Scratching my digital itches

2009-11-05T14:09:00.000+01:00

Notecase Pro v2.8.8 has just been released

Some highlights:

- many important bug fixes
- support for Nokia Maemo 5 OS (Nokia N900)
- node icon is now clickable, double click allows quick change of icon
- implemented node attachment view (with context menu and accepting dropped files)
- saving to .ncd/.nce file now has a proper progress (instead of old "pulsing" progress)
- new "Copy Node Only" action enables user to copy the selected note to clipboard without its children
- many new Lua functions with sample scripts implementing new features:
sample Lua script to fill List Pane with notes who have at least one tag shared with the currently selected note
sample Lua script to sort the selected note text lines
sample Lua script to fetch tags of a current note and put them to clipboard as text, one tag per line
sample Lua script to copy all tags from all notes listed in List Pane to the clipboard
sample Lua script to Mark All Done Nodes
- Romanian translation updated (work by Alexandru Bogdan Munteanu)
- German translation updated (work by Marcus Hennig)
- help file improvements (work by Paul Merrell)

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

2009-10-11T12:09:00.002+02:00

Now on Twitter too

If you want to stay updated (almost real-time) on the development of Notecase Pro,
feel free to track my new Twitter stream at: http://twitter.com/NotecasePro

2009-10-05T12:06:00.002+02:00

Notecase Pro v2.8.5 has just been released
Some highlights:

- many important bug fixes
- improved RTF import support (many formatting tags are now imported), Keynote and Treepad format RTF import was improved too (using the same new code)
- new Lua methods to manipulate the List Pane view (a.k.a. flat list view)
- German translation updated (work by Marcus Hennig)
- OpenSolaris build is active again (built using Nexenta StormOS distro)
- Romanian translation updated (work by Alexandru Bogdan Munteanu)
- tag view context menu operation "List Nodes Having Tag" fills the flat list view with notes having the selected tag (double mouse click or pressing Enter in Tag View activates this method)
- tag view context menu operations working with a flat list view ("Tag This List" and "Remove Tag from List"); visible only when flat list view is active
- help file improvements (work by Paul Merrell)

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

2009-07-27T11:19:00.002+02:00

Price reductions, Notecase Pro v2.7.9 release

Some highlights:
- portable mode for Windows was merged with the main installer (choose standard or portable installation mode in the installer)
- add: implemented "Align justify" formatting option
- add: added a "most recently used" menu for Lua scripts (inside the "Tools" -> "Scripts" submenu)
- add: add two new menu items for context menu when cursor is over the picture: "Cut Image", "Copy Image". Both copy the image to the clipboard (previously only selected image would be copied embedded as part of the HTML using base64 encoding)
- better looking icon selector in the Note Properties window (seletor moved to popup dialog window)
- "Reload License" menu renamed to "Install License", if the program is not installed this feature now shows the file picker dialog for you to load your key file and the program will try to copy it in the required paths
- updated Gstreamer build for windows to the latest version GStreamer-WinBuild-0.10.4-LGPL.exe (prerelease)
- add: implemented per-task option to play a sound file when some task expires (is due)
- French translation updated (work by Pierrick Pinot)
- German translation updated (work by Marcus Hennig)
- Romanian translation updated (work by Alexandru Bogdan Munteanu)
- help file updates (work by Paul Merrell)
- multiple bug fixes

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

Other than program features, important news is the reduction of the program price, in order to generate faster growth of the user base. New prices are lower by cca 20% or more.

2009-07-06T19:13:00.001+02:00

Notecase Pro v2.7.6 released

Major highlights of this release:
- 6 - 10 times speed up the file save operation for .ncd/.nce file formats
- drastically lower CPU usage on Linux systems
- formatting Styles feature (apply your custom combination of bold, italic, font, colors, .. to the selected text)
- added "Acknowledge All" and "Snooze All" features for Task Expired dialog
- postpone autosave process by 10 seconds, if the user is currently typing working with the program
- faster find operation when searching by "has attachment" or "is task" flags within the .ncdb file format document
- some fixes to the Windows application launchers, should reduce "dll hell" problems
- help file and tips.en.txt file updates (work by Paul Merrell)

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

2009-06-09T08:53:00.002+02:00

Notice of absence

I'll be away starting from 18th until 23rd of this month, I am going to Rome, Italy for a vacation.
If you plan to contact me for any reason, please do it few days before or few days after this period.

Thank you for your understanding.

2009-05-26T11:46:00.002+02:00

Notecase Pro v2.7.3 released

The new version is out. Mostly concentrated on bug-fixing and speed improvements, but there are some nice new features too.

Some highlights:
- fix: drastically speed up the file save operation for .ncd/.nce file formats (on my test document new save time is cca 20% or the original save time)
- add: new Windows installer concept working similarily to the already existing portable install (advantages: does not change environment variables on the PC, less vulnerable to "dll hell")
- add: dropping the URL on the tree view creates a note that is a hyperlink (previously it created an ordinary note)
- add: Find dialog was enhanced with the option to search in the note contents (text) only
- add: implemented "Remove From List" command in the flat list view context menu (does not delete actual note, just removes it from the flat view)
- add: left click on the save warning label (status bar) starts the file saving operation
- Romanian translation updated (work by Alexandru Bogdan Munteanu)
- add: save reminder in the status bar changes color from gray to red when enough document changes have been accumulated (to remind you it's time to save)
- fix: do not translate the "Insert new node or select an existing one to start typing." string multiple times (should drastically lower CPU usage on Linux)
- fix: greatly improved speed of fetching the image from the internet ("Html contains image links. Do you want to fetch and embed images into the document?")
- moved "Insert symbol" menu command to the "Tools" menu
- honor hoisting when printing the document (only work with notes below the hoist root note)
- fix: "date_last_acknowledged" was not being written back to the document after the task was triggered (caused the already ack. task to be triggered)
- add: implemented "File"/"Document"/"Document compact" menu action that compacts the database-based file format document
- add: added Ini-file key to disable loading gstreamer audio system ("[Startup]" section, "DisableGstreamer=1" key), must be adeed manually, no GUI yet
- add: make flat/tree view column sizes restored on the next application start and when switching between flat and tree view modes

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

2009-05-01T10:17:00.001+02:00

User mail problem

For Kouzuki-san: if you are reading this, can you please send me a mail from another account.

I've been trying to send you license key file three times now without success.
Hopefully, another mail account of yours will help me to complete this process.

2009-04-24T10:33:00.003+02:00

Notecase article

If you are Japanese user of Notecase or you know Japanese language, here is the link to the online review of Notecase in written in, you can already guess, Nihongo :) .

