ToDoList Documentation

Download Zipped documentation file - 38.8 KB

Introduction to bpsToDoListDocumentation

Here is documentation for AbstractSpoon's ToDoList which can be opened within ToDoList itself.

Note: Starting with version 5 of ToDoList, .dan.g is distributing a version of this help file with the executable.

Information to build this file was taken from:

Source code resource files from version 4.x.
Observation of versions 4.10 and 5.0 Beta.
The pbwiki referenced in the documentation.

It is recommended that you do not use the Sort functions on this file. An attempt has been made to keep the menus and preferences in order as shown in the ToDoList Graphical User Interface.

I also have posted a sample XSL Transform for ToDoList which can be viewed on CodeProject.com.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

About the Author

Brad Sherwood

United States

Member

No Biography provided

Article Top

Poor

Excellent

Add a reason or comment to your vote: x
Votes of 3 or less require a comment

Comments and Discussions

You must Sign In to use this message board.

Search this forum
	Profile popups Spacing Noise Layout Per page

MrGoodly:
I hate it when someone says this to me... but....

    works on my machine

If you wouldn't mind, could you check the URL which shows up in the status bar when you hover your mouse over the link?
On my machine it says: http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/ToDoListDocumentation/bpsToDoListDocumentation_Rev019.tdl

And the link works.
Also... if the link is something different, try copying / pasting the above into your browser address.
Let me know if that works too please.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Brad Sherwood

Something very strange is going on.

If i edit the filename to be ..._Rev020.tdl then I get a *CodeProject* 'page not found', but if I just try the page itself I get an *IE* 'page not found'.

Could it be some strange caching problem?

BTW, I don't purport to know much at all about how internets work so this is just a cliched guess.

.dan.g.

AbstractSpoon Software
abstractspoon2_at_optusnet_dot_com_dot_au

Because the .TDL file is an XML file, my IE just loves to open it in the browser window. Try Right-click menu...Save Target As.. to save the file to disk. You could also try wrapping the .TDL in a zip and linking to that instead. Hope this helps.
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Martin.L wrote:
You could also try wrapping the .TDL in a zip and linking to that instead.

Martin:

I'm taking your advice and putting the file into a Zip File. (The previous version was distributed within a Zip file, but I switched to a simple tdl file because of the small size... maybe that was a mistake.) I had updated the link to the new file name, but maybe TheCodeProject only wants images and Zips.

If anyone is successful or fails to get the documentation, please leave a brief message as I was unable to duplicate the original problem. (so I can't tell if this fixed it)

Brad Sherwood

Hi Brad

I've just come across an issue where MSXML barfs if I try to open certain tasklists when I've configured my machine to behave as if it was a chinese setup.

One such tasklist is the ToDoList documentation. I'm going to investigate it some more and I'll let you know what I discover. I'm guessing that there are some specific characters it doesn't like.

.dan.g.

AbstractSpoon Software
abstractspoon2_at_optusnet_dot_com_dot_au

Hi Dan:
I think you've "solved" this issue by having ToDoList strip out or otherwise ignore the Horizontal Ellipsis character.
That's fine.... but it probably is pointing to a larger issue which will some day need to be addressed.

I did some research:

1. The character that is troublesome is in fact present within the Character Set the XML declares: encoding="windows-1252"

2. The ellipsis character can be entered into the Task Title or Comments by holding down Alt while pressing 0 1 3 3 and releasing Alt.

3. The glyph presented on my screen is in fact an ellipsis. That is dot dot dot.

4. When the XML contains the ellipsis character, and the encoding is windows-1252, it is properly represented by the default stylesheet in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

5. If the XML declaration is ignored, (simulated by setting encoding="ISO-8859-1" then the ellipsis will NOT be represented as an ellipsis glyph.

6. Ellipsis can be within the XML as a character reference such as … or …

7. Regardless of the encoding attribute, the character reference appears to yield the proper glyph.

So... that's what I've learned. Perhaps it will be valuable to you.
If I had to guess what is going on, I would guess that when you setup the machine as a chinese setup... that the encoding of Windows-1252 isn't fully supported and the characters between 128 and 159 decimal might give you troubles. Just a guess.

