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ToDoList 6.4.6 - An effective and flexible way to keep on top of your tasks

By , 5 Apr 2012
 
This is an old version of the currently published article.

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todolist2/todolist.png

todolist2/todolist.png

Latest Update (6.4 Feature Release)

In addition to rewriting the 'tabbed-view' management (to better support more tabbed views in the future) 6.4 contains the following new features:

  • Added support for 'natural' sorting (a la Explorer-sorting)
  • Added support for 'new' style file-open dialog under Vista/Windows 7
  • Added file version to backups, so that no new version will overwrite the backups of a previous version
  • Added preference to Calendar plugin to specify font size
  • Added 'task path' column to list
  • Added option to display entire sub tree of filtered task
  • Added options to expand due/started tasks only
  • Added 'selected tasks' filter
  • Added 'and parent task' to selection dialog
  • Added 'Tags' task attribute
  • Added preferences to better manage backup paths
  • Added commandline switches for the remaining task attributes, and to control how new tasks are created
  • Added much-improved Outlook drag'n'drop support
  • Added support for unc paths in comments field
  • Added 'selected tasks' filter
  • Added options for specifying backup paths
  • Added 'include parent task' to selection dialog (Export, Print, Transform)
  • Added 'Save Tasklist As' to tasklist tabbar context menu
  • Added 'Recalc from start date' to recurrence dialog
  • Added popup dialog for choosing how to link to files in richtext comments
  • Added support for military time to start/due/completed time droplists (eg. 0530, 1705)
  • Added support for edit fields to be positioned to the right of the task view. Useful for wide, shallow displays. 

Related Links

After finally compiling a FAQ of the most relevant questions asked about ToDoList I've moved all resources related to ToDoList to a new page on my website.

Introduction

You know how it is - you start work on one project and halfway through, you find one or two side-projects crop up that have to be solved before you can continue on the original project.

This is one such project with the added twist that it too started its life as a side-project. Here's what happened:

<Cue wavy screen effect>

I can only imagine that the planets must have been in (mis-)alignment or something, because at one point a few months ago, I was suddenly fielding emails on four or five separate articles I had previously submitted to CodeProject, some asking for features and others for bug fixes.

Foolishly or otherwise, I largely agreed with all the points raised, and subsequently found myself with fourteen or fifteen separate issues to resolve.

The situation was also made worse because I was trying to use CodeProject to keep track of all the things I had agreed to do, meaning that I had to continuously trawl the comments section of each article to remind myself of what I was supposed to be working on.

It even got to the stage where I was worrying that I'd fail to deliver on something - silly I know, but there you are!

Keeping a list on paper was a definite step in the right direction, but since I do all my coding on the same machine, it seemed somewhat inelegant, and anyway, we all know what happens to crucial bits of paper left lying around on desks and such.

The next step was to hunt around on the web for a tool to meet the following requirements:

  • Simple interface
  • Support for hierarchical data
  • Numbered items/subitems
  • Open file format
  • Freeware

Simple, huh! not!

I will admit that I did not spend weeks searching, but I am still surprised at the general lack of software matching my needs.

On reflection, I think that the reason may be simple: people are so used to commercial software being 'feature-rich' that when they come to design software themselves, they (not unreasonably) think they too need to cram as much in as possible, often leading to software where a lot of essential functionality is hidden away in the menu bar.

So, surprise, surprise, I decided to write something myself.

However, it's fair to say that I did not originally intend to post it on CodeProject and am only really doing so because I had a heap of fun solving some very interesting problems and these are what I think make it worth it.

Using the Software

There's really very little I need to say here since every feature/function is explicitly visible in the interface.

Nevertheless, the following list of basic capabilities and omissions may go someway to answering any questions that arise:

  • Files are stored in XML format with .xml file extension.
  • Trying to load a non-tasklist file will generally fail (unless you read the code to see how to circumvent it).
  • The number of items/subitems is limited only by memory (although performance may be the deciding factor before you exhaust memory).
  • Marking a parent item as 'done' will also gray-out child items, but they are not disabled or automatically marked as 'done'.
  • An ellipsis (...) indicates that an item has sub-items.
  • All items can be expanded or collapsed (by double-clicking).
  • Top-level items and sub-items are created using different toolbar buttons.
  • There are task-specific context-menus.
  • The previously open tasklists are re-opened on startup.
  • The tasklist is automatically saved when closing the software or minimizing it to the system tray.
  • The priority of a task is shown as a grayscale box to the left of the item.

Points of Interest

Here's where we come to the side-projects I was talking about, the first two of which I intend to work up into follow-up articles.

They are:

  1. The 'ordered' tree control, which incorporates a non-client gutter for displaying the item numbers.

    The idea stemmed from research I did into alternative designs for a tree-list control, which did not solve it by creating a hybrid control incorporating a tree and a list.

    The hybrid control seems such an obvious solution that I suspect few people have stopped to question it, but it has still always struck me as looking far too much like hard work to be truly elegant ('square pegs' and 'round holes' spring to mind).

    One possible idea is to implement the 'list' portion entirely in the non-client area of the tree. I.e., shift the right hand client edge to the left and then render the list portion in the resulting non-client area.

    Whilst I've yet to get round to building a proof of concept, it was nevertheless this ongoing mental debate which prompted me to try to solve the requirement for numbered items and subitems by rendering the item/subitem numbers in the non-client area.