http://journal.mycom.co.jp/articles/2009/04/01/notcase/index.html

2009-04-22T14:19:00.000+02:00

Notecase Pro version 2.7.0 has just been released

Major changes are:
- multiple bug fixes
- add: implement tree view columns (switched on/off through the document tab context menu, columns edited through header context menu)
- help updates (work by Paul Merrell)
- add: draw "completed" notes with strikethrough font in the Flat List View too
- add: show note icons in the Flat List View too
- add: added option to make the note "Completed" from the Flat List View (context menu option, shortcut works too)
- German translation updated (work by Marcus Hennig)
- add: new "List All Notes" feature to make a flat list of all notes in the document
- add: implemented "Delete Document" action (under "File/Document") to close the current document and delete it from disk
- add: new "Is Clone" column for tree view having these states ("", "clone", "clone of current" (currently selected note))
- add: add new task status values "planning" and "waiting", old status "initial" renamed to "not started", old status "normal" renamed to "in progress"
- add: support to search notes by task status property (see "Find" window)
- add: added Lua method to get tags associated with the note (NcDocument_GetNoteTags)
- add: find window can now accept empty date field to search for the notes whose task dates have not been filled in
- add: support to accept dropped URL or web page selection from Firefox both in tree view and text view (Linux only, GTK on Windows still does not have full d'n'd support)
- add: implemented "Go to clone's source node" option in the tree view context menu
- add: new Lua method to insert new document note (NcDocument_InsertNote)
- add: new Lua method to set note contents (NcDocument_SetNoteHtml)
- add: new Lua method to create new document (NcDocuments_New)
- add: new Lua method to save the document to file (NcDocument_Save)
- add: ability to search note by "Is completed" property
- add: added "Invert marked nodes" feature
- add: when making the note "completed", make its task state completed too (if the task exists)
- add: ability to search note by "Is clone" property
- add: add new possible flat list columns: "Status", "Completion Date", "Expire Date", "Node Flags"
- add: implemented "Use block cursor" feature (Options -> Display tab) to draw thicker text view/text entry cursors
- add: added "Up", "Down" buttons to reorder entries in the list of files to be loaded at startup (Options window)
- add: implemented "Save All" feature, to quickly save all modified document with one command
- add: support for hyperlink to the local file stored as a relative path
- add: added "Force icon for attachments" feature to force the clip icon to the notes that have an attachment (user's note selection is not removed, just not temporarily used)
- add: store/restore "Store as relative link" state for new hyperlinks in the .ini file
- add: initial support for importing RTF type of the notes in the Treepad document

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

I am in the process of updating a roadmap page at: http://www.virtual-sky.com/roadmap.php
There you can see major tasks that I would like to implement in this program.

As always feedback is welcome.

PS. Note that some users noticed that Ubuntu .deb when installed on the latest 9.04 beta can end up showing empty list in the File Open window.
It appears that when linking with GnomeVfs library instead of GIO, this problem goes away. That's why I've created yet another build for Ubuntu that explicitly links with GnomeVfs.

2009-04-17T11:37:00.005+02:00

Group test: note takers

I've just stumbled upon a nice article (first published in Linux Format magazine) where they compare 6 most popular note taker programs for Linux.

Free version of Notecase got a really nice review and the 8/10 score with the verdict: "The best GTK-based note taking tool around: mature, feature-laden and very snappy in use."
Notecase was placed second in total list (Basket being the first).

You can read the article here.

2009-03-23T22:09:00.000+01:00

Notecase Pro 2.6.6 released

I've just released a new Notecase Pro version 2.6.6.

Major changes are:
- faster .ncd/.nce file format saving operation (test document average save time changed from 31sec to 17sec)
- experimental build for 64-bit Windows (looking for testers!)
- if the document title is defined, it will be used as tab title
- added new internal icon ("favorite"-like yellow star)
- new help file update (work by Paul Merrell)
- much faster copy to clipboard of plain text (no formatting links or pictures) document notes (on test PC copying 11MB text note is almost instantaneous)
- using standard File Save dialog (with some usability fixes) for Save As operation
- added "--run" command line switch to enable running a Lua script on start-up
- implemented initial "Send via E-mail" feature (works with OE on Windows, might work on Gnome with gio builds on Linux, does not work on other "platforms")
- loading .ncd document is now much faster (big test document load time changed from 16sec to 7sec)
- support to build Slackware package in its own .tgz format
- support to build Puppy Linux package in its own .pet format (done on Slackware using the tgz2pet script)
- support to reorder document tabs using mouse (drag and drop)
- automatic hyperlink generator now supports "file://" links too
- added support for email hyperlink type (new type in the Link Wizard window)

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

PS. Don't forget that you can converse with other NoteCase Pro users, post support requests and feature suggestions, and talk about anything
related to the program by joining the NoteCase Pro user group at <http://groups.google.com/group/notecase-pro> (also linked from the
NoteCase Pro Help menu). You can read archives online or subscribe to receive posts by email.

