Archive for the ‘ReVuDo’ Category
RevuDo 0.5.0.24 – Another fix
Many thanks to Robin for reporting that exporting your Nozbe data will fail if there are characters in either your project names, or in any files you have attached to those projects, that Windows will not allow in a file name. A colon is a great example and I am surprised this was not caught before. Certainly once I saw the problem I kicked myself for not realizing that it could happen.
So there is a new version, RevuDo 0.5.0.24 available. Please keep those bug reports and any ideas for improvement coming.
RevuDo 0.5.0.2 – Tasks at last!
We all want to see prompt results. For things to go fast in the direction we want to go.
But life has other plans, and the key to getting what we want is to match our dreams to the world we find ourselves in.
Back in April I posted an update to RevuDo that allowed edits to everything but tasks. It took me two months, but with version 0.5.0.2 that limitation has finally been removed.
With this update, Tasks can be added, updated or completed (with handy check marks on the task list to make completion fast and fun).
Some bug fixes and performance improvements round out the update.
The next step will be to smooth out the rough edges, and enable offline mode. What else would you like to see?
A bug fix and some small improvements – RevuDo 0.4.8.1
I had hoped that this would be version 0.5, with the ability to edit tasks, but the details of that have been taking longer than I expected, so it was time to release a bug fix and some small feature requests.
Erica pointed out that RevuDo would crash when using a team account on Nozbe. Tomasz Kapelak, the CTO at Nozbe, very helpfully gave me some team accounts on their test server to simulate working as a team and the problem was very quickly revealed. This is now working correctly.
Charles commented that printing his lists enabled him to do a review away from the computer. I understand well how getting away from the computer can open up new perspectives. In order to make this easier, Charles suggested a few improvements. And so, the following new features have been added:
- The printed tasks now include their due date.
- Since printing task comments can use up a lot of paper, there is a new option to print only the last comment. I am considering taking this further to limit how much of that comment is printed. If you would like that option added, let me know your thoughts on what the cutoff should be. Charles suggested an option to remove them entirely. That will be in the next release.
- The total estimated time for the printed tasks is now shown at the top of the printout, below the header. I plan to add the time required for each task, but a sheet of paper is only so wide, and I have to give some thought to printing more than one line per task.
Charles also requested a way to print just the tasks completed in a certain date range. I will probably add a shortcut for this, but it can be done now. Select All Tasks, and then select Show Done. Click the Completed column to sort on the date completed. Highlight the range you want to print, and click print, selecting the option to print only selected tasks.
Many thanks to both Erica and Charles for the comments. This is why I am developing RevuDo in public. Please keep those comments coming!
RevuDo 0.4.8.1 can be downloaded on the RevuDo page.
Nozbe Desktop 1.0
Some history
Almost a year ago, on April 26th, 2011, I posted some thoughts on why the future of the cloud was the Evernote model. There will always be issues that take down a web service, but a local app that syncs with the web service allows work to continue with the local copy. Further, a Mac or Windows client can still do so much more than a web page can. Working offline is just one.
On June 6th, 2011, I released my first step to providing a Windows app that would provide that for Nozbe. Early early days, but it was a first step.
On July 15th, 2011, Nozbe released their first beta of the new Nozbe desktop client for Mac and Windows.
On February 27th, I released ReVuDo for Nozbe 0.4.8, another step toward the goal of a fully functional Windows client for Nozbe.
Finally, yesterday, Nozbe released version 1.0 of their desktop client.
In one year the Nozbe world has come a long way. I know how hard Michael, Tomasz and Delfina have worked to get to this point, and I see the foundation for great things in the new app.
Desktop 1.0
I like a lot about the new desktop app. Working offline is a big help, and the ability to filter Next Actions by project or context is one of those things that drove me to write my own client! Not everything is there, but I can see where the missing items would fit. The new type # to enter context, project, date whatever is a wonderful addition (I have to add that to ReVuDo!). I am going to be switching to the new desktop app on Windows and leaving the web version for times when I am not at my own computer.
The biggest negative for me is that there are not enough ways to work without a mouse. The keyboard is so much faster, and a tool like Nozbe has to be fast and easy. I hope this will be addressed in 1.1. Performance has gotten a lot better, but I would like to see it be even faster. Finally, better filtering, adding sorting and other things are long anticipated, but I know they needed to build this foundation first.
This is an exciting time. Just think what another year will bring!
RevuDo 0.4.8 – Edit Projects, Teams, Almost Tasks
I really hoped to get editing Tasks into the next public release of RevuDo, but I reached the point where I felt it was time to release a new version, even if you can only look, not touch, Tasks.
First, let me thank Emanuele who reported that RevuDo was crashing for some types of Nozbe accounts. This is resolved in this version. If you tried RevuDo before and it crashed after logging in, please try this version and let me know how it goes.
Another thank you is owed to Paul for pointing out that completed tasks where appearing in the last version. This led to a complete re-do of handling completed versus incomplete tasks that I will describe more below.
Editing Projects is now supported as you can see:
The Add and Edit button also appear on the Task window tool bar, but there is no way to save the changes yet. It’s actually half built, but I removed the Save button for this release. The main reason is I have to finish creating a way to edit the related project, contexts, team members, and such that will allow searching, selecting one or more, or adding a new one as needed. This is in progress and will be the focus of the next release, but I did not want to hold the release any longer. After all, the whole point of this was to release new updates as I went along so you could take advantage of the features as they came.
You will also notice that the Task windows now includes a Show Done button on the tool bar that will include tasks marked as done in the list. The button will toggle to Hide Done if clicked, and clicking it again will hide tasks marked as completed. This was added both as part of fixing the issue reported by Paul, and to set the stage for marking tasks done in the next version. As a result of this change, I had to change how RevuDo syncs with Nozbe as I was not fetching completed items, only retaining them after they were marked done in Nozbe. So after installing this new version, RevuDo will reload the local cache from scratch and pull all your completed projects and tasks from Nozbe. This will take a little extra time. I will add a Show/Hide Done button to the projects window in the next version.
Finally, RevuDo 0.4.8 adds support for teams. Both the Projects windows and the Tasks windows have added columns that you can sort or filter on for who created the item and who is assigned to the task. This is an area where I need your help. I am not a member of a team using Nozbe, so I cannot fully test this feature.
Please download RevuDo 0.4.8, give it a try and let me know where I need to do better.
Edit Contexts and A Fix for Printing – ReVuDo 0.4.1
Working on ReVuDo for Nozbe in my spare time means that I rely on you to help with finding all the bugs. Many thanks to George for reporting that I broke printing in version 0.4. ReVuDo 0.4.1 corrects that.
In addition to this bug fix, take a look at the new Contexts window.
Add Edit or Delete Contexts
You can now Add new contexts to Nozbe from ReVuDo, Edit existing ones, or Delete them (from the Edit Window).
Edit or Delete an Existing Context
Now you may be wondering why contexts and not projects or tasks. I had to start somewhere to work out the details of updating Nozbe, and contexts were the simplest thing. Only a name, a description and an icon. With that worked out I will now turn to projects and tasks for the next update.
I’m excited to have this first part of editing Nozbe working and can’t wait to have the rest added so I can move to adding even more features.
Thanks again to George and everyone else who have helped me along the way!
Download ReVuDo 0.4.1 and let me know what you think!
We’re in Sync! ReVuDo 0.4
Finally! ReVuDo will now sync with Nozbe without restarting. Get version 0.4!
My goal is to provide a full Windows client for Nozbe, so being able to synchronize with Nozbe is a major step. Back in April I mentioned that I was putting my Nozbe.Net library on hold in order to develop ReVuDo because I felt that I needed to develop ReVuDo in order to decide how best to synchronize with Nozbe, the last part of Nozbe.Net to develop. Wow, was that an understatement.