    Without going into too much detail (as this will subsequently be an article of its own), this is how I got it to work:

    • Handle TVM_INSERTITEM and TVM_DELETEITEM to know exactly when items are added and removed.
    • In these handlers recalculate the width of the gutter required to display the widest 'dotted' item/subitem number. (Note: this is not necessarily simply the deepest subitem.)
    • If the required gutter width changes, call SetWindowPos(NULL, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_FRAMECHANGED | SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE | SWP_NOZORDER) to force Windows to recalculate the non-client area of the control.
    • Handle WM_NCCALCSIZE when it does, and offset the left border by the required gutter width.
    • Handle WM_NCPAINT for painting the numbers.

    This is necessarily an over-simplification, but it captures the essence of the solution, and all that essentially remains is lots of fiddling about to ensure the non-client area gets redrawn at the the right times to stay synchronized with the client area.

  2. Embedding .RC control definition data directly in a .cpp file to break the dependency on binary resources (a.k.a. 'Runtime Dialogs').

    This is an idea that has been floating about for quite some time and which has only recently gelled into a workable solution.

    The problem, put simply, is that if you want to take advantage of the resource editor in Visual Studio (and who doesn't), then you very quickly find yourself stuck with having to load dialog templates from resources compiled into the binary file.

    This further means that if you want to make use of a dialog across multiple projects, then either you need to copy and paste the dialog template between project .RC files, or you need to build the dialog into a DLL from which it can be accessed.

    'Runtime Dialogs' (a snappy title I coined myself) is a solution that neatly sidesteps both the nuisance of copying dialog resources between resource files and the extra work (and maintenance) involved in packaging dialogs in DLLs.

    And it works like this:

    • First, you design your dialog template in the resource editor, create a CDialog derived class using class wizard, and wire up all the controls just as you normally would.
    • Next, you #include "runtimedlg.h" and change all instances of CDialog to CRuntimeDlg.
    • Then, you cut and paste the control definition section from the appropriate section in the .RC file and embed it directly in the dialog's .cpp file as a static string (with a bit of tweaking to handle double quotes and such like).
    • Finally, in the constructor of your dialog, you simply call CRuntimeDlg::AddRCControls(...) passing the control definitions as a string.
    • And CRuntimeDlg takes care of the rest including, if required, auto-sizing the dialog to suit the control layout.

    I'm certainly not suggesting that this is a 'win-win' solution for all situations but it certainly has merits in its closer coupling of dialog template to dialog code which makes sharing dialogs across multiple projects a breeze.

    P.S.: In case it's not clear here, I used CRuntimeDlg to create CToDoCtrl which encapsulates the ordered tree together with the priority, date and comments controls as a single simple-to-instantiate control.

    I'm also proposing to use them in the .NET port of my ProjectZip add-in for VC6.

  3. Embedding the XML file in a web page.

    This is possibly the most satisfying aspect of the whole project because it was completely unexpected.

    What I mean is that, until recently, my knowledge of DOM and XMLDOM was virtually non-existent, as it's only since I've become more interested in the presentation of AbstractSpoon that I've been forced to get to grips with the various implementations of DOM and XMLDOM out there.

    I'm pleased to say that the code on my site works under IE 6.0, Netscape 7.1, and Mozilla, although custom code was required to achieve this.

Generic MFC Classes that may prove Useful to You

The following table lists a wide range of utility classes written for this project. They can all be included in any MFC project provided you include any class dependencies too. Feel free to ask any questions relating to these specific classes and how to use them.

Class Name

Description

Class Dependencies
(apart from MFC)

CAboutDlg

Customizable "About…' dialog not requiring a dialog resource. Supports html encoded text

CRuntimeDlg, CRCCtrlParser

CAutoComboBox

Adds only unique items to the drop list and shuffles the list so that the last added item is at the top

CHoldRedraw

CAutoFlag

Encapsulates the setting and unsetting of a boolean variable thru the lifetime of the class instance

CColorButton

Non-ownerdraw button that displays the selected colour on the button face and displays the colour dialog when clicked

CEnColorDialog

CColorComboBox

Owner-draw combobox for displaying and selecting user defined colours

CDateHelper

Encapsulation of various rountines for calculating date spans and for formatting

CDeferWndMove

Encapsulation of the Win32 API

CDialogHelper

Re-implementation of the CDialog DDX/DDV rountines to avoid the MFC error messages when the user clears a number edit (for instance)

CDlgUnits

Encapsulates the MapDialogRect Win32 API

CDockManager

Class for managing the docking of one popup window to another.

*CSubclassWnd, CHoldRedraw, CAutoFlag

CDriveInfo

Encapsulates various rountines for querying about drives, files and disk space

CEnBitmap

Adds support to CBitmap for loading non-bmp files and resources.

CEnBitmapEx, CColorReplacer, CImageBlurrer, CImageColorizer, CImageContraster, CImageEmbosser, CImageFlipper, CImageGrayer, CImageLightener, CImageNegator, CImageResizer, CImageRotator, CImageSharpener, CImageShearer, CImageSysColorMapper, CImageTinter

Adds image manipulation funationality to CEnBitmap

CEnBitmap

CEnColorDialog

Adds saving and restoring of custom colours to CColorDialog

CEnCommandLineInfo

Adds functions for extracting and querying commandline switches

CEnEdit

Adds user-defined button capabilities to CEdit

CMaskEdit, CThemed, CDlgUnits

CEnToolBar

Adds support for using alternative resource or file images

CFileEdit

Adds buttons for browsing and displaying the file represented by the text in the edit control. Also shows the file's small icon.

