Hi
I'm new to this forum but not to IQ, which I have been keeping an eye on for many years now. After spending time with the latest beta I'm almost hooked but not quite. As I'm just about to embark on a large scale overhaul of my data management system I've listed my main concerns here in the hope that more experienced users can nudge me over the line.
1) Getting data in and out. Seems very lacking in both directions. I've had poor results importing CSV files in spite of spending considerable time and effort in producing clean files that import fine into other database apps. In addition, nothing I've tried has successfully gotten text into the HTML pane. No idea why that might be. In the other direction, export to Excel is clearly inadequate as has been mentioned elsewhere in these forums. I'm assuming that an upgrade of import/export facilities is planned but I would like to know just what we might expect in this area.
2) The calendar. Say no more ... Sync is essential, at least to Google. I seem to recall being able to do this in previous version and know it's been discussed but it really is something of a showstopper. In addition, I've experienced problems with leaving the calendar open in a tab. If I leave the calendar tab and click back to it later the app crashes.
3) The HTML pane. RTF is more useful to me than HTML. I know there has been talk of an RTF pane but I'd like to know just what is planned in this area. At present, the HTML pane seems generally rather cludgy and unresponsive but it's very useful to me and I'd like to see it improved.
What would be ideal for my uses is if I could display and edit an external plain text file in an item's HTML pane. I suspect I should be able to do this now but so far have not been able to make it work. Plain text is essential to the way I work and I can do this with ease now in Ultra Recall. If this were possible in IQ it would just about clinch the deal for me.
Needless to say I have many more questions but that's probably enough for now. If anyone can shed light on these issues I'd be most appreciative.
Cheers
Mick
Comments
Thanks for the responses.
David_H, I'm using the portable version. I agree it's stable except for the calendar, which still gives me grief when left open in a tab. Annoying but not a show-stopper.
DavidF, with regards to the HTML pane, I'm referring to mapping incoming text. I can paste text into it with no problems. I can also open an external text file with no problems but am unable to edit that file.
Linking to external files, while possible, is not entirely suitable for my purposes. It quickly becomes cumbersome when hundreds or thousands of files are involved. One of the reasons I keep so much data in text files is so that I am able to easily link to that data from multiple applications. I still need something to act as a kind of master control center for these files. UR currently fulfills this role well but I would like to be able to assign this task to IQ if I continue with it.
As to my problems with importing CSV, I've had a few ideas as to what might be causing the problem and I intend to investigate further when I have time.
That said, I think it's reasonable to say that IQ would benefit from a general boost to import/export capabilities. UR makes a good case in point here. Whatever its shortcomings, UR offers very powerful import/export in a comprehensive range of formats. An application with the grunt of IQ should provide similar functionality.
Generally, I feel much the same as you regarding IQ/UR. UR has been a great tool for a very long time for me but IQ provides exactly the functionality I need that UR lacks. If I am able to shoehorn IQ into doing the job that UR currently does for me I'll be very happy indeed.
Pierre, I didn't mean to suggest that exporting to Excel was not working, just that it is limited and more options should be available. For one thing, if I recall correctly, the contents of the HTML pane are not exported, which is definitely awkward for me.
Great to hear about calendar sync. I'd assumed it was not too far away.
Re the HTML pane, I can't think of a better word than unresponsive. It just feels ... slow ... and seems to suffer from various minor annoyances that I'll list in more detail another time. Overall it's not really a problem, just less than ideal. If I were able to use it to reliably display and edit external text files I'd shut up and stop griping.
Cheers
Mick
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Re the HTML pane, I can't think of a better word than unresponsive. It just feels ... slow ... and seems to suffer from various minor annoyances that I'll list in more detail another time. Overall it's not really a problem, just less than ideal. If I were able to use it to reliably display and edit external text files I'd shut up and stop griping.
One possibility might be a facility to export the contents of a grid to a folder with one HTML file for each item that has HTML data associated with it and a CSV (or Excel) file for all field data. Perhaps one field in the CSV file could contain a link to the appropriate HTML file. I know an approach like this is used by at least one other application.
If, as you say, plain text support is planned, then an option to map this text to an appropriate column in a CSV file would work well. If the HTML pane could be used to display and edit external text files stored in a directory structure either locally or on something like Dropbox, that would be ideal for me.
I think there are probably several possibilities for enhancing import/export facilities but as I'm still reacquainting myself with the software and trying to devise a method of incorporating it into my current work-flow in the the most painless way I'll give it all a bit more thought before tossing around too many ideas.
As far as the HTML pane goes, it seems a little slow to me and also a little idiosyncratic but it's not a problem. I intend to spend more time with it before making any suggestions.
Cheers
Mick