InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by davet on 2011/05/31 16:01

I want to be able to assign an item to multiple things in a pop-up list. Can someone tell me how to do this?

See video for example of what I want to do: /drupal5/files/351/assign multiple list items.swf

Thanks,

Dave

Update: feature request submitted to Mantis. Ref: http://mantis.sqlnotes.net/view.php?id=1129

Comments

Hi Dave,

Unfortunately, this hasn't been implemented yet. But since it's been asked a long time ago, my guess is that it's pretty high on Pierre's list.

That said, it's partly implemented: "multiple selections" combo boxes are available in the "add item" dialog (Win+N or Ctrl+N) : the "WikiTags" and "Other field" text boxes, offer the possibility of selecting several choices. Now we just need it in the grids...

Some links (maybe not that interesting):

- Multi-Field Editor - When is it Coming?

- Tom's request - improve wikitag selection

- Wikitags & Tagging: an attempted summary

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Windows XP Home Edition, Service pack 2

Dell Vostro 1500, Ram:3gb, CPU:Core2Duo T7500 2.2ghz

Hi Armando,

Thanks for the reference links...lots of deep reading and deep thinking there to figure out if there are viable workarounds.

A list box that allows multiple selections seems like a core component of an information management tool.

I hope this feature is coming in the not too distant future. I personally like the checkbox style of multi-selection list box like the one shown in my video above (/drupal5/files/351/assign multiple list items.swf) and further clarified below:

Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511484.aspx

Does anyone else have a preference on implementing this?

BTW...is this a standard planned feature, or do I need to request this feature in Mantis, or is it already in Mantis? I could not find it in Mantis.

Dave

> I hope this feature is coming in the not too distant future

FWIW a list box has been used for the wikitags in the new item dialogue (but not available anywhere else)

> BTW...is this a standard planned feature, or do I need to request this feature in Mantis, or is it already in Mantis? I could not find it in Mantis.

not sure, Armando will probably know

Like Tom and I said, 2 combo-boxes (with check-boxes) are already implemented in the add item dialog. And this is most probably how it will implemented in the grid : as a combo-box + check-box

The good thing about the mixing of combo-box + check-box (Pierre's implementation) are :

1- you can directly write in the text box (coma separated values) without having to go through the list to make selection -- so you get to choose your favorite way,

2- if the list is activated (i.e. : visible) and the focus is in the list, "search as you type" works really well. This is how I move from one item to the other in the list : start typing in the list and the focus moves to the next match. Then press ctrl+space to select an item/check a checkbox.

I use the field list in the add-item dialog multiple times a day. very convenient.

====

As far a mantis goes, I'd say add it if it isn't there.

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Windows XP Home Edition, Service pack 2

Dell Vostro 1500, Ram:3gb, CPU:Core2Duo T7500 2.2ghz

Armando and Tom,

Thanks for your help and patience. I obviously restated the obvious.

I looked at the Add Item thing, but don't have a clue as to what it does or how to use it. So, I overlooked the drop-down list with check boxes for multi-selection there. Also, I don't speak Wiki...so I didn't see it there either. I'd say probably 90% of IQ is still a mystery to me. It is good to know Pierre has already written and implemented this code.

I will add a feature request to Mantis for a multi-selection list box in the grids.

Dave

Thanks for adding it to Mantis

[quote=davet]

I looked at the Add Item thing, but don't have a clue as to what it does or how to use it. [/quote]

What do you mean ? the add item dialog (Win+N or Edit->New Item... another discrepancy) is basically a dialog allowing you to insert quick notes, clips, etc., in IQ.

- fill the "Item text" Text box (alt+i)

- In the "Assign to" section, select "inbox" or "current grid", and if you feel more adventurous, select your own subset of fields ("other fields") to add to the item.

- click on "add item" (or press alt+a if you're a keyboard person)

Note that the item dialog is the same as the universal clipping dialog : when you select a portion of text anywhere and press Win+C, the dialog will appear and fill the "HTML" text box with the previously selected text. Pressing "add item" will add this to your DB.

==================

IMO, IQ isn't that hard. You just have to understand that grids don't contain items but show items based on filters. Items need to meet the filters to appear in the grid.

See IQ as a kind of sophisticated "desktop search" program... which can also do many other things.

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Windows XP Home Edition, Service pack 2

Dell Vostro 1500, Ram:3gb, CPU:Core2Duo T7500 2.2ghz

I just wanted to point out that it can be done! (and has been done in one small area.)

The wikitag field is a method of tagging - if you're interested at any stage I can give you some info about it.

(Note: It's not very evolved, and tagging may be developed in a different direction in the future.)

The add new item dialogue does what it says - it shows with Winkey+N shortcut here. It's actually the same dialogue that shows when you're clipping stuff from the web.

The interface could do with a big overhaul, but basically:

the top text field is the item field in the grid
bottom large field is the associated html

by default new items get added to the inbox grid.

HTH

(just seen Armando's post!)

Armando and Tom,

Thanks for the info on Add Item and Wikitags. I looked at Add Item a little, and now I have a whole bunch of questions and issues with that function. For example, I have no Inbox in my grids. So, when I did an add item to Inbox it appears to me that whatever was done goes into a black hole. Now that I am getting a little more experience with IQ, I had enough wherewithall to create an Inbox grid and see what was created. But then I got a message, "Hierarchy calc refers to Urgency and this field does not exist" or something like that. It's like a ball of snakes to a new user. I'll put in on my todo list and try and make some videos when I can. I think this is going to require a new thread to work through the issues here.

As I've said earlier, I know enough about learning theory and curriculum design to understand that a newbee sees the world through a whole different set of glasses than you guys that have been working with IQ for years. That is why I want to work through some of these issues before my views change too much. After awhile I'll become one of you and won't have a clue of the frustrations a new user goes through.

BTW...I've been reading Mark Bernstein's book "The Tinderbox Way" and looking at Tinderbox stuff on the web...Tinderbox has some awesome mind mapping tools, but all-in-all it looks like feature for feature IQ is much better. Also, I have looked at OmniOutliner videos on the web...beautiful UI, but not much substance behind that pretty face. I'm willing to buy a Mac to solve my information management and writing problems if need be, but I don't feel a magnet pulling me in that direction at the moment. And, I have been playing around with the trial version of MyInfo. I see a couple of neat features there that I'd like to see added to IQ. But once again, feature for feature, MyInfo does not come close to IQ.

So, what's my point in all this? My point is that after years and years of endlessly looking for and testing outliners, PIMs, and mind mapping programs, I see IQ as the best-of-breed for the desktop...Mac or PC...so I'm getting more motivated and willing to put time into IQ as long as Pierre continues to listen and make needed changes...so far he has be super to work with.

On another note, for the cloud, I've tested WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Liferay...and at this point I've decide to go with Liferay and would eventually like to see some integration between IQ and Liferay. IQ would be nowhere if Pierre had not set up this Drupal site...the point being that IQ does not stand alone in my mind even with Dropbox or Sugar Sync. I think to be successful IQ needs to be integrated with a collaborative cloud content management system...and at this point...I'd like to see that become Liferay and would be willing to work on that in the future.

Dave

Hi Dave

[quote=davet]

For example, I have no Inbox in my grids. So, when I did an add item to Inbox it appears to me that whatever was done goes into a black hole. Now that I am getting a little more experience with IQ, I had enough wherewithall to create an Inbox grid and see what was created. But then I got a message, "Hierarchy calc refers to Urgency and this field does not exist" or something like that. It's like a ball of snakes to a new user. I'll put in on my todo list and try and make some videos when I can. I think this is going to require a new thread to work through the issues here.

[/quote]

2 questions:

- Did you erase your urgency field ?

- Did you start with a blank DB or a sample one (I think I asked that question before)?

Personally, I think that new users should start with a Sample and build from there. With a Sample, there would be no problem. I said that a few times before.

If the "new blank DB" causes problems, maybe the option should just be removed, or a popup should warn the user that some experience with fields and equations is preferable. The fact is : once a user starts tinkering with fields (adding some, changing the names, etc.) he/she should not expect things to run as smoothly. E.g. : if I remove some registry keys in my windows installation, I might run into problems... or not, depending on my level of expertise.

That said , there could be a warning mechanism whenever a user touches something that could cause problems. But I don't see how this could be put in place exhaustively before V1 when most features will be there. My 2c.

[quote=davet]

So, what's my point in all this? My point is that after years and years of endlessly looking for and testing outliners, PIMs, and mind mapping programs, I see IQ as the best of breed for the desktop...Mac or PC...so I'm getting more motivated and willing to put time into IQ as long as Pierre continues to listen and make needed changes...so far he has be super to work with.

[/quote]

Hopefully, IQ will get there this year.

P.S. : Note that in the "manage grid" dialog, there's a "use this grid as the inbox" option in the "options" section

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Windows XP Home Edition, Service pack 2

Dell Vostro 1500, Ram:3gb, CPU:Core2Duo T7500 2.2ghz

[quote=Armando]

2 questions:

- Did you erase your urgency field ?

- Did you start with a blank DB or a sample one (I think I asked that question before)?

[/quote]

Here is the urgency note:

Regarding "Did I start with a blank db", the answer is no, but at some point I decided there was too much clutter in the sample db, so I switched over to a blank db. I figured if I needed the stuff in the sample db, I could generate a new sample and copy out what I needed. This strategy lead to the problems I now have...and I have too much data in IQ to want to go back to a sample db. These are the traps for a new user.

As I stated earlier, I think this topic deserves an new thread. To me Add Item and maybe Wikitags are becoming projects, like the one on "copy and paste" has turned into. I'm a too overloaded to take on another project right now. I've been into IQ so much for the past couple of months that everything else in my life is falling behind. I need to move at a slower pace.

Dave

[quote=davet]

[/quote]

You could still copy the fields you want (from the sample) when needed. For that, you need to re-create the fields exactly as they appear in the sample, but in your own DB, as needed.

The add item dialog is very easy to use if you understand that grids are just filtered views... But you encountered unexpected problems because of a missing field (urgency) and a missing grid (inbox). Set any grid as the inbox grid in the "manage grid" dialog (Right click on any grid tab, select "manage grids", go to the "options" section).

Pierre will just need to add a message box warning the user when there's no inbox grid or no grid set as the inbox.

And also, maybe a way to transfer items from one DB to another... That one has been asked for a while ago.

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Windows XP Home Edition, Service pack 2

Dell Vostro 1500, Ram:3gb, CPU:Core2Duo T7500 2.2ghz

[quote=Armando]

Pierre will just need to add a message box warning the user when there's no inbox grid or no grid set as the inbox.

[/quote]

I'm feeling that this solution may cause the new user even more confusion and frustration. I'd be asking, "What is an inbox, how do I create that, and do I really want one?" A better solution might be to include that part of the sample db needed to support the Add Item function into the blank database. Or, another way might be to only enable the Add Item function if you have and inbox, urgency, and whatever grids are necessary to support the Add Item function. Then you could have a tutorial on how to set up and use the Add Item function if and when you are ready for it.

[quote=Armando]

And also, maybe a way to transfer items from one DB to another... That one has been asked for a while ago.

[/quote]

I think this one might be yet another area for discussion. ToDoList transfers items from one db to another exceptional well. So, its UI may be worth looking at. In ToDoList, you can open several databases at once and easily move or copy an item and its subordinates from one db to another. However, though ToDoList is a 2-pane outliner with columns, it does not do cloning, project management, and other IQ functions. So, I don't know if that same sort of simple and clean UI is possible in IQ. ToDoList is free open source, so you could download and play around with it to get a feel for this function...or I could make a video demonstrating how the function works in ToDoList...if anyone is interested.

BTW...Tom has started a new thread on part of this discussion. Maybe he needs to delete that and start it anew. I don't know how to do that or I would.

Dave

> A better solution might be to include that part of the sample db needed to support the Add Item function into the blank database

Agreed:

if the empty database wasnt fully empty but had the basics - inbox, urgency fields, etc.

i.e. similar to the sample one but with no actual items

> I'd be asking, "What is an inbox, how do I create that, and do I really want one?"

Well in principle, this message box would appear only when you check/uncheck the inbox check-box in the add item dialog. So I'd think that the relationship would be easy to make. Plus, it could be linked to the right section in the help file. Etc.

> A better solution might be to include that part of the sample db needed to support the Add Item function into the blank database

[[As Tom suggested ]] This would be the best solution overall. Include all necessary fields and maybe a few grids in the "blank" DB. (Honestly though, I'm not even sure that a blank DB is necessary since a DB can easily be blanked manually. It was requested a long long time ago. And... Maybe if Pierre removes it, someone will request it again so... duno.)

But... don't get the impression that the add item "function" needs a bunch of prerequisite to work : it doesn't :

>Or, another way might be to only enable the Add Item function if you have and inbox, urgency, and whatever grids are necessary to support the Add Item function.

The thing is that the add item "function" works regardless of the inbox or anything else. it doesn't depend on the inbox or urgency fields at all (there's an inbox check box, but it will work just fine without it). It's just a way to quickly add an item to the DB without having to open a grid. There's a small section about it in the help file. 2. New Item dialog Did you have a look at it?

the reason why you got an error message speaking of the urgency field etc. has nothing to do with add item per se.

Since I don't know exactly what you did though, I can't tell for sure why the error message appeared -- maybe because you filled the "DueDate" in add item? The ItemColor field equation is based on the urgency field + the DueDate field.

> ToDoList transfers items from one db to another exceptional well.

ToDoList is also exceptionally rigid compared to IQ and that's why I tried it 2-3 years ago and don't use it.

Exchanging items between todo lists is not very complicated. IQ is a different story since fields, grids, equations, etc. can differ between 2 DB. It's not impossible, it's just more complicated. :)

Great flexibility comes with more complexity... the hard part is to understand what can be made simpler without compromising flexibility too much.

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Windows XP Home Edition, Service pack 2

Dell Vostro 1500, Ram:3gb, CPU:Core2Duo T7500 2.2ghz

Hi Armando,

Thanks for your comments.

I did look at 4.40.10 Add New Item dialog (node 464), but I'm still very confused about AddItem. I went back and played with AddItem some more, and I probably did click the due date button to cause the calculation error message.

I'd like to pick the brains of some of you subject matter experts and create a video tutorial(s) on Add Item. To do this I'd like to start a new discussion thread called "AddItem video tutorial project." When done making the video(s), I will upload it/them to the IQ Community. Additionally, I want to flush out the prerequiste knowledge and prerequisite IQ conditions needed to use AddItem. I suspect during the project that we will discover some needed improvements to the AddItem function and AddItem documentation. Also, we my discover a bug or two.

I need a couple of days to get other things done, then I'll give it a go. I hope you and some of the other SMEs will participate.

Dave

>I'm still very confused about AddItem

Well then it would interesting to know what you find confusing exactly.

>I'd like to pick the brains of some of you subject matter experts and create a video tutorial(s) on Add Item.

Sure, good idea!

Thanks for all that energy your putting into IQ. It can only help improve the program.

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Windows XP Home Edition, Service pack 2

Dell Vostro 1500, Ram:3gb, CPU:Core2Duo T7500 2.2ghz

I chanced my arm and started a new thread:

-- link to nonexistent node ID 2427 --

quoting the relevant posts from here

If that's not the best way to go please feel free to delete or ignore (the new thread)

thanks, Tom

Note for people reading this thread.

The thread Tom mentioned in the previous comment (repeated below) was deleted because it got out of sync with what was going on in this post:

[quote=Tom]
I chanced my arm and started a new thread:
-- link to nonexistent node ID 2427 --
quoting the relevant posts from here
If that's not the best way to go please feel free to delete or ignore (the new thread)
thanks, Tom

[/quote]

This is how I plan to start a new thread and move forward with the Add Item discussion:

[quote=davet]
I'd like to pick the brains of some of you subject matter experts and create a video tutorial(s) on Add Item. To do this I'd like to start a new discussion thread called "AddItem video tutorial project." When done making the video(s), I will upload it/them to the IQ Community. Additionally, I want to flush out the prerequiste knowledge and prerequisite IQ conditions needed to use AddItem. I suspect during the project that we will discover some needed improvements to the AddItem function and AddItem documentation. Also, we my discover a bug or two.
I need a couple of days to get other things done, then I'll give it a go. I hope you and some of the other SMEs will participate.
[/quote]

Dave

Update:

Since I wrote the last post, I've spent a few hours studying and testing the Add Item function. I understand the function much better now. However, as a result of my study and testing, I'm starting to see what looks like bugs to me. So, instead of working on a video tutorial, I've decided that I want to pursue some of these issues first, and then do the video tutorial after some of the issues are resolved.

Dave

How do I assign multiple items in a pop-up list? (M)

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