and it will compile them to a Windows helpfile, with hyperlinks intact. And it's free as in kittens and free as in open source.

536

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy

« Last post by daddydave on September 17, 2010, 11:15 AM »

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions, AzureToad and DeVamp!

Now I can't remember if I documented it (I'm in the process of rewriting the help file), but if you begin a task subject (title)with the ! character, it makes it high priority and if you begin with the ? character, it makes it low priority.

I agree 100% on the #today, #tomorrow, #+3 idea. Remember the Milk does something like this, IIRC. The due dates get passed to Outlook as is, so I tested it just now hoping it would just work the same way Outlook does, unfortunately it doesn't. I will look into it. Thanks!

537

General Software Discussion / Re: IE 9 and Flash 64bit betas

« Last post by daddydave on September 16, 2010, 03:02 PM »

A 64 bit Adobe Flash for Windows? Wow, I had given up waiting...

Now I just have to wait for 64-bit silverlight, lol.

538

General Software Discussion / Re: extracting info from pdf

« Last post by daddydave on September 14, 2010, 03:24 PM »

I should add I have experiemented with freeware tools to convert PDFs to HTML (a potential intermediate format for Word), but the results were abysmal so I don't really recommend that.

539

General Software Discussion / Re: extracting info from pdf

« Last post by daddydave on September 14, 2010, 03:09 PM »

Oh, and the reason why I chose Able2Extract over Nuance at the time - pre-test, as it happened - was because Nuance directed me to their UK shop, where they translate $US into £UK one-to-one.  I might have missed a slightly better program, but they missed my business through greed and taking UK residents for fools.

-rjbull (September 14, 2010, 02:52 PM)

Ah...got it. Yes, I did wonder about that, thanks for clarifying.

540

General Software Discussion / Re: extracting info from pdf

« Last post by daddydave on September 13, 2010, 07:45 PM »

I believe the $100 PRO version is needed if .XPS must be included.

-Curt (September 13, 2010, 06:33 PM)

Then why does the web site say otherwise? I quoted directly from the description of the $49.99 product. At any rate, the original poster said nothing about XPS.

541

General Software Discussion / Re: extracting info from pdf

« Last post by daddydave on September 13, 2010, 03:53 PM »

Sweet. The test was with the free version of Able2Extract, I take it?

-daddydave (September 13, 2010, 03:11 PM)

I didn't see any free version of Able2Extract when I went to their website.  Or was your statement meant tongue-in-cheek?

-cyberdiva (September 13, 2010, 03:45 PM)

It wasn't meant as tongue-in-cheek but now it appears I was wrong. It looks like they have a $99.95 version and a $129.95 version, and you can also buy a 30 day demo for $34.95.   (Seriously!)

542

General Software Discussion / Re: extracting info from pdf

« Last post by daddydave on September 13, 2010, 03:11 PM »

PDF Converter 7

-daddydave (September 13, 2010, 02:52 PM)

This is one of the Nuance ones.  I have Able2Extract.  Darwin kindly did a test on his Nuance Pro (more expensive) on the complicated front page of a World patent, for me to compare.  Nuance did a slightly better job, but there wasn't a lot in it.  Able2Extract in fact uses technology licensed from Nuance.

-rjbull (September 13, 2010, 03:03 PM)

Sweet. The test was with the free version of Able2Extract, I take it?

543

General Software Discussion / Re: extracting info from pdf

« Last post by daddydave on September 13, 2010, 02:52 PM »

I need it to be in the original quality

-kalos (September 12, 2010, 12:58 PM)

IMO this requirement will push you to spend money (and even then, still no guarantee it will be in the original quality). PDF Converter 7 (the $49.99 version) appears to have the ability to "Convert PDF and XPS documents into all Microsoft Office formats in a click."  I have never used it, but I know some people swear by the Pro version of it.

Unfortunately, I am not seeing a demo version on the site  

And of course Adobe Acrobat, the full version has the ability to save to Office formats as well, but it costs around $273 minimum in the U.S.

544

Living Room / Do virus scanners need to get stupid again?

« Last post by daddydave on September 10, 2010, 04:28 PM »

Remember back when virus scanners were basically glorified grep and all they did was search for signatures in files all day long? And we were warned virus scanners would have to get smarter and detect specific behavior rather than just mindlessly search for strings in files?  Nowadays we have virus scanners that try to detect suspicious behavior. The unintended consequence seems to be that now the burden is on the user to determine whether a particular DLL call behavior is suspicious or not. It's enough to make a person wish for the glory days of virus scanners when if you got a message saying a virus detected, you could be fairly confident a virus was detected. Being good at recognizing false positives has become a requirement of using antivirus software much more than it used to be in my opinion. Granted, it helps to avoid crap virus scanners (or ones that exaggerate the possible threat), but even the ones I recommend (avast or Microsoft Security Essentials or Symantec* if you want to spend money) politely bring up warnings of suspicious behavior likely to freak out a non-techie.

