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Last post Author Topic: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List  (Read 64990 times)

deviantopian

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NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« on: December 03, 2008, 07:42 AM »
NANY 2009 Entry Information

Application NameTree List
Short DescriptionEasily create hierarchical (tree-like) lists.
Supported OSesWindows
Web Pagehttp://theunusualsus...m/software/tree-list
Download LinkTree List.zip
Authordeviantopian

Description
Tree List is a minimalistic application for easily creating hierarchical (tree-like) lists. I find it's a good idea to break down tasks into manageable steps and sometimes break those steps down further. I wanted a quick and easy way to do this on my computer. Tree List is what I came up with.

Features

  • Create multiple lists.
  • Quickly and easily access each list.
  • Add items and sub-items to a list. Delete items.
  • Plenty of Keyboard shortcuts.
  • Tree List will always remember:

    • The text of all items.
    • The status (to do/done) of all items.
    • The expanded/collapsed state of all items.
    • The last selected item.

Planned Features
  • Fully expand or collapse the tree.
  • Filename validation
  • Remember Maximized state
  • Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste etc...
  • Keyboard Shortcuts:
    • Ctrl+Z: Undo

Screenshot
[ Invalid Attachment ]


Usage

Installation
01) Place Tree List.exe in its own folder. For example: C:\Program Files\Tree List\Tree List.exe
02) Create a shortcut to Tree List.exe on your Desktop, Quick Launch, Start Menu etc...

Using the Application
  • Adding lists:

    • Type a name, then press Enter or click Add List.
    • Click Add List, type a name, then press Enter or click Add List again.

  • Keyboard shortcuts:

    • When the List is focused:

      • Shift+Down - new Item.
      • Shift+Right - new Sub-Item
      • F2 - Edit the selected item.
      • Shift+Delete: Delete the selected item.
      • Ctrl+Arrow Keys: Move the selected Item and its Sub-Items.
      • Space: Toggle the selected item's status.
      • Tab: Focus the List Selector.

    • When List Selector is focused:

      • Up or Down: Load the next List.
      • Enter:
        • If it contains the name of an existing List: Load that list and focus the List.
        • If it doesn't contain the name of an existing list: Create a List with that name and focus the List.

Uninstallation
Tree List doesn't add anything to your registry or create anything outside the folder it's in. If you want to get rid of everything, including your lists and settings, just delete the application's folder. Otherwise, you can choose to delete the application (Tree List.exe), your lists (*.xml files) and/or settings (Tree List.ini).

Known Issues
  • Doesn't save properly occasionally.

Fixed Issues
  • When you start typing a filename and an existing file is matched, the existing file is loaded and focus is switched to the list immediately. Unfortunately this sometimes gets in the way of specifying a name for a new file.
  • Sometimes the wrong item is edited. - When using the keyboard shortcut Shift-Down to add an item, the item below the new item is changed to the text of the new item
  • Probably accesses the hard disk a little too much, so you may experience performance problems if another application is accessing the hard disk at the same time.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2009, 01:38 PM by deviantopian »

mouser

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2008, 12:46 PM »
screenshot please!

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2008, 06:49 PM »
I'll do a proper update of this entry ASAP, but for now the screen-shot should give an idea where I'm going with this right now.

Richard

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2008, 07:32 AM »
Okay, I've updated the entry with the new application and some details. More to come as and when.

Let me know what you think.

Richard

ewemoa

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2008, 04:55 AM »
I liked that it seems to handle CJK (the produced XML files are UTF-8?) and that it appears to be portable-friendly :)

Ehtyar

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2008, 05:19 AM »
Terrific. The hierarchical functionality is what's missing from JustDoIt IMO.

Ehtyar.

Perry Mowbray

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2008, 05:35 AM »
Congratulations Richard, as a simple To Do List it works fine (at least I couldn't break it).

And simple is pretty nice. I also use ToDoList, which now does almost everything, but it's not small and quick anymore (well, not as small and quick as it used to be)

Issues
  • Couldn't get the first issue to manifest: everything worked fine.
  • The Add List button effectively gets around the filename issue.
  • Third issue: plans for a save button?

