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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="Author" content="Andrew Walker"> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.5 [en] (Win95; I) [Netscape]"> <meta name="CopyRight" content="CopyRight ⌐ 1999 Andrew Stevon Walker"> <meta name="KeyWords" content="skwyrul,help,andrew stevon walker,careware"> <title>Skwyrul Pro - HTML Help</title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFE6" link="#3366FF" vlink="#551A8B" alink="#FF0000"> <center>Skwyrul PRO help file (v.3.3a)</center> <hr WIDTH="100%"> <center><a href="#What is Skwyrul PRO">What is Skwyrul PRO?</a> <a href="#What features are new that didn't exist Skwyrul">Is there a summary of the features that didn't exist Skwyrul 2.1?</a> <a href="#How do I get started, what are the">How do I get started, what are the basics</a> <a href="#Explain to me about the advanced">Explain to me about the advanced operations</a> <a href="#What options can I">What options can I set?</a> <a href="#Acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a> <a href="#Disclaimer">Disclaimer</a></center> <hr WIDTH="100%"> Skwyrul PRO is CareWare, if you find this application useful and you can afford it, please donate a small (or large !) amount to a charitable cause of your choice, this is optional and there is no obligation for you to do this. I would appreciate your comments mailed to me <a href="mailto:asw@asw.ndirect.co.uk">asw@asw.ndirect.co.uk</a> or <a href="mailto:andrewswalker@hotmail.com">andrewswalker@hotmail.com</a> bugs or ideas or possible enhancements etc. You can also complete the feedback form on my <a href="http://www.asw.ndirect.co.uk">WWW</a> page Important: Do not open a Skwyrul PRO data set with any earlier version of Skwyrul. <hr WIDTH="100%"> <a NAME="What is Skwyrul PRO"></a>What is Skwyrul PRO? It is basically a very powerful, fast and compact information manager. It is very easy to use an runs on Windows 95/98 and NT 4.0. The basic idea of this program, is to store notes in a tree like structure, with quick searching and retrieval. I use it for storing program code segments from Delphi and PL/SQL, phone numbers, record/CD lists, Clipart Storage, General ideas, dates, to-do lists, Jokes, WWW addresses etc. etc. The note size is only limited by your PC's available memory! The notes can contain bold, underline, italic, highlighted and non proportional text, bullets can be used, Undo and Redo is included templates can define reusable text, a note can be emailed directly from Skwyrul's own SMTP emailer. All notes are hyper text sensitive, and filenames can be dragged and dropped from explorer, whereby they will automatically be created as hyper links back to the original source. The notes can be exported as HTML pages for posting to your intranet for instance, also as export files so other Skwyrul users can import them. The recycle bin is used for deleted notes for added security. Information can be encrypted either at note level or the whole data file when saving or both!, the encryption algorithm is very powerful, and if you forget your password or type the wrong password in twice, the information will be lost forever, I will note be able to help you! The algorithm is an industry respected technology, and is not proprietary one, and has not been publicly (broken / cracked) to date. The datasets are also compressed, saving anywhere between 40-60% of storage space. Important! comctl32.dll (at least 18/11/1997) to be installed on the system you are running this on, to allow the tree control to work properly. Skwyrul PRO will warn you if it finds an earlier version. I believe this is installed with Microsoft's © Internet Explorer, as well as other applications, but the latest version(4.72) can be downloaded free from: <a href="ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/40comupd.exe">ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/40comupd.exe</a> The comctl32.dll distributed with Microsoft's IE 5.0 Beta's causes the messages in the Skwyrul status bar to not display properly or at all, I will be looking into this and fixing asap. <hr WIDTH="100%"> <a NAME="What features are new that didn't exist Skwyrul"></a>What features are new that did not exist Skwyrul 2.1? <ul> <li> An excellent word spellcheck/thesaurus "WordWeb" has now been integrated into Skwyrul PRO, this is a freeware application that is downloadable from <a href="http://www.netword.demon.co.uk/wweb/">http://www.netword.demon.co.uk/wweb/</a></li> <li> The colour of the tree and note are now user definable</li> <li> There is now an ability to set alarms and snooze function on notes or selected text, with a quick view of all your outstanding alarms, just like a todo list.</li> <li> The search method has been enhanced.</li> <li> The folder/note concept has been removed, you can add text at any level of the tree, although there are two buttons on the toolbar that simulate the addition of a folder and a note.</li> <li> Open different data files via the button bar.</li> <li> You can now assign an icon from a selection list to an item on the tree, there are 15 or more to choose from.</li> <li> F5 allows you to toggle a strikethrough of the text in the tree, to simulate a todo list</li> <li> Sorting is now off by default, and you can sort the selected node and its children from the tree menu.</li> <li> There is a new Tip Of The Day screen accessible from the Toolbar</li> <li> You can now create user defined templates, just like the old F6 key (address).</li> <li> Bold, Underline etc. can now be accessed from the notes menu.</li> <li> Bullets now implemented Ctrl + number pad1, number pad2, number pad3.</li> <li> Option to never ask for encrypted save, default is ask has been introduced.</li> <li> Full note toggle, that hides the tree (F4).</li> <li> The open dataset name is now displayed in the main title bar.</li> <li> Search results window replaces the old method, for easy view and navigation</li> <li> A text file can now be directly imported into a note, from the notes menu.</li> <li> You can now store jpgs, gifs. bmps as text, as a note, and launch them directly from the note.</li> <li> You can now choose to have the tab key, toggle between the tree and the note, or inset Tabs into the note without having to press Ctrl+Tab</li> <li> When emailing a note you can comma seperate a list of recipients. You can also now attach files to an email.</li> <li> A Confirm on delete option has now been implemented</li> <li> Many speed enhancements, especially noticeable on large data files.</li> <li> You can convert a note into an editable list by pressing F11, this is ideal for todo lists, if you use the date format yyyy/mm/dd the items will be sorted in date order. Pressing F5 whilst in the list mode will strike through an item.</li> <li> You can choose to have single or double-click to expand/collapse the tree.</li> <li> The open dataset can be quickly copied to drives A: B: D: + E - L:</li> <li> Right clicking on a selected filename in a note will present its context menu, just as with Explorer.</li> <li> A scratchpad is now available from the system tray, to allow you to quickly capture information and file it later, this information is saved between sessions.</li> <li> There is a tree manager, to allow you to move notes around the tree, also to add many notes quickly.</li> <li> Notes can be saved as plain text as an option now.</li> <li> All notes can be viewed in a non proportional font, great for all those old text files, that you have imported.</li> <li> Improved interface and feedback.</li> <li> Improved modem detection and ISP dialup handling.</li> </ul> <hr WIDTH="100%"> <a NAME="How do I get started, what are the"></a>How do I get started, what are the basics? A couple of pieces of terminology first: A note is sometimes referred to as a node A datafile is now only one file "Skwy.dat", DO NOT open this file with any other application, they will corrupt your data!!!. If you choose to encrypt the datafile when closing Skwyrul or opening another datafile, then the filename will be slightly different "Skwy.da!", these are encrypted and compressed. If you right mouse click on either the tree or the note, you will be presented with a popup menu, which offers a variety of tasks and settings, these should be self explanatory, try them out on a test dataset to build your confidence in using them. Once you have installed Skwyrul PRO and you launch it for the first time, you will be informed that it is a new installation and that a new dataset will be created in the same directory as the executable.. If you have a previous version of Skwyrul already installed, it will open and convert your existing dataset. You can now start the simple task of adding notes to your initial dataset, this is achieved by pressing the "Insert" key or the "note" icon on the toolbar or "Shift+Insert" or the "folder" button, you can rename the note in the tree at the point of creation, or afterwards by using the same methodology you would use to rename a file in windows explorer, i.e. F2, or click the text of the item, and not its associated icon. When you insert a note, whichever node has the focus, it will be created as a child or underneath this node, this is how you would build up a hierarchical structure. The notes, can be freely dragged and dropped between each other, to help you reorganise your data. Deleting notes is just as easy, hit the "Delete" key, or the appropriate button on the task bar. By default you cannot delete multiple notes, although you can switch this option on temporarily from the tree menu. When typing the text of your note, the standard RTF like text command exist, i.e. pressing Ctrl+B together, toggles the bold attributes, Ctrl+U the underline etc. These are also accessible from the notes popup menu, as are the basics cut, copy, paste, search & replace, undo/redo etc. How do I open another datafile?, this could not be easier, if you keep in mind that a directory name is a datafile, i.e. each directory you select