[Ann] CintaNotes 2.5 Beta 2

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hi and thanks to all who took part in checking out 2.5 Beta1!
We've taken on board most of your wishes and comments, and here is the last beta before we go live with 2.5.

Since major database change is involved, we'd like to test drive it a bit more.
As usual, please be careful with your notes! Don't trust beta software, keep a backup copy!

Dec 10, 2013 - Version 2.5 Beta2

In this version:

Features:

• "Remarks" field
  Notes now have a new field "Remarks", intended to collect additional data on what is written in the main note body (which quite often is clipped from somewhere)
  
• Note export: ability to choose which fields should be exported

Enhancements:

• XML import now supports XML files with UTF-8 encoding
  
• Upgraded internal DB engine to SQLite 3.8.1
  
• Notes list: Clickable link icons in note preview
  
• Notes list: Improved display of long hierarchical tags Now only the last part of the tag name is displayed by default, the full name is displayed in a tooltip when you hover the mouse over the tag.
  
• Tag deletion: provide option to also delete notes with selected tags
  
• New option in internet connection setting: "Use system proxy settings"
  
• Notes list: always scroll to the top of the list on new search.
  
• Added option to clear filters on starting new search: "filters.reset.onnewsearch.enabled".
  
• Option to turn off many confirmation messages, implemented as "Don't ask again" checkboxes.
  
• Added shortcuts to "File" menu commands: New (Ctrl+E), Open (Ctrl+O), Save As (Ctrl+S), Close (Ctrl+W).

Fixes:

• Crash on linking notes
  
• Crash on trying to edit a certain note
  
• Intranet URLs were not recognized
  
• Program failed to respond to rapid mousewheel events
  
• Simplenote sync: constant "not completed, try later" when moving remote note to recycle bin
  
• Simplenote sync: deleted synced section appeared again after sync
  
• Simplenote sync: synchronization could constantly fail
  
• Sorting order could be lost for main section
  
• Text and paragraph formats could get corrupted on merging notes
  
• Unable to import XML with more than 3 sections even when "Import sections" was unchecked

(in green - changes since 2.5 Beta 1)

For the interested, here is the list of fixes to the Remarks feature since Beta 1:

• Remarks now have a context menu identical to "Title"-menu
• A shortcut Alt+R added to focus Remarks
• "Any Text field" search scope includes Tags
• HTML export of Remarks: no extra frame around remarks, lightened by 50% header background color and italics
• TXT export: Remarks are exported, as an extra text block on the bottom, with title "Remarks:"
• When you delete all text from the field and exit the field, it would not be resized. Now it is restored to display one line only.
• Remarks shrinking only happens on kill focus now, not on entering text.
• Ctrl+Home/End within Remarks field navigate to beginning/end of Remarks, not note text
• The database upgrade procedure was extended to move all non-URL content of the Link field into Remarks.
• The pencil icon is now directly on the right of the link, without extra spacing, has own tooltip and is displayed only on mouse hover
• Link context menu: "Insert Timestamp" was removed, "Copy" now always enabled (in view mode it copies the whole contents of the Link field to clipboard. In edit mode, if nothing is selected, it also copies the whole field, otherwise it copies only selected text). "Cut", "Paste" and "Delete" are enabled only in edit mode according to text selection.
• On Alt+L and on Shift+Tab from Remarks, whole link is selected, no caret visible any more.
• Mouse wheel scrolling is now working in the Remarks field.

Download:
Installable: CintaNotes_2_5_Beta2_Setup.exe
Portable: CintaNotes_2_5_Beta2.zip

Thanks in advance for any comments or bug reports!

[wukaem]

Since I'm good in translating english to polish, but not backwards , and a picture is worth a thousand words, lets start with screen capture:
(open an existing note with many keywords):



There are three keywords: keyword1, keyword2, keyword3
As you can see, only third one is visible. The other two are behind the edge of field. Of course I can try to select keywords from right to left, and keyword list would be scrolled back to center of field and visible. But after closing and opening note again, it would look the same as in image.
Best,
w.

[gunars]

There are three keywords: keyword1, keyword2, keyword3
As you can see, only third one is visible. The other two are behind the edge of field. Of course I can try to select keywords from right to left, and keyword list would be scrolled back to center of field and visible. But after closing and opening note again, it would look the same as in image.

Also, there is no indication that there is more text to the left. Further, even if you widen the box quite a bit, they don't scroll into view without navigating to the start of the line, so it's really not obvious that there's more text there.

[gunars]

Hi Alex! Thanks for the new beta. I'm glad to see things are progressing.

Here are a few items and questions in no particular order.

1) On a clean copy, the initial cintanotes.db only has a Main section, but no Clips section. I just mention it in case it's an oversight.

2) When searching for text, sometimes I get a small box in the lower right corner of a note with "1/1" or "1/5". What are these? I don't see them described. (also in 2.4)

3) Small issue - In Export Notes, it would be nice if there were a default filename there (exported.txt?). Not a big deal.

4) There are several strings untranslated in Japanese (and missing from ja.lang so it's hard for a translator). 'New Note' (menu.edit.new) in particular should really have a translation as a basic element. Ok, I admit it, I used to be a localization engineer

5) The filters.reset.onnewsearch.enabled option doesn't appear in the settings file. You have to add it to use it. Should it always be there with the default value?

6) The 'Dont ask again' checkboxes are nice, but it's also good to have a way to re-enable them in case you select one accidentally.

7) I'd still like some better visual distinction between selected and unselected notes.

8) Besides the Ctrl-Alt keys for View->Sort, there is also Ctrl-Alt-C for Edit->CopyNoteLink. Also, Ctrl-Alt-L and a few others in the Note Editor. The Ctrl-Alt-L in the editor is the only one that's a problem for me, but don't know about others.

9) When entering these accented characters in the search, I haven't yet figured out what it's doing. Sometimes it seems to properly handle the character and sometimes not (even when it's not one of those used in the UI, such as Ctrl-Alt-e). For example, with SIW turned on, I have 34 notes. Most (31) have the letter 'e' in them. One note has the letter 'e', but also has the accented 'ē'. If I type 'e' in the search box, I get my filtered list of 31 notes with the letter 'e' highlighted. In the note with the accented chars, it properly highlights the 'e' and not the 'ē'. However, if the search is just for 'ē', the 'ē' is properly highlighted instead of the 'e' in the one test note, but 30 other notes with plain 'e' are also selected (although nothing is highlighted).

10) A number of times, if the accented char is the first one to go in the search string, nothing happens (it's not echoed to the search line). If I hit a plain letter and then erase it, then the accented char works ok.

cheers
Gunars

[gunars]

8) Besides the Ctrl-Alt keys for View->Sort, there is also Ctrl-Alt-C for Edit->CopyNoteLink. Also, Ctrl-Alt-L and a few others in the Note Editor.

I saw your other note in the beta 1 thread and I think those are a good set of bindings.

[ChrisCN]

I just noticed that links like
\\this.server\thisFolder\thisFile.xlsx
got migrated to the remarks field instead of the link field.

[Thomas Lohrum]

When searching for text, sometimes I get a small box in the lower right corner of a note with "1/1" or "1/5". What are these? I don't see them described. (also in 2.4)

It shows current/count hits. You can actually move to the note in the notes list and jump to each hit using the F3-key.

The filters.reset.onnewsearch.enabled option doesn't appear in the settings file. You have to add it to use it. Should it always be there with the default value?

It was there for me.

I'd still like some better visual distinction between selected and unselected notes.

Me too

Thomas

[Noddy330]

I just noticed that links like
\\this.server\thisFolder\thisFile.xlsx
got migrated to the remarks field instead of the link field.

Also, and maybe related, when a remark is added to a note in CN, it is not shown in SimpleNote, and when the note is edited in SimpleNote the remark is then not displayed in CN.

Could the remarks field be treated in a similar way to the links field? I.e. the link: prefix.

Otherwise - looking good - thanks

Nod

[Thomas Lohrum]

Hi Alex,

thank you very much for your latest release. It is great to see progress, such valuable progress, on my favorite tool! Thank you!

Note export: ability to choose which fields should be exported

Very nice

Notes list: always scroll to the top of the list on new search.

This does not function for me. Nothing happens when i press Ctrl+F. While testing i also realized, that the feature makes sense only, when starting a new search using Ctrl+F. When starting a new search in combination with the latest "on-new-search" option, a search text filter will be implied anyway.

For the interested, here is the list of fixes to the Remarks feature since Beta 1:

Thanks for providing these.

• Remarks now have a context menu identical to "Title"-menu
• A shortcut Alt+R added to focus Remarks
• "Any Text field" search scope includes Tags

Wonderful.

