Hi IQ Users,
Major milestones !
After thinking about it for a long long time, we've finally implemented in v110 a Tagging system. It is, IMHO, like no other !
Detailed documentation on how to use it has started: See 3. Tags
Also in this version a Print-ready Style-based Outline copy !
The Welcome to IQ file was updated to include Paul's review of 4 note-taking software as IQ items.
It is a long document, but broken down in a hierarchy of items, navigation is now easy !
The new Copy as Outline generated a document identical to his blog post ! View it here
In this version (v110Pre10):
- New: Tags: New multi-parent hierarchical tagging system
- New: Tags pane: Flat or Tree view of tags. Supports multiple selections. Hit Enter to show items for each tag. If more than 1 tag selected, option to use AND or OR operators. Default shortcut is Ctrl + T
- New: Tags grid: Use this grid to manage tags. A Tag is just an item created in the Tags grid (has the Tags field checked and TagID with a unique value). The Tag name is the item text. Tag names should use CamelCase with no spaces. A tag can be put under 2 or more parent tags. (Eventually, tag management will all be made within the Tags pane, but for now, using a Tags grid provides all the required features)
- New: Grid: Grid source and filter can now include tags. This allows filtering using tags. Supports AND, OR, NOT operators. Precede the tag name with # (i.e. #Tag1 OR #Tag2 AND NOT #Tag3)
- New: Grid: If the grid source includes tags, these will be automatically ticked for all TLI items added
- New: Live-Search: Tag pane shown on the left of the search result. Supports multiple tags (Ctrl+Click to select more than 1 tag) with AND or OR operators
- New: Live-Search: Support for Tags for both output types (Item list and Live-Search)
- New: Tags: Tags can be used in field auto-assign rules. Format #TagName=1 to set and =0 to delete
- New: Tags: In grids and fields, tags can be referenced by their tag ID using this syntax: #[TagID]. The advantage is that it is not dependant on the actual tag name, which can change. To help identify tags, this format is also supported: #[TagID:TagName], where TagName is a string to remember the tag. Should be similar to the actual tag name, but no checking is done
- New: Tags: Strikethrough tags are not shown in the Tags pane and Live-Search. Use the Tags grid to format tags. Use this to archive older tags and keep your tags list clean
- New: Properties pane: New Tags section. Can add / remove tags. Click hyperlink to show items for each tag. Click on the X to remove a tag. Click on the + to add tags (switches focus to the Tags pane)
- New: Field Management: Convert multi-select fields to Tags. Use the multi-select dialog to convert. Option when converting spaces and other not allowed characters
- New: Grid: Tags can now be shown as a column in any grid
- New: Grid: Tags column supports copy / paste / delete
- New: Grid properties: Auto-assign fields can also include tags (precede tag name with #)
- New: Grid: Item formatting applies to tags. Use the Tags grid to format items (bold, italic, colors, etc). Embedded formatting and icons can be used but these will affect the tag name, so it is not recommended
- New: Grid: Options to show / hide the item tag delete icon in grids (for a cleaner look)
- New: Live-Search: Tags are now shown as a column
- New: Live-Search: When the tag list is in "Logical AND" mode, selecting a tag refreshes the tag list to only show relevant tags, as discussed here
- New: Tags pane: Press Insert to add a tag, Shift + Insert to add a child tag and Delete to delete tag(s), or use context menus
- New: Tags pane: Locked section at the top showing the current item tags. Stays visible even when scrolling the list of tags
- New: Tags pane: When Show Item Count is off, hover over the pane shows the item count
- New: Tags pane: Flat view now shows expand buttons, much like the Tags grid in flat view
- New: Tags pane: Column header allows sorting by tag name and count. Particularly useful in Flat view
- New: Tags pane: Partial check icons are now also shown in Flat view. Click the expand button to view / edit sub-tags
- New: Tags pane: Partial check icons now reflect the Tag Inheritance Depth setting
- New: Tags pane / Live Search / Grids: Tag Inheritance Depth setting
- New: Tags pane: New command: Show Items (Grid Subset): Limits the items to those in the current grid only, not the whole IQBase
- New: Tags pane: Show archived tags
- New: Tags pane: Context menu to show / hide the Tags column in a grid
- New: Tags pane: Hold Ctrl key to show tag info
- New: Tags: Support for more than one tag with the same name. If 2 or more tags have the same name, showing the tag items in a grid will use the syntax #[TagID:TagName] to resolve the correct tag
- New: Properties pane: Drag-drop the Tags section to a grid to show item tags as a grid column (or use the context menu)
- New: Properties pane: Tags section supports copy / paste
- New: Forms: ItemTags fields can be used to show tags in a form
- New: Fields: New ItemTagCount field, gives the number of tags for each item
- New: Grid: Copy as HTML Outline: Outlines can now be copied in a Print-ready style-based outline format, ready to paste in Rich Text editors.
Uses the item / sub-items text and Doc pane content. Option to set the base heading level and list type. Details here: HTML Outline Export - New: Print-Preview / Export: Print-ready Style-based export of the outline of items / sub-items (same as Copy as HTML Outline command)
- New: Grid: Items are now either Headings or Normal Text. Affects both Outline Styles and Labels. Also used by the new Copy as HTML Outline command. Use the H and N icons on the Format toolbar to set. By default, all items are Headings
- New: Grid: Edit > Paste > Paste as Plain Text command
- New: Grid: Edit > Paste: Improved support for HTML formats
- New: Grid: Home / End moves the focus to the first / last column. Hold Ctrl to also move the focus to the first / last item in the grid
- New: Grid Properties: Columns showing the font / colors now use: blank = All, -1 = Database Default
- New: Surface: For rectangular links, improved visual when lines cross each other
- New: Doc pane: Copy / paste image files: Drag-drop is still not possible for image files, but it is now possible to copy / paste image files from Windows Explorer to the Doc pane editor. Supports 1 or more image files
- New: Doc pane: Drag-drop image files is now possible by opening the Insert > HTML Code dialog
- New: Doc pane: When 2 Doc panes show the same item, only one can be in Edit mode
- New: Doc pane Code view: Long lines are now cut and wrap to the next line. Setting in Tools > Options
- New: Properties pane: New context menu to open all grids in a group
- New: Options: Option to use Windows 8 compatibility mode or not
- Fixed: Grid: WYSIWYG Editor: Better support for IE11. It was not working well when the Doc pane was set to use IE 11
- Fixed: Grid: WYSIWYG editor: Strikethrough text was not handled correctly
- Fixed: Grid Properties: Deleting a grid closed all loaded grids
- Fixed: Grid: Outline labels showed bold HTML codes when the column was set to show HTML codes
- Fixed: Grid: Keyboard shortcuts were not registered
- Fixed: Grid: Split item did not handle super/subscripts correctly
- Fixed: Grid: Setting the Tree column on the # column and back to Item showed the ItemID on the # column
- Fixed: Grid: Dragging an image file onto a grid with the option to create a shortcut to the file did not show the image
- Fixed: Doc pane: When the Properties pane was shown, the doc pane was attached to it to become a pane group. It is now properly docked to the main window
- Fixed: Doc and Properties pane: changing the item text did not update the pane caption
- Fixed: Doc pane: If the Doc pane is showing a linked file and this file is an image, editing is disabled
- Fixed: Field Properties: If left open, it would steal the focus from the main window
- Fixed: Field Properties: Deleting a field did not properly set the focus on the next field
- Fixed: Tab close buttons were not shown at the correct position when panes were docked on the left
- Fixed: Dropbox sync was not working with some regional settings (date / number formats)
Major restructuring and update was done on the documentation lately. Do check it out, in particular here, which list all menu commands with links to related detailed pages
- Main table of content: http://www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php?q=node/2043
- Tree-view of all pages: http://www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php?q=booktree
- Offline version of each main chapter can now be downloaded and viewed on any mobile device... great way for some IQ training. Get it HERE
You have a question on some new (or not so new) feature ?
Visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQubeIM/ and let's discuss it live !
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
Comments
I couldn't agree more!! It looks and functions even better than I expected it to (and my expectation level keeps getting higher the more I work with IQ)!
Additionally, the crucial decision to attach via the TagID instead of the Tag Text is proving to be another stroke of genius. Try prefixing your most-frequently-used Tags with an "!" or "*" to have them sort right at the top of the Non-Tree listing for quick access when doing a bunch of tagging. Remove the prefixes and the Tags return to their expected sort but stay attached to Items as expected.
Using Non-Alpha-Numeric prefix characters ( !*?^<> ) can also help sort and categorize groups of Tags (i.e. :Person ^Place >When). Just avoid using # ; , [ ] as these have special meanings.
The fact that the Tag Filter finds matches anywhere in the Tag text makes it really easy to locate Tags even if you only know a partial phrase.
I, for one, would hate to see the Tags Grid "retired". I add a Comments column, pull Text & Fill colors from a PickList and toss Maps & Family Trees into the Document Pane. Throw in some Filter flags and it is easy to Cut & Paste a consistent set of Tag categories between IQ databases. Reducing Tags to a simple hierarchical Listing would be a step backward. Compare the flexibility and intuitiveness of the Tags Grid with the limitations of the Fields Editor dialog.
use the properties pane to do bulk operations (such as item: =[TagFrench]) (see 6. Properties Pane)
First, thanks for the <Home> & <End> shortcuts; works perfectly.
Started with a blank database and just added Tags & Child-Tags within the Tags Pane. Finally discovered that you have to Drag the [Tags:] header from within the [Items Property] section of the Properties Panel to display the selected Tags in another Grid.
Default Tags Pane gets somewhat confusing pretty quickly as the default sort in the Tags Pane in Tree View seems to be by TagID with all available Tags listed.
Built-in Tags grid doesn't include an [Item] column by default and has a tiny [#] column that needs to be manually resized; all in all is a bit disconcerting to start.
Adding [Item] Column and Tag fields still doesn't help Tags grid much.
Closing and reopening the database finally gets the Tags Grid to match my manually created Grid. Tree View of Tags Panel is still sorted by TagID. Clicking the [Tag] column to sort helps but performing <F5>Refresh returns to TagID order.
Flat View is closer to what I would expect.
I'm still coming to terms with how I would really expect Tags to work overall. All of the features are there; just needs a little polish. I'm guess it would be nice to know how Pierre actually intends Tags to be used and presented.
Excellent job, Pierre! It appears that you have successfully addressed all of my immediate functional concerns (and that was no small task)! I've already committed to IQ as my primary Info Manager and now feel confident enough to start introducing it to some of my clients (a pretty big vote of confidence for a Beta product).
The final thing on my wish-list (for moment anyway) would be to have the assigned Field Color show up in the Field Properties dialog. You already apply some shading to distinguish required fields from user-defined fields... Hero status awaits!
Hi Tom,
Don't feel bad; I spent a good amount of time looking for a specific Field as well. Out of desperation, I tried dragging the [Tags:] header from the [Item Properties] section of the Properties Pane onto the Grid and that has worked flawlessly for me (although Paul claims that he has issues with it). I agree that there should be a pre-defined field like [ItemTagList] to go along with the existing [ItemTagCount] field.
Thanks Pierre, that explains a lot!!
I see that [Tags:] Section header has a [ + ] button that forces the Item Tags Pane to appear and gain focus. You might want to consider a [ V ] button for the Headers with Right-Click Menus ( [Tags:], [Marked Items], [Forms...], [All Fields] ). It's easy to forget that some of these Sections have special properties and a visual reminder is helpful.
Hi Pierre. I agree with Paul; you were going to get Hero Status regardless.
From a strict usability standpoint, simply coloring the ID column would be acceptable but, for getting novice users up to speed, I believe that coloring the Field Name is better. That is because it will visually correspond to what the user sees in the Grid Header (the fewer cognitive leaps required while learning a new process, the better). The obvious pitfall is someone choosing too dark a color and making the text hard to read but you can only do so much to protect users from themselves.
So, I'm now going to contradict myself by saying that I would prefer to stick with the Field Name vs the Field Caption (although I would welcome the addition of a Caption column to the Table). Many years of programming has taught me the perils of attempting to name fields to match their Captions as Captions tend to be a moving target. I usually prefix my fields ("gtd", "todo", "pick", etc.; as it makes it easier to Group them since they all sort together) requiring each to have a custom Caption, so it is quite possible that different Fields could share the same Caption. I just discovered the sorting & filtering capabilities of Field Properties grid columns so adding the Caption column would still make the Fields easy to find by Caption AND would help track redundancies.
While you are tinkering with Field Properties, I'll remind you of a couple of my other "suggestions". First, Fields based on an SQL query should have a Checkmark in their Code column (makes it easier to review whether changing a Field Name is going to break anything). Secondly, Close should function more like a Hide with the Dialog re-appearing in its last position and with the Sections collapsed/expanded (not as much of an issue now that you fixed the problems with stealing Focus and Deleting consecutive Fields since Minimize achieves pretty much the same result).
Thanks again for your hard work and responsiveness.
Thanks Pierre,
Preliminary Drag & Drop of Text Files handles display quite nicely (with embedded <br> for line breaks) and doesn't force the HTML wrapper into the Text File. 2-way update is maintained for both Direct and .lnk Linkage. However, Text File content is NOT automatically indexed for searching yet but any change to the document does cause a re-index.
Storing the actual Text File content into [ItemHTMLText] is still a manual process;
Great work, Pierre. The Tags feature is fantastic and fits in perfectly with IQ's overall design and philosophy.
I realize that Tags implementation was the focus of the final v110 release but is there any chance of having a few of the other discussed cosmetic features included? The highest priority issue for me is having the Field's assigned Color show up in the Field Property listing Grid. While this feature makes no functional difference and probably doesn't matter much to long-time users, I believe that it will prove indispensable when introducing IQ to a new and skeptical business audience (you know, the paying kind that need some convincing).
