Columns, key words, categories/assignments: show only..., gather, ... in hierarchal PIMs

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Posted by Cassius
Oct 31, 2006 at 08:36 PM

I’ve been thinking about two things related to gathering information from hierarchal PIMs. For example, some PIMs have columns that can be used to gather topics that have specific key words in columns. Depending on how a PIM operates, these topics may be gathered or a command may cause the PIM to display only the topics connected with the key word. For instance, in GrandView, after selecting a category and assignment, a display is created that shows only those topics that match the chosen category/assignment.

Here’s the first of my musings: In a hierarchal structure, a subtopic may not include complete information: That is, to obtain complete information one may have to review not just the subtopic, but also all topics “superior” to it. If one gathers, or displays, only the (sub)topics corresponding to the chosen key word(s) or assignment, one may not see all of the relevant information.

Here’s my question: Which, if any, PIMs can display, on command, the topics “superior” to a subtopic chosen via a keyword or assignment? For example, if a column/keyword selection is made that results in a display of only the related topics/subtopics, say A, e, r, w, which PIMs can easily also display the topics “superior”, say, to subtopic “r”?

-cassius

Posted by Hugh Pile
Nov 1, 2006 at 03:39 PM

Ultra Recall. No columns as such, but you can search on keywords and (customisable) attributes, and view a panel that looks back one generation - parents, that is, but not grandparents or great-grandparents.

Posted by Daly de Gagne
Nov 1, 2006 at 04:14 PM

MDE InfoHandler allows you to do as you’re asking through the use of parent categories, or of slave/master categories.

Daly

Cassius wrote:
>I’ve been thinking about two things related to gathering information from
>hierarchal PIMs. For example, some PIMs have columns that can be used to gather topics
>that have specific key words in columns. Depending on how a PIM operates, these topics
>may be gathered or a command may cause the PIM to display only the topics connected with
>the key word. For instance, in GrandView, after selecting a category and assignment,
>a display is created that shows only those topics that match the chosen
>category/assignment.
> >Here’s the first of my musings: In a hierarchal structure, a
>subtopic may not include complete information: That is, to obtain complete
>information one may have to review not just the subtopic, but also all topics
>“superior” to it. If one gathers, or displays, only the (sub)topics corresponding to
>the chosen key word(s) or assignment, one may not see all of the relevant
>information.
> >Here’s my question: Which, if any, PIMs can display, on command, the
>topics “superior” to a subtopic chosen via a keyword or assignment? For example, if a
>column/keyword selection is made that results in a display of only the related
>topics/subtopics, say A, e, r, w, which PIMs can easily also display the topics
>“superior”, say, to subtopic “r”?
> >-cassius

Posted by Chris Thompson
Nov 2, 2006 at 11:00 PM

Ecco does this. In fact, it does it by default in all but two views. Ecco calls the previous levels “context parents” and displays them in a different color in order to distinguish them from the actual selection results. The reason they’re called “context parents” is because they give context to the search results.

This is actually a very important feature to me. I’m surprised it’s not more common. Having search/selection/filter results returned as a flattened list is not always valuable in an outlining context.

Posted by Cassius
Nov 3, 2006 at 05:35 PM

Chris Thompson wrote:
>Ecco does this. In fact, it does it by default in all but two views. Ecco calls the
>previous levels “context parents” and displays them in a different color in order to
>distinguish them from the actual selection results. The reason they’re called
>“context parents” is because they give context to the search results.
> >This is
>actually a very important feature to me. I’m surprised it’s not more common. Having
>search/selection/filter results returned as a flattened list is not always
>valuable in an outlining context.

Chris,

Thanks for the info on Ecco. I’ve used it for years, but mainly for its calendar and for bookmarks, telephone number lists, etc. I had no idea that it has “context parents.”

GV did not have this feature, but I used its keyboard macro feature to create a macro that would display the “genealogy” of a topic.

-cassius

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