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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 3.2 Final (first official Autotagging Rules release!)

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 10:03 am
by CintaNotes Developer
Thomas Lohrum wrote:My suggestion is based on ideas to support my usual workflows. So far i have not been able to use rules for something really helpful. I have created two simple rules only, that i actually consider optional. I'm sorry, but so far i was not able to understand how the current rules implementation would give me a personal benefit.


Well, rules were designed primarily as an information sorting mechanism, like email filters. They were not designed to model complex workflows. But I'll do my best to think of a way to squeeze more power in, without compromising ease of use.

Workflow tags

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 2:54 pm
by Thomas Lohrum
Hi Alex,

i am able to use tags in a way suitable for my workflow by using this workflow:

  • create a tag ".now"
  • create a tag ".next"
  • for both tags set the property auto-delete to false
  • create a rule for workflow "now"
    when tag is ".now" then
    remove "tasks/next"
    remove "".now""
    assign "tasks/now"
  • create a rule for workflow "next"
    when tag is ".next" then
    remove "tasks/now"
    remove "".next""
    assign "tasks/next"

Now to assign a new state i can use either ".now" or ".next".

To query a state i use "tasks/now" or "tasks/next".

This does the job, though it is somewhat awkward.

The drawbacks are the appearance of the workflow-tags in the tag-dropdown-list. Also to have different tags for assignment and querying.

If i could assign a shortcut this could solve the problem. For example "Ctrl+1" would execute rule "now" and "Ctrl+2" execute rule "next".

Thomas

Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 3.2 Final (first official Autotagging Rules release!)

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 2:55 pm
by Thomas Lohrum
Hi Alex,

is there a way to order the rules in the rules dialog? It might makes sense to be able to control the flow-order of rules.

Thomas

Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 3.2 Final (first official Autotagging Rules release!)

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 2:58 pm
by Thomas Lohrum
Hi Alex,

CintaNotes Developer wrote:The "is new" condition return true for notes that have not been modified (have revision = 1). To exclude really old notes here, I also added a additional condition that note should have been created during last 24 hours.

I think this makes the "New" condition not suitable to me. How can i tell a note was created, but not edited? There should be a way to recognize notes that will be saved the very first time, so i can set default values to them.

Thomas

Re: Workflow tags

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 7:28 pm
by CintaNotes Developer
Hi Thomas,

Thomas Lohrum wrote:i am able to use tags in a way suitable for my workflow by using this workflow:[..]
The drawbacks are the appearance of the workflow-tags in the tag-dropdown-list. Also to have different tags for assignment and querying.
If i could assign a shortcut this could solve the problem. For example "Ctrl+1" would execute rule "now" and "Ctrl+2" execute rule "next".


This is a witty solution and I applaud you for it. But apparently making users jump through such hoops is not going to make the feature a hit. I think that a better and more convenient solution should be possible, but can't get it quite down. The idea with "old" and "new" tags is not bad, but still doesn't fit to rules concept seamlessly.

Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 3.2 Final (first official Autotagging Rules release!)

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 7:31 pm
by CintaNotes Developer
Thomas Lohrum wrote:is there a way to order the rules in the rules dialog? It might makes sense to be able to control the flow-order of rules.

No, this is not yet implemented. I also wanted to discourage rules that depend on one another, as it is very difficult to get right (especially considering that users generally don't have programming skills) and can introduce all sorts of weird behavior.

Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 3.2 Final (first official Autotagging Rules release!)

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 7:33 pm
by CintaNotes Developer
Thomas Lohrum wrote:I think this makes the "New" condition not suitable to me. How can i tell a note was created, but not edited? There should be a way to recognize notes that will be saved the very first time, so i can set default values to them.

If note was saved and later edited and saved again, it will get its revision number increased, and the "is new" condition won't fire for it. So I guess it should siut your needs ok!

Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 3.2 Final (first official Autotagging Rules release!)

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 11:13 am
by Thomas Lohrum
CintaNotes Developer wrote:
Thomas Lohrum wrote:So i won't uncheck this box, as i don't want this to be the default behaviour.

Yes, I find it a problem that when you click on "don't ask again" and then click "No", it will re-ask the next time. The actual user choice should be remembered. We have plans to fix this.


Just did a test and it seems this did not make it into 3.2.1 :(

Thomas