WinDesktop Notes (3.0.x)
ReadMe
Created By: James Spencer
November 16th, 1999
www.neilnet.com/~jamessp
Contents:
Introduction | A brief overview on WinDesktop Notes in general. |
Manual | Detailed information on:
|
Q & A | Before you send me an e-mail about a problem why don't you check here first. |
Credits | The people who helped make the program. |
Contact | Who to contact with comments, suggestions, bug reports, spelling mistakes, before large distributions, etc. |
Introduction:
WinDesktop Notes (3.0.x) is a freeware sticky notes program. It is free to distribute and use, in whole and unmodified. By installing this program you release the author from any liabilities stemming from its installation or use. With this program you can make notes that will appear on your Windows Desktop on command, at specific times, or at specific intervals. Notes can use any font, colour, background image, border style, or attached sounds you want, as well as a large number of other interesting options and effects. ManageNotes allows you take control of all of your notes, adding, removing, and editing, at will. ManageNotes also let's you manage all of WDN 3's various settings and options. EditNotes lets the user edit existing notes, as well as create new ones. Last, but not least is ShowNotes, this is the actual portion of the program that displays the notes. If you have any questions, comments, feedback, bugs to report, or want to make large distributions of this program, contact me if you desire to do so.
Manual:
ManageNotes: Under the List of Notes tab an alphabetized list of all of the notes, from the notes directory, is shown. From here you can add new notes, edit existing notes, and remove old notes. You can also choose to either show the selected note, all of today's notes, or all of the notes, using the Show combo box. You can condition the display of notes so that only the notes that are enabled (checked) are displayed. By right clicking on the list of notes you are given the choice of editing the selected note, making a new note, or deleting the selected note. Under the TrayNotes tab you can set options that will tell TrayNotes to run ShowNotes at a given interval, at specific times, or upon TrayNotes launch. You can also Activate and De-Activate TrayNotes from here, as well as allowing TrayNotes to launch when the system boots. It is important to note that if you disable TrayNotes at boot time, you effectively stop "WDN3: Quick Launch", in the Start Up group, on the Programs menu, from running. If you want to see your notes as soon as windows loads then make sure both "Enable TrayNotes Startup on System Launch", and "TrayNotes Launches ShowNotes Upon Startup" are checked. There are also options to animate the TrayNotes icon, and to play an alarm when TrayNotes launches ShowNotes. The ShowNotes tab let's you set how the notes are displayed, the actual size of the notes, and the notes' storage directory. You can also set which notes will be displayed when ShowNotes runs, by using the "Show" combo box, and the "If Enabled" check box. The Prompting tab let's you turn most of the program's safety prompts on or off. If you keep seeing an annoying dialogue box, you can probably turn it off here.
EditNotes: This portion of the program allows you to edit old notes, or create new notes. Under the tab labelled Note you can set the note's font by clicking the "ABC" button. This button allows you to select the note's font, font colour, font size, and underlining options. Below the "ABC" button you can set the alignment of the text as it will appear on the actual note. Under this tab you can also set the note's display date ranges, along with the option to enable/disable it by default. Under the Background tab you can set the note's background colour by clicking on the "Note" button, as well as selecting a background image from a variety of formats. This image can either be tiled, centered, or stretched, and is previewed in the bottom right corner of the form. The Sounds & Style tab allows you to select a sounds that can be attached to the note. These sounds must be in .WAV format, and can be heard by pressing the "Play Button" to the left of the directory text boxes. Each note can have a load sound, unload sound, and a sound for the play sound button. You can also select you note's border style in the style combo box. To add or edit a note's text simply click on the note to the left of the EditNotes box, and type, or copy and paste. You can right click on the note that is open in the editor to perform a variety of copy and paste functions.
TrayNotes: The icon for TrayNotes is displayed in the system tray beside the clock. By clicking on the white, possibly animated, notepad icon you can launch ShowNotes to show the your notes, ManageNotes to manage your notes, compose a new note, and do a variety of other things. By double clicking on the TrayNotes icon, you launch ManageNotes.
ShowNotes: While you don't actually see ShowNotes, this is by far the most crucial part of the program. It is responsible interpreting a variety of options set in ManageNotes, rounding up the notes that are supposed to be displayed, and putting them on the screen when you or TrayNotes tells it to do so.