CEnEdit, CFolderDialog, CMaskEdit, CDlgUnits, CThemed, CSysImageList

CHoldRedraw

Encapsulates WM_SETREDRAW

CHotKeyCtrlEx

Fixes a number of behavioural problems including the handling of certain keypresses

CHotTracker

Tracks the cursor movement over user-defined windows and posts event messages as necessary

*CSubclassWnd,

CLimitSingleInstance

Provides simple method to detect if another instance of an app is running

CMaskEdit

Adds simple character masking to CEdit

CNcGutter

Allows the UI of standard windows controls to be extended by supporting any number of columns to be added to the non-client area of the window. Favours tabular controls like lists, trees, etc

*CSubclassWnd, CHoldRedraw, CThemed, CDlgUnits

COrderedTreeCtrl

CTreeCtrl implementation of CNcGutter displaying a single column showing the hierarchical position of each tree item in '1.2.3.4' notation.

CHoldRedraw, CThemed

CPasswordDialog

Very simple password dialog not requiring a dialog resource

CRuntimeDlg, CRCCtrlParser

CPropertyPageHost

Simpler replacement for CPropertySheet allowing easier creation as a child window

CRCCtrlParser

Used by CRuntimeDlg for parsing dialog resource-like text

CRuntimeDlg

Adds support to CDialog for building dialogs at runtime ie. dialogs do not require a dialog resource

CRCCtrlParser

CShortcutManager

Class for handling application keyboard shortcuts.

*CSubclassWnd, CWinClasses

CSpellCheckDlg

Spellcheck dialog not requiring a dialog resource, which interfaces with ISpellCheck (interface to Open Office dictionaries)

CRuntimeDlg, CRCCtrlParser, ISpellCheck

CSysImageList

Encapsulates the Windows system image list (file/folder images)

CTabCtrlEx

Adds post rendering callback for the tabs without using owner-draw

CThemed

Encapsulates themed (XP) and non-themed (the rest) drawing of windows controls

CTimeEdit

Adds a button for specifying time units and provided routines for converting time to and from different time units

CEnEdit, CMaskEdit, CThemed, CDlgUnits

CToolbarHelper

Adds support for dialog toolbar tooltips, multiline tooltips and dropbuttons with menus

*CSubclassWnd, CEnBitmap, CEnBitmapEx

CTrayIcon

Encapsulates the Shell_NotifyIcon Win32 API. Also provides balloon tips and animation

*CSubclassWnd,

CUrlRichEditCtrl

Adds support for recognizing urls, clicking them and setting custom url callbacks

CWinClasses

Encapsulates the ::GetClassName Win32 functions

CXmlFile, CXmlItem

Non-Unicode class for reading and writing xml files

CXmlFileEx

Adds encryption capabilities to CXmlFile

CXmlFile, IEncryption

* CSubclassWnd was originally written by Paul DiLascia for MSJ magazine. The version I use has been heavily extended to suit my specific needs. The classes that depend on it here need this extended version.

Further Work

Whilst this tool was originally intended for my personal use only, it is now a 'community' project, so if you find it useful and want to make suggestions for enhancements or bug fixes, then post below.

History  

  • 6.4.6 (06 Apr 2012)
    • Fix various commandline bugs
    • Remove restriction on parent/child selection in task selection dialogs
    • Fix 'View Dependecy' bug when tasklist is checked in 
  • 6.4.5 (02 Apr 2012)   
    • Added <no risk> and <no priority> commandline options ('n') 
    • Added 'percent done' commandline option
    • Fixed ISO date problem when exporting from list-view  
  • 6.4.4 (20 Mar 2012)
    • Fixed issue with editing start, due and completion times
  • 6.4.3 (18 Mar 2012)
    • Fixed incorrect file extension when transforming
    • Fixed resizing issue 
    • Fixed 'Copy All' issue in commandline dialog 
    • Fixed 'Pos' not being exported 
  • 6.4.2 (15 Mar 2012) 
    • Fixed restoration of previous filter  
    • Fixed focus issue when changing percent done with Incomplete tasks filter
    • Fixed restoration of previous Export settings  
  • 6.4.1 (13 Mar 2012)   
    • Fixed bug in edit field placement
    • Fixed bug with focus switch when editing dates 
    • Restored scroll performance 
    • Restored date alignment 
    • Fixed bug in preferences initialization 
    • Fixed bug where 'Move task' options are disabled for new tasklist
    • Fixed bug with registry importing of preferences 
  • 6.4 Feature Release (08 Mar 2012)
    • Added support for 'natural' sorting (a la Explorer-sorting)
    • Added support for 'new' style file-open dialog under Vista/Windows 7
    • Added file version to backups, so that no new version will overwrite the backups of a previous version
    • Added preference to Calendar plugin to specify font size
    • Added 'task path' column to list
    • Added option to display entire sub tree of filtered task
    • Added options to expand due/started tasks only
    • Added 'selected tasks' filter
    • Added 'and parent task' to selection dialog
    • Added 'Tags' task attribute
    • Added preferences to better manage backup paths
    • Added commandline switches for the remaining task attributes, and to control how new tasks are created
    • Added much-improved Outlook drag'n'drop support
    • Added support for unc paths in comments field
    • Added 'selected tasks' filter
    • Added options for specifying backup paths
    • Added 'include parent task' to selection dialog (Export, Print, Transform)
    • Added 'Save Tasklist As' to tasklist tabbar context menu
    • Added 'Recalc from start date' to recurrence dialog
    • Added popup dialog for choosing how to link to files in richtext comments
    • Added support for military time to start/due/completed time droplists (eg. 0530, 1705)
    • Added support for edit fields to be positioned to the right of the task view. Useful for wide, shallow displays.
    • Fixed position field to retain order when sorting
    • Fixed listview to calculate it's own column widths
    • Fixed focus bug when setting task icon from list view
    • Fixed initial hidden state of tree/list tab
    • Fixed filtering to filter out parent tasks with empty attributes
    • Fix filtering to filter out parent tasks with empty attributes
    • Fix focus bug when setting task icon from list view
    • Fixed bug with archiving encrypted tasklists
    • Fixed bug with delay-loading of encrypted tasklists
    • Fixed Html exporting of user-defined 'flagged' colour
    • Fixed user-defined colours not being rendered in html export
    • Fixed display bug when moving mouse 'time spent' field's buttons
    • Fixed date alignment bug 
    • Fixed bug when checking out after toggling inclusion of username
    • Fixed bug where filter droplists did not auto-expand when adding a new longest entry
    • Changed MLO file extension to .ml
    • Fixed initial state list sorting bug
    • Fixed priority not getting imported in Csv
    • Fixed bug when not importing all csv attributes
    • Fixed bug allowing edits on readonly comments field
    • Fixed bug with task icon indices 
    • Fixed 'half-visible task' bug in list view
    • New Spanish translation
    • Updated Chinese translation 
    • Status-bar panes are now hidden to match column visibility
    • Preferences file sections are now sorted
    • Allowed user to edit tree/list icon when it's next to the title text by double-clicking
    • Html images are now saved to subfolder of html file (when exporting)
    • Speed-up tree building
    • Allow user to edit task icon by double-click tree/list icon when it's next to the title text
    • Always show droplist buttons in mapping dialogs
  • 6.3.9 (27 Nov 2011)
    • Fixed bug where focus was lost after closing calendar
    • Fixed bug where simple text comments context-menu delete option did not work
    • Fixed bug loading user-task icons
  • 6.3.8 (15 Nov 2011)
    • Correct calculation of parent dates for GanttProject exporter
    • Save/restore state of 'Add Logged Time' dialog
    • Save preferences to file after closing preference dialog
    • New French and Chinese translations
    • Minor tweaks to the translation system
  • 6.3.7 (09 Nov 2011)
    • Fixed very significant memory leak
    • Fixed various translation related bugs
  • 6.3.6 (04 Nov 2011)
    • Fixed iCalendar exporter date formatting bug
    • Fixed bug with xml header after changing formats
    • Fixed bug saving reminders
    • Fixed memory leak with encrypted tasklists
  • 6.3.5 (29 Oct 2011)
    • Fixed bug encrypting Unicode tasklists
    • Fixed bug where task path was out of sync with selection
    • Fixed bug where focus was lost after closing calendar
  • 6.3.4 (26 Oct 2011)
    • Fixed crash when jumping between tasks with different comments formats
    • Fixed reminders not being saved when computer is shut down
    • Fixed IME bug not triggering save
    • Reverted 6.3.3 sorting change as this broke multi-sorting
  • 6.3.3 (22 Oct 2011)
    • Fixed bug with sorting of category and alloc-to droplists
    • Fixed bug not saving comments when changing app preferences
    • Fixed bug with some input field heights
    • Preferences now saved as Unicode
    • Sort tasks with same sort value by 'raw' position
  • 6.3.2 (18 Oct 2011)
    • Fixed bug where due tasks notification displayed ID and comments when only titles was requested
    • Fixed various translation-related bugs
    • Fixed bug with default priority/risk when importing from the clipboard
    • Fixed Filter bug where options were not being restored for newly saved tasklists
    • Fixed Web-Update-Wizard crash
    • Fixed bug where separator choice was being ignored when exporting to csv
