Wow, guys 'n' gals, I've just been playing with a seriously impressive piece of software, put together in his spare time by a Ukrainian programmer - in C/C++ and SQLlite. Called Smereka, it comes in two forms - the free personal database version (already very impressive) and the commercial TreeProjects version ($49). Take a good look - I suspect you'll be impressed. Highlights include multiple types of data, including web pages, instant full-text indexing, and very, very fast response rates. So far (and I haven't played for very long), it's really impressed me!

You'll find it at: http://yp.lviv.ua/smereka/en/

The commercial TreeProjects version (side-by-side editing etc.) is at: http://smerekatreeprojects.com/features (that's the Features page, with screenshots).

Lemme know wot you think!
Cheers,
Bill

Bill,

Impressive find indeed. In terms of features I find it very close to UltraRecall, including the template logic for data items. Unless I've missed it, an important thing it lacks is some kind of mass-export capability. In all other respects though, it's an admirable achievement, especially given that there's just one guy behind it, and not even working full time on this.

I should say that I can't even imagine how you find all these things...

Actually, the TreeProjects version does have mass-export facilities - entire branches can be exported to either RTF or text or HTML files! It's well worth experimenting with the TreeProjects version - it's unbelievably clever, and unbelievably quick. I'm currently sitting in a cafe in Glasgow working my way through the Help file (which, sensibly enough, takes the form of a Smereka database). I've got a second instance open for experimentation, I've got two instances of The Guide (my preferred notes management software for Very Simple Stuff) open, and Chrome open with a few tabs, too. All on an Asus netbook (1101HA running WinXP, to be specific), with 2GB of RAM. And guess what, Smereka is STILL unbelievably quick (and has a tiny memory footprint - my mem tool is reporting just 35% of physical memory in use). It blows UltraRecall out of the water, to be honest! The "tag" search function has just had me giggling, because you can assign tags to items, then ctrl-click on them, and they appear in a separate search list. Beautifully thought-out, to be frank. Oh, and you can mass-import, too (RTF, HTML and text files are all imported into rich-text items, other files are added as attachments and - get this - full-text indexed, so even though you can't see them, you can search for content inside them). Who is this guy?!

How do I find these things? I am fascinated by knowledge management tools of all kinds (I'm currently devising my own collaborative concept, but it's a very long way from completion!), and I'm constantly on the lookout for new ideas and new paradigms. This, I have to say, currently takes the Great Big Chocolate Biscuit. Now if only he was working on a collaborative version... Hey, maybe he is! I've invited him to join the forum, anyway.

Cheers,
Bill

OMG! It stores revisions, too, and you can scroll through them in a separate window (if they're RTF or text files)! What an amazing piece of work!

One final remark before I log off and potter back off to the Highlands again. Smereka is entirely developed using free/open-source software, as follows:

Libraries:
SQLite ( http://www.sqlite.org/ )
wxWidgets ( http://www.wxwidgets.org/ )
wxTreeListCtrl( http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/WxTreeListCtrl )
IeHTMLWin( http://wxcode.sourceforge.net/showcomp.php?name=IEHtmlWin )

IDE and compiler:
Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition (freeware)

Impressive, no?!

Have a great weekend, everybody!
Cheers,
Bill

MadaboutDana wrote:

Actually, the TreeProjects version does have mass-export facilities - entire
branches can be exported to either RTF or text or HTML files!

What I had in mind is something that UltraRecall does and I find very useful: it can mass export item notes and attached documents to a folder. As far as I can tell TreeProjects can only do this one by one.

(Heck, I don't mind TreeProjects not being perfect yet :-)

Yeah, I'd like a team version too; right now that's the kind of tool that I need as more and more of my work is collaborative. I've been waiting for Citavi Team which was announced for early 2011, but now that has been changed to mid-2011...

Alexander, Smereka TreeProjects can mass-export items and attached documents to a disk folder. It will export multiple items at once, if you select more than one item - just hold Shift or Ctrl when clicking items in the item tree.

Please note that if an item has child items, they will be exported automatically, and the hierarchy will be preserved in terms of disk folders. So you don't have to select all the child items if you want the entire branch to be exported.

Yaroslav

Yaroslav,

I see that you have posted a reply (I saw your name in the topic list but I can't see your actual post yet); welcome to the forum.

I think your post should appear after Chris, the host and moderator for this forum, approves you as a user.

Cheers
Alexander

Brilliant, thanks!

Yaroslav Pidstryhach wrote:

Alexander, Smereka TreeProjects can mass-export items and attached documents to a
disk folder. It will export multiple items at once, if you select more than one item -
just hold Shift or Ctrl when clicking items in the item tree.

Please note that if an
item has child items, they will be exported automatically, and the hierarchy will be
preserved in terms of disk folders. So you don't have to select all the child items if
you want the entire branch to be exported.

