Author -- Uwe Schlenther
Release -- 1.40 from May, 1998
Programming Tools -- written in Pascal
Reqs -- OS/2 Warp or higher; version for OS/2 2.x upon request
Hard drive space used -- installs to only about 97,000 bytes
Version 1.4 of WarpNote has been released. According to user
suggestions, the program has again gained usability while still
remaining small in size and compatible with each and any system
extension one might have installed.
WarpNote replaces the "hardware" sticky notes that many computer
users still use by offering "software" sticky notes on the OS/2
desktop. The program is highly configurable, e.g. font and color
settings can be set up for each note, and allows the user to take
notes at any time and come back to the text written down with a
single click on the mouse.
WarpNote comes with a complete set of scripting commands that allow
automatic operation for almost any purpose. A birthday reminder is
included as an example program.
Essential Features of WarpNote
review by Diane Gartner
Just as Uwe Schlenther has designed the program to be small
and quick, he has made sure that it's simple and easy to use. Understandably, WarpNote
doesn't have all the frills found in similar programs such as Eric Carmody's highly
customizable PostToYou/2, that combines post-it-notes with an event reminder plus
an application launcher, or Paul Caron's more elaborate PM PostNotes, fully decked
out with a clock, scheduler, address book, calculator
etc. along with the notes. Instead, the WarpNote program lets you quickly create
your notes, tack 'em up on the screen, and move ahead to more important tasks.
Of course, you still may customize WarpNote to get the look & feel you want,
and you may take advantage of the "WarpNote Command" plug-in to automate
many daily tasks, much like a PIM's Reminder and Scheduler functions allow you
to do. Uwe Schlenther now provides two sample script files, for birthdays and quotations,
which automatically create informative pop-up Notes when WarpNotes loads each day.
While you're considering adding your own anniversary dates, favorite quotes, appointments
etc. to the script, you may have a little fun in changing the colors and fonts
of the notes, which you may do globally in WarpNote's Settings dialog for all notes,
or individually by using drag & drop to apply different fonts and colors to
each of your notes. In this April 1998 upgrade, you now may set the border color
globally, to improve contrast or add aesthetic appeal.
You can move the notes around on screen, re-size them as you wish, and Hide the
notes' titlebars if you want to keep note size to the absolute minimum-- or you
may choose to Hide all the notes completely. You even get choices in how titlebar
text is displayed, to help you keep track of which note has what contents; the
titlebar may label notes by their number alone, or by their number and creation
date, as well as by their first line of text. Whether you're adjusting
the existing notes, starting a New note, or using any other essential feature,
you'll be able to access all functions in the WarpNote Popup Menu by using your
right mousebutton, or the keyboard if you prefer.
You will appreciate some of the features which WarpNote might share in common with
your favorite text editor. You may toggle Word Wrapping on/off as needed, and more
importantly, you may copy, paste, print and save the contents of your notes. Printing
now is handled directly through this program's new Print Menu. I experimented with
the Print dialog box, where the print output is labeled as File to print to and
defaults to PRN. I changed this default
to LPT3 for faxing the selected note, then to LPT1 for printing the old-fashioned
way on forest by-products (your own port settings might be different, but LPT 1
and 3 are typical enough). You also may specify a pathname on the line, instead
of LPT or PRN, to re-direct the output to a file-- this might be useful for a one-step
save of all your little notes into one longer text file. Such built-in printing
options might be enough for many occasions, yet always can be
expanded just by copying/pasting the given notes to your text editor, or for that
matter, to any application that shares the clipboard and has full print functions.
Similarly, your favorite utility that accesses the clipboard, such as DragText,
PastryBox, etc., may remain compatible with WarpNote. This sort of compatibility
between WarpNote and other applications has been increased somewhat in this new
release, with needed attention given by Uwe Schlenther to small problems experienced
by users of the NPS Enhancer (a great freebie, from Team OS/2 Japan) and Rich Walsh's
DragText program. This is just one
example of how a good programmer responds to the well-articulated needs of users,
to everybody's benefit.
Keep in mind that the program automatically saves the text of each note as you
write it. You have the choice of either storing all text in one WarpNote INI file,
or saving each note as a separate file, consecutively numbered Note1, Note2 etc.,
and tucked away in the program's home folder. As programmer Uwe Schlenther points
out, because the WarpNote objects on your desktop are saved in file form on your
hard drive, you'll probably find it easier to rescue
or `Undelete` any notes which have gotten lost. I'd like to further point out that
because your notes are auto-saved in plain ASCII text, you always will have the
option of copying, printing or editing the contents, perhaps to add to an e-mail
message, a business report, letter, or to any document or program that uses ASCII--
which is almost everything.
Keeping track of the notes
The complete, registered version of WarpNote can handle up
to 9999 notes, though only about 500 of them can appear in the OS/2 Window List--
that's a Warp "limitation" which most of us never will witness, unless
we deliberately and insanely open up every file and program we've got. On a more
practical level, you'll see a limit of 4 possible notes, if you are using the unregistered
demo version.
Fortunately, you may circumvent such system limitations, while also finding it
easier to keep track of all the notes in your collection, by using the "WarpNote
List" feature alongside the OS/2 Window List. The Settings dialog actually
gives you the choice of using either one or both of those Lists, to display note
entries.
If you decide to use the OS/2 Window List to show all note entries, then it will
itemize each WarpNote according to number, and will include the first 40 or so
characters of each note's contents-- which means that these detailed listings can
take up to 4 or 5 lines apiece in your Window List. I personally had no problem
with that, when I was bound by the 4-note limit of the demo version. Even after
getting the registered version, I set my own goal of no more than
5 or so notes at any given time, simply because exceeding that would clutter up
my desktop. I suspect that each of you will make similar personal decisions, as
you journey through these grey areas of Window Lists and Desktop Real Estate.
You might find it easier to rely on the WarpNote List for itemizing and tracking
your notes, rather than burdening the OS/2 Window List with too many detailed line
entries. You can move, re-size and hide the WarpNote List, like any other window,
and you'll be able to quickly find your notes according to number or contents.
Incidentally, I have requested a "built-in" List feature like this from
other programmers, who still haven't added it to their own text editors, graphics
programs, and file utilities. It's a feature which, like many good things in
life, is small yet important to a computer user.
In Conclusion I appreciate this program's small size, quick speed, and easy interface.
In these days of browsers that take 80 megs, Uwe Schlenther's approach to programming
might teach some of us a valuable lesson or two: "Real Beauty can be found
in Simplicity," and as you may know already, "Less sometimes = More."
If you, too, have an eye for simplicity, then you'll want to
try out WarpNote right away.
More Info
Uwe Schlenther, a certified OS/2 Warp v.4 engineer, is a
member of Team OS/2 Germany and Team OS/2 Europe. E-mail him at U.Schlenther@gmx.de
or visit his homepage at http://www.geocities.com/rodeodrive/2048/warpnote.html
More OS/2 programs by Uwe Schlenther can be found at http://www.geocities.com/rodeodrive/2048/eindex.html
Visit also:
http://www.trailerpark.com/moonwalk/moonwolf/wnote.html
The WarpNote package (only 78 kilobytes) can also be downloaded at
BMT Micro (ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/wnote14.zip).
A program version
that runs under OS/2 2.x is available from the WarpNote web site.
@Macarlo, Inc.
@Macarlo's Shareware & Web
OS/2
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