DonationCoder.com Software > N.A.N.Y. 2011

NANY 2011 Teaser Update: ContactFX 0.0.2.0

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Perry Mowbray:
I've just added what I've called a Snippet for Comment release. I did want to do this a week or so ago, but I had a major change of mind about the contact window and it's changed from a window with fixed sections (in number and position) to the current idea where as many panels as required can be added by the user (not that that part is functional in this version). But the basic idea is that there will be the following types of containers:

* Main Panel

* Any field can be inserted into any panel, and a contact could just consist of one field in the main panel
* The main panel can be thought of comprising uncategorised fields (ie general information)
* Lists Panel

* A number of list panels can be added
* Useful for displaying lists of fields:

* Links
* Social Network sites
* Related Contacts
* Tab Panel

* A number of Tab Pages can be added to the Tab Panel
* Tab Pages add a category to the fields contained on the page
* For example:

* Home
* Work
* But could also be any other non-standard category
* Notes Panel

* A number of notes panels can be added
* Although any field can be added to a notes panel, the default layout will be full width.
* A notes field can be used to display plain text. The notes field will have extra functionality, including:

* Roll-up to Title
* Link to file
The current version demonstrates the basic functionality of creating a contact and adding / editing fields. Eventually there will be templates to make that process quicker... but I hope that this gives an idea of how the fields are editable. There are still a few bits missing yet (hidden labels don't stay hidden when re-opened for example).

Had a great day yesterday working on it and the ideas have developed a little more in my mind... Actually I'll be completely changing the internals so that the user can create their own fields and groups of fields.

Anyway: I'd appreciate some comment / feedback on how the project is progressing and how close it is to meeting your requirements  :-\

J-Mac:
Hi Perry!

I just downloaded the latest build; I'll give it the once-over and post back with any comments.

BTW, I was looking at your blog - is FarrCfx the same as ContactsFX? Or is it simply another UI for ContactsFX? (I am so easily confused!! 

Thanks!

Jim

Perry Mowbray:
Looking forward to the comments  :Thmbsup: It doesn't do a lot, but I'm hoping it will give an idea of where it's heading.

FarrCfx will be the FARR plugin that will read and work with ContactFX data. So not the same and not really another UI... more a different way to access the data using FARR's great desktop support  :)

CleverCat:
Looking good so far..... :D

Perry Mowbray:
OK... I've just uploaded the next snippet: this one is getting very close to getting the contact window main panel finished (aiming at 0.0.2).

This is Version 0.0.1.9, and these are the changes:

Version 0.0.1.9
My general approach will be to map out the boundaries and fill in the detail as we go, that's why the main panel that will be done in 0.0.2 will only have the name fields to work with... So you can expect things to work but not really be able to do a lot.

What's done so far? I'd be very happy to get some of your thoughts to my questions formatted like this... and any issues that you find.

* Language Files

* Located in \Settings\Language\
* Named *.language.xml
* Are structured xml files. I'm hoping that they are pretty self-explanatory: the tag name identifies the use of the string.
* More can be added... I guess the best way to start is to copy the English one and change as desired?
* I'd be interested to know how people find editing these? I thought it was easier than an ID based approach?
* Command-line options

* -t or --tray to hide in system tray on startup
* -c or --config "filename" to load a specifc configuration file
* -s or --show to show the Addressbook
* What you can try:

* Start ContactFX using Start ContactFX hidden shortcut
* Change some of the settings...
* Run the Load Test shortcut (which will load a different config)
* Copy

* Field text (plain) is copied to the ClipBoard
* A linefeed is added if the field is use Full Width, or use Remaining Width or has a line break
* Drag and Drop

* Fields can be selected or multiSelected and Dragged
* Fields can be dropped (Move or Copy) on the same window (rearranged)
* Fields can be dropped (Move or Copy) to a different contact
* Fields can be dropped on external applications that accept plain text / unicode text / etc

* I did have an issue at work where I couldn't drop on my text editor when I could at home (on various computers)? I'd appreciate hearing other peoples experiences...
* Single Text Box (Name Fields)

* ToDo: Drop Text onto Text Box
* Context Menu:

* Lock (locks position)
* Add / Remove Line Break
* Label -- Edit Text
* Label -- Show / Hide Label
* Width -- Set Width (manual)
* Width -- Use Remaining Width (needs a little bit of work when rearranging fields...)
* Width -- Use Full Width
* Portable Options

* Options are Loaded and Saved from \Settings\
* Settings window is not very far down the path:

* Changes in language file are not loaded till programme restart
* Changes to contact display options are not changed until contact is reopened
* Export is hard coded at this stage

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