Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas for all the readers that celebrate this holiday.

I've been contacted recently by several people regarding the Notecase (Pro) build for latest OS X Tiger. Unfortunately, I don't have an access to such machine, I only can build for older OS X v10.3.7 system (PPC based).

Previously, I had a similar situation with Sharp Zaurus platform. Notecase project was able to expand to Sharp Zaurus platform due to generous donation by a user.
User was compensated through the free lifetime license for Notecase Pro, and some other requested custom work integrated into the project (MM/LX import).

So if anyone is willing to donate Mac mini with OS X Tiger (10.4) installed, feel free to contact me directly. It can be second-hand machine, but it must work :)
Compensation similar to the one with donator of Zaurus would be arranged.

File Synchronization

One of the features requested by paying customers is file synchronization feature. Since I've just implemented the initial code, you can see the result in the picture


Basically, if you have two versions of the same document file and you are not sure which version is the latest, this feature will help you to synchronize the differences between the files.

It works like this:
- load one of those documents in the Notecase Pro
- then select "File" -> "Synchronization" menu
- in the window as in the picture, select other one of those documents
- press "Compare" to get a list of differences between the documents
- now you can synchronize the current document to include the listed changes (you must check the line that you want to be applied)

Currently, algorithm can detect number of node changes like: new nodes, renamed nodes, changed icons, node text, formatting, links and other node properties like "finished" etc.

This will be in the next release (probably released in the new year).

This weekend I've released new Notecase v1.7.4

Major news in the new release is a port to OS2008.
Additionally, Maemo port features many improvements,
due to help by Gioele Agostinelli who did extensive testing and bug reporting.

Thank you Gioele!

Release time

I've just released latest Notecase Pro version 1.8.7.
You can read more about the new features in my previous post.

Note that the new build for Maemo OS2008 is untested, because I don't have the actual device, and the emulator behaves somewhat unstable.
That's why I need your help! If you have latest N810 or N800 with upgraded OS, please try the software. I am interested if the package installs correctly and all the other feedback that you can send me.

Other news:

I have to thank Saul Thomas for yet another support for the Notecase project. This is a second time that he bought me the book from my wishlist. Thank you Saul!

Here is also a call to John who bought a license for Notecase Pro:
it seems that the e-mail address that you submitted at registration is invalid.
Please contact me directly to my email, so I can send you the registration key.

New Pro release soon

For everyone that might be interested in translating new Notecase Pro version,
I've put the new .pot file online.

You can find it at the standard place: http://virtual-sky.com/download/translations/notecase_pro.pot

Of course, this means that the new release will be online soon, probably by the end of this week.

Some of the news in the new release:
- port to the new Maemo Chinook platform (Nokia N800/N810)
- improved "Document Preview" window
- aspell is no longer a dependency, if not present, program will work without it
- speed-up when loading database based formats (for files created by this new version)
- as always some bugs were fixed

Notecase translation

For all those who wish to update Notecase translation for their language,
you can find the latest .pot file on the official website:
http://notecase.sourceforge.net/catalogs.html

I'll make a new release probably on Monday, so if you make it by Sunday evening,
then your translation will be included in this release.

I've just made a release of Notecase Pro v1.8.2.

Major new feature is a Print and Print Preview.

For Windows, I've upgraded GTK to the latest version 2.12.1, so please make sure to check "Install GTK" in the installer.

The new GTK version for Windows fixes some bugs with Print Preview (Linux version does not have those bugs), but not all of them.
I've reported the GTK Windows bug to the GTK developers, so hopefully it will be fixed in the next version. Note that this Windows bug is related to Print Preview, not the actual Printing (embedded images are not displayed in print preview window).

Another new feature is a history list (go back/forward toolbar buttons).
Other than that I've fixed some important bugs.

Feel free to send me your feedback on this.

PS. New Notecase is planned to be released in next 5-7 days.
I also plan to put a "roadmap" page for Pro version at the website in a day or two. You are invited to send your ideas too.