will contain a single datafile, so to open a new or existing datafile, click the Briefcase button on the toolbar, and choose a directory (remember not a datafile) and press Ok, if the chosen directory contains a dataset, then it will be opened, if not will create a new datafile, and inform you that it has done so. Given this methodology, a recommended directory structure could be: c:\data\Skwyrul |_Work |_Home |_Others each of these four directories would contain a "Skwy.dat" It is important when backing up your data to include the directory structure, otherwise the filenames will overwrite each other. The last five opened files will be listed in the dropdown menu which is accessible from the down arrow on the right hand side of the open button, allowing speedy switching between datasets. How do I set an alarm? This is really easy, if you select some text in a note, then this will be the alarm item, if no text is selected, then the title of the note in the tree will be used as the alarm text. Press F6 or choose set/view alarm from the popup menus, set the time and dates as required, then click the clock button on the toolbar. When this alarm is triggered, you will be given the option to delete the alarm or reschedule it. You can snooze it for a number of hours / minutes, or optionally set a new date and time. If you press F6 twice from the tree or the note, you will have rapid access to all your outstanding alarms. So thats it the basics covered, simple! <hr WIDTH="100%"> <a NAME="Explain to me about the advanced"></a>Explain to me about the advanced operations Ok, now you have got to grips with the basic stuff, you want to investigate the more advanced, powerful stuff? <a href="#Searching for">Searching for keyword:</a> <a href="#Sorting the tree or parts">Sorting the tree or parts of:</a> <a href="#Changing the icon/image for a note:">Changing the icon/image for a note:</a> <a href="#Encrypting a">Encrypting a note:</a> <a href="#User defined">User defined templates:</a> <a href="#Printing:">Printing:</a> <a href="#Exporting /">Exporting / Importing:</a> <a href="#Storing an image as a">Storing an image as a note!:</a> <a href="#Turning a note into an editable list, and">Turning a note into an editable list, and sorting:</a> <a href="#General application">General application configuration:</a> <a href="#Working with">Working with dates:</a> <a href="#Hyperlinks:">Hyperlinks:</a> <a NAME="Searching for"></a>Searching for keyword: Another change in methodology from earlier versions of Skwyrul, when perform a search from either the button on the toolbar or the Ctrl+F key combination, the matching results are shown in a popup window, clicking one of the matching items, will result in that note begin displayed in the main window, if you press Ok you will be placed in the last note you viewed, if you choose cancel, you will be taken back to the note you were in when you commenced the search. This method of searching is much faster and user friendly. <a NAME="Sorting the tree or parts"></a>Sorting the tree or parts of: This is a change from earlier versions of Skwyrul, where the sorting was done automatically, unless you temporarily turned it off. When you add a note now, it will not be sorted by default, but select a note, even the root of the tree if you want a full sort, and choose sort from the tree's popup menu. <a NAME="Changing the icon/image for a note:"></a>Changing the icon/image for a note: Nice new feature this, just select the note you want to change the image of, and bring up the popup menu of the tree, select the new image from one of the two lists, and that image will be assigned and stored against that note. <a NAME="Encrypting a"></a>Encrypting a note: Just select encrypt or decrypt from the popup menu on the note, you will be asked for your password, then to reconfirm, the password is not stored in the note! Encrypting a note as well as the whole file, might seem a little overkill at first, but once Skwyrul has loaded, the whole encrypted file will be decrypted, and exist on the hard disk as a non-secure file, until you exit Skwyrul, when it will be secured once more. If a note or notes are encrypted, then they will always be protected irrespective of the state of the main data files. <a NAME="User defined"></a>User defined templates: Brand new feature here, instead of the old F6 key in version 2.1 which gave you a built in address template, there is a button on the toolbar that allows you to save the current note as a template, this is achieved very easily by: <ul> <li> create a new note</li> <li> structure it as you would like the template</li> <li> click the template button</li> <li> give the template a unique name</li> <li> Done!, the template is stored as a special file in the same directory as you Skwyrul.exe, as a .tpl file, for instance if you named your template "Letter", then you will have a Letter.tpl file.