Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

If anyone ever (please...! :-) ) picks up the development of this applet I would love to see a feature built-into it that would allow you to set the transparency independent of what the theme is.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I second this. Really, it should be an option for any home screen applet, I think.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I'm working on it. Progress is a bit slow due to lack of time, Maemo/Linux development experience, or C knowlege in general.

But at least I have meanwhile a working build environment, Yellownotes applet builds without errors and I even managed to put a Tracparency box in the preferences dialogue and save/retrieve its value from the config file.

Now I just have to figure out how to use this value to actually set the transparency. :-) Have to check how e.g. homediskfree applet is doing this.

So maybe next weekend I can post a first working result.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

i) great app!!!
ii) would it be possible to use the applet settings dialog (like e.g. omwaether) to change the yellownote parameters - that way on could get rid of the 'tool' button and the user interface would be more standard
iii) my desktop screen real estate is scarce, could there be an option to not show any buttons at all and just have the note (tap inside to edit, tap elswhere to save). For me an applet should be as lean as possible.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

That's the next thing I'm planning to do after I get transparency working.

Other things on my todo list:
- Allow multiple notes. With left/right arrow buttons for navigating to the previous/next note (right arrow button shall also be used for creating new notes, when the currently displayed note is already the last one). And a button for deleting the contents of the note currently being displayed.

- Two layers per note. One for text and one for drawing. Transparent background for both layers. In additon to the already existing text edit button, add A button for drawing. Depending on which of the two buttons you press, the corresponding layer will become the foreground layer and enabled for editing.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Thanks for picking up the work on this awesome app Iskarion.
When it comes to multiple notes would it be feasible/desirable to have multiple notes show as 'tabs' behind the note. I'd personally prefer that to navigate with an arrow and may make it look a tad cleaner.

Regardless, good luck on this!

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

homediskfree is in Python, so it may be easier (*cough* :p) to look at Personal Launcher, OMWeather, and Maemo and desktop plugin transparency.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I am not the original author, but I converted the program to maemo4 (diablo and chinook) so I think I can provide some insight.

When converting the desktop applet I left everything as the old maemo3 (bora) style declarations, rather than convert them to maemo4 declarations. This works fine for loading/unloading the applet, but you won't be able to do everything you can do with maemo4 applets. I am pretty sure you will have to convert to maemo4 style before you can implement transparency.

I wrote Personal Launcher (which uses maemo4 style declaration) and the transparency code for OMWeather, so those would be a good way to start changing the code for transparency.

I found that the API documentation for maemo4 desktop applets was better, but the maemo3 tutorial for writing desktop applets more helpful.

Maemo 3.x: How to write maemo desktop plugins for maemo
Maemo 4.0.x: Writing Hildon Dekstop Plug-ins for Maemo

Let me know if you have any specific questions, I may be able to help.

Andrew

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Here, as promised, a new version of Yellownotes Home Applet.

Changes in version 0.3:

* Save and edit buttons removed. Textbox is now always editable. Notes are automatically saved when closing the applet, switching to another note and when sending the applet to the background (e.g. by launching an application).

* Added support for multiple notes (up to 99 notes).

* Added a button for erasing the content of a note.

No adjustable transparency yet. The next step will be converting the applet to maemo4 style declarations, as suggested by fiferboy. Adjustable transparancy and moving the settings dialog to the menu bar are next on the to-do list, once this is finished.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8...nshot00.th.png http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/9...nshot01.th.png http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/823...shot02l.th.png

Please let me know in case you encounter any problems with the new version. I did some testing and everything seems to work, but honestly for some changes I have made, I have still no clue why they are working as expected.
Coming from the Java an ABAP world, some concepts in C are still pretty much a mystery to me. :)

Edit: if you want to keep your existing note from version 0.2, after upgrade just go to "/home/user/.yellownotes" and rename the file "note" to "note001".

Edit2: after upgrading, most likely you have to restart the tablet before you can use the new version

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Thanks for picking up the work on this great app!

I must admit, though, that I kind of liked the save icon. To me it wasn't just the save feature that was valuable to me but that when it was in saved mode it was un-editable and the content was locked in. It has happened in the past that I've selected a chunk of text when scrolling and accidentally pressed a key causing the text to get deleted. Having a 'view'-only option saved me from doing that.

Also, I don't have the NIT near me until later but I am a bit confused when you mention the ways to save notes;
- closing the applet,
- switching to another note, and
- when sending the applet to the background (e.g. by launching an application).

I don't, in my mind ever 'close an applet' or 'send it to the background'. It stays active on my screen all the time.
So if I enter some text in then want to just put it in my pocket - how exactly do I go about making sure it's saved?

Apart from that it looks great and I am excited to try it out and I am SO looking forward to the transparency setting later on as that is my personal big issue.