  • 6.3.1 (02 Oct 2011)
    • Fixed bug handling embedded tabs in translation system
    • Fixed bug checking in/out with source control
    • Fixed 'missing encryption component' bug
    • Fixed bug toggling visibility via the tray icon
    • Fixed due tasks notification bug with stylesheet
    • Fixed bug importing text from clipboard
    • Fixed bug importing preferences into registry
    • Changed XML encoding for Unicode tasklists to 'UTF-16'
  • 6.3 Feature Release (18 Sep 2011)
    • Full Unicode Support for User Data
    • New 'Easy to Translate' Architecture
    • New Tasklist importer/exporter
    • Vast Improvement in Loading Performance
    • Status bar Progress Indicator when Saving and Loading Tasklists
    • Various small improvements and bug fixes
  • 6.2.8 (06 Jul 2011)
    • Fixed bug when using 'Right-Alt' for accented characters (Wojciech Z)
    • Further fix for file icon display (philippe b)
  • 6.2.7 (05 Jul 2011)
    • Fixed bug in file icon display (TCP_JM)
    • Fixed bug relating to comments saving (.dan.g.)
  • 6.2.6 (25 Jun 2011)
    • Fixed remaining bugs with file link icons (TCP_JM)
    • Fixed percentage completion calculations (Firo Atrum Ventus)
    • Removed [] from text exporter comments (mckay.andrew75)
    • Removed erroneous CR from simple text copying (verithin)
  • 6.2.5 (19 Jun 2011)
    • Fixed bug with comments task links (johnsoe_1)
    • Fixed bug in date/time export to iCal (Robbson)
    • Always assign new task IDs when importing tasks into an existing tasklist (Wojciech Ziembla)
  • 6.2.4 (14 Jun 2011)
    • Fixed iCal exporter to export time with dates (robbson)
    • Fixed comments fields to add default editing border (TCP_JM)
    • Fixed Csv importer where Risk was overwriting Priority (Eric G)
    • Fixed Csv importer crash with multiline comments (Eric G)
    • Fixed 'new-line' bug in FreeMind exporter (BuckDanny)
    • Removed horizontal scrollbar from 'set task icon' dialog (Pierre de la Verre)
  • 6.2.3 (01 Jun 2011)
    • Proper fix for 'rogue' localization dll released accidentally (G.E.)
  • 6.2.2 (29 May 2011)
    • Fix FreeMind exporter not handling comment line-breaks (BuckDanny)
    • Fix problem with outdated localization dll
    • Fix 'too-long' urls in edit menu > File Link (TCP_JM)
    • Fix 'tab' not moving the cursor in simple comments (Rassix)
    • Fix cursor shifting when moving in/out of maximized comments (TCP_JM)
    • Do not modify the attributes of new tasks to match the current filter (TCP_JM)
    • Add default editing border to both comments controls (TCP_JM)
  • 6.2.1 (25 May 2011)
    • Removed erroneous logging (Defenestration)
    • Fixed excessive length of URL menu item in Comments context-menu (TCP_JM)
  • 6.2 Feature Release(20 May 2011)
    • Multi-selection maintained when checking out or reloading tasklists
    • 'Username' added to checkouts
    • Save and restore due tasks notification window position
    • Add 'Donate' button to Help menu
    • Rewritten CSV exporter/importer (needs lots of testing)
    • FreeMind exporter fixed to write out text as unicode characters
    • Hint added to status bar to indicate current focus
    • Read-only shortcuts added to 'Prefs > Keyboard Shortcuts'
    • External ID added to list of inheritable attributes
    • URLs can be clicked without requiring the Ctrl key
    • Option added to export all tasklists to one file
    • 'Toggle Expanded State' added to view menu
    • View options added to hide tab controls
    • 'Ctrl+A' shortcut added to tick every checkbox in check combos (Alloc To, Category, Filter droplists)
    • 'Sort by time tracking' enabled
    • Preference filepaths made relative to todolist.exe folder
    • Web loading/saving removed
    • 'Username' added to date stamp and date/time stamp
    • File specific preferences keyed by filename only (allowing ini file to moved without losing settings)
    • Dependencies 'corrected' when importing tasks
    • Fixed sorting by Parent ID
    • Fixed finding by Parent ID
    • Added checkbox to 'Add time to Task Log File' dialog to add time to 'Time Spent' field
    • Modified 'Add time to Task Log File' dialog to allow negative times (ie time to be subtracted from log/field)
    • Removed '[]' around comments in HTML exporter (TCP_JM)
    • Fixed bug with 'backup' folder (TCP_JM et al)
    • Allow task titles to have leading spaces (Alexxcode)
    • Fixed relative task and file links in comments (Member 7788196)
    • Fixed display of remaining time to use correct units (box he)
    • Fixed 'due today' tasks being erroneously filtered out (TCP_JM)
    • Various UI tweaks
    • New themes and theme attributes
    • Fixed various 'Find/Replace' bugs
    • Fixed html auto-export of images in comments (TCP_JM)
    • Auto-detect metric/imperial measurements for Rich Text comment ruler (Member 7788196)
    • Fix formatting of ISO times (Member 7788196)
    • Fix tab control sorting (Member 7788196)
    • Fix first-time auto-exporting to csv (..dB..)
    • Fix bug in relative path creation ([d3m0n], TCP_JM, vovchik23, ..dB.., a. hermann)
    • Export/Import dependencies to Gantt Exporter (Dave T)
    • Fixed 'readonly' check-style droplists to toggle check with 'plain' spacebar (Alexxcode)
    • Fix GP importing (Dave T)
    • Fix html images for firefox (TCP_JM)
    • Fix shift+cursor selection (TCP_JM)
    • Add 'current focus' to title bar if status bar is hidden (Alexandra R)
    • Fix tabbing in simple text to match rich text behaviour (robbson)
    • Add 'Insert Time' option to Edit menu (Member 7788196)
    • Fix crash when importing from csv (.dan.g. Wink | ;) )
    • Fix crash deleting tasks after a clipboard import (liorshin)
    • Enable support for dragging and dropping PNG files into rich text comments (TCP_JM)
    • Right-click 'Paste' in rich edit comments will now paste files as images by default (if that's what they are), then file icons (double-click to open), and finally as file links. Use 'Paste Simple' to directly paste as file links.
    • Fix Gantt Project exporting of unicode languages (liorshin)
    • Prevent entering of text into recurrence field (TCP_JM)
    • Disable reuse options combo when 'Once' is selected
    • Add option to display numeric menu IDs in preferences shortcut page (useful for AHK afficianados) (TCP_JM)
  • 1.1-6.1 (removed by .dan.g.)
  • 1.0 (4 Nov 2003)
    • Initial release.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Eclipse Public License 1.0