What will the focus of v111 be (in general terms)? Is v111 still planned as the final Beta prior to release of v1.0? Just trying to put some outlines for introductory tutorials in place; it helps to know what areas will likely be changing in the near future.
Great work, Pierre. The Tags feature is fantastic and fits in perfectly with IQ's overall design and philosophy.
I realize that Tags implementation was the focus of the final v110 release but is there any chance of having a few of the other discussed cosmetic features included? The highest priority issue for me is having the Field's assigned Color show up in the Field Property listing Grid. While this feature makes no functional difference and probably doesn't matter much to long-time users, I believe that it will prove indispensable when introducing IQ to a new and skeptical business audience (you know, the paying kind that need some convincing).
What will the focus of v111 be (in general terms)? Is v111 still planned as the final Beta prior to release of v1.0? Just trying to put some outlines for introductory tutorials in place; it helps to know what areas will likely be changing in the near future.
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Thanks for the info on the road-map, Pierre.
I've been extremely impressed with the simplicity and stability of your pre-releases on this go-round. It's great to be able to just drop the new Patch Executable into both the Installed and Portable directories and not have to worry about overwriting preferences or losing settings. The databases seem to adapt automatically with new Properties added and new features instantly available. I like the Windows 10 analogy BUT, unlike Microsoft, you've PROVEN that IQ can handle regular updates quickly and effortlessly.
One of the main audiences that I see for IQ is the IT Services sector. These people are technologically savvy, unfazed by a little complexity, reliant on a wide array of utilities and always looking for better ways to gather and share information. The true portability of IQ will prove essential with this crowd. Just need to figure out how to catch their attention long enough to make them see the potential of IQ.
Pierre, thanks for re-positioning the [Lock to Item] button and your adjustments to [Browse Only] mode. I can now relatively easily setup my ideal editing environment as seen in the attached screen captures. One image shows show how to edit all portions of a single Topic at once. The other shows how to review all portions specific to InfoQube for consistency and completeness. My system has 3 landscape monitors and 1 portrait monitor.
Unfortunately (but not unsurprisingly), this many open Editors causes IQ to LOCK UP to the point that killing the IQ process via the Task Manager is required. The problem seems to be IQ "thrashing about" trying to figure out how to update the status of each Editor. About half the time, simply minimizing IQ and then restoring it solves the problem for the moment. I truly have no suggestions about how to identify (much less solve) what exactly is causing the conflict here.
Realistically, I would be happy with 4 floating Document Editors embedded together along with 1 attached inside the main IQ application. I will work with this configuration and see if I can identify the exact set of interactions that initiate the thrashing.
My previous suggestion about being able to designate a particular Document Pane as the DEFAULT would make it easier to Load and Exchange documents within this configuration. That said, keeping every Editor with [Lock to Item] set ON except for the desired loading spot works well enough for now.
A brilliant piece of work!!
Excellent work Pierre!! Exactly (almost) what I was hoping to see!! An option (somewhere down the road) in [Export to HTML] dialog to suppress the Items Outline (Document Content Only) and I will have to do virtually NO editing to the final output!
I once had a client complement my team by saying that our corporate motto should be "We work HARD so you DON'T have to!" I believe that you are entitled to incorporate that into your mission statement. (Better than my former partner's suggestion : "We SCREW the OTHER guy and pass the SAVINGS on to YOU!").
I've attached a copy of the HTML Export that focuses primarily on IQ. It comes from my slicing of Paul's original article and was created by simply tagging the individual Items, filtering and then exporting. You will see that the Items have some extra contextual description so that I can more easily identify the purpose of the Document Content in isolation,
IQ has just graduated from the BEST Information Manager to the BEST Composition Outliner and is well on the way to being the BEST Writing Environment of any kind!!
**Sorry for the repeat posts!!
I thought that they were mysteriously vanishing; turns out that this chain simply exceeded my setting of [90 posts per screen] and thus landed on Page 2. That said, it bears repeating; IQ is rapidly becoming the BEST piece of software of ANY kind!!
Excellent work Pierre!! Exactly (almost) what I was hoping to see!! An option (somewhere down the road) in [Export to HTML] dialog to suppress the Items Outline (Document Content Only) and I will have to do virtually NO editing to the final output!
I once had a client complement my team by saying that our corporate motto should be "We work HARD so you DON'T have to!" I believe that you are entitled to incorporate that into your mission statement. (Better than my former partner's suggestion : "We SCREW the OTHER guy and pass the SAVINGS on to YOU!").
That should do it!
Any word on the planned [Export to] [Items in XML Format]? How do you foresee handling Document Contents?