Notes: This is the intended output of the program. It is important to mention that notes behave differently when used by EditNotes, than when they are displayed on the screen. The notes in WinDesktop Notes 3 uses hotspots. To move a note, in any mode, simply move the mouse pointer to the edge of the note, and click and drag. When a note isn't being edited you can minimize, maximize, or close it, by moving the mouse to the top right corner of the note (the buttons should pop up). If you chose to display the notes "As a stack of notes", under the ShowNotes tab in ManageNotes (The default), moving the mouse to the bottom right corner of the note should pop up the Next/Last buttons. If you attached a sound to the note using the Play Sound Button, this button should pop up when you move the mouse to the bottom left corner of the note. While a note is in edit mode you can add/change its text by clicking on it, and typing, or pasting. The note's Load and Close sounds will play when a note is loaded or closed, either by explicitly loading or closing the note, or when ShowNotes loads it. Right clicking on a note allows you to perform a variety of copy functions on the note.
Command Line Switches: These are commands that can be placed after the .exe file that runs the program. They include:
Q & A:
Q: The Program won't unzip properly, what should I do?
A: This program was compressed with WinZip 7.0, and I recommend using this program when dealing with any *.zip file, and it can be downloaded at www.winzip.com . If you are using older versions of this program, or pkUnzip, the zip file might not uncompress properly, or the long file names might get thrashed, etc. . . If the program still doesn't uncompress properly it might have been corrupted during the download, and you should try downloading it again.
Q: The installer wants to upgrade my system, should I let it?
A: In a word, YES! I'm using the standard Microsoft Visual Basic 6 installer, and all VB programs require certain run time files. While many computers have these files, to ensure compatibility the installer checks these files out, and if the program comes bundled with newer versions, it installs them.
Q: The installer crashed, should I blame the Author?
A: No, it is the standard Microsoft installer. If it does I recommend re-installing WinDesktop Notes with no other programs running. I would also recommend e-mailing me, so I can mail tech support at Microsoft. Right now I'm saving my pennies to buy a better installer, that should make installing quite a bit easier.
Q: Is WinDesktop Notes 3 Y2K compliant?
A: It is as Y2K compliant as your version of Windows or my version of Visual Basic. I suspect for 99.9% of users everything should be fine, but we'll find out soon enough.
Q: The uninstaller said it couldn't remove all of the files, what went wrong?
A: Did you exit TrayNotes? If you didn't you'll have to go into your "\Program Files" directory and delete the "WinDesktop Notes II" folder, and all of its contents.
Q: What graphic formats does WDN 3 support?
A: WinDesktop Notes 3 supports Bitmaps, JPEGs, GIFs, Metafiles, and Icons. It even supports transparent GIFs, but doesn't currently support animated GIFs. This means that the artistically inspired can easily create their own backgrounds, but beware of large compressed images, because they take time to load.
Q: What are WAV files? Why does WinDesktop Notes 3 use them?
A: WAV files are a type of uncompressed audio file (unlike MP3s), that are very Windows friendly. WinDesktop Notes 3 uses them because all of your system sounds are in *.wav format, and new WAV files can be easily made with the Windows Sound Recorder.
Q: When I Edit/Delete a Note the notes on the screen don't reflect the change, why?
A: WDN 3 doesn't have that functionality built in yet. Once a note is on the screen it is essentially on its own. Changes in the source files won't take effect until the note is loaded again. This will probably be fixed in some later release of the program.
Q: Why aren't all of my notes are displaying on the screen?
A: To prevent note flooding, and chronic system resource drain, WinDesktop Notes 3 doesn't allow more than 31 notes on the screen at any one time. This number is conservative enough that even the most obsolete machines shouldn't croak when ShowNotes runs. This will probably be changed in some later release so you can choose the number of notes you want on the screen.
Q: Are these all of the Questions?
A: Yes, but I'll update this list whenever I get a new question.
Credits:
(Hey, if you want to be on this list make a suggestion that I can use, report a bug, or give me some enlightening feedback!)
WinDesktop Notes Development & Design: James Spencer
Beta Testing: Cindy, Max, and Justin
Support and More Beta Work: Patty Folster
If you have feedback about anything contact:
James Spencer
jamessp@neilnet.com or www.neilnet.com/~jamessp
(Or if all else fails)
72 Shelley Dr, Apt. 146
Sudbury, Ontario
P3A 4S7
[CANADA]
(Note: Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, Visual Basic, and Visual Basic 6 are all legal trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, and this humble freeware author holds no rights on the aforementioned names.)