About the Author

.dan.g.
Software Developer Maptek
Australia Australia
Member
.dan.g. is a naturalised Australian and has been developing commercial windows software since 1998.
 
For all his latest freeware visit AbstractSpoon.

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Comments and Discussions


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SuggestionHiding reference tasks in List Viewmemberzajchapp4hrs 50mins ago 
Hi Dan,
Would it be possible to add an option in Listview to not show Referenced tasks. Otherwise you are essentially seeing the same task twice. I would also be happy with never showing them in this view...
Very useful in the other views mind you.
zajchapp
GeneralRe: Hiding reference tasks in List Viewmember.dan.g.3hrs 54mins ago 
zajchapp wrote:
I would also be happy with never showing them in this view...
I agree. I've already filtered them out of the Calendar view for the same reason.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: Hiding reference tasks in List Viewmemberzajchapp2hrs 33mins ago 
GreatThumbs Up | :thumbsup:
SuggestionMoving "New Task" in right-click menu to the bottom, replacing "Cancel"?memberandkostenko18 May '13 - 10:20 
Hi Dan,
 
Currently, among all right-click menu items the closest to the pointer is the most useless one. I think it would be more convenient to have New Task item and New Subtask item at the bottom, replacing Cancel item. Would you consider removing Cancel from the right-click menu as unnecessary? Alternatively, it's possible to leave New Task/Subtask items at the top, provided the mouse pointer does not stay at the bottom upon right-clicking. One option is to position it over New Tasks item. I am not sure which is the easiest, but as of now the task of adding a new item via the right-click menu can be simplified.
GeneralRe: Moving "New Task" in right-click menu to the bottom, replacing "Cancel"?member.dan.g.22hrs 22mins ago 
andkostenko wrote:
the most useless one.
Please avoid phrases like this, as it doesn't make me inclined to read the rest of your post. Hmmm | :|
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: Moving "New Task" in right-click menu to the bottom, replacing "Cancel"?memberandkostenko17hrs 37mins ago 
I think the relevant addition would be that of mentioning that the situation described in my previous communication can only be reproduced by right-clicking at some lower part of the screen. As to your reply, maybe you will find some time to read the title of this post at http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/9953/could-we-please-be-a-bit-nicer-to-new-users. If I were you, I would simply explain a new user what that "Cancel" item cancels and how to use it most usefully.
GeneralRe: Moving "New Task" in right-click menu to the bottom, replacing "Cancel"?member.dan.g.3hrs 40mins ago 
Thank you for your comments.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: Moving "New Task" in right-click menu to the bottom, replacing "Cancel"?member[d3m0n]12hrs 49mins ago 
As with all popup menus in Windows, if it can open below the cursor without reaching the bottom of your monitor, then the popup menu will open downwards. So if you have ToDoList at the very top of your screen and you right-click on the top item in your tasklist, it will probably open downwards, and the New Task item would be immediately below your cursor.
 
However if there is not enough space for the menu to open downwards, it will open upwards and Cancel will be closest. Changing the order of the popup menu is not the solution here. Probably the main problem (if indeed there is one) is that the popup menu is pretty big, and maybe it could be trimmed.
 
I do agree that Cancel is not required though. Though I may have pointed this out slightly less bluntly Poke tongue | ;-P
Cheers
[d3m0n]
 
Email (replace "***" with "key")

GeneralRe: Moving "New Task" in right-click menu to the bottom, replacing "Cancel"?member.dan.g.3hrs 45mins ago 
Thx for trying to see both sides mate, but after 10 years of having people project their expectations and disappointments of TDL onto me, I have to draw the line somewhere...
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

BugCustom attributes pb [modified]memberlaurentbosc18 May '13 - 3:53 
Dan,
 
when I create a custom attribute, type 'Number (fractional)', I have noticed that :
* If I populate '5' in the field, why the value is not transformed to '5,00' like for 'Cost' field for example ?

Kind regards

modified yesterday.

GeneralRe: Custom attributes pbmember.dan.g.22hrs 28mins ago 
I'll look into it.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

QuestionGanttmemberlaurentbosc18 May '13 - 3:38 
Hello Dan,
 
I have a remark about the Gantt.
each line of the gantt has an alternate color even if I uncheck the option 'alternante color'
Currently the Gantt is not very readable between the color of bars, the color of line and the color of week-ends...
 
In my opinion, even if there is alternate color for tasks, the gantt visualisation part should be without any alternate color. Or it should be an option...
 
Kind regards
AnswerRe: Ganttmember.dan.g.22hrs 30mins ago 
laurentbosc wrote:
each line of the gantt has an alternate color even if I uncheck the option 'alternante color'
It works fine for me in 6.7.DR6.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: Ganttmemberlaurentbosc8hrs 4mins ago 
Indeed, the gantt in 6.7 DR6 has great improvements, and the option 'Alternate color' is working.
But I would keep the alternate color in all views, including Gantt view.
But just for the gantt part (where gantt bars are displayed), I think it is more readable to never have alternate color.
Or perhaps a separate option ?: Even In case of alternate color checked, add the possibility to have no background color for the gantt part ?
 
I hope I'm clear...
GeneralRe: Ganttmember.dan.g.3hrs 51mins ago 
Can you send me screenshots so that I can see why the alternate line colour is such a problem for you in the Gannt view?
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

QuestionExport to FreemindmemberMember 1005239618 May '13 - 3:23 
While I use Freeplane, I have also tried this with Freemind. The results are the same.
 
The values of the attributes are incorrect. For example I have checked Creation Date to be among the exported attributes. Yet when I open the mm file in either Freeplane or Freemind, the attribute does not appear. I have also tried exporting all attributes with the same result. All of the attributes are not exported and appear to be excluded even if they contain values. Allocated By has a value and is exported without a value as TaskAllocatedBy. However Allocated To also has a value yet does not show up in the export at all.
 
