NANY 2009 Release: LifeSaver diary

[CWuestefeld]

Thane, thanks for the cogent explanation of what you're doing.

FWIW, the behavior you're seeing is intentional. that pulldown functions as an editor for the currently-selected entry, not as an alternate means of selecting a date in the calendar. The reason for this is to allow you to provide entries for the previous day, or to adjust the entry's time-of-day as you like.

I think that this will be clearer when I finish up my next batch of enhancements. I'm adding Tags to the system (so you'll be able to say that an entry relates to Career or Romance or whatever you like). With that, there will be two separate "navigator" areas on the left side. You'll be able to flip between the calendar navigation that you're seeing now, or the Tag-based navigation. When this is done, there should be a much bolder demarcation between the navigation controls and the editing controls.

the calendar view on the left side of the screen clips off the most of the Friday column and all of the Saturday column.

-thane777 (January 31, 2009, 11:25 AM)

That's interesting. I'm using the Windows built-in calendar control, which doesn't give me any control over its size, so I assumed that it's always a constant size. I'm guessing that you've got your display set to "Large Fonts", or some similar change that alters the metrics of the fonts. I'll have to find a way to query the calendar for how big it "wants" to be, and force the whole navigator control out to that width.

[thane777]

I am not sure what the display setting is for my fonts.  I have not messed with them since I bought my laptop.  They don't appear to larger than normal.  Would it be possible to add a "handle" between the text area on the right side of the screen and the calendar area so that the user could simply drag the calendar portion left or right to alter how much screen real estate is used for the calendar area?

Thane

[Kamel]

I don't know if you've thought of this or not... or even if it hasn't been brought up due to it not being a good idea lol; but I was just thinking using sqlite would be a good option to store the entries. It's very fast at searching and retreiving/restoring, and so long as its implementation is good, it can be retrieved by other programs without the need of the host program.

Well, just a thought. Keep up the excellent work on this project, I was super excited when I found out about it. I have a few people who I immediately know that want to keep a computerized journal that might really appreciate this.

[CWuestefeld]

Thanks for the kind words.

I've mostly completed the implementation of the Tagging feature. Unfortunately it doesn't work because, as it happens, the OODB I'm using is choking when handling collection classes. I've provided test code to their developers, and I hope to get it resolved soon so that I can pass the enhancements on to everyone.

[tomos]

This may be mentioned elsewhere but I didnt notice it in the first post:
it looks like you have to uninstall older versions (well mine was around the 0.9.0.0) before reinstalling
It appeared to install but only really worked after I uninstalled the older version

thanks

EDIT/
I missed this, didn't I

Known Issues

• Previous version must be uninstalled before upgrading.

-CWuestefeld (December 07, 2008, 10:12 AM)

[Andreas Hofmann]

May I suggest making it compatible with Vista/7 by using the application data functionality? I just installed it, started it, created a new journal and when I wanted to create a new entry, I got this exception:

Spoiler

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\Program Files\LifeSaver\2009.lsd-1251885595815-local 1251885595809-2795304854568589289.transaction' is denied.
   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
   at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
   at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access)
   at SupportClass.RandomAccessFileSupport.CreateRandomAccessFile(String fileName, String mode)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.MultiBufferedFileIO.Init(String fileName, Boolean canWrite)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.IOFactory.GetInstance(String name, Session session, IBaseIdentification parameters, Int32 bufferSize)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.Acid.Transaction.CheckFileAccess(Boolean canWrite, String fileName)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.Acid.Transaction.Persist()
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.Acid.Transaction.AddWriteAction(WriteAction writeAction, Boolean persistWriteAcion)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.Acid.Transaction.AddWriteAction(WriteAction writeAction)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.Acid.Transaction.set_WritePosition(Int64 value)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.FileSystemInterface.SetWritePosition(Int64 position, Boolean writeInTransacation)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.ObjectWriter.UpdateClassPositionForIdWithPosition(Int64 idPosition, Int64 objectPosition, Boolean writeInTransaction)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.IdManager.UpdateClassPositionForId(OID classId, Int64 objectPosition, Boolean writeInTransaction)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.LocalStorageEngine.PersistClass(ClassInfo newClassInfo, Int32 lastClassInfoIndex, Boolean addClass, Boolean addDependentClasses)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.LocalStorageEngine.AddClass(ClassInfo newClassInfo, Boolean addDependentClasses)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.LocalStorageEngine.AddClasses(ClassInfoList classInfoList)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.LocalStorageEngine.internalStore(OID oid, Object object_Renamed)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.LocalStorageEngine.internalStore(Object object_Renamed)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Core.IO.LocalStorageEngine.Store(Object object_Renamed)
   at Neodatis.Odb.Main.ODBAdapter.Store(Object object_Renamed)
   at LifeSaverApp.Diary.SaveEntry(Entry theEntry)
   at LifeSaverApp.MainForm.MakeNewEntry()
   at LifeSaverApp.MainForm.cmdNewEntry_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

I can use the software by running it as Administrator, but that should not be necessary and is a hassle (for some reason, I can't rightclick on the created shortcuts and select "Run as Administrator", I have to navigate to C:\Program Files\LifeSaver and do it directly on LifeSaverApp.exe)

Once I've got it running, I really like it so far.

[Andreas Hofmann]

Another tiny suggestion: When opening a file, the password dialog pops up. If the focus were on the input field, one could immediately type the password instead of having to click with the mouse first.

And as has already been mentioned above, the not updating entry list often startles me. Especially when I start the program for the second time on a day and all entries for the day seem to have disappeared. 

[J-Mac]

Hey CW...

Two quick questions:

• First, are you still developing this? Looks nice so far!
• Second, does this just run from the setup file, like a portable app? Or does it install to Windows?

Thanks!

Jim

[CWuestefeld]

First, are you still developing this? Looks nice so far!

-J-Mac (November 26, 2009, 01:30 PM)

I haven't done much in a while. I've got a number of unreleased enhancements, waiting because a bug in the database engine created a risk that they could corrupt the datafile. That's a very bad thing for an app like this, so I've been holding off.

However, they're recently released changes that should help. Now I've got to get off my butt and integrate the new version.

Second, does this just run from the setup file, like a portable app? Or does it install to Windows?

-J-Mac (November 26, 2009, 01:30 PM)

There is a proper installer. However, once installed, I think it could be copied onto a portable device. You'd only be losing the file associations.