Submitted by RichBSD on 2022/04/20 17:24

Hello all.

I have been using Ecco Pro since 1995. I love it, but am growing increasingly concerned with its data limitations and orphan status, and I have had a few scares with data corruption over the years.

For those reasons, I would like to transition to InfoQube, a modern program that was inspired by Ecco.

I installed IQOutliner, and successfully imported my Ecco data, but found the beginner tutorials daunting in terms of learning curve time and "hitting the ground running" with my current database. It seems most of the tutorials are geared toward teaching the InfoQube native format for new/small databases.

Can anybody recommend a good tutorial aimed at replicating the look and feel of Ecco for a large existing database, with the shortest possible learning curve time?

Specifically, I would like to retain the calendar/phonebook/notepad format, with easy sharing/transferability of data among all of them. Also, alarms in the calendar are a "must have."

Thank you for your help.

RichBSD

Comments

Welcome RichBSD!

Like you, I have used Ecco since 1995 (after the PC mag review) and I was a beta tester. I have also used the Ecco Extension since the beginning.
It has been a steep learning process to learn IQ because many things are done differently.
I miss some Ecco features, but IQ has many great features that are missing in Ecco!

The 3 main things that I miss from Ecco are:
1. Alarms (but that will be available in IQ very soon!)

2. Popup Forms, or at least better control of forms. I use Forms extensively in Ecco.

3. The extensive Ecco-Lua scripting in Ecco Extension. IQ has great VB scripting but it cannot manipulate items like Ecco-Lua can (e.g. I was trying to make an item a subitem by script, but that is not possible)

I can help you with an IQ layout that mimics what you have in Ecco. Can you post a screenshot?
 

Hi Rich,

If you want to use the built-in calendar, you'll need the full version, as the IQ Outliner (free version) only has 2 UIs: Outliner and Card View

IQ has many features common to Ecco, and this includes viewing items in multiple places, including notepads (grids) and calendar.

There are aspects of Ecco which aren't in IQ, most of them by design (some by lack of time / interest). So you'll find that organizing information in IQ can (and should) be different than what was possible in Ecco. Examples are grid display modes, document pane, tags, field equations, etc.

There are quite a few ex Ecco Pro users here (including viking and evidently LeftEccoForIQ !), these will most likey chip in on how they tackled the transition between the two information management tools.

HTH !

Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer

Rich, I will address your screenshots one-by-one. First, the Notepad.
IQ cannot create a Notepad (called Grid in IQ) with multiple Folders. There are two work-arounds:

1. Create Tags (same as checkMark folder in Ecco) instead of folders. Then Group the Tags and you will get this:

z

2. Alternatively, you can create a Notepad (Grid) with "subtabs" for each folder like I described here:
https://infoqubeim.com/drupal5/node/5384

It looks like this, where you would name each tab at the bottom with your Folder Names:

z

 

p.s. Pierre, It would be nice if the "Tag: Rich_tags:" prefix could be hidden when grouping like this.

Finally, IQ does not have detachable forms so the Phonebook form cannot be put next to the Phonebook like in Ecco (I have my form below the Phonebook in Ecco).
Instead, the contact info can be read in the columns (like in Ecco) or in the Form that is part of the Properties Pane (like Ecco's Folder Pane, but on "steroids"..):

z

Viking:

Thanks for the incredibly prompt and detailed suggestions.

As you recommended, I will download the full version and play with it this weekend.

I will probably have a lot more questions after that.

Is there any tutorial you can recommend to guide me on how to make my screens look like your examples?

Best regards,

RichBSD

@Rich,

There is no concise tutorial to accomplish what I did. The information is available throughout  the manual and it may take some time to find and figure out. In the end it is quite simple though.

Maybe you could write something up as you try to recreate each layout yourself?

We can help when you get stuck; on the forum or the live coffee-shop, which is usually at 14:00 EST except for today (Pierre is on vacation). It is announced with a Google Meet link here: https://infoqubeim.com/drupal5/index.php/comment/25380#comment-25380 (you could subscribe to the thread)

P.s. I may create a file for you that has the layouts shown above and post it here if that would help you? Maybe in a few days?

Viking:

I would be incredibly grateful if you created a template file that replicated the look and feel of Ecco. I'm guessing it will be much easier to reverse engineer that than to create it from scratch via referencing the manual piecemeal.

@Rich,

I created a new "Welcome" file (a file with test data) and made the layouts that I showed above (including 2 different versions of your multi-folder notepad; as with Ecco if you change an item, it changes in both notepads).

Please see attached. Just extract and put the files in a directory of your choice.
Please feel free to ask any questions.

 

p.s. I discovered a small bug (that I reported); the item bullets disappear when grouping by the Tags.

Hi Rich,

Your best bet is to attend the next Coffee Shop as each Ecco user uses it in a different way. IQ can also be used in many different ways. Viking's Ecco-like template may not suit you.

Multiple folders in a notepad is an example. While this isn't supported in IQ, perhaps you don't use it much. It is also easy to drag a folder to a grid to view its content (like you can in Ecco). You can also have 1000's of notepads (not just the 15 or so Ecco supported)

And unlike Ecco, IQ is really built around items, not hierarchy of items. The hierarchy display is optional (think of your parents, yourself, your kids)

How do I ?