Furthermore, names of attributes appears to be inconsistent. I know about the display names, but the names in the task list differ from those in the selection of attributes listed in export (understandable because of the use of display names), but these also differ from the names that are exported.
 
Thank you.
 
Jon
AnswerRe: Export to Freemindmember.dan.g.22hrs 32mins ago 
Hi Jon
 
Can you send me a simple sample tasklist which comments regarding each and every missing attribute, and which attribute names are incorrect from your perspective?
 
Thx
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: Export to FreemindmemberMember 1005239615hrs 26mins ago 
Sure, but it may not be necessary. If my explanation is clear enough for you to follow, this occurs in the Introduction.tdl file you include with the installer package.
 
Please let me know if I am doing something wrong or if my expectations of how this should work are incorrect.
 
Jon
GeneralRe: Export to Freemind [modified]member.dan.g.3hrs 51mins ago 
Member 10052396 wrote:
If my explanation is clear enough for you to follow
Thx Jon, but I would not have asked for the extra information if what you had given me was sufficient.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au


modified 3 hrs ago.

Question6.7 DR6: How to define total-sum of user-defined attributesmemberPierre de la Verre17 May '13 - 22:09 
As written above: How to define total-sum (cumulation) of user-defined attributes?
Pierre

AnswerRe: 6.7 DR6: How to define total-sum of user-defined attributesmember.dan.g.17 May '13 - 22:37 
User-defined attributes do not currently support summation. Sorry.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: 6.7 DR6: How to define total-sum of user-defined attributesmemberlaurentbosc18 May '13 - 3:56 
Customs attributes should have a new option :
* For 'Number' custom fields : Sum values for parent tasks
* For 'Date' custom fields : For parent tasks , Calculate the min date or the max date of its subtasks
 
Kind regards
GeneralRe: 6.7 DR6: How to define total-sum of user-defined attributesmember.dan.g.22hrs 29mins ago 
6.8.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

NewsToDoList 6.7.DR6member.dan.g.17 May '13 - 17:30 
Get it Here.
 
What's Changed
  • Fixed custom filter bug in 'Show' droplist in filter dialog
  • Fixed custom filter not working in Gantt
  • Fixed 'big' icon on windows 8 taskbar
  • Fixed sorting on custom attributes
  • Fixed translation bugs
  • Changed 'Gantt Item' header to 'Task'
  • Fixed dropdown width of filter combo
  • Fixed AltGr bug by changing shortcuts for copy/paste of rich-text formatting
  • Added logging support for intermediate tasklists
  • Fixed date/time corruption when saving tasklist
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

QuestionShortcuts for copying/pasting formatting in rich-text comments [modified]member.dan.g.17 May '13 - 3:26 
The shortcuts for copying and pasting formatting in the rich-text comments field are: Ctrl+Alt+C and Ctrl+Alt+V.
 
Unfortunately these interfere with use of the AltGr key to provide accented characters in many languages such as Polish.
 
As a result I propose to change these shortcuts in 6.8, but the natural choice of Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V is complicated because the latter is already in use for Paste Simple (No formatting).
 
Any suggestions welcome.
 
[update]
I decided that the best solution was to remove the shortcut for Paste Simple and use Ctrl+Shift+C/V for the rich text formatting. DR6.
[/update]
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au


modified 2 days ago.

QuestionSet a task to "read-only"memberPierre de la Verre16 May '13 - 22:30 
maybe this feature already exists, but I want to set a task to "read-only"? Already possible? Option for next release?
Pierre

AnswerRe: Set a task to "read-only"member.dan.g.17 May '13 - 2:42 
Good idea. 6.8.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

QuestionWho is capable of designing and creating an SQL database? [modified]member.dan.g.16 May '13 - 20:23 
And when I say 'capable' I mean CAPABLE, because I want someone to create a simple database able to store a TDL tasklist in table form.
 
And the only real requirement at this stage is that it must be able to store hierarchies of tasks (I guess that each task would have to be keyed back to its parent).
 
I want the database so that I can start to get an idea of how much work would be involved in writing a storage plugin for SQL with or without ODBC.
 
ps. I might start with this while I wait for your efforts to flood in! Big Grin | :-D
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au


modified 2 days ago.

AnswerRe: Who is capable of designing and creating an SQL database?memberjimpar17 May '13 - 2:55 
here is a good article on hierarchical data
 
http://www.sitepoint.com/hierarchical-data-database/[^]
 
geared towards MySQL, but should be relevant to Sqlite
GeneralRe: Who is capable of designing and creating an SQL database?member.dan.g.17 May '13 - 3:18 
Unfortunately, as the article quotes:
 
"it’s slow and inefficient. This is mainly caused by the recursion. We need one database query for each node in the tree."
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

AnswerRe: Who is capable of designing and creating an SQL database?memberchris_go17 May '13 - 12:07 
Just quick finding:
 
http://pocoproject.org/features.html[^]
AnswerRe: Who is capable of designing and creating an SQL database?memberAnthonyVO17 May '13 - 19:00 
I am.
 
I will start by saying that unless I am mistaken I don't believe that the database structure you need will be all that complex because you really are storing lots of the same thing (tasks). Yes, those tasks have a parent child relationship that can be nested quite deeply but that is fairly easily resolved by adding a ParentId property to each task. So in short, a Hierarchical database would be overkill. Keeping it simple is a great way to ensure that it stays fast and easy to upgrade.
 
I was really planning to work on something else this weekend but I will see if I can give it a shot.
 
If you have a TDL with data that you would like me to use then that would be peachy.
 
What database engine would you prefer to target?
 
Anthony
GeneralRe: Who is capable of designing and creating an SQL database?member.dan.g.17 May '13 - 22:36 
AnthonyVO wrote:
What database engine would you prefer to target?
To be honest I'm not even sure I know enough to answer that question, so let me describe my plans and hopefully we can figure out what to do!
 
My idea is that a given user can, via File > Load From, connect to a SQL compliant database and pull a tasklist representing only their tasks. They edit these and then save back to the database via File > Save To.
 
Since people may have existing databases, my ultimate plan is to allow users to connect to their database via ODBC somehow...
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: Who is capable of designing and creating an SQL database?member.dan.g.2hrs 19mins ago 
AnthonyVO wrote:
If you have a TDL with data that you would like me to use then that would be peachy.
Sorry, I didn't answer this one. Use Introduction.tdl that's come with the app.
 
ps. I just uninstalled SQL Server 2008 because my setup had changed and now I can't reinstall it (even with Google's help), so maybe SQLLite is the way forward.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralMy vote of 5membermla15416 May '13 - 7:53 
Your ToDoList is excellent.   I've been using it for years.   Thank you.
GeneralRe: My vote of 5member.dan.g.16 May '13 - 13:52 
Many thx.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

QuestionGantt plug inmemberMember 1005239616 May '13 - 6:33 
Just found out about ToDoList 6.6.7. This is a very useful and well conceived program. I am confused about using gantt charts. If I click on the gantt tab, the message says that the gantt plug-in is coming soon. I see that other plug-ins are functional. They seem to have corresponding dll files in the program folder as does gantt. Why do they work but not gantt?
 
Jon
AnswerRe: Gantt plug inmembermugrrrr16 May '13 - 9:49 
Hi, Jon.
Indeed, in TDL v.6.6.7 so far Gantt view is under development at the moment but if you are eager to see how it looks like you need to download development release of TDL (current version 6.7.DR5) http://abstractspoon.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/47847194/ToDoList_dev_release.zip[^].
 
Regards,
Alex
GeneralRe: Gantt plug inmemberMember 1005239616 May '13 - 11:04 
Thank you for the information.
 
Jon
SuggestionRe: Middle mouse button scrollmembermla15416 May '13 - 3:37 
Hi Dan,
I've noticed that clicking the middle mouse button on a tab will close the tab.   Would you consider putting in a feature that when clicking on the middle mouse button in the task list area will show the scroll icon (like in Firefox) and allow for fast scrolling when moving the mouse?
 
Regards,
Mike
GeneralRe: Middle mouse button scrollmember.dan.g.16 May '13 - 13:54 
Hi Mike
 
I will consider this for 6.8.
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

BugSorting IssuememberAlexxcode16 May '13 - 0:11 
I realized an sorting issue in 6.6.5. If you cut an task out of an folder and paste it in the tasklist it will be placed at top of the list. If you filter after category it will be (in my case) placed (drop) about 20 tasks below. If you now push the task up again using CTRL + Arrow up it will drop again after refiltering.
 
But the task will stay at top if you place it there using the mouse!
 
I use sorting after priority. The task has priority 9 and get´s placed at top or in the middle of other tasks with priority 9.
 
Thank You
Alexandra
GeneralRe: Sorting Issuemember.dan.g.16 May '13 - 13:55 
Hi Alex
 
Can you send me a _simple_ tasklist with the precise steps to reproduce pls?
.dan.g.
 
AbstractSpoon Software
email: abstractspoon2(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au

GeneralRe: Sorting IssuememberAlexxcode17 May '13 - 2:46 
This will be difficult as i solved the problem by selecting all tasks above the "dropped" task and placing them under the "dropped" tasks. Now it does not happen anymore. I don´t know for how long.
 
I would like to understand how TDL sorts task´s if the sorting parameter e.g. priority is identical. I guess there is another sorting value which is changing according to i don´t know what.
 
Thank You
Alexandra
QuestionFor German users: How to translate "Sibling"memberPierre de la Verre14 May '13 - 22:19 
Wie soll man "Sibling" übersetzen? Alles mit "Geschwister" ist irgendwie seltsam; soll man "Nebenaufgaben" nehmen?
 
Andere Vorschläge?
Pierre

AnswerRe: For German users: How to translate "Sibling"memberzajchapp14 May '13 - 22:55 
Ich dachte "Geschwister" war die allgemeine Bezeichnung in xml.
GeneralRe: For German users: How to translate "Sibling"memberPierre de la Verre14 May '13 - 23:10 
Ist nur die Frage, ob der normale Anwender damit glücklich wird.
Pierre

GeneralRe: For German users: How to translate "Sibling"memberzajchapp14 May '13 - 23:14 
Verstanden. Smile | :)
GeneralRe: For German users: How to translate "Sibling"memberTCP_JM14 May '13 - 23:28 
Alles eine Frage der Gewohnheit Smile | :)
Wir werden heutzutage so mit Engleutsch und Denglisch überflutet, dass unsere eigene Sprache manchen Menschen seltsam anmutet.
Geschwister ist richtig.
Jochen

GeneralRe: For German users: How to translate "Sibling"memberPierre de la Verre14 May '13 - 23:40 
OK. Habe Geschwister genommen.
Pierre

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