Author Topic: NANY 2011 Release: Snap DB (Read 213660 times)

skwire · « **Reply #100 on:** February 06, 2011, 06:28 PM »

Hi skwire, really nice apps you have here.. Thanks for the good job.
-smartmushu (February 06, 2011, 09:19 AM)

You're welcome. Thanks for the kind words and welcome to DonationCoder.

I've used snapDB for many types tables, including one with date type data and memo type data.

However, I do have some questions / requests regarding snapDB. Is it possible if snapDB implement some kind of "sort by date" function? I sometimes need to sort my data based on date.
-smartmushu (February 06, 2011, 09:19 AM)

The problem is that the listview columns sort alpha by default and must be changed programmatically to sort in different ways e.g. numerically/integer. The problem with dates is that they're neither. You would almost need to have a separate column that kept YYYYMMDDHH24MISS timestamps to be able to sort dates properly. All that being said, I have given some thought on how to allow configuration of sorting options on each column. I just haven't come up with a good solution (yet).

And last, do you mind to provide any option to use comment box instead of text box to input/edit/read memo type data?
-smartmushu (February 06, 2011, 09:19 AM)

I'm not sure what you mean by a comment box. Do you have a screenshot of another app that uses one?

smartmushu · « **Reply #101 on:** February 07, 2011, 03:05 AM »

The problem is that the listview columns sort alpha by default and must be changed programmatically to sort in different ways e.g. numerically/integer. The problem with dates is that they're neither. You would almost need to have a separate column that kept YYYYMMDDHH24MISS timestamps to be able to sort dates properly. All that being said, I have given some thought on how to allow configuration of sorting options on each column. I just haven't come up with a good solution (yet).
-skwire (February 06, 2011, 06:28 PM)

Okay, got it, thanks..

I'm not sure what you mean by a comment box. Do you have a screenshot of another app that uses one?
-skwire (February 06, 2011, 06:28 PM)

Sorry to make you confused, I mean some bigger text box (not just one line text box) with 2 or 3 rows space and maybe with scroll button, like the one we see in Donation Coder forum when we post reply..

So if I put some long text I could simply scroll up and down to see all of my text.

skwire · « **Reply #102 on:** February 07, 2011, 10:25 AM »

Sorry to make you confused, I mean some bigger text box (not just one line text box) with 2 or 3 rows space and maybe with scroll button, like the one we see in Donation Coder forum when we post reply.. So if I put some long text I could simply scroll up and down to see all of my text.
-smartmushu (February 07, 2011, 03:05 AM)

The hesitation I have in doing this is it would give the impression that SnapDB can display multi-line bits of information (which it can't). Saving and restoring mutil-line bits is easy enough but displaying them in a standard listview is not possible.

smartmushu · « **Reply #103 on:** February 07, 2011, 09:02 PM »

Sorry to make you confused, I mean some bigger text box (not just one line text box) with 2 or 3 rows space and maybe with scroll button, like the one we see in Donation Coder forum when we post reply.. So if I put some long text I could simply scroll up and down to see all of my text.
-smartmushu (February 07, 2011, 03:05 AM)

The hesitation I have in doing this is it would give the impression that SnapDB can display multi-line bits of information (which it can't). Saving and restoring mutil-line bits is easy enough but displaying them in a standard listview is not possible.
-skwire (February 07, 2011, 10:25 AM)

well, okay then.. thanks skwire..

skwire · « **Reply #104 on:** February 09, 2011, 10:35 AM »

well, okay then.. thanks skwire..
-smartmushu (February 07, 2011, 09:02 PM)

Sorry to disappoint you.

I hope you can still find some use in Snap DB.

