Author Topic: SQLNotes...what is it exactly? (Read 1,173,506 times)

PPLandry · « **Reply #175 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:18 PM »

Quote from: tinjaw on December 03, 2007, 06:12 PM

PPLandry,

I have installed SQLNotes and fired it up to make sure it was properly installed. However, I have not yet used it. But I am going to guess, based on superboyac's comments that it is using a MVC approach, with the data stored in a DB and the grid (I think that is what it is called) is just a view into that DB. If I am correct, it might be useful, PPLaundry, to explain what that means in term of (not) losing data when you simply delete a view.

Again, just guessing both on the "issue" and that such an explanation would be helpful.

There is some documentation in the wikispace, but quickly, it follows the Ecco concept. Items can have any number of field values. Items exist in the database. YOU choose what to display in a grid. So even if items are not displayed, they still exist. To see all items, set the grid source, filter (etc) to blank. All items in the database will be displayed. Hope this helps

PPLandry · « **Reply #176 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:21 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on December 03, 2007, 06:15 PM

ok, i got it back thanks. Yeah, I forgot that I was trying to use that top bar with the filter/sort fields. So, what's the deal with that top bar? Whenever I try to use it, I get that bright red status bar on the bottom with some error dialog in it.

It is actually a key aspect of SQLNotes. It allows you to decide what to display in the grid (and how to sort it). If you like the folder metaphor, it is the folder you are opening to see its content. If you like the spreadsheet metaphor, it defines which rows (from all rows) to display. 4 pieces are ANDed:
1- the source (from the source bar)
2- the filter (from the source bar)
3- the Alpha-numeric filter toolbar
4- the date filter toolbar

PPLandry · « **Reply #177 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:23 PM »

BTW I'm offering free one-on-one phone conversation to help you get going. betasupport@sqlnotes.net to set-up a convenient time (as in... now if you want!). No obligation of course!

tinjaw · « **Reply #178 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:24 PM »

I think you forgot the "spouse filter".

Depending on whether or not the spouse is in the room also filters out what gets displayed on the computer screen.

PPLandry · « **Reply #179 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:26 PM »

Quote from: tinjaw on December 03, 2007, 06:24 PM

I think you forgot the "spouse filter". Depending on whether or not the spouse is in the room also filters out what gets displayed on the computer screen.

The filter has a toggle button, which can be used to quickly change the grid content if desired

tinjaw · « **Reply #180 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:29 PM »

A question for you PPLaundry. Although it is a *HUGE* reason to buy SQLNotes, as it would take thousands and thousands of manhours of coding to do, but would you say that SQLnotes is like taking MSAcess and pre--building hundreds, or thousands, of customizable views? I am asking, because I am trying to understand what is at the raw core of SQLnotes.

app103 · « **Reply #181 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:30 PM »

Quote from: PPLandry on December 03, 2007, 06:26 PM

Quote from: tinjaw on December 03, 2007, 06:24 PM
I think you forgot the "spouse filter". Depending on whether or not the spouse is in the room also filters out what gets displayed on the computer screen.
The filter has a toggle button, which can be used to quickly change the grid content if desired

What? No free cameras, motion detectors and highly sophisticated facial recognition plugin to automate it for you?

PPLandry · « **Reply #182 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:35 PM »

Quote from: tinjaw on December 03, 2007, 06:29 PM

A question for you PPLaundry. Although it is a *HUGE* reason to buy SQLNotes, as it would take thousands and thousands of manhours of coding to do, but would you say that SQLnotes is like taking MSAcess and pre--building hundreds, or thousands, of customizable views? I am asking, because I am trying to understand what is at the raw core of SQLnotes.

No, the concept is very different. In Access, you work with tables. Adding fields requires to lock the table and cannot be done if other users have it opened. Linking between tables requires database knowledge. Equations must be done through code. Outlines and hierarchy is non-existant and I could go on and on.
Yes JET is used for storage, but SQLNotes and Access are very different

PPLandry · « **Reply #183 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:37 PM »

Quote from: app103 on December 03, 2007, 06:30 PM

What? No free cameras, motion detectors and highly sophisticated facial recognition plugin to automate it for you?

It will have an API and the data engine will be available as an ActiveX, so feel free to include that most useful feature

superboyac · « **Reply #184 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:40 PM »

Let's say I take a grid, sort it just the way i want (not logically, but manually). Is there a way to save that "state"? Because what if I do some automatic sorting later and lose what I had arranged earlier?

PPLandry · « **Reply #185 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:44 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on December 03, 2007, 06:40 PM

Let's say I take a grid, sort it just the way i want (not logically, but manually). Is there a way to save that "state"? Because what if I do some automatic sorting later and lose what I had arranged earlier?

Currently Top Level Items (TLI) order is determined by the sort criteria. Sub-items order can be manually set

It is planned to allow for manual positioning of TLIs when sort criteria is empty.

Armando · « **Reply #186 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:45 PM »

I'm happy you like it too, superboyac!

SQLNotes could basically answer all of the current problems I have with Outlook.
So there's no doubt I'll be testing/using SQLNotes more soon... If only I could sync my palm with it. My life depends on it.

PPLandry · « **Reply #187 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:48 PM »

Quote from: Armando on December 03, 2007, 06:45 PM

So there's no doubt I'll be testing/using SQLNotes more soon... If only I could sync my palm with it. My life depends on it.

A number of people are waiting on palm sync too. A few even said that they are just waiting for the API to write the conduit themselves. It would be great. Otherwise I'll do it when I get some time...