Do virus scanners need to get "dumb" again and just search for signatures instead of trying to be so smart? I'm kidding in a way, but also semi-serious. Or have I mischaracterized?

*Actually I haven't seen it in Symantec, but maybe that is because I don't use it, because I don't want to spend money.

545

Screenshot Captor / Re: Possible infection in 2.84.01 after unpacking.

« Last post by daddydave on September 10, 2010, 03:52 PM »

With frequently updated programs such as ScreenshotCaptor, I'm pretty sure the whole process has to be repeated with every new version, no matter how slight the update. And I have some other thoughts I want to run by people, which I think probably need to be in their own thread

546

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy

« Last post by daddydave on September 10, 2010, 08:07 AM »

Now this looks like a very nice program.

Quite easy in use.

I use rainlendar (http://www.rainlendar.net/cms/index.php), witch makes a nice integration with outlook.
So I place Taskdaddy on the shortcut list, and can add in no time tasks to outlook and they appear in rainlendar.

GREAT! Gotta love technology and integration!

-DeVamp (August 31, 2010, 04:09 PM)

I don't think I properly thanked you for the kind words, so THANK YOU, DeVamp!

You bring up a good point on the technology integration, too, and my thinking was kind of along the same lines. My main motivation for this utility was to get tasks on my Windows Mobile PDA (Dell Axim X51V). There's no easier way to get tasks on a PDA than to put them in Outlook and let them automatically sync to the native tasks on the PDA. PDA platforms without native tasks are pretty much dead to me (Android and IPhone come to mind). But the two PDA's I have had in my lifetime (Palm Tungsten T3 and the Axim) both died of a bad digitizer and the Axim seems to have power problems as well, so I am trying to figure out what to do next. (I failed in replacing the Tungsten digitizer, which was my test for determining whether I was competent to replace the Axim digitizer). Maybe I should pick up a Palm PRE off of ebay.

547

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: TaskDaddy

« Last post by daddydave on September 10, 2010, 07:16 AM »

I had not touched this project for a while (people in real life wonder why I waste time on it).

Good news (for those who don't wonder that), I should be able to post a new version with bug fixes shortly.

As I think I previously mentioned, in the version I haven't uploaded yet, I think I have fixed the display bug where the instruction to the user was invisible due to some unexpected wrapping and also the issue where it was displaying two GUI windows on top of each other.

Finally got around to implementing Skip and Cancel All for using file input mode in combination with GUI mode (-f -p or /f /p). I never cease to be amazed at how the tiniest change I make will never fail to break something else. Anyway, got all that settled, I think. However it was in testing the aforementioned "-f -p" mode (aka, the "prompt for each task in the file" mode) that I discovered a NEW bug, again involving two GUI windows on top of each other but happening only when being prompted for each task. Again this is an artifact of trying to use the same GUI for the normal interactive mode, and as a confirmation dialog for file input mode, which seems like a stupid idea now, but I'm sticking with it. But don't worry, I'll get this working soon and hopefully uploaded, so be on the lookout.

I was going to work on the helpfile, but how to do it is still percolating in my mind, so you will not see a new version in the next release as of yet. I'm leaning toward doing this eventually: a sticky note-ish window with usage examples and a link to "About Taskdaddy..." and a link to the helpfile (when I have one) and checkbox for "Don't show this again". I want to reorganize the helpfile so that it emphasizes "How do I...?" more.

548

Living Room / Re: System Mechanic (and registry fixers)

« Last post by daddydave on September 09, 2010, 07:41 AM »

In my opinion, registry cleaners should be called registry breakers. I've found them pretty useless since at least Windows 95 (don't know if they were around before then).

549

General Software Discussion / Re: Portable apps suites - is there a good one?

« Last post by daddydave on September 08, 2010, 07:12 AM »

It doesn't matter whose launcher you would use for portable apss, Liberkey or PortableApps, they will install stuff by default you may not want.

Nope. You must have missed the "Platform" version of Liberkey (which is easy to do). By the way, Liberkey looks like Überkey through my bifocals. Getting old, I guess, but I digress.

550

General Software Discussion / Re: Portable apps suites - is there a good one?

« Last post by daddydave on September 07, 2010, 06:26 AM »

I vote for LiberKey