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XNotesPlus: Future Plans
As incentive to users to pay for their use of XNotesPlus, here is a
list of proposed features and udpates to XNotesPlus. While these
aren't cast in concrete, it is a basic plan for where I want XNotesPlus
to go. If I can get enough users to pay for the software (or a company
to sponsor development), I may be able to work on it full time.
This is the current plan for future releases.
Michael J. Hammel
January 2002
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Version 3.6
3.6 Make xnotes+ a GNOME applet?
Doesn't look too hard except for making sure mouse button bindings are kept by xnotes+ and
not given to over to the panel
http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/panel/index.html
http://cactus.rulez.org/doc/articles/panelapplet/
http://cactus.rulez.org/projects/radioactive//
3.6 "Add new category" feature (for all pilot features)
3.6 Simple Help facility
Needs to stay open and just display the help text from whatever function called it.
Should include keyboard bindings list for each feature that calls it.
3.6 Look into making pilot functions asynchronous.
3.6 Real calendar feature - drop ical
Calender uses notebook
page 1: day schedule with GtkCalendar plus Todo List; clicking on todo item pops open Todo
List dialog with that items category shown and that item highlighted.
Page 2: week at a glance; use table and drawing widget - draw colored gant chart
Page 3: month at a glance - each day with scheduled items has Morning (before 12pm),
Afternoon (12-5pm), Evening (6-midnight) lines with dots for each line up to a max of 5.
pilot-link already has data structure for download/upload. Just need
to write read/write routines in new xn-cal.c
3.6 Make Insert Calendar add a GtkCalendar widget below the note.
Calendar needs "Show" and "Hide" options.
3.6 Remove tmpdir from app_res.
Update documentation with new features
include new keyboard bindings for pilot dialogs
Update version.h and pkg.sh
Package and deliver 3.6 Final - announce to all sites & be sure to announce mailing list!
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Version 3.7
3.7 Built in configuration manager
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Version 3.?
3.? Add Syncal requirements to documentation
Add notes about use with DateBK3 and DateBK4 packages (see syncal web site)
Do I care about this?
3.? write real documentation in PDF and HTML format
3.? Move to vcard formats? See http://www.imc.org/pdi/
3.? Check security by running "its4" on all source code
This will require evaluating strcpy, sprintf calls to find out if they're vulnerable.
That will be vary labor intensive, cuz there are lots of these calls.
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Version 4.0
4.0 Look at adding Coldsync support if pilot-link hasn't added USB support
http://www.ooblick.com/software/coldsync/
http://www.ooblick.com/software/coldsync/doc/conduits_toc.html
USB support is in pilot-link CVS as of 12/01
4.0 GTK 2.0 port
4.0: Change main windows menu to be more fun: pinup board for xnotes, something similar for other
tools.
4.0: Add "Scribbles" - simple drawing areas and image viewer
draw primitives: rectangles, circles, arcs, lines, freehand
double buffer
read PNG, TIFF, GIF, and JPEG formats
See http://www.gtk.org/faq/#AEN654 (FAQ on adding images to GTK+ widgets)
Emailing notes should send Scribbles as uuencoded compressed TIFF files
Scribbles numbered the same as corresponding note and saved in "scribbles" directory
Don't know how I can upload images to Pilot
PilotSketch?
AALib - convert image to ascii and upload as a note?
PalmPix - not sure if this is the right name or not.
Might look into the LibArt library for drawing support.
Also look at GdkRGB and Imlib packages
See testrgb.c in GTK+ source - it has examples of gdk_draw_grey_image() which might help
to get images painted onto the screen, though I still need read/write routines.
Look into GdkPixbuf or GtkCanvas - probably the best method as it will be rolled into Gtk+ 2.0
4.0: Add Work Manager - manage time sheets
Needs to be connected to both Todo Lists and Calendars
4.0: Make the individual notes menu bars hideable.
4.0: Make scrollbars hideable.
4.0: preferences dialog and rc file: save state information
use XML file formats for this, I think.
look at libxml -
current insert date format
data directories
cascade options
uniform sized notes
cascade by projects
ToolTips state
save on exit state
Notice dialog state
Print options
Pilot options
include/exclude xnote header lines
Allow user to make notes stay on top or beneath all other windows (is this possible?)
Allow user to specify removing window borders - how do you deal with moving/resizing notes?
Levels of Undo to save
4.0: Better import features
File import should read some other file format, say Word or RTF files.
See http://www.wotsit.org/ for file format specs (also in src/X/xnotes)
Email should import external mail programs address databases by calling
external programs that write the database in Pilot CSV format to
standard out. This is configurable via a colon seperated list of
programs to call at init time.
4.0: cascade by projects, if set
4.0: new Find Text search options
search all/selected notes
prompt user to bring forward any notes with matching text.
Replace text option for Find Text feature
4.0: Add better print support, including Postscript output
Print dialog must be callable from various places, like the Envelopes dialog
and from individual notes. Probably need to use both lpc and lpstat, like
Gimp plug-in, to find which printers are available.
look at src/X/motif for printer widget/support
4.0: Add Cut/Copy/Paste/Undo options for Erase.
4.0: Gnome and KDE aware
4.0: move all text strings to englishUS-text.h to make translation easier.
Change error messages to XP_E instead of XP_S, put in separate file.
4.0: Projects
allow changing project name
allow deleting projects
4.0: Replace text/ Replace All option for Find Text feature
4.0: Add GtkHtml widget for HTML help files.
config.h option has to be added to make this optional
4.0: look into disabling close/delete options for window managers.
4.0: Sort xnotes by title for exporting to Pilot Memos
4.0: Add support for scanning business cards? Needs driver for one of those business card scanners.
4.0: Simple calendaring functions? calender.c has support, but which features need calendars?
4.0: note sized to fit in the pilot correctly.
4.x: Save current insertion points for notes
this requires change to note file headers
use insertion point to position text windows when reopened
This will work once GTK 2.0 comes out, which will require major updates to XNotesPlus anyway
4.x: Font support for individual notes - also requires GTK 2.0
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Version 5.0
5.0: Groupware Release
5.0: linked Address databases - personal and workgroup addresses
xnotes+ can show either, or merge personal with workgroup addresses
5.0: Client server architecture
default server runs on muse.com
notes are stored on server so they can be accessed from anywhere
Things to investigate: SSL and encrypting messages
5.0 Support for Linux based PDAs
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