What does your palm sync with ? Google Calendar sync coming?
[edit] sync calendar and phonebook sufficient? Or are notes a requirement?

superboyac · « **Reply #188 on:** December 03, 2007, 07:05 PM »

Quote from: PPLandry on December 03, 2007, 06:44 PM

Quote from: superboyac on December 03, 2007, 06:40 PM
Let's say I take a grid, sort it just the way i want (not logically, but manually). Is there a way to save that "state"? Because what if I do some automatic sorting later and lose what I had arranged earlier?
Currently Top Level Items (TLI) order is determined by the sort criteria. Sub-items order can be manually set

It is planned to allow for manual positioning of TLIs when sort criteria is empty.

No, that wasn't exactly my question. What I meant was that when a grid display is set up, is there a way to save that "look"? Things that would be saved are which nodes are expanded/collapsed, the manually set order, the position of the cursor...stuff like that. Like right now, I have all of my albums expanded, and the album tracks have been manually set in the order they appear on the album. but what if I collapse some album nodes, and sort the tracks alphabetically? It would be nice to be able to quickly get back to the previous state.

PPLandry · « **Reply #189 on:** December 03, 2007, 07:15 PM »

Do you have Grid > Save item states checked?
If that is not enough, you could have 2 grids with the same items but with different configuration

But if that is not enough, I'll add it as a suggestion, to be able to save/restore a 2nd set of expand states

To have 2 or more different sorting, you could use sorting fields

BTW cursor position (which item is selected) is already saved.

PPLandry · « **Reply #190 on:** December 03, 2007, 08:09 PM »

>album tracks have been manually set in the order they appear on the album

I'd have a field TrackOrder and put the order there. This will allow you to easily restore the sort.

PPLandry · « **Reply #191 on:** December 03, 2007, 10:03 PM »

Quote from: tinjaw on December 03, 2007, 06:12 PM

But I am going to guess, based on superboyac's comments that it is using a MVC approach, with the data stored in a DB and the grid (I think that is what it is called) is just a view into that DB. If I am correct, it might be useful, PPLaundry, to explain what that means in term of (not) losing data when you simply delete a view.

Yes you could say that SQLNotes uses an MVC approach. It is definitely true that data is completely decoupled from the presentation. Item exist whether they are displayed or not. So deleting a grid has absolutely no impact on the data. Grids are windows to view your data. No data resides in a grid (unlike word, excel). In fact grids take up very little space in the database. The same applies to forms. Lastly, grids/forms are the first (and currently only) method to view items, but others are planned (calendar, phonebook, card-view, mind-map). Data stays put, but other views will present it differently.

superboyac · « **Reply #192 on:** December 03, 2007, 10:48 PM »

PPL, is the grid name limited to 20 characters?
Thanks for the suggestions for how to sort, I'll use them. But please add the save state to the feature list. I use Autocad (I know, completely different program!) but it has a really useful saving states feature, that's where I got the idea.

PS, I still can't get the ItemParent field to work for me.

superboyac · « **Reply #193 on:** December 03, 2007, 11:11 PM »

I think the importing has a small bug in it. I was on step 3, and I went back to click off the 1st line is header box, and when I came back to step 3, all the items in the second column were the same (whereas before, it was supposed all the different song titles, now it was all the same song title, the 1st one in the list).

superboyac · « **Reply #194 on:** December 03, 2007, 11:27 PM »

Is there a match properties command for items? For example, if I've formatted one item (background color, font size, font color, etc.) can I copy just the formatting of it to another item? Sort of like a "paste special" command?

Armando · « **Reply #195 on:** December 03, 2007, 11:38 PM »

Hi Pierre Paul... I just sent you a little note.

And on another note... following a bit what superboyac just said : maybe a small tutorial on how to import stuff from Outlook (like contacts, tasks and calendar events) and other database would be nice. I actually tried to import my contacts : it says they were imported, but I have no idea how to access the data. they don't appear in the grid.

Some other stuff :

- I don’t know if that’s a graphic card issue or what, but it happens that the menus are not redrawn properly and the different elements don’t show.
- The date filter bar has to be re-enabled all the time because it disappears and...I don’t get how to use the date filter…

- If you inadvertently quit the Grid management window and didn't save… you loose all your work.

PPLandry · « **Reply #196 on:** December 04, 2007, 03:17 AM »

Quote from: superboyac on December 03, 2007, 10:48 PM

PPL, is the grid name limited to 20 characters?
PS, I still can't get the ItemParent field to work for me.

For no practical reason, yes, they are limited to 20 chrs. I guess I thought it would be enough

. Could be changed ...

ItemParent: Did you try a repair? Send the file to betasupport@sqlnotes.net and I'll see what's wrong

PPLandry · « **Reply #197 on:** December 04, 2007, 03:36 AM »

Quote from: superboyac on December 03, 2007, 11:11 PM

I think the importing has a small bug in it. I was on step 3, and I went back to click off the 1st line is header box, and when I came back to step 3, all the items in the second column were the same (whereas before, it was supposed all the different song titles, now it was all the same song title, the 1st one in the list).

Tried it here a couple of times, and it works... If you can reproduce it, please provide more info and/or a test file.

PPLandry · « **Reply #198 on:** December 04, 2007, 03:41 AM »

Quote from: superboyac on December 03, 2007, 11:27 PM

Is there a match properties command for items? For example, if I've formatted one item (background color, font size, font color, etc.) can I copy just the formatting of it to another item? Sort of like a "paste special" command?

No but this is a good idea. A format painter
What you can do however, is to select multiple items and apply formatting to them as a group

PPLandry · « **Reply #199 on:** December 04, 2007, 04:38 AM »

Quote from: Armando on December 03, 2007, 11:38 PM

maybe a small tutorial on how to import stuff from Outlook (like contacts, tasks and calendar events) and other database would be nice.

The wikispace has been updated with detailed step-by-step instructions on how to import data into SQLNotes.
n.b. The import module was improved, so please get the latest build to follow the supplied instruction.