EDIT: Additional:
1) Does clicking the Right arrow always create a new note if there are no further notes (does it ask if you want to do that?). I don't want to risk accidentally creating a bunch of notes if clicking the right arrow.

2) It would be nice if it would show what note your are on.
Say for instance 3/5 in the corner meaning you are on the 3rd out of 5 notes.

3) Would it be possible to if you held the stylus pressed down on the menu bar (or in the note maybe) it would change the transparency to be non-transparent for easier reading in some situations. The prior version did that when you moved the note around on the screen.

Thanks again!

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I did rarely use these keys in previous versions, except when saving a note before rebooting the tablet. Therefore I did remove them. Though I see that accidentially deleting text might be more of a problem on a N810 than on my N800, due to the hardware keyboard.

I will check, how I can re-add some sort of locking functionality in the next version. Maybe just one button for toggling between locked and unlocked.

Sending applets into the backround means starting an application and thereby hiding the desktop. So you don't have to send an applet into the background. It's happening automatically.

And "closing the applet" also means rebooting or shutting down the device.

So the current auto-saving is covering pretty much every case where you could loose data, except an unexpected crash.

And anyway if you want to, you can still save a note manually, by switching to another note via right or left arrow button. It's doing the same thing as the save button did before (except locking the note).

Notes are automatically created, without confirmation. I don't see a need for a confirmation dialog. Each new note is just an empty file in /home/user/.yellownotes
It doesn't take any space on Flash/SD card and creating a new note doesn't take any longer than switching to an existing one. It's like all 99 note are already existing and you just have to put text into them.

The reason why I did implement it this way is, that using the applet should be as easy as possible. When writing down notes, I don't want to bother with note creation or deletion. I just want to start typing right away.

When turning a page of a real notebook, there is also nobody asking, if that's really what you want to do. :)

Though I will change the logic in a way, that when switching to a non-existing note and again switching to the next/previous note without entering any text, the new note will not be saved and no empty file will be created for it.

For the reason explained above, imo this doesn't really make sense. Especially, because there is no functionality for note deletion. Just for erasing the content of an existing note. So what would be the overall number of notes? The number of note-files, even if some of them are empty? Or just the number of notes which contain text?

The new version is still doing this.
I have to check how this is currently being done. At least there seems to be no code in the yellownotes applet, which is causing this behaviour. So I guess it's something which is automagically done by the application framework.
But I think such a functionality would make sense.
Or once I have again added an lock/unlock button something like (configurable) transparency when the applet is in view mode and no transparency when it's in edit mode.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I installed the new version of Yellow Notes and after a restart it was up and running and after having put in some notes in it it seems to work just fine - no crashes or odd behavior and it seems like a great move towards an even more useful applet.

Sounds great. If that 'locking' also would automatically trigger a save that would be awesome :) (I'm slightly paranoid about loosing data in the notes as something I don't use any other app than Yellow Notes and right now the 'save' function does make me feel a bit safer.



After having worked with it for a while I agree with you - a confirmation message to open a new note is most likely not needed.

Yeah I noticed it still does it when the note is moved around.
The transparency options depending on what 'view' you are in may be 'overkill'. Just pressing down on the frame/side/note and having it become solid would go a long way :)

If I haven't said it enough times...THANKS for working on Yellow Notes!! :-)

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Changes in version 0.4:

* (Re)added a combined save/lock & edit/unlock button
* Now notes are only saved, if there are actually any changes.
This also means that new, empty notes will not be saved anymore.

Don't forget to reboot after the upgrade.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Great idea to be able to draw, and to combine text and drawings !

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Installed it and rebooted and it works and looks great!
Thanks for the save/edit/lock button - love it.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Wow! my tablet just got a whole lot cooler and nicer to use.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

The new version works reasonably well also on Chinook, provided it's installed with
as nicely suggested some posts before.
Only transparency doesn't work, but it's not much a nuisance.

I'm sorry I'm bugging all developers for Chinook versions :o but... iskarion... if you have time... :)

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

This one is SO useful. Thanks!
Yeah, I also do wish one could set the transperency though.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

But iskarion hasn't implemented this yet, correct?

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

@munky 261: Could you edit your Post #1 to include something like:

There are two polished editions of Yellownotes available for download. The .deb for Yellownotes 0.4 (thanks to iskarion) can be found in Post #53. The .deb for Yellownotes 0.2 (thanks to fiferboy) can be found in Post #2. The primary difference between the two is that 0.4 provides for having multiple notes.

(Such a note in the first post in a thread like this is really helpful. Otherwise people don't know there is a later release unless they dig a lot deeper than they should have to. This is especially true for an app that is not in Extras.)

(Also, munky261, thanks for your initiative on the idea and on the bounty.)

@iskarion and fiferboy: Thanks for a great little applet. It really ought to be in Extras.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Not yet. I'm currently wokring on version 0.5. Porting to Maemo 4 style declarations (which is a prerequisite for using transparency) is meanwhile finished. Though I still have to tackle the transparency thing itself. Progress is a bit slow as I currently have other priorities. Also I have to admit that I got distracted from the transparency stuff a bit, by trying to add some functionality for syncing with KDE's Knotes app. :)
Though around christmas I will have a two week vacation where I will hopefully find some time for adding transparency.

I will then also check about uploading to Extras, if the original yellownotes author permits.

Actually my version 0.3 did start based on the coding of fiferboy's version 0.2. So whatever he has changed to the original version should also be available in 0.4.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Great, can't wait to see this app getting an update

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

PLEASE put this into Extras :)

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

This app for maemo 5?? It's very useful and awesome. I want it on my n900:)

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

[ N810, OS 43-7 ]

Just upgraded my yellownotes to 0.4.

Great improvement !
The switching edit/locked icon makes it much easier to see which mode is set.
The erase icon is good to have when you use multiple notes.

Tap+drag to select works sometimes, with the applet movable it probably shouldn't be expected to.
Of course, tap+shift-tap works nicely.

I suppose the behaviour of the scroll bar is also related to non-fixed applets.
But there is on my tablet about half a seconds delay before it turns blue, and again before it moves after being released. Normal?

( In Tear holding down the menu key makes tap+drag do selection. Is this a possibility, perhaps also for the scroll bar?)

Is there a special reason why you prefer to erase content but not the note file?
Checking how many "live" notes you have would be easier if also the file were erased. (You just open the directory with the notes.)

Or, perhaps the up/down arrows could change colour when no further "live" notes with higher/lower numbers exist ?

Perhaps in some future notes can be named ??

Just can't wait for the possibility to draw!


This is a great app!
Now I also use it instead of conboy or leafpad for editing short texts to be pasted, like posts.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Is anyone picking up development of this extremely useful application for Diablo/Maemo4?

The possibility for;
a) drawing,
b) transparency settings, and/or
c) a better scroll up/down functionality would be wonderful.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I second that. I just happened on this great little app a day or two ago. Have been wishing for a while I had some way to jot down stuff while I'm on the handheld, without having to resort to pen & paper, or open up Xournal, and drawing the list and saving the drawing, and making it my background (tedious, that, ey).

Truly one of the handiest little apps there is. Much thanks to all hands involved.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Hi

This is Gabriel Nava, original developer of Yellow Notes.

Today I've published Fremantle port for this home applet, based on iskarion's 0.4 version. This Fremantle version still requires a lot of work to be more finger friendly and improve usability. This is just the initial port having the same look and feel as the Bora/Diablo/Chinook version.

I hope you like and use it. Feedback is appreciated. Many thanks to fiferboy and iskarion for their work porting and keeping YellowNotes available for Diablo/Chinook users.

You can go to Garage and pick 0.4.1 Fremantle package:
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_...elease_id=3566

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Hi gabrielnava. thanks for the application. I installed it but having difficulty using the delete icon. I do get "Erase note content?" with "Yes" or "No" but when I press either buttons nothing happen and its freeze so I have to reboot the device.
Can u help please.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Hi malfares

Thank you for reporting this issue. I'm able to reproduce this behavior related to the 'erase note content' dialog. Device is not being frozen. If you keep hitting 'yes' or 'no' at some moment control goes back to desktop. Also, if you drag your desktop to the left or right, you'll be able to switch to next/previous desktop and you'll recover full functionality until you return to the instance running YellowNotes. Anyway, this is not desired behavior and will fix it.

Another known issue is that you cannot downsize the note using configuration dialog until you remove/re add widget to your desktop (make it larger works fine). This is already fixed and next version will be published soon. I hope it'll include both fixes.

Thank you for using YellowNotes and making this report.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Great little app.

Transparency settings do not work though.

I second the request to be able to scribble/draw on the notes - this feature would really lend itself to rapid note-taking.

Thanks

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Hello
I tried this app and If I try to delete button, it bogged down :(

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Hi

Sorry for the inconvenience with the delete button. I've fixed this issue along with some other. Also, settings dialog is integrated with the Desktop edit mode and 'Configure' button is no longer available in main screen.

You can get it from garage:
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_...elease_id=3580

As always, feedback is appreciated.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I'm confused, this thread has always been about the Diablo version and in the garage link you posted I can only see an update to the Fremantle version.

Is there an updated Diablo version?

EDIT: I see. Gabriel posted here about a Fremantle version.

Sigh, this is why I hate that there is no OS-subcategory under "Applications".

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

I certainly would like to find also this version in garage.maemo.org !

(for us N8x0 users)

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Hi, applet worked fine, but after recent updates, it is not possible to add a new linek, the applet collapses and takes along all applets added through the screen menu.
Is it possible, please, to fix? Thanks.

Re: Bounty: Yellownotes Home Applet
 

Sorry, forgot to say on N900.
If there is any other page to put my question, please, advise.