I'm interested in a program that would function mainly as a front end for a database with hierarchical data. Browsing would be through the typical outline/tree seen in information manager software, but search would need to support full SQL queries, or at least support plugins or macros that can be used to perform such queries. The individual pieces of data would ideally be HTML5 pages in which I can embed sounds. (I know that last one is kind of weird!)

I can't seem to find anything that does all of those. For example, TreeDBNotes and TreePad are very nice, but sound files can not be directly embedded and the search functions are very simple and nowhere near a fully customizable SQL query. I came across something called InfoQube (www.infoqube.biz), that allows SQL-like queries and Visual Basic macros, but it is still in a partially functional beta stage and does not seem to handle sounds.

Does anyone know of anything like this? I don't mind having to pay for it, even if it's very expensive, and I don't mind if it's a stand alone program or some kind of front end for another large database system like SQL Server. I'm on Windows 7. Thanks for any advice.

What about NoteCase Pro? It can write to a SQL file (ncdb extension) and record sound files. It also handles attachments. Ultra Recall can do even more.

Jon

andrew73249 wrote:

I came across something called
InfoQube (www.infoqube.biz), that allows SQL-like queries and Visual
Basic macros, but it is still in a partially functional beta stage and
does not seem to handle sounds.

I believe that InfoQube (originally called SQL Notes) is your best bet. In my experience it's a fully mature product--the fact that it hasn't formally reached v1 yet is rather irrelevant.

The learning curve matches its power, which is similar to Zoot's: I don't think there's anything these programmes can't do, but how it is done is far from evident.

I expect that the developer, Pierre Paul, will respond soon; he's a regular contributor to this forum (beyond InfoQube). In the past he has added functionalities upon request, and I don't think that sound would be a problem.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I expect that the developer, Pierre Paul, will respond soon; he's a regular contributor to this forum (beyond InfoQube). In the past he has added functionalities upon request, and I don't think that sound would be a problem.

Ha ! Alexander did beat me to it. I'm on part-time holidays right now, after the release of a major update last friday.
Links to sound files should not be an major dev. work. If you can, describe me the optimal system for you and I'll see if it can be added.
(options could be one of : drag-drop a sound file, file > open multiple files, drag-drop a URL link, hyperlinks directly in the outlining grid, etc)

Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer

Pierre, are you implying that you could add the ability to embed files (attachments)?

Jon

Pierre, to clarify: The reason I ask is I think Andrew was asking about attachments. UR and NoteCase can do this and both are SQL based.

Jon

Jon Polish wrote:

What about NoteCase Pro? It can write to a SQL file (ncdb extension) and
record sound files. It also handles attachments. Ultra Recall can do
even more.

Jon

Thanks for your reply Jon. Those programs don't provide a way to perform SQL queries as far as I can tell, although Ultra Recall's search is very powerful and almost equivalent to SQL from the looks of it. I suppose I could connnect to the database they make with another front end, like Access, but that would more or less defeat the purpose of what I'm looking for.



Pierre Paul Landry wrote:

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
>I expect that the developer, Pierre Paul, will respond soon; he's a
regular contributor to this forum (beyond InfoQube). In the past he has
added functionalities upon request, and I don't think that sound would
be a problem.
>
>
Ha ! Alexander did beat me to it. I'm on part-time holidays right now,
after the release of a major update last friday.
Links to sound files should not be an major dev. work. If you can,
describe me the optimal system for you and I'll see if it can be added.
(options could be one of : drag-drop a sound file, file > open multiple
files, drag-drop a URL link, hyperlinks directly in the outlining grid,
etc)

Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer

Thanks for getting back to me Pierre. What I would like to do is drag and dropg a file from Windows Explorer into the outline, and then having it appear as a link that when clicked would then open in the default Windows handler for mp3 or wav files. If you're super ambitious, the ideal would be that a sound dropped into the outline would appear with a little "Play" icon that would play from within IQ, but that would be going above and beyond!

Regarding SQL queries in IQ: I have looked around quite a bit and found very few mentions of this capability. Could you point me to a resource showing me how to do this from within IQ, or failing that, how to add a custom VB script that can perform queries on the IQ database?

andrew73249 wrote:

Thanks for your reply Jon. Those programs don't provide a way to
perform SQL queries as far as I can tell, although Ultra Recall's search
is very powerful and almost equivalent to SQL from the looks of it. I
suppose I could connnect to the database they make with another front
end, like Access, but that would more or less defeat the purpose of what
I'm looking for.

See http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=2825 for more information.

Jon

Jon Polish wrote:

andrew73249 wrote:

>Thanks for your reply Jon. Those programs don't provide a way to
>perform SQL queries as far as I can tell, although Ultra Recall's
search
>is very powerful and almost equivalent to SQL from the looks of it. I
>suppose I could connnect to the database they make with another front
>end, like Access, but that would more or less defeat the purpose of
what
>I'm looking for.

See http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=2825 for more
information.

Jon

I wasn't aware of that, and that's especially cool that it apparently can be used at the same time that the database is open in Ultra Recall. Still, it mostly defeats the purpose of using the outliner software, because unlike with Ultra Recall's built-in search, there would be no easy way to go from the SQL query results to actually viewing or browsing the documents.

andrew73249 wrote:

Thanks for getting back to me Pierre. What I would like to do is drag and drop a file from Windows Explorer into the outline, and then having it appear as a link that when clicked would then open in the default Windows handler for mp3 or wav files.

Talk about a late response, I know, but for the record... InfoQube can do this.

When you drop a file onto an IQ grid, you have the choice of creating the file link as a new item or adding it to an existing item. Either way it will be shown as a hyperlink, so a single-click will play the music.
In creating the link, you also have the option of creating a Windows Shortcut. The advantage of the Windows Shortcut is that you can move the file and the link will automatically update itself.

HTH !

Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer