1) each {wikitag} on a separate line
2) ability to select multiple tags (tickbox)
also:
3) sort tags alphabetically (not currently done in the drop-down Wikitag selection in the Add New Item dialogue)
Tags will just be a text field, but it is the UI which will make it special. Say you want to qualify SQLNotes, You'd say it is:
- an outliner
- a grid
- like Ecco
- can do computations
- has links with Office
- has charts
How would you code that?
- Indidual fields? Will get out of hand quickly
- Multiple parents (under outliners, under Ecco, etc). OK but UI intensive to create all these relations. Most users will not do it
- Put these keywords into a regular text field: Search works most of the time, but users must manually add the keywords. Auto-assign can become messy and can cause duplicates
- In tags. Tags is stored internally as a text field, but the UI knows to treat it differently:
- Adding a tag to an item does not erase the other tags, tests for duplicates before adding
- Search can find complex tags (e.g. with spaces)
- Adding tags can be as simple as selecting from a list or clicking on a button
- Tags can be displayed, one by line in a properties pane. Right-click to delete
- Tags management allows easy rename
- If tag hierarchy is setup, parent tag search can return the sub-tags
- Prints much easier than a list of checkboxes, most of which would be empty. If you use text fields for categories, bounderies are hard to set (what goes where?)
- clicking on a tag, returns all items that have that tag. Great for navigation, cross-linking, etc
- can be used for quick-and-dirty item-to-item links/grouping
- tags can trigger field settings and vice-versa
- Jeff [/quote]
I tried the first 3 solutions that Pierre described : #1- individual fields, #2- multiple parents, and #3- keywords into a regular text field) for some weeks (in an experimental database.
I temporarily opted for #3 (keywords into a regular category text field -- but I've removed the automatic list). Because I use an AutoHotkey based personal "system wide" tagging system, it was fairly easy to implement this way. (For a fairly detailed explanation of this "system" see this post at DonationCoder.com : http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=10469.msg81843#msg81843 ; and there I also write about the difference between tags, categories, etc, among other things : http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=2362.msg90843#msg90843.)
BUT... I must admit that solution #1 (use fields as categories) would work very well, and better than solution #3 (and maybe even solution 4 -- the "tag" solution... who knows...) if :
1- fields could be created on the fly (more rapidly — in particular the YES/NO type of fields/categories)
2- fields could be associated to items on the fly
3- fields could be organized hierarchically.
4- Forms could contain hierarchies of fields
when I experimented with this solution #1 (use fields as categories), I created a form called "categories" in which I put all my category fields. In my mantis suggestion, this what I meant by a "meta category". In some way, "forms" allow one to group and organize fields hierarchically... albeit in a pretty limited fashion (2 levels).
As for the "on the fly" item-field association... The only problem is that the only "place" I'm aware off where you can assign different fields on the fly to an item is in the "add new item" little window (VERY convenient by the way -- an EverNote killer and the perfect GTD companion). If such a window could be invoked anywhere, for any grid item, in which we could just type a bunch of fields on the fly, that would be great. (Maybe there's already a way to do that and I'm not aware of it... ???)
Some possible solutions to assign fields to an item "on the fly", without clicking your way down in the property panel... ;) :
1- A shortcut key (like ctrl+alt+f) or a click in a context menu item (ie : "add fields") would popup a small window which would be similar to the "assign to" zone in the "Add new item" window invoked via crl+alt+n or ctrl+n. You could then type directly in that entry field, add "terms" one after the other, and you could use a drop down menu to help out with figuring each field rapidly (still with the keyboard) -- and add them one after the other to the item.
2- That quick field entry zone could also be in the Properties panel, and follow the same design as above.
Associating fields to an item in this way would just put the minimal value (a space, a 0 ? or a "check") in each field typed, and it would be very quick. Again... if this is already possible... Please tell me how!
Anyway : This would allow to treat fields much more like categories or tags (like in other software : Outlook, EverNote, MyBase, Ultra Recall...)
Now... I know that Pierre prefer another solution altogether for tagging (see his quote above), and it might work very well, of course. I just feel that since the YES/NO fields are already "tags" in some ways, why not use what's already there?
All these "thoughts" are closely linked to other related suggestions I wanted to discuss for a while but haven'T found the time yet -- I don't know if this is the right thread, nut I think I should mention them now since they might help clarifying what I just wrote about :
1- Creating fields "on the fly"
2- Organizing fields hierarchically in the "manage field window"
3- Option to organize fields hierarchically inside forms too (in the property panel and the "manage forms" panel)
4- On users choice, with certain filters, fields could be automatically assigned to certain forms (with filters, check boxes, or other UI technology...)?
[/quote]
- One suggestion regarding tags is to have a tag toolbar show when a tag-type field is in focus. This will ease assigning tags and ease tag filtering.
- Tag hierarchy is also a must: if you have:
MyMainTag
SomeSubGroup
Then assiging an item (say Item1) the SomeSubGroup and clicking on the MyMainTag to find all items with that tag should also return your item (Item1)[/quote]
WikiTags > To brace or not; That is the question node:1722
Comments
a- either by hand, coma separated (and so the user wouldn't be limited by IQ but could use any automation software like intellicomplete or, in my case AHK to accelerate tagging),
b- OR using a multi-select drop-down menu
2- IQ would parse the info to all the corresponding Y/N fields.
3- tags/YN fields could be created almost on the fly with a simplified "New Field" dialog (like the "Create Grid" dialog). This simplified dialog would allow to a- create the field and b- add it under another field through a drop down menu ("Select parent" --> click on the parent field)
a- better filtering performance provided by the YN fields
b- easy tag assignation of a multiple selection drop-down menu AND/OR coma separated text entry.
c- statistics provided by the field management window telling us how many tags of a certain type has been assigned to an item
d- the possibility to more easily use pivot charts and other graphs (like mind maps) to visually display our current tagging usage.
Pop-up List Columns
With Pop-up list columns you select a cell value from a pre-established list.
If you select a cell in a pop-up list column, ECCO displays a value edit box.
In this box you can choose the down arrow to display a list of existing values (and then select a value from the list).
Type a new value.
Select Edit Values to display the Pop-Up List Column Values dialog box. In this dialog box, you can add, modify, or delete values in the pop-up list column.
About Multiple-Folder Columns
Although a column typically displays the values for a single folder, it's possible to have a column show values from several folders. This can be useful when only a few (of many) folders are likely to be used with each item in a view. Setting up columns for multiple folders is also useful for working with items that have multiple values or folder assignments that you want to view and edit in one place.
For example, Hanna has a folder for each of her assistants. As tasks come up that need to be attended to, Hanna can assign them to her assistants by adding them to folders. Hanna would like to see at a glance which tasks are in which folders without having to dedicate a column to each of her assistants.
In the folder window, Hanna creates a folder called "Assistants" and makes a folder for each of her assistants subordinate to that folder.
She then creates a multiple-folder column using the "Assistants" column. For each task in the Notepad, those subordinate folders that contain the item will be displayed in the corresponding cell of this column.
Note the following about multiple-folder columns:
If an item in the view has been added to a subfolders, the folder's name appears in the multiple-folder column cell to its right.
If the folder contains a value, the value appears along with the folder name.
You can add, delete, or edit the values in each subfolder by clicking the column cell.
You can include folders without values in a multiple-folder column, and you can use the column to view folder assignments, add items to folders, and remove items from folders quickly, in a single location.
Notes From Dave
Here is a snapshot of what it looks like when viewing
Here is a snapshot of what it looks like when editing, notice you can have checkmark folder/columns and date folder/columns combined. If it has a value then the folder is listed in the cell.
a- either by hand, coma separated (and so the user wouldn't be limited by IQ but could use any automation software like intellicomplete or, in my case AHK to accelerate tagging),
3- tags/YN fields could be created almost on the fly with a simplified "New Field" dialog (like the "Create Grid" dialog). This simplified dialog would allow to a- create the field and b- add it under another field through a drop down menu ("Select parent" --> click on the parent field)
b- easy tag assignation of a multiple selection drop-down menu AND/OR coma separated text entry.
c- statistics provided by the field management window telling us how many tags of a certain type has been assigned to an item
d- the possibility to more easily use pivot charts and other graphs (like mind maps) to visually display our current tagging usage.