I'm also going to email you a test file EllipsisTest.xml

Brad Sherwood

Well done Brad. I use TDL every day at work, and often find handy tips and tricks. As Codeproject does not handle a full sectionised forum, I (or others) have not been able to share or discuss the different ways to use ToDoList. Maybe this documentation could someday be expanded to handle the above. dB Everyone makes mistakes, that's why they put erasers on pencils. Milhouse, The Simpsons.
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Thank you dB. I agree that this opens up quite a few possibilities!
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Thanks so much Brad,

This is something that I've been wanting to do for ages. I've also wanted to make a 'How To...' section.

Would it be okay for me to include this file with the ToDoList download? I'm happy to be reponsible for updating the file via this page.

Ideas that spring to mind include extending ToDoList to open tasklists stored on the internet and then hosting this file remotely.

ps. you can make links between help items using the 'tdl://<ID>' syntax from within the comments. I know it's not very neat but it should work.

.dan.g.

AbstractSpoon Software
abstractspoon2_at_optusnet_dot_com_dot_au

Thank you for the kind words Dan.

I'll help however I can. As I learn the features of ToDoList I'm happy to contribute by jotting them down.

I had already added a few tdl:// links but only through the FileRef field. Thanks for the comments field tip.

Yes you may use this file any way you like. While it's just a start, I felt a bit inspired by the possibilities.

I would personally like to see the Help menu / key bring up a "local" file such as this one. Maybe that's something that could be put into version 5.

If you're interested in adopting this "help file" technique, Perhaps the Help Menu could be:

--------------------------
ToDoList Help F1
Show Keyboard Map
--------------------------
ToDoList Online
ToDoList Wiki
ToDoList License
--------------------------
Feedback and Support
Contact Us
--------------------------
Check For Updates
--------------------------
About ToDoList
--------------------------

Some of the above may be redundant with the current online footprint.

Tools > Check for Updates and Help > Check for Updates could update the help file as well as ToDoList itself.

Brad Sherwood

Just to confirm. Correct as necessary.

Brad Sherwood wrote:
ToDoList Help F1

This new Help file.

Brad Sherwood wrote:
Show Keyboard Map

The keyboard shortcuts page in the preferences, or a cutdown version showing only the currently assigned shortcuts (easy to generate dynamically)?

Brad Sherwood wrote:
ToDoList Online

CodeProject article or ToDoList resources page?

Brad Sherwood wrote:
ToDoList Wiki

As-is.

Brad Sherwood wrote:
ToDoList License

As-is.

Brad Sherwood wrote:
Feedback and Support

CodeProject article or appropriately addressed email?

Brad Sherwood wrote:
Contact Us

Appropriately addressed email?

Brad Sherwood wrote:
Check For Updates

Moved from Tools.

Brad Sherwood wrote:
About ToDoList

As-is.

.dan.g.

AbstractSpoon Software
abstractspoon2_at_optusnet_dot_com_dot_au

Help F1 - Yes the new TDL file. FYI... I would like to copy the FAQ into here. Add How-To, and all other info which would make it searchable from within one place... and a place which is available to a laptop which is not connected to the internet.

Keyboard map (perhaps a pop-up large text box with "Copy To Clipboard" and "OK") showing only the assigned keys (those which show in preferences) and maybe showing the keys which you've "hardcoded" into the app. but are not visible or well known (ex: Alt-B moves focus from comments field to the Task List).

ToDoList Online - I would think the resources page.
Perhaps someday the mission of the CodeProject page would be for the "programmers" who want to learn from your "article" and the source code.
The "Resources" page would be for the User Community who want to utilize the program but who are not interested in the development technique. It might focus on add-ins, 3rd party tools, etc.

Wiki - yes http://abstractspoon.pbwiki.com/

License - Perhaps http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ rather than the current pop-up

Feedback & Support - today... my thoughts are the "bottom" of the Code Project page. Maybe someday it would go to a "discussion board" / "bulletin board" or something like what http://www.phpbb.com/ provides

Contact Us... a MailTo link (if you want that... you may not) or a link to a web page which allows a user to fill out a form and submit to AbstractSpoon... this is probably not in your immediate future. But I put it there to establish an idea.

Check for Updates - Redundant with existing location. The Help menu is another common place for users to look for this feature.

About - as is.

Brad Sherwood

Thanks Brad, I'll implement as many of these as possible for the 5.0 release. .dan.g. AbstractSpoon Software abstractspoon2_at_optusnet_dot_com_dot_au
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink