NANY 2017: Scratchpad - A simple way of recording notes, with autosave!

[camerb]

NANY 2017 Entry Information

Application Name	Scratchpad
Version	2016-12-31
Short Description	A simple notepad editor with autosave capabilities
Supported OSes	Windows Only
Web Page	This One
Download	Attached to this post
System Requirements	64-bit currently
Version History	v1.0 -- initial public release

Description
A simple notepad editor for quickly recording notes.

Background
This program is a very simple script that I use for keeping a high level of productivity. I frequently will leave a notepad window open to jot notes in for my current project, but this causes some difficulty, because I always forget to hit 'save', and my employer frequently resets out workstations due to Windows updates. Scratchpad allows me to keep my little window open for notes, and saves the contents automatically, whenever there has been a change. In addition, I frequently will start a new scratchpad and don't really want to be bothered with the file save location. Instead of prompting for the full location, Scratchpad shows you a Drop-Down List Box that allows you to see most recently opened Scratchpads, or you can type in a new topic name to create a new Scratchpad for it.

Features
Autosave!
Doesn't require a full file name, allows you just type the topic of the scratchpad and use that for saving
Operates completely off-line, should not use the network at all

Screenshots
Initial Prompt for the topic of the Scratchpad:

Editing a Scratchpad:


Usage
Installation
Unzip the zip file.

Using the Application
Open the Scratchpad.exe file to launch the application
On the first prompt, enter the topic of the information you want to record
Hit 'OK'
A multiline prompt will open for you to begin typing your ideas into
Note that the contents of this window will be autosaved every 10 seconds, to prevent loss of data
(on subsequent launches, it will allow you to specify the name of the scratchpad that you want to open)

Uninstallation
Delete the unzipped folder.

Known Issues
There isn't a 'help' feature

[techidave]

Screenshots would be awesome.  Sounds like a nifty tool.

[tomos]

thanks camerb
sounds good.

I tend to use Cinta Notes as a scratch pad which it isn't really designed to be. This sounds perfect for the job
will try it (probably be during the week at this stage)

[camerb]

techidave: Screenshots have been attached!

tomos: Feel free to provide feedback, I'd be interested to see if it works well for the way that others work during the day.

[IainB]

@camerb:
Thankyou for giving us Scratchpad.   
By the way, I think you might have meant the version in the table in the OP to be "2016-12-31", not "2006-12-31".

I too - similar to @tomos - use other tools for scratchpad functionality, but I am always interested in trying out new tools, since that is the only way I am likely to run the risk of finding something better!   
So, I shall give this new tool a whirl and provide some feedback later.

[SugarHooves]

Thank you ... the best of KISS scratchpadding, thanks.

[c.gingerich]

@camerb

When trying to save a note/scratch pad with special characters, it errors out. Looks like you are not converting characters like *?/ etc. I would either convert those or not allow those to be used.

Screen Shot - https://cl.ly/0J0A3R450C0E

[tomos]

tomos: Feel free to provide feedback, I'd be interested to see if it works well for the way that others work during the day.

nice and simple and works well
will keep using for a while and see if it suits my needs.

I see you're getting lots of downloads up there !

[tomos]

Hi camerb
found a biggish bug:

The shortcut Ctrl+R works as a universal hotkey to restore scratchpad.exe -- not only that,
it seems to close whatever scratchpad file you have open, and bring the initial scratchpad.exe dialogue/window to the front ("Which scracthpad would you like to load?")

Windows 7 x64

[TaoPhoenix]

I JUST had Win10 reboot on me and I keep stuff on open tabs and apps so I will try to look at this because that wipes everything out!  : (

[nogojoe]

NANY 2017 Entry Information

Application Name	Scratchpad
System Requirements	64-bit currently

Is Scratchpad going to cater for 32-bit systems?

[AzureToad]

The shortcut Ctrl+R works as a universal hotkey to restore scratchpad.exe

I have the same issue as Tomos. Is there a config file or registry setting that can be tweaked to change hotkey combinations? When I try to reply to emails, I instead get a new Scratchpad prompt. And another dollar in the swear jar. 

[Tuxman]

Is Scratchpad going to cater for 32-bit systems?

I really wonder under which circumstances a note can ever become huge enough to exceed the 32-bit limit. Hilarious typing.

[tomos]

The shortcut Ctrl+R works as a universal hotkey to restore scratchpad.exe -- not only that,
it seems to close whatever scratchpad file you have open, and bring the initial scratchpad.exe dialogue/window to the front ("Which scratchpad would you like to load?")

I have the same issue as Tomos. Is there a config file or registry setting that can be tweaked to change hotkey combinations? When I try to reply to emails, I instead get a new Scratchpad prompt. And another dollar in the swear jar. 

looking (again) for a scratch notetaker:
any chance of the above being fixed @camerb?

[wraith808]

looking (again) for a scratch notetaker:

I use notation for this and/or notepad++.  Notepad++ saves what you write as you write it and persists it between settings, though not in a file; there are plugins to make it more normal auto-save to a file.  Notation is the better option and the one I use more.  Both are free.

any chance of the above being fixed @camerb?

As for this, he hasn't been on this forum since January 2017, so I'd take that as a no.

[tomos]

I use notation for this and/or notepad++.  Notepad++ saves what you write as you write it and persists it between settings, though not in a file; there are plugins to make it more normal auto-save to a file.  Notation is the better option and the one I use more.

will try Notation, thanks wraith