After a quick look at Smereka TreeProjects it reminds me very much of Ariadne (in what it can do and how fast, rather than its look and feel), also now in the hands of a Ukrainian - http://www.prokarpaty.net/ariadne/

One can see that TreeProjects is less developed than Ariadne, and for me it doesn't yet do anything that a host of other programs on my drives can, but I can see it's a product that's worth keeping an eye on. I hope development does continue - the number of good products that have fallen by the wayside despite the good intentions of their developers is legion. Ariadne, which I love, seems to be going the same way - the developer has gone quiet, which always makes me nervous and pushes me back to the big boys' products ...

Hi Yaroslav, very glad you've joined the forum!

Cheers,
Bill

Hm - a little negative, Graham, although I know what you mean. A few years back I was a major UltraRecall user, but the developer went quiet for quite a long period. However, they're certainly back with a vengeance now! On the other hand another prog I was very fond of for a while (WinOrganizer) has clearly been more or less completely discontinued, which is a shame.

Ariadne is interesting - just had a quick play. But it's nowhere near as intuitive as Smereka, even though I do like the table feature (something it has in common with AM-Notebook).

What I like about Smereka is quite simple: Yaroslav wrote it for his own use, and currently uses it heavily, so he's the guy at the leading edge, as it were. Second, Yaroslav clearly takes the whole programming thing very seriously - his notes on why Smereka is resilient/stable are sensible, thought-out and user-oriented. Also, he's thinking laterally - the plug-in concept is very interesting, and potentially very useful. But that depends on significant Smereka take-up.

I prefer to be very optimistic, and believe that Smereka won't just be a major success, but also spawn a collaborative version that will be web-enabled!

Just in case you needed any challenges, Yaroslav... ;-)

It's a great program, and I love the fact that everything is included in a single database - SQLlite has shown it's resilient (and fast) enough for that kind of approach, and it's a neat way of sharing stuff around, even if it isn't collaborative.

It occurs to me that a simple 'Reader' version would be a good idea, for those who need to consult the database without editing it.

Finally, Graham, I'd love to know more about the many programs you have which do the same as Smereka? Any chance of a list? As one information management lover to another?

Cheers,
Bill

MadaboutDana wrote:

"and I love the fact that everything is included in a single database..."

-------
I have always viewed putting EVERYTHING in a single database as very risky. One problem in an entry can foul up the entire database. I've seen this in large Word documents. Thus, in large Word documents, for example, I always kept each chapter or section in a separate file.

Of course, by nature, I'm extremely risk-adverse.

P.S. Now that I'm retired, these new PIMS and capabilities look like lots of fun, but I can't think of what I'd use them for!

While I entirely sympathise with your point of view, I would respectively point out that there's a huge difference between a Word document and an SQLlite database. Word I use every day, and have learned to loath and distrust it. SQLlite I also use most days, in a wide variety of different applications, and have been ever more impressed by its resilience and stability.

Having said that, the total nuke risk is definitely present! But then, I'm amazed by how many people persist in using the ghastly Outlook, despite the fact that everything is stored in a single PST file...

Bill, thank you for the invitation. And I really appreciate everyone's words of encouragement!

The Smereka TreeProjects is very fine stuff. Yaroslav, I especially appreciate the multi-window concurrent editing with smart splits, so the user doesn't lose momentum window-wrangling. References, aka aliases, to put the same item in several spots on the tree. Independent zooming in each pane! Way ahead of the pack in many respects. If I were still running myBase, I'd be looking to trade up.

But I don't see a way to print or export a branch to a single document. Perhaps that's a tough go with so many item types permissible on the tree. And I don't see a live spell check, which I think is a must on a premium product.

Bill, another great find. I've committed wholeheartedly to Piggydb, your February discovery. (Of course the author in Tokyo is going through an agonizing national trauma. He and family are fine, at last word.)

JJSlote wrote:

If I were still running myBase, I'd be looking to trade up.

==================

I have to ask why you've stopped using myBase and what, if anything, you've replaced it with.

Who Bill? Me Bill? Negative Bill? Nooooo!

Information management is just management of information. The way we choose to do it depends very much on our own requirements and which parts of the process have to have our emphasis. I, for example, only write original work or opinion pieces, so I never need software which manages references, for example. I also never get involved in projects which can't be held in my head, possibly aided by a few jottings on the back of a matchbox, so I don't have the same need to manage files by project that others have.

I skimmed through TreeProjects' help file and I didn't find anything in there which I can't do with Ariadne, WhizFolders, Personal Brain or OneNote - though not necessarily in the same way or with the same degree of speed. There are also some things I found a problem - no internal viewer for most file types, for example, and an awkward way to save web pages (which doesn't work for me). I do appreciate it's at version 1, though, which is why I agree it's worth watching.

