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SQLNotes -- a Plea Please
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Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Jun 3, 2008 at 05:10 PM
Hi Dan7000
>1.) what is the difference between a form and a grid? Both of them seem to be just a set of fields?
Good question. For a text-oriented outlines, one would use a single column, the item column. BTW I’m writing up a page on outline formatting which I’m sure will be very useful: http://sqlnotes.wikispaces.com/Formatting
SQLNotes also supports data oriented outlines (such as Excel, Outlook grid views, Access). In this case, other columns are also used to enter pertinent info.: category, due date, done, tags, comments, amounts, durations, etc. 4 data types are available: text, number, dates and yes/no. Those are called fields
Field can be displayed in a grid and/or in a form. In a grid, fields are displayed as columns. For forms, they are shown as lines. The grid has the advantage of showing values for all displayed items. Forms show the field values of the currently selected item only.
I recommend to limit the number of fields shown in the grid, though there is no system limitations. When you have large number of columns, you may want to lock a few to ease right-left scrolling. Tip: CTRL-mouse-wheel to scroll left-right.
Since forms are displayed vertically, they are more compact. So fields that are less used can be put in forms. But remember one important thing. Whereever they are displayed (grid, form, elsewhere in the properties pane), field values can be added/modified and changes will be reflected where needed.
>2.) How do you determine what grids an item will appear in? Sometimes I create an item and it magically appears in 2 grids; sometimes, it only appears in one grid. Sometimes it seems to disappear from a grid where it previously appeared.
Yes, another key thing. SQLNotes separates actual information, from the display of this information (unlike Word or Excel where they are locked together)
As you enter text, number, dates, etc, these are entered in the database. You choose which of those items are displayed in the various grids. There are many ways and tools to help you display just the relevant information. These are: (1) Grid source (2) Grid filter (3) Alpha toolbar (4) DateFilter toolbar. These give you great flexibility in displaying the information. Details here: http://sqlnotes.wikispaces.com/Filtering
>3.) What is the “date source” of a grid (appears in the “manage grids” dialog)
It is item (1) (Grid source) above and is shown in the Grid properties and in the Source bar (Alt-S). Simplifying a bit, you can view the source as specifying the folder to show in the grid. One interesting metaphor is to view fields as folders. Folders can “contain” items. To put an item in a folder, you tick the folder checkbox (when a yes/no type). Then, selecting that folder as a source, will display all items it “contains”.
I hope this helps. I’ll add these excellent questions to the Q&A page: http://sqlnotes.wikispaces.com/Q+%26+A
Posted by jimspoon
Jun 3, 2008 at 05:50 PM
Hi all,
I recommend going through the Getting Started guide. When you create a new database, you’ll find it in the “Welcome” grid. As you go through it, and as you try things out, the lights will start to go on. I’m still going through it and now learning about searching.
The user interface is pretty non-intuitive, I think, but it is certainly learnable. I think it might help to have something like Ecco’s “folder pane” or UltraRecall’s “data explorer” pane.
jim
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Jun 3, 2008 at 06:30 PM
>The user interface is pretty non-intuitive, I think, but it is certainly learnable. I think it might help to have something like Ecco’s “folder pane” or UltraRecall’s “data explorer” pane.
>
>jim
Agreed that a beginners mode would be very useful, which would only show menus/toolbar buttons for the basic outlining functions.
You’ll find that the Properties pane does what Ecco’s folder pane did and more. As for URp data explorer (i.e. as a 2 pane outliner), every grid can be seen as a data explorer. It is like having many many data explorers in the same database.