</li> </ul> The templates you create are available from the drop down menu of the same button, just select one and it will be inserted into your current note, it will not overwrite or replace any existing text. <a NAME="Printing:"></a>Printing: To print the Tree Structure, access the utilities menu on the tree and choose print tree structure from there, to print a note choose print from the popup menu of the note itself. The default printer can now be changed from the trees context menu. <a NAME="Exporting /"></a>Exporting / Importing: The current selected note and its children can be exported to HTML with formatting or text, by choosing the appropriate option from the context menu of the tree. If the currently selected item in the tree is the root, all folders and notes will be exported. You can choose to auto-export HTML from Skwyrul PRO to say an intranet server at launch by configuring the command line: eg. c:\myprogs\skwyrulpro.exe HTML"h:\my web\andy\notes" The first parameter tells Skwyrul PRO that an export is required, the second parameter decides where the three HTML files are to be located once produced, important if either the path to the executable or the target location have spaces in them, then they must be encased in quotes as per the example above. The folder that has the focus when Skwyrul PRO is closed, is the one which will be exported on restarting, including its children. To import data, your data must be formatted in exactly the same way as the supplied example file "skwyrul.imp", and must have an ".imp" extension. Basically the format is: Note1Title First line in import file, and is the title to the following note line 1 line 2 line 3 !=Skwyrul=!Denotes end of 1st note and start of 2nd note Note2Title Is the title of the 2nd note line 1 line 2 !=Skwyrul=!Denotes End of last note, and in this instance end of file. Do not have any spaces infront of the note title!, and remember to end the file as above. Also the file must be plain text, no binary data is allowed. A single note can be exported as an RTF file from the popup menu on the note, also a plain text file can be imported into a note from the same menu. <a NAME="Storing an image as a"></a>Storing an image as a note!: Ok this is a new one, you have a couple of favourite JPG's or GIF's maybe a family photo or a company logo or some useful icons you use over and over again. If you choose from the notes popup menu to import an image into a note, the image you choose will be encoded and stored as text in a note, you can export and view this image from the same menu. Warning storing an image as a note will replace the contents of the current note. <a NAME="Turning a note into an editable list, and"></a>Turning a note into an editable list, and sorting: This option is accessed from the notes context menu. Basically this allows you to transform temporarily a note into a sorted list, when this occurs all blank lines are removed, and all items are sorted in ascending order, from within the list or again from its own menu, you can insert, delete or amend a record, either by using the keyboard or the mouse. As you add or amend a record, it will be sorted in the list. You can then save the list back to the note, or abandon your changes. The list can be searched incrementally by selecting the first item in the list, then typing the phrase you want to search for, as you type the first entry that matches the key strokes you have entered up to that point is automatically displayed. You can convert a note into an editable list by pressing F11, this is ideal for todo lists, if you use the date format yyyy/mm/dd the items will be sorted in date order. Pressing F5 whilst in the list mode will strike through an item. <a NAME="General application"></a>General application configuration: Changing the default note colour. This option is accessed from the context menu of the note, and allows you to change the default background colour for all the notes. This will be saved when you exit the program. Changing the default tree colour. This option is accessed from the context menu of the tree, and allows you to change the default background colour for the tree. This will be saved when you exit the program. Changing the default font. The default font for the notes can be changed from the notes popup menu, this will effect both the tree and the note, if you exit by the "door" icon button, this and all other changes will be saved. Saving changes All changes such as font name and size, note background colour, position and size of Skwyrul, word-wrap option are saved if you exit Skwyrul via the "door" icon button on the toolbar this can also be achieved by pressing F10. The current note and editing position in the most recently opened dataset are restored when restarting Skwyrul. Saving Data manually For performance reasons, the data is NOT auto-saved for you every 3 minutes as with earlier versions, although you can click the toolbar save button at any time to save your work, alternatively opening another dataset or closing Skwyrul will also save the currently open dataset for you. Window Manipulation Skwyrul Pro is minimised to the tooltray, but you can optionally have it available in the toolbar also, a single left click will restore to the front. The main window can also be configured to stay on top of all other windows. And if you right mouse click on the banner area of the main window, the window will be collapsed into just the banner, right click again, and the window is restored. All windows settings are stored in the registry. <a NAME="Working with"></a>Working with dates: Operating the Calendar, press F7 or choose from menu, if the note that is currently open includes dates in the format yyyy-mm-dd, then hovering the mouse over the calendar will show the dates that fall inside the currently selected month. Change the month, and any dates that are present for that month are now displayed! Double-click a date, and it will be inserted in either the current note or the note list. Pressing Ctrl+D in a note, will insert the current date, Ctrl+T will insert the current time. <a NAME="Hyperlinks:"></a>Hyperlinks: Couldn't be simpler, just set Skwyrul to stay on top from the Tree's context menu, then open explorer and drag the files that you want to link to onto Skwyrul, the hyperlinks will be automatically created for you starting at the point in the current note where the cursor is placed. The defaults are: C:\..... through to Z:\..... http:// or www. news: or nntp: ftp:// mailto:.....@......... Tel:01234-4567-890 (this will allow you to dial the number via TAPI) What can be launched? Basically anything that can be launched from Windows Explorer, can be launched from Skwyrul, there are however a couple of small differences. I have written my own SMTP mail utility, so when you click on a mailto:somone@somerwhere.co.uk the default windows email client is NOT launched, but my SMTP emailer is, it is much faster than any of the current offerings from the major vendors, and is great for sending quick messages. Although you can now use your own email client if you wish. <hr WIDTH="100%"> <a NAME="What options can I"></a>What options can I set? These are basically obvious from their names, but I will cover them briefly here, they are accessible from the popup menus on both the tree and the notes. The items below are the ones not already mentioned elsewhere in this help file. Allow Bulk Deletes: this is off by default, switching it on will allow you to delete a note and its children. Confirm Deletes: this will ask you if you are sure, before deleting a note. the default is off. Dont Ask Encrypted Saves: assumes you do not want to encrypt your datasets, and will not ask you about a secure save between opening files. Modem Configuration: brings up the windows configure modem dialog. This is only applicable if you are going to use the phone dialler, and/or the hyperlinks for internet launching. Use Default Email App: this will disable Skwyrul's own mini SMTP mailer, and use your default one, maybe??? WordWrap: This sets the default for current and future settings. <hr WIDTH="100%"> <a NAME="Acknowledgements"></a>Acknowledgements <ul> <li> Button painter and colour consultant! of Skwyrul = Lianne (daughter) !</li> <li> The wonderful WinShoes TCP/IP components. http://www.pbear.com/Kudzu</li> <li> Jordan Russell - "Inno" installation/setup package.</li> <li> Encryption courtesy of TSM Inc. http://crypto-central.com/index.html</li> <li> Note control TPlusMemo - http://www.scientifique.com/ecm</li> <li> TAPI interface - Jura Kornijenko</li> <li> HETreeView - Håkon Eines</li> <li> HyperString - http://www.mindspring.com/~efd/</li> <li> And last but not least, my Wife and Daughter for putting up with me spending too many hours in front of my PC (again!!) creating Skwyrul PRO.</li> </ul> <hr WIDTH="100%"> <a NAME="Disclaimer"></a>Disclaimer Disclaimer of Warranty. The use of the Software is at Licensee's sole risk. The SOFTWARE and documentation are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. The author (Andrew Stevon Walker) disclaims all implied warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. Furthermore, the author (Andrew Stevon Walker) does not warrant or guarantee that the operation of the software will be free of errors. In no event shall the Author (Andrew Stevon Walker) be liable for any loss of information, damage to computer or monitor, any incidental, special or consequential damages (including damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information and the like) arising out of the use of or inability to use the software or its documentation, or for commercial losses of any cause, even if the Author (Andrew Stevon Walker) has been advised and warned of the possibility of such damages. This program may not be sold commercially or privately without the permission of the Author. Copyright © 1999 Andrew Stevon Walker <hr WIDTH="100%"> <center><a href="mailto:asw@asw.ndirect.co.uk">asw@asw.ndirect.co.uk</a> <a href="mailto:andrewswalker@hotmail.com">andrewswalker@hotmail.com</a> <a href="http://www.asw.ndirect.co.uk">www.asw.ndirect.co.uk</a></center> </body> </html>