[Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

No change in UI or functionality.
Just fixed a one-line bug when creating a note on N900 with non-ASCII characters in the title (thanks Oleg)...


"brown bag" update - a stupid typo made it impossible to start the app for the very first time (when the notes database was empty). Insufficient testing on my part, sorry. Hope this one goes better...

There are also two minor changes in the UI :

- changed the label for the check box in "New note" from "Date prefix" to "Add date"
(forgot to update it after I added the option to append it :-)

- went back to "standard" scrolling method for the notes list, the fancy one was more trouble that it's worth...


After a short beta period by some bold users in this thread, here is a more formal announcement and a more functional 1.0 version of SnXM, a Simplenote client for the N900... and hopefully for future models up to 990, hence the "XM" instead of "CM" :-)

Simplenote is a web service that lets you jot down quick text notes and access them from anywhere : the web site, Firefox or Chrome extensions, and a number of client apps for Windows, MacOS, iPhone, Android, PalmOS... and now Maemo5.

It is similar in concept to Evernote, except it handles only "plain text", and is therefore much lighter and faster. On the N900 it can also be used completely offline.

From the README.TXT :

Written in Python for the Qt UI framework (PyQt)

This version targets the Simplenote 1.0 API.

The site uses a newer, backward-compatible API as of August, 2010, The 2.0 API reference was published at the end of September, too late to be implemented in this version. It will be in the next.

Thus newer features (such as tags and revisions) are not supported yet. However, tags may be added to notes' title and/or body and searched.

The app is very simple by design, and presents the following screens with their keyboard shortcuts and menu items, shown in the posts below.

Enjoy,
fp

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

Main view:

Ctrl-N : new note (same as 'new' button)
Ctrl-S : sync (same as 'sync' button)
Ctrl-D : delete currently selected note (with confirmation)
Ctrl-F : moves cursor to Search box
Enter : view/edit currently selected note

Attachment 14511

Menu items : About, Settings, and sorting options
(by title, last-modified, ascending, descending)

Attachment 14510

Note: screenshots do not capture all UI details. For example buttons have a grey background that's not shown here.

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

How Search works in the main view:

Typing inside the search box dynamically searches in the notes' titles, narrowing down the list below.

Attachment 14512

To search in notes' contents, just type the search string (the titles list may become empty, it doesn't matter), then type "Enter". A list of notes containing the search string will appear.

Attachment 14513

Emptying the search box, either with the keyboard or with the icon on the right, brings back the entire list.

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

New Note view:

This screen optionally appears when a new note is created.
Its purpose is to make it fast and easy to give the note a meaningful title, to better manage a large collection.
Frequently used words can be saved as "Presets" (buttons), then added to compose titles as needed.
Presets are created (or deleted) in this same view.

The current date may also be added to the title (beginning or end).
Date is in ISO format (YYY-MM-DD).
Using this with Sort by Title results in notes sorted by creation date.
Sort by Title is faster than sort by last-modified.

The "Create" button moves on to the Notes view.

Attachment 14565

Preset deletion mode :

Attachment 14514

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

Note view:

Ctrl-E : exit without saving changes (ie revert to previous version)
Ctrl-D : delete currently selected note (*without* confirmation)
These are also available as menu items.
Otherwise, tapping the top right arrow to return to the main view
automatically saves the note.

Attachment 14516

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

Sync view:

During Sync, a log window shows the sync progress and possible errors.
Menu item : copy results to clipboard

Attachment 14517

Note : SnXM can be used offline to work with existing notes and create new ones, but network (Wifi/3G) needs to be running before using Sync.

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

Settings:

• User's Simplenote account credentials (login/password)
• don't show New Note view (default is show)
• when adding date to title, add at end (default is at beginning)

Attachment 14518

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

From INSTALL.TXT:
------------

SnXM is not yet packaged for Maemo, so manual installation is required as follows:

• make sure PyQt is already installed
  
• download and unpack the archive somewhere in user-space (MyDocs, SD card or whatever): tar xvzf snxm.tgz
  
• go to the snxm folder created in that directory : cd snxm
  
• type sudo gainroot to become root in that folder (requires 'rootsh' package)
  
• run sh snxm.setup

This will create a two-line executable launcher (snxm) in /home/user, then copy the SnXM icon and .desktop file to the appropriate system folders.

From there on you should be able to add an SnXM icon to your desktop in the usual way.
Note: initially the icon appears as the default "blue square", I have not yet found a way to make it show up without rebooting.

For debugging purposes, you can also run 'snxm' from the home directory in xterm, python error messages will appear in the console.

Hint: if you have a DropBox account, you can make step 2 (download/unpack) and later upgrades easier by doing that in your DropBox space. Then install the excellent DropN900 on your device and synchronize to a MyDocs subfolder.

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

It has good looks.

I wanted something Palm-style, simplicity, categories.

Can link to other notes.

Export to TXT and synchronization capabilities.

Re: [Announce] SnXM 1.0, the Simplenote client for Maemo5
 

Export to TXT is really easy to do. Current note, all notes ?

But what do you mean by 'synchronization capabilities', other than it already has ?...