Hey guys.

While digging into InfoQube, I was wondering if there are other similar programs - similar in that they have a database backend of some kind (Access or SQLite for instance) and that they all for creation of custom sets / lists of items, and customization of fields for those sets of items. Does anyone know of other programs that meet these requirements?

If I understand your request, Ultra Recall would be worth a look. It is highly configurable and can be made to mimic InfoQube. There are others but I think their databases are proprietary (Zoot, MyInfo, Info Select, etc.).

Jon

myBase - proprietary database.

Jon Polish wrote:

There are others but I think their databases are proprietary (Zoot, MyInfo, Info Select, etc.).

Proprietary is fine too. Ideally it'd be nice to be able to write my own programs to interact with the data, but if the tool itself is flexible enough that might not be needed.

Airways wrote:

Proprietary is fine too. Ideally it'd be nice to
be able to write my own programs to interact with the data, but if the tool itself is
flexible enough that might not be needed.

It is my impession that the majority of programs we discuss here nowadays are database driven. You probably know the stats about how every 1-2 years nowadays we produce as much information as mankind did in all its history up to then --non database based (pun not intended) PIMs simply cannot cope. There are some rare exceptions of course, such as Brainstorm, which can get away without using a database by reducing the "richness" of information held --Brainstorm is plain text only, with no images or other attachments.

I would suggest that you check out Notecase Pro at http://virtual-sky.com It is cross platform and scriptable with Lua. You'll find a treasure of Lua scripts to use as starting point. With Notecase Pro you actually have a choice of using database or not, at the file level. It can work with a variety of formats; the database format is .ncdb

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

It is my impession that the majority of programs we discuss
here nowadays are database driven.

Ah, yes I think maybe I should clarify a bit then. It is very difficult to search for this type of thing, and a bit hard to explain what I mean as well. ;)

Basically - many note taking oriented tools seem to exist, but there seem to be relatively few generic personal database tools that actually *expose* the fact that they run on a database in the way that certain ones do. Basically thing seems to boil down to a few things:

* Field oriented structured design
* Multiple column listing
* Discrete data types, or at least multiple forms applied to an item

InfoQube does this, so far Ultra Recall also seems to (although it's initial setup looks more like a tree-oriented note taking tool).

For instance, KeyNote NF would *not* fall under this category for me, because although it uses a database to store items, all of it's data within each item is unstructured in one large note field.

OK, got it now. Notecase probably doesn't fit in that perspective.

Have you tried Brilliant Database? It's a classic DBMS with the bonus of hierarchical organisation.

I think it cuts through a lot of BS the first time you try a real database program. I just did with FileMaker thanks to a recommendation here. I realized that it fills a massive hole in my info processing methodology. Once that niche is filled, then you can avoid overburdening "database lite" applications such as UR, and indeed even your plain text workflow. Some sorts of information simply belong in a custom-designed database. E.g., I'm building a database of a large number of supplements, many with overlapping ingredients. A database is the only way to sort out which to take.

I think a dedicated CRIMPer is often better off with the freedom to design his own structure and forms, perhaps even for generic things like contact management.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Have you tried
Brilliant Database? It's a classic DBMS with the bonus of hierarchical
organisation.

Yeah, now this is what I'm talking about! Sadly it is crashing a lot in Windows 7 for me... :-/ Emailed the authors, hopefully they are aware of the issue and working on it.

Airways wrote:

Sadly it is crashing a lot in Windows 7 for me... :-/ Emailed the
authors, hopefully they are aware of the issue and working on it.

If anyone else runs into this, reinstalling the VB 6.0 Common Controls package fixed the issue for me:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10019

Also, any other similar recommendations still greatly appreciated!