Planned Features
  • Rearranging the list is pretty necessary (in your planned features)
  • Copy & Paste might also be a good idea for list management

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2008, 06:34 AM »
I liked that it seems to handle CJK
Cool :) That's good to know.

(the produced XML files are UTF-8?)
To be honest I'm not sure how the encoding is decided. I didn't specifically set it myself.

and that it appears to be portable-friendly :)
Now that was on purpose 8)

Terrific. The hierarchical functionality is what's missing from JustDoIt IMO.
Thanks. There don't seem to be many simple to do list applications with this functionality, which is the main reason I decided to write this.

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2008, 07:07 AM »
simple is pretty nice. I also use ToDoList

I've tried similar programs. I either don't use them because they're too complicated, or procrastinate by messing around with all the features, which isn't good when you're trying to get things done :P


Issues

  • Couldn't get the first issue to manifest: everything worked fine.
  • The Add List button effectively gets around the filename issue.
  • Third issue: plans for a save button?

-Perry

  • I'm not sure what causes the wrong items to be changed. It has only happened a couple of times as far as I can remember. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to track down if it becomes a real problem.
  • The Add List button helps, yes, but still interrupts the flow of a keyboard lover :) I've changed it so the matched list is loaded & focused when Enter is pressed, which will hopefully keep everyone happy!
  • I was really trying to avoid adding a save button. There's probably another way I can avoid accessing the disk too much. Just need to figure out the logic :-\



Planned Features
  • Rearranging the list is pretty necessary (in your planned features)
  • Copy & Paste might also be a good idea for list management

-Perry

Yeah, I won't be able to use it fully myself until I can rearrange the items easily. I'll add copy & paste as well.

Thanks for all your comments. Much appreciated.

Richard

Perry Mowbray

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2008, 07:11 AM »
  • The Add List button helps, yes, but still interrupts the flow of a keyboard lover :) I've changed it so the matched list is loaded & focused when Enter is pressed, which will hopefully keep everyone happy!
  • I was really trying to avoid adding a save button. There's probably another way I can avoid accessing the disk too much. Just need to figure out the logic :-\

You couldn't use buttons with keyboard shortcuts for both of these scenarios?

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2008, 07:46 AM »
I can look into it. :)

I've figured out how to reproduce the first issue and updated the entry accordingly.

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Release: Tree List
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2008, 01:47 PM »
When using the keyboard shortcut Shift-Down to add an item, the item below the new item is changed to the text of the new item.
Fixed 8)

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #12 on: December 09, 2008, 10:37 AM »
Okay, I've just added keyboard shortcuts for moving items around:

  • Ctrl+Up: Move an item up the list
  • Ctrl+Down: Move an item down the list
  • Ctrl+Left: Move an item in a level
  • Ctrl+Right: Move an item out a level

If someone could test these out that would be great :)

ewemoa

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #13 on: December 09, 2008, 08:26 PM »
Hmm...not having any luck w/ the keyboard shortcuts.  No response to any of those four...

Perry Mowbray

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2008, 02:25 AM »
If someone could test these out that would be great :)

Not sure what ewemoa's issues are, but they all work fine here  :-\

There is a wee problem with the double click though. When you double click on an item nothing happens, but when you click on an already highlighted item it starts and edit (there is a very slight delay).

Perry Mowbray

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2008, 02:31 AM »
  • Fully expand or collapse the tree

What about a SHIFT-CLICK or CNTRL-CLICK for fully opening a tree branch?

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #16 on: December 10, 2008, 03:11 AM »
Hmm...not having any luck w/ the keyboard shortcuts.  No response to any of those four...
Really? :huh:
I've uploaded it again. Would you try deleting it, downloading again and having another go?

