3. Functions accessible via the icon in the notification area:
4. Functions of the stickie/notes
5. Archive and restore
6. Additional functions
7. Authors e-mail addresses
1. Overview
Many people use those yellow 'Post-it' notes - small, yellow notes which you can stick almost everywhere - to remind you of important things to do or not to forget a certain date or number. You can find them everywhere both in privat and business use. But often it happens that the notes get lost, that they have been thrown away or that there are no more left.
With this in mind Stickies was created which simulates these 'Post-It' notes. The goal was to keep the application as small as possible but with as much functionality as necessary. There are enough hugh planning programs on the market.
2. Basic functions:
The above listed thoughs lead to version 1.0 of Sickies. A 32-Bit version for Windows 95. After 9 month of very positiv reactions from users this is now the new and enhanced version 2.0. The code for the program has completely been reviewed and enhanced for the new version.
Overview of the functions implemented:
- the notes - also referred to as 'Stickies' - are fully sizeable and can be positioned anywhere on the screen.
- the user can select background and foreground color, font, fontsize and attributes (italic and bold)
- all notes have a rollup feature, which means with a single click they can be resized to only show the titlebar which saves a lot of space on the desktop. The number of characters visible in the titlebar can be changed (up to 99).
- an alarm can be set for each note. The alarmdate can comfortably be selected through a calendar. The user can select a time difference that the alarm will sound before the selected alarm time. Alarms can be set to reoccur daily, weekly, monthly or yearly or to ring just once. At alarm time a dialog box will remind of an important date or task. The box will flash and play the wave file if one was selected.
- as alarm sound a wave file can be selected, ten wave files are supplied with the installation of the program. If no soundcard is installed, a system beep will be generated at the selected alarm time. Optionally the user can select to repeat the sound or beep as long as the alarm message is displayed.
- the program has completely been written in german and english (default) language. All functions, menus and messages are available in both languages and can be selected from within the program.
- once the program is started, it is available in the notification area of the taskbar - in the lower right hand corner (where the clock normally displays). A right mouse click on the icon will bring up a menu where all functions can be selected. A click with the left mouse botton on the icon will add a new note.
- each note can be made invisible but is always accessible via the just mentioned menu or the overview window.
- positon, size and state (visible or unvisible, rolled-up or normal, locked or unlocked) of each note will be saved when you exit the program and will be reactivated the next time the program is started.
- an overview window is available where all notes are listed . This is meant as an alternativ to using the menu of the icon in the notification area. All functions that can be selected via the menu can also be accessed via this overview window (by use of the right mouse button).
- notes can be saved to plain ASCII files.
- notes can be password protected (locked) so that no one can read them in your absence.
- notes can be archived and restored. When you delete a note you may select to put the note into the archive which allows you to restore it at a later point in time. Archiving will store the notes in a file which makes them portable and restoring will bring the note - that was previously archived - back to the desktop.
- files such as documents, spreadsheet, bitmaps, text files, etc. can be linked to the notes. The linked file can be displayed/viewed in a seperate window.
- an autosave feature will allow you to set a time period after which all data and settings are automatically saved. Choose zero (0) minutes to disable this function.
3. Functions accessible via the icon in the notification area:
I have tried to keep the program easy but to include a lot of functionality. Comments from many users of version 1.0 have been included in the disign of this new version. Always in mind not to let the program grow too much.
As already indicated the program is available as a small icon in the lower right corner of the screen - the notification area. By use of the right mouse button a menu with following functions is available:
- 'shareware' displays a window with information of how and where to register. After you registered Stickies you will receive a keycode that will enable you to use the application unrestricted and will show your name and registration key in the welcome dialog of the program. This shareware dialog screen will also allow you to enter the registration data.
- 'overview' displays the already mentioned overview window where all notes are listed and also can be changed.
- 'settings' opens a window where the user can change the details for language, fonts, colors, wave file, confirmation before deleting, the number of characters in the titlebar, if the overview window is shown at startup and the password settings. After closing the window all settings will immediately be applied.
- 'search' enables you to search for text in any of the notes. After you have found the text string you can directly go to that note.
- 'list alarms' will list all active alarms. Alarms can be sorted by the associated text or by date by clicking on the column headers. You can select an alarm and directly go to the associated note.
- 'restore' displays a window in which you can select notes (that previously have been archived) to be restored. Additionally you have the possibility to delete notes from the archive or to specify a new archive for your notes.
- 'new' adds a new note and displays it in the center of the screen. If there is already a note at that position, the new one will be slightly be repositioned. Clicking once on the icon in the notification area serves the same purpose. Each note will have a menu item to set the default size to it's dimensions so that the next new note will be displayed with these default settings.
- 'show all'/'hide all' will allow to display or hide all your notes with a single mouse-click.
- 'save all' will save all notes and program settings, such as size, position,alarm etc.
- the text of the titlebar of each stickie will be displayed in the menu (that is accessible via the icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen). The note can be made visible or unvisible from the menu. If the user increases the number of characters in the titlebar (in the 'settings' dialog), also more characters will be displayed in the menu. If a note is locked only the characters in the titlebar will be visible until the note is unlocked again.
4. Functions of the stickies:
- size and position can freely be set by the user
- in the titlebar there is a button for the rollup function, which will resize the stickie to only its titlebar or restore the original size.
- on the very right of the titlebar there is a button to delete the note/stickie. If you have selected the option 'confirm delete' in the 'settings' dialog, you will be promted before the note is actually deleted; if you have de-selected this option the note will immediately be deleted without further confirmation. Also in the same dialog you can specify if you want the note to be archived or not.
- if the user clicks on the button on the left hand side of the titlebar, a menu will appear where the functions alarm and default size can be accessed. 'Set size as default' will set the size of the selected note to be the new size for all subsequent new notes. Additionally the note can be deleted, hidden, locked, a link to a file/object can be established, the note can be set on top of all other windows or saved to an ASCII file via this menu.
- the user can use the standard Windows key combinations Ctrl-C (copy), Ctrl-V (paste) or Ctrl-X (cut) to modify the notes text, or alternatively use the right mouse button to access these functions.
- the alarm date can comfortably be selected from a calendar. If you want you can select the alarm to be repeated daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or to ring only once. You can also delete/cancel the alarm.
5. Archive and restore
- click with the right mouse on the icon in the notification area and select 'restore...' from the menu. The window that comes up contains a list of previously archived notes. In the first column the note text is displayed, in the second the date the note was put in the archive and in the third column the reference to the object that was linked is listed.
- select a note or multiple notes (use the Ctrl-key or Shift-key) to be restored or deleted from the archive. After you have selected the appropriate notes select a function (restore or delete) from the toolbar. The marked notes will be deleted or restored once you close the archive window.
- from the toolbar you can also choose to create a new archive that the notes will be stored in.
6. Additional functions
- additionally you can use the 'search' window or the 'list alarms' window.
- the search window, which is accessible from the icon in the notification area, enables you to search for a text in any of the notes. You can preview the note text and then decide to go directly to any of the notes where the search string was found.
- the 'list window', also accessible from the icon in the notification area lists all active alarms. You can sort the alarms by the assiciated text or by date by clicking on the column headers. Select an alarm of your choice and use the toolbar 'goto'-button to directly go to the selected note.