The last two months have been marked by my learning a lot, and ReVuDo’s code changing a lot. I looked at my initial design notes (in a Nozbe task comment) the other day and was compelled to update the comment to note that the actual design looked nothing like what I initially imagined. The good news is that ReVuDo became a lot smaller in the process. When developing software, it is always a good sign when the code gets smaller and more clear. ReVuDo has done both, which is a good place to be for the next step.
The next step is to allow updating Nozbe. I will be focusing on this after Christmas. I mentioned in my last post that I though I might be done by Christmas. I have just made it!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! May 2012 bless you and your family!
Some progress
I have been absent from this blog for awhile, as I have been spending every moment available on getting ReVuDo to sync with Nozbe. The actual syncing part took a few weeks before I was satisfied. The real issue was getting the new information to appear on the screen short of restarting ReVuDo.
ReVuDo is written using Microsoft’s WPF technology. Part of my motivation for writing ReVuDo was to learn WPF, so the project occasionally hits a speed bump when I run into something I do not yet know how to do. The trick of getting the windows to update with the new information turned out to be a major, and surprising, road block. After a lot of reading and researching I was lucky to come across Michael L Perry’s Update Controls. More reading and testing ensued as I learned how to apply this new tool. Finally, this weekend it all came together. I started ReVuDo, went to nozbe.com, added a new project to Nozbe, and then clicked Sync in ReVuDo. The new project seamlessly appeared in ReVuDo.
Now I still have some work and testing to do, but version 0.4 with one-way sync to Nozbe should be finished soon. By one-way I mean that initially ReVuDo will accept updates from Nozbe, but not allow you to change anything from ReVuDo. So many changes have been made inside ReVuDo, that I do not want to risk anyone’s data. After we have all had a chance to test the new version, I will open it up to allow changes as the next step.
Thank you for your patience. Good things are coming.
Still working on ReVuDo, but a new version is still to come
It has been quite a while since I lasted posted a note or released a new version of ReVuDo, my free Windows client application for Nozbe. Why? In short, not enough time.
After my last post I had a wedding to go to. It was a joyful event celebrating the love of two wonderful young people. It was wonderful to celebrate their wedding and I wish them love and happiness together.
The wedding was a destination wedding for me (although not the happy couple who live in this magical place), and the prep and aftermath was typical of stepping away for awhile from the usual daily grind. A lot of closing open loops and passing work to others beforehand, followed by a lot of catch up afterward. In the middle was Hurricane Irene which actually followed me so I could experience it twice. And all of that led into to the most seasonally busy part of my business year.
The beauty of GTD is that it assumes things like this will happen. The whole idea of emptying your mind into organized lists allows you to concentrate on life happening to you. I am very grateful for my lists. They allowed me to be fully present at the most beautiful times as well as when I needed to focus on the most important work. People claim that GTD does not support prioritization. Clearly this is not true. It focuses on true prioritization. This is something I should write more about.
As for ReVuDo, it is moving slowly toward its next version. I have fixed several bugs, established a local database so that ReVuDo does not have to load all your information every time it starts, and found a Nozbe bug. My next action is to decide if I will work around the Nozbe bug or wait for a fix. I will let you know as soon a I can.
A fix and a new feature but no updating yet – ReVuDo 0.3.8
This is not a post I planned to write, but a bug is a bug is a bug, and they bug me.
On September 4th, Paul reported an issue with copy/pasting tasks from ReVuDo to Excel. The context information was not copying. The most likely cause of this was adding the context icon to the context column. It turned out to be a pretty easy fix, so here is version 0.3.8. Paul, let me know how this works for you.
As it happens, I had finished another change that I had intended to go out in the big update for editing Nozbe using ReVuDo. I had noticed that after I added more extensive filtering, that I wished I had a view with All Tasks. So, I added one. This is literally all your tasks in one view. To make it more powerful I added a column for project labels. Now you can open this view and filter for “context:out context:anywhere context:home” and get all the tasks with any of those three contexts. Try it out and see what you can do with it.
Keep the comments coming. I am working on editing, but that will be a large update, so I am not sure when it will be ready. I’ll be blogging in the meantime, and will provide status updates as I go.
To update to 0.3.8 click here.
Michael Koehler 