Diddle is a small paint application for the Palm Pilot. It is based on the Doodle application by Roger E Critchlow Jr. (Thanks Roger!).

Diddle is a work in progress, so if you have any suggestions for features or bug reports, please mail me. Diddle is licensed under the GNU General Public License, so you are free to browse or change the source code as you see fit.

A gratuitous screenshot is included here for your viewing pleasure.

Special Thanks to Mike McCollister who has given so many bug reports, bug fixes, and improvement suggestions that he can almost be considered a co-author. Visit his home page here
 

• Freehand sketching with user adjustable smoothing and filtering
• A variety of pen widths and shapes, including ones for Caligraphy!
• Sketching of lines, circles, rectangles, ovals, and other shapes.
• 9 different fill patterns (from white to black) that can be applied to freehand sketching as well as lines and shapes.
• Insertion of text (3 different fonts) into sketches
• Full-screen mode! (or optional TitleBar)
• Copy and Paste of sketches. When pasting, you are given the choice of various ways to either overwrite or merge the current drawing with the clipboard
• A circular "scratch buffer" for quick doodles, but you can also save your sketches with a title and keywords. Saved drawings can use Categories and can be searched with the system Find function.
• Support for the LinkMaster protocol. You can link directly to your sketches from any Link Container, such as Synapse.
• Creation of new sketches using the hardware buttons.
• You can lock sketches to prevent accidental changing or erasing.

Call for Beta Testers of Infrared Transfer!!!!

I would like to add IR capability to Diddle, but don't have more than one Palm to test on. If you have the ability to test the transfer of sketches, and would like to be my guinea pig, please mail me and you can test the cutting edge of black-and-green sketch transfer technology!!

WARNING! - The current version (1.20) of Diddle has very alpha support for IR transfer. Don't use it unless you are feeling brave.

You can view the TODO and ChangeLog and a list of known BUGs
 

Just the PRC please: diddle.prc

Program with copyright and this web page: diddle-1.20.zip

Everything including source code: diddle-src-1.20.tar.gz
 

There is a specially compiled version of Diddle here that will use the database from the original Doodle program as its scratch buffer. You may want to use this version if you have programs (such as DBFax) that can use the Doodle database for various purposes or have a conversion program just for a Doodle database. Please note that the first record in the Doodle database is used as the clipboard in Diddle, so if you want to access a named sketch through the Doodle database, just copy it to the clipboard.

• All menu items are labelled with menu accelerator keys, but you can also access the menu items with just the single character. (without using the slash from bottom left to upper right)
• Freehand sketching is the default mode. If you select one of the "Insert <foo>" items from the Edit menu (where foo is one of Line, Shape, or Text), it only applies for the next single entry. To insert multiple lines (or shapes... or texts) you must reselect the item each time. This can be sped up by using the menu accelerator keys, or by using the shortcut menu.
• A "shortcut menu" will pop up at the top of the screen if you tap the word "Diddle" in the title bar. You can also pop up the same menu at the bottom of the screen by tapping the numeric keyboard key (lower right in grafiti number area). Selecting "Line" or "Text" from this menu does exactly as you would expect from the analogous menuitems in the Edit menu. Selecting one of the shapes from this menu will allow you to insert a shape into the drawing without going through the dialog box, and the settings from your previous entry will apply.
• When pasting, experiment with the different values for the "Black" and "White" drop-down lists. The default (Normal) values will simply overwrite the current sketch, but other selections allow you to merge the two together.
• Tapping the alphabetic keyboard key (bottom left in the grafiti area) will toggle the titlebar on and off.
• Remember that you have two separate databases. The "scratch database" is used for quick, temporary doodles. If you want to make a sketch more permanent, select the "Save" menu item and you will be able to give the sketch a name, category, and keywords (for the Find command). You can view your saved drawings by selecting the "Index" pick from the Page menu.
• You can toggle forward through the scratch buffer by tapping the button (far right) on the titlebar that contains a number. This number represents your position in the scratch buffer. You may also use the scrolling keys to browse through the scratch buffer.
• When viewing a named/saved sketch, the number button from the scratch buffer will contain a "T". Tapping this button will display the title of the current sketch. Tapping the displayed title will return you to the sketch index. Tap anywhere outside of the displayed title to remain on the current sketch.
• All buttons in the titlebar cycle through their analogous menuitems.
• You can only publish a LinkMaster link from a named/saved sketch.
• Inserting shapes in "Outline" mode will use the currently selected pen and fill pattern.
• You can automatically launch a new scratch sketch with a hardware button if you define it in the "Page - Preferences" menu pick. This is useful if you have Diddle assigned to launch with a hardware button, and pressing it again will automatically open a new scratch buffer. If the last sketch in the scratch buffer is blank, it will simply go to that sketch.
• The preferences dialog allows you to suppress the Popup shortcut menu that appears when tapping the title. This is useful for people with applications like MenuHack that override this action.
• You can set Diddle (in the preferences dialog) to always start on the Index screen.
• Using the "Shuffle" option under the "Ink" menu will randomize the order of pixels within a fill pattern, while keeping the same black/white ratio. Therefore, it does nothing for a solid black or solid white pattern.
• Use the "Insert Last" menu pick to quickly repeat the previous line/shape/text inserted (with no dialog box).
• You can implement "Undo" functionality by simply copying (graffiti 'C') the sketch prior to any operation that you may want to Undo. If you mess up, just try Paste (graffiti 'V') with the default settings to restore the sketch as it was.
• Jot users will not be able to use the numeric keyboard character to pop up the shortcut menu, or the alphabetic keyboard character to toggle the titlebar.

"I'm an artist by trade, so I've been very excited about your program. I couldn't do work like that with the other sketching programs I've tried.... The lines drew erratically when the pen stroke slowed down for detail and curves..."
-- Douglas Cootey

"What an extremely nice app! Thanks for making it freeware!"
-- Sven Bring

"Diddle's very good, I liked Doodle, but the lack of a useful database was a big limit. Diddle addresses this."
-- David Mydans

"This is a great program! I have tried TealPaint before, but found it too bloated and confusing. I've also used HDSketch, but find that Diddle meets my needs best."
-- E. Wong

"Great tool, and it's hard to believe that is free of charge !!"
-- Chan Tai Wah

"Diddle is a drawing program that matches or surpasses many of the other drawing programs for the Pilot."
-- Quasar

"I think your program beats the hell out of any other drawing program (including QuickNotes that I paid for then deleted)"
-- A.V.B.

"I think Diddle is great! I'm a practicing neurologist, and I find it tremendously useful to sketch out nerve pathways in the brain for teaching purposes and store them in my Palm III, so that I can use them wherever I need to show my residents."
-- Nigel Tan
 

These are sketches made with Diddle. If you have a sketch that you would like posted, please mail it to me.

by Douglas Cootey

by Douglas Cootey