If you are a Facebook.com user, consider enlisting as a fan of Notecase, or rad some news at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Notecase/151626410312?ref=mf
Additionally, Marco Costanzo opened Facebook group related to his data analisys technique related to Notecase at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56792619209&ref=mf

One more note: if the English is not your native language, consider helping to
translate Notecase Pro to your own language.
You can find more date and information at these pages:
http://www.virtual-sky.com/translations.php
http://www.virtual-sky.com/translating.php

2009-03-12T07:31:00.003+01:00

Interesting article

I've just been informed by the authors about the online article titled
100 Free and Useful Portable Apps for College Students

Authors selected 100 best free programs useful to students and the free version of the Notecase is in the list!

Anyway, you might also be interested in other 99 programs, so feel free to take a look at the list.

2009-02-21T17:02:00.002+01:00

New release

I've just released the new Notecase Pro version 2.6.3.

This release was almost exclusively concentrated on bug-fixing. The new release should be more stable, and taking much less RAM memory when doing the export operation.

Additionally, major news in a complete help file redesign, thanks to the great work by Paul Merrell. Thank you Paul.

Next version should also concentrate on removing some issues with bulleted list. Additionally, there are plans to finally integrate Gstreamer library in order to add initial support to play audio from within the program.

You can read detailed list of changes online at:
http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

Don't forget that you can converse with other NoteCase Pro users, post support requests and feature suggestions, and talk about anything related to the program by joining the NoteCase Pro user group at (also linked from the NoteCase Pro Help menu). You can read archives online or subscribe to receive posts by email.

2009-01-27T07:37:00.002+01:00

How to handle dependencies

Recently, Notecase Pro became dependent on a GtkSourceView library in order to implement syntax highlighting and a few other cool features.
Slight problem is that the program requires at least version 2.4.1 of this library, because it fixes a crash when the library needs to display a picture inside the note.
The problem is that many distros still offer the old versions of the library, for example Ubuntu is still stuck at 2.2.2 which is not good for us.
Windows installer for Notecase Pro comes with this library already prepared for you, so there is not problem there.

To resolve the problem on Linux, you need to compile this library by hand. Here are the steps (adapted for Ubuntu):

download the library sources (see website link above) and unpack them
open the terminal application and go to the sources directory
execute these 3 commands: "./configure", "make", "sudo make install"

Note that if you are missing some dependency for the library, you'll get notified in the configure phase. In that case, install the required dependency and repeat the 3 commands written above.

Once the GtkSourceView library is installed, you might need to install the notecase .deb with force option (because you didn't install the .deb for the GtkSourceView library - because it
doesn't exist).

To do this, from the directory with notecase .deb file execute this command (again from within the terminal application):
"sudo dpkg --install --force-all packagename"
(where packagename is the name of the notecase .deb file)

That's it. Now your Notecase Pro should work fine.

2009-01-08T06:58:00.005+01:00

New year

I hope everyone had a nice holidays. I know I did.
I've just returned from the vacation, so I am now ready to start preparing the new release.

Not that I didn't do anything though. During the vacation I've fixed some bugs and added support for Bonsai Natara outliner import (as requested by one potential user).

But the best news I've got this morning by mail. Daniel Hertrich managed to get the Notecase Pro installed successfully on OS X 10.5! Thank you Daniel, really great work!

Here is the description from his mail:

All commands entered on Mac OS X Terminal, not X11 terminal.
Precondition: Intel Mac (in my case MacBook) with Mac OS X 10.5.6
(10.5 with all recent online updates as of 2009-01-08).
Internet connection must be active for the procedure.

- Installed XCode tools from the Mac OS X install DVD
- Installed Macports from http://www.macports.org/install.php (use the "Leopard universal" package)
- XQuartz installed (X11-2.3.2.1.dmg from
http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/wiki (use the inconspicuous
download link in the "Latest release" section of the page)). XQuartz
is needed because otherwise gtk2 will fail to build
- sudo port -d selfupdate
- sudo port install gtk2
(this takes a while, maybe hours, because it fetches and compiles a
LOT of packages GTK depends on)
- sudo port install dpkg (actually not needed in this scenario, because Notecase cannot be installed from the .deb package anyway due to a packet architecture mismatch: i686-apple-darwin8 (package) vs. i686-darwin (system))
- sudo port install Xrender (this is a library which is needed by Notecase, otherwise it won't start)
- Downloaded tar.gz version of Notecase Pro
- cd /
- sudo tar xvf /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Downloads/notecase_pro-2.5.7.tar (adapt version number)
(Binary is then in: /usr/bin/notecase.x11app)
- sudo ln -s /usr/bin/notecase.x11app /Applications/Notecase.x11app
(This generates an Alias entry in the Applications folder)

Now, you can start Notecase by clicking its entry in "Applications".
When a new version is released, download the tar.gz and do the steps
- cd /
- sudo tar xvf /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Downloads/notecase_pro-X.Y.Z.tar
This will upgrade Notecase to the downloaded version X.Y.Z.

2008-12-19T11:23:00.003+01:00

New release

I've just released new Notecase Pro v2.5.7.

Major news:
- syntax highlighting support (only newer distros were compiled to use this)
- optionally show line numbers in the text view
- subscript and superscript text formatting
- "Scripts" / "Register script" window to register up to 10 scripts to be displayed in the scripts menu
- "Scripts" / "Script events" window to register scripts to be automatically executed at the specified program events
- OPML export support
- plain text with tabs file format (import and export)
- "Find and Replace" can now be run globally (over the entire document)
- new .ncz file format (basically it is a compressed form of .ncd file format)
- new link execute code for Nokia platform (I need your feedback on this)
- new Fedora 10 build

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

All builds that were built to include syntax highlighting feature (see if "Node Properties" window has "Source language" combo box) now require that you install gtksourceview library (at least version 2.4.1). It can be found at: http://projects.gnome.org/gtksourceview/index.html

Note that the Solaris build is delayed, distro broke apart while running its package update program. That's why I would like to know if any of you uses Solaris build (the logs show only one download for Solaris).

As always feedback is welcome. I am especially interested in the feedback on the new Maemo code to handle hyperlink clicks.

Additionally, if you are interested in having the program in your own languages, why not contribute a translation? You can find more info on Notecase Pro translation here:
http://www.virtual-sky.com/translating.php
http://www.virtual-sky.com/translations.php

2008-12-09T11:08:00.004+01:00

New (last) free Notecase release

I am now in the process of releasing new Notecase v1.9.8.
The major news are:
- syntax highlighting using GtkSourceView library
- text line numbers
- text formatting can now be applied even it there is not text selected
- fixed undo issue

GtkSourceView usage in the code is optional. Not all builds where done with support for GtkSourceView! The reason is simple: some distros are quite old and I couldn't compile GtkSourceView for them. For example, when compiling on Fedora 6, GtkSourceView complained it requires GTK+ >= 2.12.x, but I could not find the newer GTK package for this distro. That's why only newer distros are compiled with this library.

Note that this is my last release of the free Notecase. It's been 4 years since I've started the project, and it was a great experience. I had a great feedback and the project seems to become popular.

As always, the problem is basically my free time. I have less free time than before, and now my time is mostly reserved for my Notecase Pro project. It became more and more hard to maintain two different projects who are growing more and more apart in their code base.

This is my final decision, it's been "cooking" for more than several months now. I won't make any new releases or builds, but you can send me your translation updates, and I'll post the at the project's website.

The beauty of open source is that the source code is here, and anyone can fork and improve the project under a new name.

Anyway, enjoy the new release. My feeling is that I've left the project in decent state and it is pretty usable for all the standard tasks you might want to do with the program.
If you want something more, consider buying Notecase Pro.

2008-11-24T11:41:00.003+01:00

Google group for Notecase Pro

As suggested by one of the users (thanks Paul), I've created a Google discussion group for Notecase Pro product.

