This is a simple "cataloguing" program that lets you type in names (1-32 characters) for whatever Subjects you like, and then to add names for Topics relating to each subject. For each topic you can then type in or paste in a batch of text in the "Detail" edit field. The program has been written as a demo of using Euphoria's EDS database library and A. Cini's EuWinGUI library.
The program is supplied along with its source code. Anyone is free to modify or enhance the program and to use the result of that work for any purpose they like without any attribution to me. You should attribute Andrea Cini for use of her EuWinGUI library, and (as a matter of good manners) Rapid Deployment Systems for the Euphoria programming language and for their EDS database system.
I disclaim responsibility for any damage or inconvenience caused to any person or organisation as a result of using the program or any modification of the program.
The program is so simple to use that I won't go into lengthy descriptions about it; to see on-screen prompts about what the various controls in the main window do just pass the mouse over the control of interest. Below are a few notes about some features particular to the program.
| 1. Entering and Saving Text |
Before typing in, pasting or editing text in the "Detail" edit field you need to have created a Subject and at least one one Topic for the Subject. Then, when you want to enter text, click if needed on the Subject list and the Topics list to highlight the Subject and Topic for which you want to enter or edit text. Once that is done, enter or edit the text in the Details editing field - to access editing tools, right-click on the text. When work on the Detail edit field is complete click the "Save Topic" button to save the text into its Subject database. If you forget to click the "Save Topic" button after editing a Topic Detail and try to move on to some other program activity, the program will ask you if you want to save the changed Detail text, will automatically save it for you if you respond affirmatively before, moving on to the activity. |
| 2. Compress Data | With repeated editing, an EDS database becomes fragmented and inefficient. To clear this you can occasionally click on the Compress Databases check box. All the databases you have created will be compressed at the same time. |
The program makes use of Euphoria's EDS database system. A database data file (*.edb) is dedicated to each Subject you create. These data files are maintained in the DBDAT folder. Subject to disk space, an EDS data file can accommodate up to 2GB of data. SEE the include file database.e and the notes that come with it in the archive at Rapid Deployment Systems.
The EuWinGUI graphic and programming library and the (free!) Euphoria programming language itself are also both available from Rapid Deployment Systems .
An obvious enhancement for the program would be to give it the ability to save a selection of topics to a text file, so they could be printed or incorporated into other documents. This is a non-trivial modification which you might like to try as a challenge.
As an aid to anyone who wants to modify the program I have left all the empty procedure stubs generated by the EuWinGUI Designer intact in the code, rather than deleting them and have also retained the Designer file, MCatalog.wgp.
Q, What is the window that appears, captioned "ToDoPad?", when I execute MCatalog.exw ?
A. This window comes from a little include file "ToDo.ew", suitable for inclusion in your Euphoria "Include" folder. You can "include" it into your Euphoria projects while you are developing them, as a way of writing quick notes about progress, etc. to an external text file, and "exclude" it just before the final build of your project so it appears no more (if you execute MCatalog.exe you will see that it is gone). All is revealed in the notes at the top of file "ToDo.ew". Have a go at disabling the pesky thing, so that it doesn't appear when you run MCatalog.exw.