I've just released Notecase Pro version 1.7.7

News in this release:
- multiple important bug fixes (especially related to new database formats .ncdb and .ncde)
- important fixes regarding bulleted list
- drastic speedup of document loading (up to 30 times on a very large documents)
- fixes for Maemo platform
- new window to rename node title
- added hyperlink color setting (help for users using high contrast themes)

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

Unfortunately, printing did not make it into this release, but I plan to add initial printing support into the next release.

Feel free to send your feedback and suggestions.

Notecase version 1.6.9 released

I've just released new version of Notecase.
I've had a good feedback from users and testers in the past period,
so this version features some important bug fixes.

Big thanks goes to Marcus Hennig for his help on testing Notecase, giving numerous quality suggestions and maintaining German translation. Marcus is also a new team member, he plans to help testing the application on the regular basis.

Additionally, I must thank the program translators. In this version several translations were updated.

So enjoy the new release (feedback is always welcome).
As said before, Pro version should be released in 4-5 days.

Notecase to be released soon

I plan to release new Notecase version in a next few days (Pro version will follow a week after). That's why I've updated and uploaded new translation template files (notecase.pot and notecase_pro.pot).

If you want to have complete translation for your favorite language in the next release, now is your chance.

I plan to use blog posts to notify of new releases in the future too, so you'll be able to track the need to update translation through the RSS.

News

It's been a while since the last post. After releasing new version of both Notecase and Notecase Pro, there were some issues with the code that required quick fixes and new release posted.

Now that the "crisis" is over, I've turned to the brave new features.

I've noticed that Notecase Pro version loads the new database format (.ncdb) slower than it should. After some profiling and a lot of tweaks in various places, the new results are spectacular! New fixes benefit the other document formats as well!

My test .ncdb document with 6411 nodes now loads in 2 seconds instead of 9 (as was before).
Load time for the same document in .ncd format fell from 27 to 4 seconds.

If that does not sound spectacular listen to this: load time for the another .ncd document having 31000 nodes fell down from 338 to just 10 seconds !

Off course, having changed so much code will require detailed testing.

New Notecase Pro release is approaching

I am working hard to iron the last problems with the new Pro release.

The release should be impressive, with major features:

• two new file database-based document formats (encrypted and unencrypted). This will allow for creating and using really huge documents.
• text font formatting support
• text background color formatting
  
• option to automatically generate links while typing URLs ("http://", "https://", "ftp://")
• added "Read-Only" document property
• MAEMO platform support (Nokia N800)

Thanks to Peter Pregler who is helping me to test Maemo port, I've managed to fix some platform related problems and improve .deb instalation.
The only Maemo-related problem is that when using "maemo-custom" file open/save file choosers, application keeps crashing.

If someone can help me with the problem, you can find both latest code for Notecase and the .deb file at http://notecase.sourceforge.net/temp/

Wind of change

I hope you like the latest speed of changes, here is another one :)

Few days ago I've read a great tutorial on how to develop for Nokia Maemo (Nokia N800) platform using a SDK on your Linux distro. You can find the tutorial here.

The result is a Notecase port to Maemo platform (see the screenshot below) !


The only strange thing that I've noticed is that the toolbar is placed at the bottom of the screen. I've yet to see if this is my error, or something else.

This is a completely new platform for me, so I am very interested if someone could give it a try, test the program, and give me an opinion.

Binary .deb and sources are available at the standard (pre-release code) storage: http://www.sourceforge.net/temp/

Project feedback

We users are interesting creatures.

Sometimes, we do not like how some part of the program works. Or we have some cool ideas that would make it 100 times better!

But usually we keep the ideas for ourselves. Or we speak to the wrong people.

Being curious about what users think on Notecase, I run a thorough Google search from time to time.

And this thing always amazes me: you can find a lot of ideas and bug reports in some blogs, forums, newsgroups that were never pushed upstream to the project's author.

Even worse: you can a number of distros that patch the Notecase code but they never try to work with me to push those changes upstream.

It appears that this is a more rule that exception in a open source world. Maybe the users are afraid to have the idea rejected. That's one possibility, but this is also a chance to make the program that you use better and more suited to your needs.

I always kept an open ear to the user suggestions. I don't plan to stop now :)

Did you know that you can be notified when new Notecase is released?

Every project that is being hosted on sourceforge.net has a mechanism to notify users when new files are relased.

To do this, you need to do following:

• register as new user at sourceforge.net (it's free)
• make sure to fill in your real email in the user settings
• after logging in your SF account find out project summary page at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/notecase
• click on the green section link titled "Download NoteCase" (see picture below)
• on the next page, click the "Monitor" icon (icon of an envelope) to subscribe yourself for a notification (see image below)

This way you'll get an email each time Notecase is released.
If you wish to unsubscribe this notification, just click the same monitor icon once more.

Release day

I've just made a double release!
Notecase v1.6.1 and Notecase Pro v1.6.4 are out.

New things in Notecase:
- Macintosh OS X port
- support to execute links for Linux systems that don't have GnomeVFS (thanks to Barry Kauler from Puppy Linux for a suggestion)
- "Change password" feature for encrypted documents
- added support to execute your own external script to process exported file (post processing)
- import from text file
- import: if unknown format, ask user whether to import as text file
- optional "close to tray" feature (when clicked "x" on window title, minimize to tray instead of closing)

Notecase Pro ships with previously listed features and these major new feature:
- spellchecker support (based on aspell)
- bulleted list support
- hyperlinks now can point to the node inside another Notecase document
- there is a new view - flat list view - that can be filled by a search action
- option to edit picture in external image editor

This Notecase Pro release has been one of the release with a biggest number of code changes. I hope you'll like the speed of the changes :)

I am very eager to hear your ideas and thoughts on the future of this program.

I am working hard to prepare the second release of Notecase Pro.
Following screenshots demonstrate some of the cool new things in the new release.

spellchecker support

bulleted list support

This and much more should hopefully be available in 10 days or so.

Coming ... Mac OSX port

Good news for users that wanted to have Notecase working on Macintosh.

I got my hands on a iMac (G4 800MHz, 256MB sdram, OSX 10.3.7), and the result is that both Notecase and Notecase Pro will be able to run on OSX, starting from the next release.


As you might guess by the picture, GTK on OSX still does not use native API, so each app must be started within the X11 server.

I've also ported Atol on OSX, having just few problems with Zip archiver plugin. Once that is fixed Atol will have its long-due release.

Notecase Pro launched

After a few months work on the Pro version, I've finally created the website and published the builds for this new project of mine.

You are invited to visit the new website at: http://www.virtual-sky.com and give it a try.
I am interested in the feedback and ideas regarding both the program and the new website.

Other than the features mentioned in the last post, new program also supports an import from Tuxcards format (currently text only).

Note that, when the program is being in unregistered mode (when there is no license key file found in the system), "Save" and "Export" features are being disabled.

BTW, product ordering should become active any day now.

New Notecase Plans

I've been on a vacation in Ireland recently, and now that I am back, I am working on my new plans for Notecase.



You might have noticed, it became hard to invest my free time into a free project (I've been doing it for 3 years now). Lately I had a simple choice: either to drop this project and start working on a paying side-jobs, or to start commercial venture based on the Notecase project.

Since I can not let go off this project easily, I have a following plan:

The plan is to create a commercial version of Notecase named "Notecase Pro", that will incorporate many advanced features and feature that are not trivial to add.
The possible commercial success of this project will enable me to continue working on a free, open source version of the same project. For the free version, I plan to concentrate to make it bug free and make it faster.

So, you can expect new Notecase Pro release soon. It will feature:
- multiple document interface
- support to import Knowit documents
- support to import Keynote documents
- support to import Treepad documents

Document importing might ignore text formatting in the first version, but I plan to support the full thing soon.

If you wish some new feature, I am open to your ideas and suggestions.