I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Photonaut
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I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby Photonaut » Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:44 am

Hi guys

I'm trying out your product which has a lot of promise. I am a non-tech end-user, no knowledge of code, but definitely not helpless - I install apps every day, & figure out the configuration myself.

However, I must admit I have experienced quite a bit of annoyance at your instructions for configuring the app to sync with Dropbox.

You write:

The recommended way to synchronize notes using DropBox is the following:

* Put cintanotes.db in some subfolder inside of "My Dropbox" folder;
* Put main CintaNotes folder with the executable outside (e.g. in "C:\Apps\CintaNotes");
* Edit the cintanotes.settings parameter "notebook.file" to point to the cintanotes.db file inside of DropBox (e.g. "notebook.file = C:\My Dropbox\CintaNotesData\cintanotes.db").

Replicate this setup on each PC. That's it!

Sorry, where is "cintanotes.db"?
How do I "put" it in the Dropbox? By copying it (once I've found it) & pasting it there? Surely not?

"Edit the cintanotes.settings parameter "notebook.file" to point to the cintanotes.db file inside of DropBox (e.g. "notebook.file = C:\My Dropbox\CintaNotesData\cintanotes.db")." - Huh????

Sorry, if you want this to have mass appeal, you're gonna have to dumb it down just a teensy bit.

Looking forward to your "Cintanotes for Dumbies" instructions so I can sync with Dropbox!

Many thanks in advance,

Photonaut
ale
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby ale » Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:59 am

Hello Photonaut, welcome to the forum,
I do not use DropBox but I'll try anyway to explain a couple of things...

For the sake of simplicity let's refer to the portable version of CintaNotes, please look at the screenshot
CN_01.png
CN_01.png (11.92 KiB) Viewed 14521 times

the screen shows the arrangement of files after unzipping the CintaNotes ZIP file you find on the CintaNotes web site, and then how this arrangement changes when you execute CintaNotes for the first time. As you can see after the first execution we have two more files into the CintaNotes folder, a "cintanotes.db" file and a "cintanotes.settings" file. So what are these files?

cintanotes.exe is the main executable
cintanotes.db is your database, it's the file that holds all your notes.
cintanotes.settings is a file that as the name implies has all the settings, like your preferred fonts or window sizes and many others

Now back to the DropBox question, make sure CintaNotes is not running, locate the "cintanotes.db" file and move it inside a Dropbox subfolder (cut-paste or copy-paste it's ok). Now after moving the database how can the main executable know the new location of the database? we have to tell explicitly otherwise it wouldn't know. That's why there's a second step to do.

Please look at the second screenshot
CN_02.png
CN_02.png (5.29 KiB) Viewed 14521 times

you can open cintanotes.settings with Notepad and as you can see it's basically a text file. Look for the item "notebook.file" and there specify the full path to the new cintanotes.db location. The default value is "notebook.file = cintanotes.db" and in plain english means, the database is in the same folder as the main executable file. But it's not right anymore for us because we just moved the database away from this folder. So we have to modify it and specify the new location. The new value will be something like notebook.file = C:\My Dropbox\CintaNotesData\cintanotes.db (but it's just an example). Finally save the modified .settings file.
Photonaut
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby Photonaut » Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:09 am

Hi Ale

Thanks for your reply! It helps a lot; but I'm still not getting there.

I'm using the local / installer version. After installation, in the Cintanotes folder in Program files, there's still no .db or .settings file. Does the Dropbox sync only work on the mobile version?

I've included a screenshot.

Sorry for being so slow, & thanks again for your help.

Photonaut
cintanotes.png
cintanotes.png (105.48 KiB) Viewed 14523 times
ale
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby ale » Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:04 am

Hello, the installer version behaves differently, we no more have "everything" in one folder. This is especially true with Windows Vista and Windows 7 because of the changes in these operating systems and the changes needed in software and in installers.
Anyway I just tried to install CintaNotes in a Windows 7 machine, although I do not use Windows 7 as my main system yet...

Can you type this path into Windows Explorer?

"C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\CintaNotes\" (without quotes)

it hopefully should show your cintanotes.db and cintanotes.settings file
Photonaut
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby Photonaut » Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:14 am

Ale

I did what you said, but now I'm getting this message when I try & open Cintanotes:

SQLIte Error 14: Unable to open database file

I'm pretty sure I did everything right.

Thanks again for your patience,

Jason

UPDATE!

I left out the filename, I typed in

C:\Users\Jason\Documents\My Dropbox\Jason-Claire\Jason

and should've typed in

C:\Users\Jason\Documents\My Dropbox\Jason-Claire\Jason\cintanotes.db

Now it seems to work!

Thanks!

(You gotta make all this clearer in your online help....)

Jason
ale
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby ale » Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:03 pm

Happy you solved,
For those who still can't figure out how it works, here's how it looks like...

This is the CintaNotes settings file that needs to be modified
Screen01.png
Screen01.png (55 KiB) Viewed 14508 times


Settings file being modified with notepad, the full path and name of the new location of the database needs to be specified
Screen02.png
Screen02.png (39.27 KiB) Viewed 14508 times


The database file which was manually moved into a subfolder of the DropBox folder
Screen03.png
Screen03.png (48.53 KiB) Viewed 14508 times
Midas
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby Midas » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:38 pm

Great work, ale! 8-)
:D Midas, your friendly nugget gobbler, with a message from our sponsors:

Ask questions the smart way -- see www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:13 am

Hi everyone,

@ale: thanks for a truly outstanding user support!

@Photonaut: Sorry for all the trouble you've gone through! Of course the help file will be improved, I'll make it more detailed. And also the extra-smart behavior of Vista/7 needs special instructions.
Alex
Photonaut
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby Photonaut » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:43 pm

I've been using it, it's an excellent product with a real future ahead of it. The great support I got here has left me very positively disposed. Thanks both of you.
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Mon Jun 28, 2010 1:39 am

Welcome! )
Alex
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Re: I'm not dumb, but I can't configure to Dropbox

Postby GA_Wolf » Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:00 pm

One extra note on this issue.

There are 2 other settings that you probably want to hit in the settings file:
notebook.disconnect.enabled (since 1.1)
If set, CintaNotes will release the lock on the cintanotes.db file after
time period specified by notebook.disconnect.timeout.seconds, thus allowing
third-party software such as DropBox to read and synchronize it.

notebook.disconnect.timeout.seconds (since 1.1)
Specifies the number of seconds of inactivity, after which CintaNotes will
unlock the database file.

Thanks everyone for the help.

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