Website | Download v1.1.7 - 2011-02-09 ! Fixed a small graphical glitch with the enable filter checkbox.

skwire · « **Reply #105 on:** February 09, 2011, 07:26 PM »

Website | Download v1.1.8 - 2011-02-09 + Passing in a CSV or TSV/TXT file via the commandline is now supported. (Thanks, camerb)

cameronbaustian · « **Reply #106 on:** February 10, 2011, 08:49 AM »

Excellent work, Skwire! I'm able to launch your app using the command line, passing it a csv/tsv/txt file. Looks great, and I'm pretty impressed with how clean your GUI is as well. Simple, straightforward and understandable.

mouser · « **Reply #107 on:** February 10, 2011, 08:51 AM »

Just a friendly normal reminder to people -- if you like what a coder on the site is doing, consider making a little donation to them to say thanks.

skwire · « **Reply #108 on:** February 10, 2011, 09:02 AM »

Thanks for the kind words, camerb.

I'm glad you find Snap DB useful.

skwire · « **Reply #109 on:** February 10, 2011, 11:25 PM »

Website | Download v1.1.9 - 2011-02-10 + Added 'Copy cell contents' to the list context menu. This will copy, to the clipboard, the text of the cell you right-clicked on to bring up the context menu. + Added 'Copy column data' entry to the header context menu. This will copy, to the clipboard, the entire column's contents.

skwire · « **Reply #110 on:** February 11, 2011, 04:41 PM »

Website | Download v1.2.1 - 2011-02-11 + Added 'Run/execute cell contents' to the list context menu. This will attempt to run/execute text of the cell you right-clicked on to bring up the context menu. You can also hover over a cell and use the Ctrl-R hotkey. + To copy a cell's contents, you can now simply hover over a cell and use the Ctrl-Shift-C hotkey.

skwire · « **Reply #111 on:** February 12, 2011, 01:28 PM »

Website | Download v1.2.2 - 2011-02-12 ! Add/Update/Insert & Options dialogs should now always come up on top of the main Snap DB interface instead of centered on the main monitor.

skwire · « **Reply #112 on:** February 13, 2011, 11:59 PM »

Website | Download v1.2.3 - 2011-02-14 ! 'Copy column data' option didn't always copy all the column's data.

skwire · « **Reply #113 on:** March 24, 2011, 01:43 AM »

Website | Download v1.2.4 - 2011-03-16 ! Alt-tab icon was pixelated when using the Unicode build. v1.2.5 - 2011-03-24 + Added simple Find/Replace functionality. Access it via the Edit menu, the toolbar button or the Ctrl-H hotkey. (Thanks, ApathyS)

kfitting · « **Reply #114 on:** March 24, 2011, 09:16 AM »

One thing I have done in the past to get around the multiline issue is to use a textbox for a given field... obviously this opens just a bunch more questions. In my case I only had one multiline field, and I only needed to see one record's field at a time.

Assuming these requirements are met, you could have a textbox that displays "multiline field X" for the selected record.

(For those wondering, I was replicating a "task manager" type tool with excel (as my task list) and word (as my task note/comment) using VBA to bridge the gap. Yes there are many tools that do this type of thing (TodoList) and yes it's painful... and yes computer security rules at work suck.)

skwire · « **Reply #115 on:** March 24, 2011, 10:07 AM »

Thanks for the feedback, kfitting; I appreciate it.

I actually have written a set of functions that "encode" and "decode" multiline blocks of text for storage in and reading back of an INI file for some other apps of mine. Snap DB's file format is much like an INI in that each record is stored on a single line. However, I decided not to do multiline records because I feel it would take away from Snap DB's simple, elegant (IMHO) interface. I mean, there really is not a good place to put a multiline edit/text field on the main form without sacrificing listview space in some way (which I'm loathe to do).

kfitting · « **Reply #116 on:** March 24, 2011, 10:55 AM »

Understood! If a user really need multiline maybe excel is the better choice.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #117 on:** March 24, 2011, 11:27 AM »

I mean, there really is not a good place to put a multiline edit/text field on the main form without sacrificing listview space in some way (which I'm loathe to do).
-skwire (March 24, 2011, 10:07 AM)

There is the option to anchor an edit control window to the listview cell, that can be triggered (by double click or something) to open & display the full text, and then auto close when it looses focus. That way you can keep the clean single line view and still be able to peek at larger blocks of text as/if needed.

