InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by Tom on 2009/04/09 04:43

After misreading -- link to nonexistent node ID 569 -- - I thought it was collapsible sections in Item field as opposed to here on the website

This would be a killer feature for IQ in the item field

I've been organising my notes in IQ and gradually working towards writing a little - so far I prefer using the item field to write in, what with mostly relatively short texts - but many starting to get too long I dont know where to go, how to proceed I mean.

This capability would allow me to continue using the Item field ...

I've been checking out some other writing software and really so far I (naturally!) haven't seen any that come near the capability of IQ in terms of organising stuff but this would be a step towards making it more user friendly for actual writing

[edit] it could most simply be added as a button to the formatting toolbar for grid (I never use that so hadn't thought of it..) [/edit]

It could be implemented via the pop-up editor, (also basic formatting for that matter although that can be done via shortcut anyways now) or even manually initially would be fine

Popup editor:-

e.g. same as in e.g. DonationCoder forum i.e. BBCode

so if I click on button selected text goes into a

<collapsed yes>SELECTED TEXT</collapsed>

if no text selected it shows code with cursor in position for typing

<collapsed yes>[CURSOR GOES HERE]</collapsed>

Formatting editing capabilities for the popup editor may have been requested before

Comments

another related (previous) request:-

the option to show a user-selected number of lines in fields

as opposed to the current all or one option (multi-line)

The grid does not have this feature. I can make a request to the supplier.

However, this is what sub-items can do for you (but you know this of course). Also, large pieces of text "should" be put in the HTML pane, where it could be possible to do such expand/collapse of sections (see the HTML export generated file for example)

[quote=Pierre_Admin]

The grid does not have this feature. I can make a request to the supplier.

[/quote]

I think it could be something very worthwhile (also in other contexts) and, if it's already using html code, hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult to implement (?)

[quote=Pierre_Admin]However, this is what sub-items can do for you (but you know this of course). Also, large pieces of text "should" be put in the HTML pane, where it could be possible to do such expand/collapse of sections (see the HTML export generated file for example) [/quote]

maybe I'm trying to do something unusual (but I dont think so..)-

I have notes (mine) and quotes from others about various topics, I'm trying to build these into something coherent

I'm not sure what's going to come of it, I'm sure there will be dead ends but I'm hoping to get something out of it all

So, I'm trying, at the moment, to keep the overview - this, at the moment, rules out the HTML pane for me (but doesnt rule out sub-items of course)

Tom, If I may be so bold as to suggest:

Topic "A"

my notes

note 1

note 2

quotes from others

quote 1

quote 2

If all this stuff is scattered about (like in the inbox) you could:

tag note 1, note 2 & automatically dump them as sub-items under Topic A

same for quotes from others

Then <CTRL>+1 so all you see are your topics

then you can shift them around until they make sense to your writing needs

<CTRL>+ 3 would reveal all the Topic children

I haven't tried this but then you could export all the topics to an html file onto your desktop

then drag the file to a new item called Draft 1

You should be able to see it in the html pane & you can edit w block note

Pierre / Armando -- am I in over my head?

Jan Rifkinson

Ridgefield CT USA

HP Blackbird Vista Ultimate SP-1

This is quite feasible. Notes:

If your HTML export has expand/collapse buttons, these will still work in the HTML pane in browse mode, so you'll effectively have created an outliner in the HTML pane
You can save the export to the .files folder, create an item and load it in the HTML pane (The promised file drag-drop UI is coming soon too)

That's a good idea Jan!

Pierre -

in step 2

> You can save the export to the .files folder, create an item and load it in the HTML pane

what do you mean by "load" it in the HTML pane - OK just had a look - I never thought about it that way - you can simply open a file :-)

Re organisation of items I'm fairly happy as is for the moment

I have

QUOTEs

ARTICLEs

TOPIC A

- - - note 1

- - - note 2

- - - note 3

- - - quote 1

TOPIC B

- - - note 2

- - - note 4

- - - quote 1

- - - quote 2

with multiple parents for many items.

at the moment I'm really just building up the organisation - I have to add a lot of hand written notes which will be slower :(

I think it's because I'm just building it up I want to avoid the HTML pane (for the moment) but I can see that your export/import idea would be a good next step

I didn't have the time to comment, but this is pretty much what I do for the play I'm working on -- especially to share the work done with my colleague. The only problems I'm facing with html export are related to :

1- the large tables created in the html exports : kind of heavy to work with in MS Word. If the person is wirking on a Mac, BlockNote is not available

2- the speed with which "templates"/conversion options are selected for the export (I'd like to be able to save different settings/templates easily and "recall" them at will. An option like "Save settings as template", would be good. (I think this is already somewhere in Mantis.)

There were also some problems with the selection of columns and items to be shown in the export :

Strangely, the export will display the order of my "manual" selection (ie : bottom-top, top-bottom...) and not the ordering shown in the grid... Once I got that though, I stopped having problems with that aspect...

The other thing is to be able to get how to select multiple columns easily : "right clicking" on the columns heading is the way to go -- otherwise, the columns can modify the item's sorting.

[quote=Armando]

1- the large tables created in the html exports : kind of heavy to work with in MS Word. If the person is wirking on a Mac, BlockNote is not available

[/quote]

Have you tried "Use HTML style bulleted lists" ? Instead of a large table, it uses bullets

Thanks. I forgot about that.

I just tried... but the option is greyed out. Why would that be ?

It is greyed out if you have more than 1 column selected, as bulleted list don't support columns

Yes... I should've thought about that.
Unfortunately, I (almost) always use multiple columns. But will try it if/when I only need one column.

However, I wonder if it would be possible to not have all the multiple ("hidden" and unused) columns at the right end of the exported table in the HTML doc? This would make the export a bit lighter and would remove the (sometimes) necessary step of removing the unused columns to make the editing possible in MS WORD (all the extra columns, make the document "heavier").

(Eventually, with the possibility of collaboration over a network (using one central database) this need of being able to edit an HTML export will not be as important (to me...).)

[quote=Armando]

(Eventually, with the possibility of collaboration over a network (using one central database) this need of being able to edit an HTML export will not be as important (to me...).)

[/quote]

Have you read -- link to nonexistent node ID 561 -- ?

[quote=Pierre_Admin]

Have you read -- link to nonexistent node ID 561 -- ?

[/quote]

Yes. Thanks. That's actually what I was referring to. :-)

[quote=Pierre_Admin]

It is greyed out if you have more than 1 column selected, as bulleted list don't support columns

[/quote]

can someone explain to me what is meant by this - how do I select more than one column ?

- does that mean I can select various items and only some of their columns for export ? (I know this can be done by displaying only the columns I want exported in the grid)

Basically I always thought export worked by selecting items and that then all columns in the grid are included

If Grid > Select > Multi-column, you can select a rectangular region (as you would in Excel) to only export some of the displayed columns and items

> If Grid > Select > Multi-column, you can select a rectangular region

ah okay, forgot about that, thanks