Here are the essentials:

Group name: Notecase Pro
Group home page: http://groups.google.com/group/notecase-pro
Group email address notecase-pro@googlegroups.com

Anyone is free to drop by and post the questions.

Off course, you can still mail questions directly to me, the
group is just another channel that can help you to get the answer to your problem.

2008-11-21T12:09:00.000+01:00

Notecase Pro v2.5.2

I've just released the latest Notecase Pro v2.5.2.

Major news:
- added text alignment formatting (left, right, center)
- note cloning support (notes sharing the same text and other properties)
- initial automation support through Lua language scripts

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php
As always, your feedback is appreciated.

For the next version, my plans are to concentrate on bugfixing and finishing some started features like Lua scripts, reccurent tasks, ...
Additionally, I'll try to add syntax highlighting through GtksourceView library.

Note that Zaurus build will be delayed, hopefully only by a day, due to some OS problems.

2008-10-31T10:05:00.004+01:00

Notecase Pro Scripting

Yesterday, I've added a "proof of concept" support for scripting within the Notecase Pro. You can test the sample application here (warning, this is unofficial release).

Basically, I've integrated well known Lua programming language interpreter (http://www.lua.org), known for its simplicity, speed and small size.

The image above may look ordinary :-), but behind this is a major feature.
Currently, Notecase Pro only exports "MessageBox" function, but on the next release I hope to add export to 10 most useful internal methods for opening/closing the documents, getting document count, ...

I am interested in your feedback.

What kind of script would you write for Notecase ?

2008-10-28T13:59:00.004+01:00

Notecase 1.9.7 release

Free, open source version has just been released.

Major new features:
- autoindent (new line is indented on the same position as the line before it)
- Windows portable launcher now passes all its command line arguments directly to the notecase executable
Other changes include bug fixes and translation updates.

I must admit I have less and less free time to invest in the open source version lately :-(

As always feedback one the new version is welcome.

2008-10-24T10:46:00.004+02:00

Notecase Pro v2.4.7

I've just released new Notecase Pro v2.4.7.

The news are:
- implemented document outline printing (note titles arranged in a tree)
- greatly improved Knowit import (external links and formatting are now supported)
- undo/redo toolbar buttons now have attached menus (you can now undo more than one step at a time)
- flat list view now supports additional column types (use context menu over the column headers to switch on/off)
- some important bugfixes

Thanks to everyone who helped with reporting the problems or sharing their ideas.

To share some ideas with you, for the next version my plans are to implement two major features: node cloning and text alignment formatting (left, right, center).
These two have been the most wanted features judging by your mails.

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

I am now preparing a free version of Notecase, it should be out within a week.

2008-09-30T13:28:00.003+02:00

Syntax coloring

Recently I was contacted by Gerhard Kalab with a wish to support syntax coloring in Notecase. We discussed the idea and the possible implementation, but since I didn't have much time, he implemented this himself.

You can find the sources here. This is a patched notecase v1.9.5 using GtkSourceView instead of the standard GtkTextView as a text displaying widget.

The bad news is that the GtkSourceView crashes when trying to apply the syntax coloring to a note that contains the pictures.

Hopefully, the future versions of this library will have this bug fixed, and the notecase will have both syntax coloring and a margin with line numbers implemented (supported by a new widget library).

Thanks Gerhard for your work!

2008-09-30T07:05:00.003+02:00

Notecase Pro v2.4.3 release

This weekend, I've released the new version of the Pro edition.
Clients were notified on time, I just had not enough time to write a blog post on it.

The major news in this version:

- major task management improvements, recurrent tasks are now supported (alarm settings still need to be implemented)
- new "Open associated URL" feature that allows you to connect your public document with some website part (allowing users to easily post the comments on the exact document note)
- many important fixes including printing, undo, copy/paste and HTML export fixes

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always I am interested in your feedback, especially from those who run the progam on Nokia devices, since I don't own one (I would like to know if all windows can fit the screen, screenshots welcome).

Many users are now being more active in sending their improvement ideas, so if you have one, don't hesitate :)