There is a wee problem with the double click though. When you double click on an item nothing happens, but when you click on an already highlighted item it starts and edit (there is a very slight delay).
I have a problem with my mouse - sometimes it double-clicks when I click once, so testing this isn't as straight-forward as it should be. However, the default behaviour should be:

Double-Click: Expand/Collapse Item -or- Do nothing if there are no sub-nodes.
Single-Click: Select Item
Single-Click <pause> Single-Click again: Edit Item. (this is standard behaviour - you can do the same with filenames in Windows)

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #17 on: December 10, 2008, 03:59 AM »
There is a wee problem with the double click though. When you double click on an item nothing happens, but when you click on an already highlighted item it starts and edit (there is a very slight delay).
I have a problem with my mouse - sometimes it double-clicks when I click once, so testing this isn't as straight-forward as it should be. However, the default behaviour should be:

Double-Click: Expand/Collapse Item -or- Do nothing if there are no sub-nodes.
Single-Click: Select Item
Single-Click <pause> Single-Click again: Edit Item. (this is standard behaviour - you can do the same with filenames in Windows)

 :-[ OK: that works then  ;)

ewemoa

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #18 on: December 10, 2008, 04:25 AM »
I've tried again with no difference in results.

FWIW, the MD5 for the downloaded file this time and the previous time was: 2a19a21923f445bb2537951f23e80487

This is distinct from the file I downloaded when I first tried it out.

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #19 on: December 10, 2008, 04:40 AM »
Hmm... this is what I get:

MD5s:
Tree List.zip: ac099e4a7366563815ef6f368ab25746
Tree List.exe: 1177c52ef576094f292c9300912c32dc

ewemoa

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #20 on: December 10, 2008, 06:06 AM »
I tried downloading with Firefox 3.0.4 and IE 6 and this time I get a file w/ MD5:

Tree List.zip: 0b7ef14d126d83fac2f5fe20669ea624 (strange that this doesn't seem to match)

But least the shortcut keys work now :)

Perhaps the browser I originally downloaded w/ is caching...Sorry about this confusion.

FWIW, I think I may have been mistaken about:

This is distinct from the file I downloaded when I first tried it out.

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #21 on: December 15, 2008, 10:40 AM »
I've updated Tree List again. It will now remember the expanded/collapsed state of items when they are moved.

ewemoa

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #22 on: December 15, 2008, 08:24 PM »
The remembering of the expanded/collapsed state across moving of the nodes seems to work here.

How much trouble would it be to have some context menu support for the nodes in the tree (e.g. Add Item, Add Sub-Item,etc.)?  I have noticed that when I happen to be using my pointing device that I'd like to get at some of the functionality via a context menu.

deviantopian

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #23 on: December 16, 2008, 05:23 AM »
A context menu for adding items should be fairly straight-forward, same with expand/collapse. Cut, copy & paste might be a little more tricky, but doable.

The difficulty with context menus is deciding what functions to put on them and what order to put them in. Here are a few possibilities:

  • Add Item
  • Add Sub-Item
  • Delete
  • -
  • Undo
  • -
  • Cut
  • Copy
  • Paste
  • -
  • Edit
  • -
  • Move Up
  • Move Down
  • Move Left
  • Move Right
  • -
  • Expand All
  • Collapse All
  • -
  • Expand Item
  • Collapse Item
  • -
  • Expand Item & Sub Items
  • Collapse Item & Sub Items

Some of these would probably be useful/better as toolbar buttons.

ewemoa

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Re: NANY 2009 Teaser: Tree List
« Reply #24 on: December 16, 2008, 06:28 AM »
I think these would be nice in a context menu:

  • Add Item
  • Add Sub-Item
  • Delete
  • -
  • Undo
  • -
  • Cut
  • Copy
  • Paste
  • -
  • Expand All
  • Collapse All
  • -
  • Expand Item
  • Collapse Item
  • -
  • Expand Item & Sub Items
  • Collapse Item & Sub Items

On a side note, w.r.t. expanding and collapsing, I think it'd be nice to be able to restore the expanded / collapsed state if I ever choose Collapse All or Expand All (say, by accident, or even to get a quick peek).  Does it make sense and what do you think of the idea?

The following seem to me to work better with clicking and dragging (rather than in a context menu):

  • Edit - can already do this
  • -
  • Move Up
  • Move Down
  • Move Left
  • Move Right