InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by DragonGem on 2018/09/29 17:29

Just discovered the BROWSE Mode button in the Editor!! That makes some of this discussion somewhat MOOT! Should have known that Pierre wouldn't miss something so obvious.

There are still a few situations where a single Document can have multiple Active Editors as described below and the danger of losing edits still exists. But Browse Mode makes things much easier to handle. I would like an OPTION setting (General or Database-specific) where Editors are ALWAYS initialized to Browse Mode. There should also be a way of setting Shortcut Keys for Browse Mode and Lock-To-Item; I looked but couldn't find those commands in [Tools] [Keyboard Shortcuts] [Customize].

The problem with IQ locking up when attempting to DRAG an embedded Editor OUT of a free-floating window is also very real. There should be mechanism to DETACH Editors more easily.

Paul, thanks for the stimulating discussion. I hope that you got something out of it as well.

Let me start by acknowledging that I may be pushing the boundaries of what IQ was intended to do. I'm pointing these things out so that other users that stumble across this configuration can avoid the pitfalls that I've already fallen into.

I love that IQ allows me to have multiple detached Documents Panes that are fully editable (a feature that I found virtually nowhere else). I also love that I can DOCK these Document Panes together (although I'm not sure that this feature was intentional). As long as these detached Panes are LOCKED to individual Items/Documents, everything works as expected. The LOCKED Documents can only be edited within the designated Pane.

The trouble starts when I DOCK a third Locked Document into the same Docksite as one of the other Locked Documents. Now the Locked Document associated with the UN-FOCUSED Document Pane can show up in the UNLOCKED Document Pane and can be edited. Now I can have 2 completely different versions of the same Document and which one ends up being saved is somewhat undefined. Additionally, there is presently no way to FORCE the Document Panes to REFRESH from the currently SAVED version.

I believe the problem is that IQ only checks LOCKED Documents that are FOCUSED when deciding whether to display and allow editing in the UNLOCKED Document Pane. I hope this makes some sense to everyone.

**EXTREMELY DANGEROUS**

Attempting to DRAG the TAB of a Document within a SHARED Docksite will cause IQ to descend into an ENDLESS refresh loop that even the Task Manager can NOT BREAK.

Comments

I believe the feature of having multiple document panes open was intended to be for multiple different documents from multiple different items not for multiple instances of the same document. It can be useful to refer to one document whilst editing another.

I can't think of a situation where having multiple copies of the same document open for editing would be useful.

Hi Paul,

I agree completely that having the same document open for editing in multiple editors is problematic. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens when you request IQ to Open a new Document Pane. Even if you LOCK the Document to the new Editor, the 1st Editor is still Open and ACTIVE. Make some edits in the new Editor, force a SAVE with <Ctrl S> and close the new Editor. Now select a different Item from the Grid. At this point IQ must now decide whether or not to save the version in the 1st Editor over top of the recently saved version. I don't profess to know how IQ makes that decision but I have learned from experience that there is a high likelihood that you will "mysteriously" lose those recent edits.

IMHO, this feature in IQ requires a couple of things. First, a Document Editor should be able to toggle between Active and View-Only states. When creating a NEW Document Editor, IQ should ask whether that new Editor will in Active or View-Only state and, if Active, IQ should switch the existing Editor to View-Only. IQ should be able to make sure that any particular Document has only ONE Active Editor. IQ currently "attempts" to do just that but relies on the User to manually LOCK the Active Editor and switch the other Active Editor to a different Document BEFORE making changes to the 1st Document. Additionally, if the Document happens to be in an UN-FOCUSED Tab within a free-floating window, that Document is unaccounted for when IQ cycles through its list of available Editors.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely treasure IQ's ability to have multiple free-floating Document Panes; very few other Information Managers allow this. The fact that each of these Document Panes can be a full Editor is a godsend; the others resort to only Viewers with a single dedicated Editor. Add in the ability to embed 2 or more Editors within a single, easily-managed window so that I can simultaneously check multiple documents for consistency and continuity and IQ is truly ground-breaking; this beats Scrivener's Scrivenings feature and Word's collapsible headers (although those features would be nice to have somewhere down the road).

I intentionally placed this thread in the Discussions forum rather than the Bugs forum because I don't want Pierre spending a bunch of time on features that only a few users will need. Now that I have identified the potential pitfalls, I'm happy to take responsibility for using these features carefully. If you use IQ mainly for simple note-taking and/or for capturing, collecting and organizing existing information (ala Evernote and its ilk), then you may never run into these problems. I see IQ as a potential replacement for no less than 6 software packages (Word, OneNote, EverNote, RightNote, Scrivener & EssentialPIM) for the creation of original content; all that with Scheduling, Project Management and Time-Tracking thrown in to boot!

I agree that you should only be able to edit one instance of a document otherwise there could be conflicts. Perhaps the first one could be opened for editing and all subsequent instances of the same document should be automatically locked to prevent editing.

I'm not sure about having two modes for opening documents (view and edit), this is one of the things I didn't like about ConnectedText, you opened pages in view mode by default, if you switched to edit mode then you were in a plain text editor with syntax highlighting for the ConnectedText markup language. You edited the commands and the text then when you were done you switched back to view mode and all the commands were interpreted and the result was displayed. This would solve the problem with Home Pages in InfoQube but I much prefer working with a WYSIWYG editor where you see the results of your changes immediately.

ConnectedText also allows the display of any number of arbitrary pages in floating windows but they are all view only. You can only have one page open for editing at a time.

Collapsible headers is something I have thought about but it is not a top priority. I don't know how easy it would be to implement and it would make the HTML non standard. But one could envisage that the headers (H1 to H6) could be displayed with small '+' icons in the left margin. If the user clicked on this icon it would turn into a '-' icon and all the text under that header would fold itself away. If all the headers were collapsed then the document becomes it's own table of contents. However this would also open up a lot of possible problems and increased complications in the user interface and it would make the HTML non standard. I don't know if it would be worth doing or not.

Certainly Libre Office has nothing to match Microsoft Word's outlining mode, there isn't a lot that does.

The ability of InfoQube to view multiple document panes simultaneously is a very useful feature but I feel that if multiple copies of the same document are open then only one of them should be editable.

I think it is safe to say that we are in agreement that a document should have only 1 active Editor.

As you indicated, ConnectedText has to switch between Edit and Render modes while the IQ Editor is WYSIWYG so the View-Only mode would simply tell the Editor to ignore any editing commands. In most programming components there is just a true/false flag that can be toggled on/off with a single line of code (over-simplifying as Toolbars would need to be Enabled/Disabled, some UI indicator set, checking state of existing Editors, etc.). A couple of shortcut keys for LOCK and EDIT toggles (<Ctrl L> & <Ctrl E>??) and away we go.

Collapsible Headers and Lists are very much part of HTML5 although the IQ Editor doesn't seem to handle them yet. Capturing this example page into IQ renders fairly well but the buttons don't function. I know that Pierre has mused about replacing the current Editor with an RTF-based one but I would hate to give up any of its current capabilities for this more archaic standard. My biggest wishes for the IQ Editor is the option to actually download and store the HTML-referenced images and an easier way to proportionally resize those images.

I don't see the need for Word's Outline Mode as I create my Outlines as separate IQ Items which I can then organize as I see fit. This is why I end up with as many as 6 IQ documents combined into a single editing window. I can even play around with multiple configurations of the same composite document. It is still a bit of a hassle to export the selected configuration into HTML and then into Word for final editing but I can live with that process for now.

> Just discovered the BROWSE Mode button in the Editor

LOL, That clearly shows that the Doc pane documentation is in need of an update !!

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Actually what is needed is a good introductory video tutorial. The main problem is that IQ is such a FREE-FORM application which can be used in a wide variety of ways to address a whole range of situations. I've been documenting my experience in coming to grips with IQ's approach and massive list of features (mainly as an act of self-preservation) so a vague outline is beginning to take shape. Once the new Tags feature is in place, it may be safe to start sharing a more formal outline.

I suspect that IQ's overall success may depend on providing a range of TEMPLATES that give users (new and experienced) a starting point for addressing different types of problems.

In v110Pre9:

New: Doc pane: When 2 Doc panes show the same item, only one can be in Edit mode

HTH !

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Thanks Pierre, a welcome addition.

I've been working with some longer documents recently and have a few issues with how Browse Mode works in regards to maintaining a Caret position.

Switching into and out of Browse Mode scrolls back to the top of the document.
Saving the document in the active editor causes the Browse Mode document to scroll back to the top but does NOT refresh the displayed contents of the document.
There is no way to establish the Caret position in the Browse Mode document.

There is an Item Property [ItemHTMLCaretPos] so I assume that you have some plans for dealing with some of these issues. Scrolling problems aside, I somewhat like the fact that the content of the Browse document doesn't change immediately as it gives me a before and after picture of my editing changes. If you maintain this feature, there will need to be a [Refesh] button added though.

I don't envy you the decisions surrounding the syncing of an actively changing document. I've gone through this for decades regarding when and how to update display of database views and have yet to find an ideal solution.

Editing long documents ... yes the view sometimes shifts the back to the top but it didn't change the cursor (caret) position so I just pressed the down arrow key to move the cursor one line down and the view scrolled back to the cursor position. The same happens for the left and right keys as well.

I have not tried having two views of the same document open for editing. The one occasion when I did have two views of the same document open I locked one and edited the other.

Hope this helps.

Paul, thanks for the arrow keys tip. It obviously shows that the caret is being tracked and the document scroll should be able to be reset relatively easily.

I look forward to Pierre's enhancement enforcing a single active editor for an individual document but I've got a process that keeps me out of trouble for now and shouldn't have to change dramatically afterwards.

Have the main embedded Document Pane always in Browse Mode.
Always pop-up a separate editor Doc Pane for editing.
1. New Editor pops up in Browse Mode.
2. External Shortcut LOCKS the new Editor to the current Grid Item and re-sizes & re-positions the Editor window.
3. Assigned Shortcut toggles Browse Mode of new Editor OFF.
If I want a pre-edit copy of the Document for reference, I repeat Steps 2.1 & 2.2
1. Usually I embed this Reference window in with the new Editor.
2. **NOTE: It would be great to be able to Cut&Paste out of Reference Editor when edits go horribly wrong.
3. **NOTE: Need a Refresh button so the Reference Editor can be optionally re-synced to the last saved set of Edits.
  1. Fake this for now by toggling the Item Lock OFF and back ON (not ideal).

I'm now free to edit the Document AND move around in the main IQ window as required (and, YES Pierre, I'm aware of the dangers of treating application "quirks" as "features").

[quote=DragonGem]

**NOTE: It would be great to be able to Cut&Paste out of Reference Editor when edits go horribly wrong.
**NOTE: Need a Refresh button so the Reference Editor can be optionally re-synced to the last saved set of Edits.

[/quote]

Ctrl + C or right-click on the Browse Mode view works here
In the next version, the Browse Mode view updates when saving your edits

Scroll into view is also improved when switching between edit and browse

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Thanks for the update Pierre.

I now see that I can Click & Drag to select some Text in Browse Mode which can then be copied with <Ctrl+C> which is helpful. This process still doesn't seem to set the Caret Position in the Browse Document however. Eventually I would prefer there to be an active Caret in Browse Mode that would also respond to <Shift+Arrow> for selection (just not allow any actual editing) but I'll gladly take what is currently available.

Conceptually, I agree that the safest and most logical process is to update all the Browse Editors when Document changes are saved (hate losing a useful side-effect though). For complex editing, I can always setup a Grid for Version Control / History if necessary.

[quote=DragonGem]

(hate losing a useful side-effect though). For complex editing, I can always setup a Grid for Version Control / History if necessary.

[/quote]

You can also open a second instance of that IQBase. There is also the Revert command and Undo... (though they aren't perfect, I know)

HTH !

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Paul,

Just as a point of interest, how much of your recent Note-Taking Comparison review was actually composed in IQ?

[quote=DragonGem]

Paul,

Just as a point of interest, how much of your recent Note-Taking Comparison review was actually composed in IQ?

[/quote]

It was entirely composed in InfoQube.

When I copy and paste from IQ into Wordpress it preserves the headings, bulleted lists, numbered lists, the indenting, tables, bold, italic, infact it seems to preserve all the HTML formatting which has been applied in IQ. Unsurprising since the source is HTML and the target is HTML.

IQ has a better than average WYSIWYG editor.

Interesting (and an intriguing list of subjects)!

I find that IQ provides a nice balance between a quick & easy stripped-down text editor while still providing a well-rounded set of advanced tools (like properly implemented Styles). I haven't enjoyed a word processor this much since Lotus' AmiPro stopped working sometime around Windows XP.

I envy people like you that can start with a blank page and compose a coherent document from start to finish. I always seem to start with a half-baked outline and a bunch of random thoughts that eventually all get welded together. IQ lets me have as many 8 Topic editors open at the same time (limit is really just screen real estate) and I can flit back and forth fleshing out ideas as thoughts come to me. My documents now just seem to evolve into a more coherent (hopefully) whole.

Thanks for sharing.

Along the lines of what Paul wrote at the end of his blog:

[quote]

who knows what next year will bring, or even next month.

[/quote]

There are a couple of thing I'd like to improve:

Headings-based Expand / Collapse inside the Doc pane
Swap between grid items + smaller content and a single item with a H1..H8 structured document, both ways. That way, one could start with an item for each section and then later on combine all these into 1 item
(There is already an entry in the Print Preview dialog -- Outline using Heading Styles, but it still says "Coming soon..." )

HTH !

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Pierre, Sounds like you may be in the mood for more wish-granting...

How about an additional option for the existing [Export to HTML] feature that "simply" merges the Documents for a selected group of Items into a single HTML Document. The existing feature does a pretty good job but places each Document into a Table cell (along with rows for the Grid Items and Fields). Subtract the Table directives and IQ could quickly generate various "composite documents" by filtering and ordering a Grid. Think Game of Thrones where you could actually follow a particular story-line with a degree of continuity.

[quote]

It was entirely composed in InfoQube.

[quote]

Hi Paul,

For such a long document, IQ perhaps was not the best environment...

But you'll happy to hear about a new feature... You'll be able to generate print-ready content, with styles and all, from a set of items.

For example, the first sections of your blog post could be a set of items, such as:

Then, a simple copy / paste would put a perfectly formatted HTML document in the clipboard, combining items, sub-items, the Doc pane content, etc !

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer