Notecase Pro v2.7.6 released

Major highlights of this release:
- 6 - 10 times speed up the file save operation for .ncd/.nce file formats
- drastically lower CPU usage on Linux systems
- formatting Styles feature (apply your custom combination of bold, italic, font, colors, .. to the selected text)
- added "Acknowledge All" and "Snooze All" features for Task Expired dialog
- postpone autosave process by 10 seconds, if the user is currently typing working with the program
- faster find operation when searching by "has attachment" or "is task" flags within the .ncdb file format document
- some fixes to the Windows application launchers, should reduce "dll hell" problems
- help file and tips.en.txt file updates (work by Paul Merrell)

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

Notice of absence

I'll be away starting from 18th until 23rd of this month, I am going to Rome, Italy for a vacation.
If you plan to contact me for any reason, please do it few days before or few days after this period.

Thank you for your understanding.

Notecase Pro v2.7.3 released

The new version is out. Mostly concentrated on bug-fixing and speed improvements, but there are some nice new features too.

Some highlights:
- fix: drastically speed up the file save operation for .ncd/.nce file formats (on my test document new save time is cca 20% or the original save time)
- add: new Windows installer concept working similarily to the already existing portable install (advantages: does not change environment variables on the PC, less vulnerable to "dll hell")
- add: dropping the URL on the tree view creates a note that is a hyperlink (previously it created an ordinary note)
- add: Find dialog was enhanced with the option to search in the note contents (text) only
- add: implemented "Remove From List" command in the flat list view context menu (does not delete actual note, just removes it from the flat view)
- add: left click on the save warning label (status bar) starts the file saving operation
- Romanian translation updated (work by Alexandru Bogdan Munteanu)
- add: save reminder in the status bar changes color from gray to red when enough document changes have been accumulated (to remind you it's time to save)
- fix: do not translate the "Insert new node or select an existing one to start typing." string multiple times (should drastically lower CPU usage on Linux)
- fix: greatly improved speed of fetching the image from the internet ("Html contains image links. Do you want to fetch and embed images into the document?")
- moved "Insert symbol" menu command to the "Tools" menu
- honor hoisting when printing the document (only work with notes below the hoist root note)
- fix: "date_last_acknowledged" was not being written back to the document after the task was triggered (caused the already ack. task to be triggered)
- add: implemented "File"/"Document"/"Document compact" menu action that compacts the database-based file format document
- add: added Ini-file key to disable loading gstreamer audio system ("[Startup]" section, "DisableGstreamer=1" key), must be adeed manually, no GUI yet
- add: make flat/tree view column sizes restored on the next application start and when switching between flat and tree view modes

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

As always feedback is welcome.

User mail problem

For Kouzuki-san: if you are reading this, can you please send me a mail from another account.

I've been trying to send you license key file three times now without success.
Hopefully, another mail account of yours will help me to complete this process.

Notecase article

If you are Japanese user of Notecase or you know Japanese language, here is the link to the online review of Notecase in written in, you can already guess, Nihongo :) .

http://journal.mycom.co.jp/articles/2009/04/01/notcase/index.html

Notecase Pro version 2.7.0 has just been released

Major changes are:
- multiple bug fixes
- add: implement tree view columns (switched on/off through the document tab context menu, columns edited through header context menu)
- help updates (work by Paul Merrell)
- add: draw "completed" notes with strikethrough font in the Flat List View too
- add: show note icons in the Flat List View too
- add: added option to make the note "Completed" from the Flat List View (context menu option, shortcut works too)
- German translation updated (work by Marcus Hennig)
- add: new "List All Notes" feature to make a flat list of all notes in the document
- add: implemented "Delete Document" action (under "File/Document") to close the current document and delete it from disk
- add: new "Is Clone" column for tree view having these states ("", "clone", "clone of current" (currently selected note))
- add: add new task status values "planning" and "waiting", old status "initial" renamed to "not started", old status "normal" renamed to "in progress"
- add: support to search notes by task status property (see "Find" window)
- add: added Lua method to get tags associated with the note (NcDocument_GetNoteTags)
- add: find window can now accept empty date field to search for the notes whose task dates have not been filled in
- add: support to accept dropped URL or web page selection from Firefox both in tree view and text view (Linux only, GTK on Windows still does not have full d'n'd support)
- add: implemented "Go to clone's source node" option in the tree view context menu
- add: new Lua method to insert new document note (NcDocument_InsertNote)
- add: new Lua method to set note contents (NcDocument_SetNoteHtml)
- add: new Lua method to create new document (NcDocuments_New)
- add: new Lua method to save the document to file (NcDocument_Save)
- add: ability to search note by "Is completed" property
- add: added "Invert marked nodes" feature
- add: when making the note "completed", make its task state completed too (if the task exists)
- add: ability to search note by "Is clone" property
- add: add new possible flat list columns: "Status", "Completion Date", "Expire Date", "Node Flags"
- add: implemented "Use block cursor" feature (Options -> Display tab) to draw thicker text view/text entry cursors
- add: added "Up", "Down" buttons to reorder entries in the list of files to be loaded at startup (Options window)
- add: implemented "Save All" feature, to quickly save all modified document with one command
- add: support for hyperlink to the local file stored as a relative path
- add: added "Force icon for attachments" feature to force the clip icon to the notes that have an attachment (user's note selection is not removed, just not temporarily used)
- add: store/restore "Store as relative link" state for new hyperlinks in the .ini file
- add: initial support for importing RTF type of the notes in the Treepad document

You can read detailed list of changes online at: http://virtual-sky.com/history.php

I am in the process of updating a roadmap page at: http://www.virtual-sky.com/roadmap.php
There you can see major tasks that I would like to implement in this program.

As always feedback is welcome.

PS. Note that some users noticed that Ubuntu .deb when installed on the latest 9.04 beta can end up showing empty list in the File Open window.
It appears that when linking with GnomeVfs library instead of GIO, this problem goes away. That's why I've created yet another build for Ubuntu that explicitly links with GnomeVfs.

Group test: note takers

I've just stumbled upon a nice article (first published in Linux Format magazine) where they compare 6 most popular note taker programs for Linux.

Free version of Notecase got a really nice review and the 8/10 score with the verdict: "The best GTK-based note taking tool around: mature, feature-laden and very snappy in use."
Notecase was placed second in total list (Basket being the first).

You can read the article here.