Without any disrespect to Yaroslav at all, there are loads of people who write products for their own uses and then release them (I've done the same...), and that's as it should be, but there are also so many that have just been abandoned when the author moved on, despite their promises and protestations to write bug fixes and make improvements - just a few I've been burnt with would be Priorganizer, TaskPilot, BrainStreamer, FusionDesk, ITSD Organizer (and if any of those are in development again, apologies!) There are also many where progress is so glacial it might as well have been abandoned (no names, as many of those developers are part of the group ;-) )

It might just be me - I'm still waiting for the killer information manager that would allow me to do all my work in one program...

Graham

Cassius wrote:

I have to ask why you've stopped using myBase and what, if
anything, you've replaced it with.

Actually, dragging out myBase 5.5, it does seem to match TreeProjects in the features discussed, with just a bit less sophistication in the multi-edit window management. And with compensating virtues such as a scriptable DLL and one document output. So I'd have no good reason to switch.

I've moved (through Scrivener and Citavi) on to Piggydb. Total satisfaction at last, on about my twelfth primary outliner/organizer since '06. What the three since myBase seem to have in common is the ability to click multiple items into a single scrolling window for reference, while editing in another window. And that live spell checker. Piggy is ideal in part because Firefox affords, through add-ons, complete customization of the style sheet and the layout. Plus your browser and your writing tool aren't perpetually contending for screen priority. And it really seems more productive not to pluck through a tree to pull up the items you want, but to get to them through recently viewed items, their parents and their siblings.

Jerome

Ah Graham, you did make me laugh! You're quite right, so many promising projects fall by the wayside. But Yaroslav has kindly confirmed that he does have a roadmap (including a collaborative version, eventually), and he's also got a very nice Error report function set up in the software (I've come across a number of minor issues when searching). In my experience, programmers who invite user feedback with this degree of efficiency are less likely to drop their development work. Nevertheless, many a promising product has vanished in the deeps of time.

What I particularly like about this product is its sheer speed, and - as Jerome has remarked - the very elegant window management. More advanced file preview would be nice, and spellchecking is, I think, an essential next function (plus all sorts of little author-friendly tweaks such as e.g. word/character count, export templates, note templates and so on). But as you say, it's still only version 1.0, and it's an impressive start. I don't usually get very excited by a new product, but there's something about the sensible design and stability of Smereka that has caught my imagination. I like OneNote too, but it's a cumbersome thing that relies too much (IMHO) on the Windows Search function to be regarded as a truly independent piece of software. Whereas Smereka relies on widgets that could easily be used for cross-platform development (apart from Visual Basic, of course), ? la Writers Cafe.

Besides, conceptually I'm currently working on the Ultimate Information Manager, and I'd love to assemble a team prepared to take it on... but more on that anon. The concept is (a) collaborative and (b) pretty darn complex! so I've still got a lot of work to do just in terms of drawing up the specs. Apart from anything else, I hate software (pace OneNote) that LOOKS complex. I prefer it to BE complex, but LOOK really simple! Which is probably another reason I like Smereka.

Cheers,
Bill

Actually, Graham, there is one other unusual feature in Smereka that I haven't seen in similar info managers (although it's fairly standard in e.g. wikis), and that's the versioning. It's really quite clever, and potentially useful for writers/translators like myself. Lack of versioning is one of the gripes I have against the otherwise rather impressive Kerio Workspace.

Cheers,
Bill

Yaroslav,

any chance for a Linux version of TreeProjects? I'd be most interested. I'm gradually switching to cross-platform (Windows/Linux) software and TreeProjects looks as if it could replace UltraRecall for me.

Yaroslav Pidstryhach wrote:

Bill, thank you for the invitation. And I really appreciate everyone's words of
encouragement!

I like many aspects of the application, but the two step process for saving a web page seems clunky.

Also, comparing to Scrivener, some sort of outline feature would be nice.

I had tried out the free version of Smereka in the past - and now after reinstalling I remember what I did not like about it. It doesn't support the standard navigation keystrokes. I'd like for keystrokes to work in the navigation pane the same way they do in Windows Explorer, where you can move around the tree, expand/collapse, simply using the arrow keys. Also if possible I'd want to move between panes using the Tab key.

Don't know if things are any different in the paid version.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Yaroslav,

any chance for a Linux version of TreeProjects? I'd be most interested.
I'm gradually switching to cross-platform (Windows/Linux) software and
TreeProjects looks as if it could replace UltraRecall for me.

Alexander, TreeProjects is "cross-patrofm-ready", which means that it's based on cross-platform, open-source solutions. So porting the application to Linux is not going to be a fundamental re-work - however, the amount of work will still be substantial. The reason for that is the usage of Windows components like the Rich text editor or the IFilter interface, which dramatically reduced the development time and allowed to develop TreeProjects in a reasonable amount of time. Whereas there are no immediate plans for a Linux port, this may change in the nearest future.