InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by djs on 2010/08/25 08:10

I came across InfoCube today and I'm thrilled by the potential of grids - it's what has always been missing from all the other options I've tried over the years. (It is reminiscent of the flexibility of Lotus Notes in regard to adding fields and creating grid views.)

However, I am also struggling with features that are not implemented according to defacto expectations.

The primary one is viewing search results. I hit CTRL-F and get search (yes!). I type my search term and get list of results (yep!). I click the search result I want to view and it appears in the main window (no surprises!).

Then I click the item in the main window so I can scroll down to read all of it. It disappears because the item actually clicked in the main window is something else. I try everything I know on the search result to try to get the main window to stick on the search result item - can't get it to do it. Also can't figure out where this item is in the regular hierarchy and switch to it in the main window.

Very unusual behavior for doing searches in any note taking program or any program at all. Makes me immediately unproductive at one of the most fundamental tasks in an organizer.

I really don't want to relearn something as basic as viewing search hits.

Learning to create a grid was similarly challenging - especially since when the fields appeared, they were invisible due to the width of the left side of the grid not auto-adjusting and also showing no indication that the fields had been added, but were out of site due to the left column width. Blind intuition caused me to discover it. Still can't figure out how to get a grid to only view a part of the hierarchy of notes.

I wanted to share these initial experiences while they are fresh - sometimes I think the impact of these little nits on New User adoption are invisible to developers and those who have surmounted the learning curve. I accept a lot of learning curve and don't expect the tool to baby me (I made it through some fields and a grid) - but I do feel learning to view search results shouldn't be such a challenge.

Thanks for note taking software that appears to promise the flexibility I am looking for!

Comments

Hi djs,

Yes IQ can be a frustrating experience at first, but rewarding after a while :)

> I click the search result I want to view and it appears in the main window (no surprises!).

I thing that by "main window" you actually mean the properties and HTML panes (4. Document Pane)?

> Then I click the item in the main window so I can scroll down to read all of it. It disappears because the item actually clicked in the main window is something else.

This is a bug with the HTML pane (4. Document Pane) reverting to the focused item in the current grid ([node:63when the Sync Panes" option is selected in the Quick Search Dialog (where you entered your search terms 1. Live-Search). This should be fixed, it was part of my list.

Pierre : note that It doesn't happen in the properties pane, only the HTML pane.

> Very unusual behavior for doing searches in any note taking program or any program at all. Makes me immediately unproductive at one of the most fundamental tasks in an organizer.

This is not the way users use the "quick search dialog" the most (i.e. : sync with properties pane and HTML pane.... See : 1. Live-Search).The "Sync Panes" option is just a convenient way to not have to display the results in a grid from the main IQ window.

If you 1- select your results in the search dialog and 2- then click on the button at the top of the dialog which says "Show selected items in search grid" (there are 2 other options as it's button with a sub menu), 3- another grid will open display your items and you won't have the problem you mention.

(What I mean is that you can still search and get results, see them entirely etc. without using the "Sync Pane" option which use is only to be able to see items content while staying in the Quick Search dialog)

> Learning to create a grid was similarly challenging - especially since when the fields appeared, they were invisible due to the width of the left side of the grid not auto-adjusting and also showing no indication that the fields had been added, but were out of site due to the left column width. Blind intuition caused me to discover it. Still can't figure out how to get a grid to only view a part of the hierarchy of notes.

I don't know what you mean here... In any case, grids can be set to always auto-ajust all columns to fit the visible area.

You need to set that in the grid management dialog. 6. Manage Grids Dialog

>I wanted to share these initial experiences while they are fresh - sometimes I think the impact of these little nits on New User adoption are invisible to developers and those who have surmounted the learning curve. I accept a lot of learning curve and don't expect the tool to baby me (I made it through some fields and a grid) - but I do feel learning to view search results shouldn't be such a challenge.

Thanks for taking the time to leave all these comments ! Yes, it's important and useful.

[quote=Armando]

Pierre : note that It doesn't happen in the properties pane, only the HTML pane.

[/quote]

Fixed in v0.9.25 !

Thank a lot !

hi djs - yes, I find that when I use a programme first I notice all the quirks/unexpected behaviour but then very quickly get used to it if I stick with the programme - so your initial thoughts are very important.

The following is possibly explaining some stuff you're already aware of - if so with apologies ;-)

Re the search results:

(1) I didnt fully understand did you select an item and then click: "show selected in a new search grid"? Actually I think Armando has interpreted that more correctly - that you simply selected the item and it's content showed in the HTML pane "I click the search result I want to view and it appears in the main window". I havent used that much - the sync panes feature that Armando refers to above. I'd recommend using the "show selected in a new search grid" option, especially if the other method is buggy - I think the sync panes feature is mainly to make sure you have the correct item - and then when sure you have what you looking for you would click "show selected..."

Later you say:

(2) "Also can't figure out where this item is in the regular hierarchy and switch to it in the main window"

Do you mean you created an item within a grid, you searched for it and you now want to see it in that particular grid? If you select the item & click the "show selected in a new search grid" you will be able to see it in an otherwise empty search grid. If "Context Parents" is selected (Menu: Grid >Context Parents) you will also be able to see it's main parent in the search grid. An item can have multiple parents - you can check other parents in the Properties Pane (Shift+F4 to open/close) under "Parents" - you can expand these 'upwards' to give you an idea of the items location(s).

Actually figuring out which grids the item is shown in can be difficult - if this is what you were looking for, ask again and hopefully someone else can explain better than me (in the Properties pane there is a "Shown in x grids" which can be misleading cause it only shows where the item meets the source field requirements which often isn't the case...) *

(3) Re creating a new grid - did you create a new file using an empty database or did you create one with Sample data? I know sometimes some of the grids in the default new file with sample data display a bit funny. I can check if you let me know which one it was.

* have you read the introductory pages of the manual? - it's good to get a sense of the concepts - that a grid is simply one "view" of items, which items can be shown in a very different manner in another grid (if you want!). For example you can have a grid that will show coloured items (which can then be filtered to show say just red items), or a grid with just bolded items. etc. etc.