OK... Like I said PPLandry (Pierre) is the expert. And he'd probably get you to where you want in no time. But I can try to give it a shot since Pierre might be taking his Sunday off
.
Say I have my biblio entries exported from a third party program as a text or comma separated file, how might I import it here so as to already start taking notes 
-vevola
This shouldn't be too complicated, unless you already some long notes in your CSV file that include some carriage return.
So... let's try anyways. There are 4 steps (it looks complicated but
it isn't. It,s just long to write everything down since I don't know how knowledgeable you are with computers!) :
1) First, I suggest you look at the fields available in SQLNotes and create some extra ones
1- Go to the "View" Menu ---> "Manage fields".
- You'll see all the default fields. (You can create as many others as you want.) See if there are some fields there that you could already use. For instance, the "item" field could be used for the title of the book or the author, or... something else. I suggest the title of the book, since there are usually no 2 identical titles, but many books per author.
2 - Now you'll create the ones you need for your export to work well : Author, Date, Publisher, etc. You'll need all these fields to be able to export your data somewhere :
--> Click on the "New" button
--> Give the field a name
--> repeat...
That's it for now. (Eventually, you could customize all the fields properties)
2) IMPORT your data
1- Go to the "File" menu --> Import --> Import Data
Leave the settings as they are since you have a comma separated file.
If the first row of your comma separated file contains the fields names (ie : author, title, ...), leave the corresponding box checked. (You could open your CSV file in a text editor to check that)
Now :
2- Click on "Open File"
3- Find your CSV file
4- Open it : You
should now see SOME (if not all -- default is 100) of your references in the import window.
5- Click "next"
Now... In the top window you'll see all the data you're trying to import AND in the bottom part, how you'll map the different fields :
Import fields are the one you're trying to import, and
current fields are the one they will be imported into!
6- make sure you select one
current fields (from the fields you created earlier OR default ones) for each field you're trying to import. use the little drop down menus in each text box -- or just type and it will show you what's available.
7- Once that is done, click "next" : you'll see all your references that are going to be imported
8-
Click on "IMPORT".
That's it for the importing part.
3) ****Set up a grid to see your data.****
(NB : Even if you can't see your data, it's there. You need to set a grid to be able to see it. Grids are like different views on your data. Your data doesn't belong to any grid per se, but can be seen through them.)
There are at least 2 ways to do that. Here's one :
1- Grid Menu --> "Properties"
OR
- In the Grid list, at the bottom : Click on "New View", type the name of a field you created
2- In the Right part of the window, in the "data" section --> define the Grid's "source" (the field all the items in the grid will have in common)... Maybe will it be "title" or something like that : choose a field that you created ANS that'll be shared by ALL your references. You can change it later anyways.
3- Click SAVE.
That's it.
4) Now open your grid and display your data 2 simple ways :
1- click on the your new Grid Button (with the name you chose), on the grid button bar (you should see these grids on it too : Welcome, appointments...)
2- Or click on the "view" menu --> Grids --> click on your grid name.
3- Now, you might want to
display more columns/fields (fields are displayed in columns)
:
- you can right-click on one of the column's header and select "displayed columns",
OR
- left click on the "Grid" menu and select "displayed columns". Whatever you prefer! "Check" the fields/columns you want do display in your grid.
NB : You don't have to display ALL the filled fields in your grid. There's a property pane (press F4 or shift+f4) that shows everything you always wanted to ask about items (ie : your references in that case) but were afraid to ask! You can position your panels wherever you want by dragging them around (click and drag with their title bar), and fix their position or auto-hide them --> use the little "pin" icon on their title bar. (there are several different panes --> ie : HTML, properties, manage forms; look in the "view" menu)
Voilà ! Congratulations, you created your first grid and imported your first references.
I'm sure you'll have other questions after that.
I suggest you also have a look at this
GuideWould there be a possibility of someone helping me set up a template for research note-taking?
-vevola
that should be possible too. But Pierre will be better at this one.
- A main level BIBLIO entry (book, journal, article, etc), with all the biblio info linked to it.
- "Notes/comments" items which also has a title (brief summary of note item). Bear in mind that they need to be linked somehow (automatically) to the main level BIBLIO entry and there should be the possibility of adding the page number. Especially if it becomes possible to export to MSWord (and similar) - here what would need to be exported are: a) the note (item content) b) some meta info (customizable?) and c) the AUTHOR, YEAR and PAGE#.
Plus tagging for items for quick search and cross-referencing.
-vevola
Again... Pierre.
Didn't find the screen cast. At a first glance this looks very nice, but for someone not used to DBs like myself, I'm having problems setting it up.
-vevola
Well, it's not exactly a screencast but a little flash presentation at the bottom of
http://www.sqlnotes.net/.
There was also a little screencast but I can't find it now. I'll look for it.