timn · « **Reply #118 on:** March 28, 2011, 03:00 PM »

Skwire, thanks for your excellent program, I can see many uses.
I have some suggestions that would make it even more useful for me.
1. Don't clear the filter match field when you turn off filter mode - I often want to use it again.
2. A method to import a CSV file, use its first line as header names and delete that row in one operation.
3. More filter types like "doesn't equal", "doesn't contain", "greater than", "less than", regular expression match.

skwire · « **Reply #119 on:** March 28, 2011, 03:49 PM »

Skwire, thanks for your excellent program, I can see many uses.
-timn (March 28, 2011, 03:00 PM)

You're welcome and welcome to DonationCoder.

I have some suggestions that would make it even more useful for me.
1. Don't clear the filter match field when you turn off filter mode - I often want to use it again.
2. A method to import a CSV file, use its first line as header names and delete that row in one operation.
3. More filter types like "doesn't equal", "doesn't contain", "greater than", "less than", regular expression match.
-timn (March 28, 2011, 03:00 PM)

Can do. Added to the ToDo list.
I understand the reasoning behind this. However, this would sort of break the mass import you can do by dropping a bunch of CSV onto the list (or multi-selecting them via the file choose dialog). Did you see the Edit/Context menu option to convert a row to the header? Maybe a solution/option would be if there was only one file dropped (or selected via the dialog), auto convert the first line into a header.
I'll add these to the ToDo list as well.

Thanks for the feedback.

timn · « **Reply #120 on:** March 30, 2011, 07:14 PM »

2. I understand the reasoning behind this. However, this would sort of break the mass import you can do by dropping a bunch of CSV onto the list (or multi-selecting them via the file choose dialog). Did you see the Edit/Context menu option to convert a row to the header? Maybe a solution/option would be if there was only one file dropped (or selected via the dialog), auto convert the first line into a header.
-skwire (March 28, 2011, 03:49 PM)

Thanks for the quick reponse.
Re 2, yes I have used 'Edit > Convert row to header' several times. I am using SnapDB to publish tables from an SQLite database because it is much easier to use. I havent attempted to load multiple CSV files. Your solution sounds good.
Further use has suggested another possible enhancement:
Numeric fields with different lengths don't sort as I expect. eg 2000 appears before 300 for an ascending sort.
It would be good if SnapDB could somehow recognise a numeric only column and sort it by numeric value.
If the data comes via a delimited file then digits only and no enclosing quotes could possibly be used to indicate numeric.

skwire · « **Reply #121 on:** March 31, 2011, 03:47 AM »

Here you go, timn. Minimal testing in this build so do your worst. =] I'll try to get the CSV header issue done in a future build.

Website | Download v1.2.8 - 2011-03-31 + Snap DB now tries to determine whether a column is numeric so it will sort properly. The logic is as follows: # A column with strictly integers will sort as integer. # A column with strictly floats will sort as float. # A column with both integers and floats will sort as float. # A column with ANY non-numeric text will sort as logical text. + Added the following filter types: # Does NOT contain # Does NOT equal # Greater than # Greater than or equal to # Less than # Less than or equal to # Regular expression (Thanks, timn) * Filter text is re-used when enabling the filter. (Thanks, timn)

skwire · « **Reply #122 on:** April 15, 2011, 11:44 PM »

Website | Download v1.3.0 - 2011-04-15 ! Minor statusbar change. v1.2.9 - 2011-04-07 ! Duplicate and Edit record functions were erroneously available while in filter mode.

TalksToPCs · « **Reply #123 on:** September 21, 2011, 09:26 AM »

Just in case anybody wondered if SnapDB can be used on a mac: Yet it can, with Crossover.
Works quite nicely with a few minor bugs, but perfectly usable.

skwire · « **Reply #124 on:** September 21, 2011, 09:29 AM »

Good to know. Thanks, TalksToPCs.