HTML export of Remarks: no extra frame around remarks, lightened by 50% header background color and italics

The HTML looks smoother now. However using a color rather than a dividing rule between the notes text and the remark makes this a little bit too colourful. No big deal though. It looks better compared to beta 1.

• TXT export: Remarks are exported, as an extra text block on the bottom, with title "Remarks:"
• When you delete all text from the field and exit the field, it would not be resized. Now it is restored to display one line only.
• Remarks shrinking only happens on kill focus now, not on entering text.

Nice changes.

Ctrl+Home/End within Remarks field navigate to beginning/end of Remarks, not note text

I know it has been me starting the discussion here. However, i am afraid i got misunderstood. I like to use Ctrl+Home/End as shortcuts to jump to the notes text. The change now is a step back.

The database upgrade procedure was extended to move all non-URL content of the Link field into Remarks.

I did some intensive tests and even compared the results from various XML-exports. Migrating what should be a remark is a good change for sure. I had some links in the form of "www." and "mailbox:///" which were moved to remarks, but should have remained in the link-field. Nevertheless, this is no problem to me. The migration step is good. It must not be perfect, as it may not be easy to do so.

• The pencil icon is now directly on the right of the link, without extra spacing, has own tooltip and is displayed only on mouse hover
• Link context menu: "Insert Timestamp" was removed, "Copy" now always enabled (in view mode it copies the whole contents of the Link field to clipboard. In edit mode, if nothing is selected, it also copies the whole field, otherwise it copies only selected text). "Cut", "Paste" and "Delete" are enabled only in edit mode according to text selection.
• On Alt+L and on Shift+Tab from Remarks, whole link is selected, no caret visible any more.

I tested these and everthing was fine.

In the past it could happen, that a final version was published, which should have undergone beta testing before. I like to point out, that i appreciate your procedure of providing divers betas before releasing a final version this time.

Thomas

[Thomas Lohrum]

I took a look to my recycle bin today and noticed, there were only notes deleted within the last nine days. I am pretty sure, there should have been more. My CN setting is to delete notes permanently after 90 days. Is there anything broken with recycle bin?

Thomas

[ChrisCN]

Notes list: always scroll to the top of the list on new search.

This does not function for me. Nothing happens when i press Ctrl+F. While testing i also realized, that the feature makes sense only, when starting a new search using Ctrl+F. When starting a new search in combination with the latest "on-new-search" option, a search text filter will be implied anyway.

Hmm - seems to work in some situations...
If I select a tag and scroll down the list of notes and then hit CTRL+F >> the list jumps to the first entry.
BUT if I limit the list of notes by entering a text in the search field and scroll down the list >> CTRL+F does NOT jump to the first note in the list

[ChrisCN]

DATABASE DISK IMAGE IS MALFORMED

ok - just clicked around (on some tags) and suddenly I got the message attached!?

What should I do now?
Thanks
Chris

[Thomas Lohrum]

DATABASE DISK IMAGE IS MALFORMED
ok - just clicked around (on some tags) and suddenly I got the message attached!?
What should I do now?

Try these suggestions here: http://www.cintanotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=156#p7331

Thomas

[Thomas Lohrum]

Notes list: always scroll to the top of the list on new search.

This does not function for me. Nothing happens when i press Ctrl+F. While testing i also realized, that the feature makes sense only, when starting a new search using Ctrl+F. When starting a new search in combination with the latest "on-new-search" option, a search text filter will be implied anyway.

Hmm - seems to work in some situations...If I select a tag and scroll down the list of notes and then hit CTRL+F >> the list jumps to the first entry. BUT if I limit the list of notes by entering a text in the search field and scroll down the list >> CTRL+F does NOT jump to the first note in the list

Good catch Chris, i can confirm the misbehaviour.

Thomas

[ChrisCN]

DATABASE DISK IMAGE IS MALFORMED
ok - just clicked around (on some tags) and suddenly I got the message attached!?
What should I do now?

Try these suggestions here: http://www.cintanotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=156#p7331

Thomas

Thanks - will give it a try tomorrow

[Thomas Lohrum]

The tag sidebar does not support selection by cursor. Nor does it have a scrollbar. Both is by design. From time to time i need to scroll to the top or the end of the tag list. Would it be possible to enable this, by simply using a double click on the arrows of the tag sidebar? This does not affect the UI and would come in really handy. Especially when you have a long list of tags.

Thomas

[CintaNotes Developer]

As you can see, only third one is visible. The other two are behind the edge of field. Of course I can try to select keywords from right to left, and keyword list would be scrolled back to center of field and visible. But after closing and opening note again, it would look the same as in image.

Hi and thanks for the report! Yes, indeed this is bug and we'll fix in it 2.5 final. Thank you!

[CintaNotes Developer]

Also, there is no indication that there is more text to the left. Further, even if you widen the box quite a bit, they don't scroll into view without navigating to the start of the line, so it's really not obvious that there's more text there.

In the final 2.5, the horizontal scroll won't happen unless you move the caret manually, so this problem will become a non-issue.

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hi Alex! Thanks for the new beta. I'm glad to see things are progressing.

Thanks for checking it out!

1) On a clean copy, the initial cintanotes.db only has a Main section, but no Clips section. I just mention it in case it's an oversight.

What is a Clips section? Why it should be there?

2) When searching for text, sometimes I get a small box in the lower right corner of a note with "1/1" or "1/5". What are these? I don't see them described. (also in 2.4)

Thomas is right - the second number tells you how many of the search term are there in this note, and the first one tells you which one is highlighted. You can jump to next/previous entry via focusing ona note and pressing F3/Shift+F3.

3) Small issue - In Export Notes, it would be nice if there were a default filename there (exported.txt?). Not a big deal.

Ok, I guess it would be even better to build the name using notebook name and current date. Added as a todo.

4) There are several strings untranslated in Japanese (and missing from ja.lang so it's hard for a translator). 'New Note' (menu.edit.new) in particular should really have a translation as a basic element. Ok, I admit it, I used to be a localization engineer

Do you know Japanese? There are actually many translations missing, you can see the full list here: http://www.transifex.net/projects/p/cin ... e/strings/

5) The filters.reset.onnewsearch.enabled option doesn't appear in the settings file. You have to add it to use it. Should it always be there with the default value?

This is a side-effect of how the settings system of CN works. A new setting only gets created on its first use. Since it didn't appear in the settings file, this means you didn't start a new search via typing something.

6) The 'Dont ask again' checkboxes are nice, but it's also good to have a way to re-enable them in case you select one accidentally.

I agree that this is necessary, but since it requires some UI it will have to be implemented later, not in 2.5. Now you can always re-enable the confirmations via changing the "confirm.<something>.enabled" options in the settings file.

7) I'd still like some better visual distinction between selected and unselected notes.

I'm afraid this is also have to wait till 2.6. But you can try to pick a darker color for your section, this will make selected notes more standing out.

8) Besides the Ctrl-Alt keys for View->Sort, there is also Ctrl-Alt-C for Edit->CopyNoteLink. Also, Ctrl-Alt-L and a few others in the Note Editor. The Ctrl-Alt-L in the editor is the only one that's a problem for me, but don't know about others.

Yes, I've already included this shortcut into the list of what needs to be changed.

9) When entering these accented characters in the search, I haven't yet figured out what it's doing. Sometimes it seems to properly handle the character and sometimes not (even when it's not one of those used in the UI, such as Ctrl-Alt-e). For example, with SIW turned on, I have 34 notes. Most (31) have the letter 'e' in them. One note has the letter 'e', but also has the accented 'ē'. If I type 'e' in the search box, I get my filtered list of 31 notes with the letter 'e' highlighted. In the note with the accented chars, it properly highlights the 'e' and not the 'ē'. However, if the search is just for 'ē', the 'ē' is properly highlighted instead of the 'e' in the one test note, but 30 other notes with plain 'e' are also selected (although nothing is highlighted).

We'll need to investigate this in more detail. Could you give a sample notebook where this effect can easily be reproduced? This would greatly help.

10) A number of times, if the accented char is the first one to go in the search string, nothing happens (it's not echoed to the search line). If I hit a plain letter and then erase it, then the accented char works ok.

How do you type the accented char? Do you have to press any modifier keys like Alt, Shift or Ctrl to do that?

[CintaNotes Developer]

I just noticed that links like
\\this.server\thisFolder\thisFile.xlsx
got migrated to the remarks field instead of the link field.

Thanks for the report!
We'll change the migration algorithm in the final 2.5 so that it doesn't migrate links where
there are forward or backslash characters.
But since your migration has already taken place, you'll need to either go back to the
backup of your notebook which was taken before updating to 2.5, or move such links
back to the Link field manually.