The following article: Custom Database Tracks Todo's
By: Al Harrington
Was published in: HP Palmtop Paper, Vol.3, No.6, 1994, Pg.42.

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***** Custom Database Tracks Todos ***** 

Do you have more todos than you know
what to do with? Check out this user's
customized Todo Database.

By Al Harrington [73323,1600]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Al Harrington works as a Software Engineer 
for Hewlett Packard's Roseville Networks Division. Al works 
with the Embedded Advanced Sampling Environment (EASE) 
network management group.  He has been using HP Palmtops 
since the 95LX first came out.  Al's CompuServe ID is 
[73323,1600].

I have a very hectic life that includes work, school, a
scouting group, singing, and a very active 9-month-old baby.
I also like to spend some time with my wife once in a while.
I have personal and business appointments to track, phone
calls to make, meetings to attend, projects to manage, and
lots of little miscellaneous things I have to follow up on.
      The Appointment Book on the HP 100/200LX is a great tool for
organizing day-to-day events. However, I find its todo capa-
bilities a little lacking, especially in light of all the
projects and events I have to manage. After much discussion in
the HP HAND forum on CompuServe I decided to create a database
to manage todo's. 
      The Database application on the HP 100/200LX is flexible and
easy to use, so I chose it instead of a third party database
program, to create my Todo Database. I have been using this
database for several months and have found it to be very
useful. My Todo Database (TODO.GDB  <Available ON DISK>) comes
with several pre-defined subsets, a custom Datacard (200LX
only). A set of macros (TODO.MAC  <Available ON DISK>) helps
manage the database. The following sections describe each of
these components.

Database Structure
The All Items and individual Data Items views of my Todo
Database are shown to the right. Defining a new database on
the 100/ 200LX is easy. Go into the Database application and
press (MENU) File Define New Database... and fill out the Add
Field screen. (For more on defining or modifying a database
structure, see "database, defining new," in the index or your
HP 100LX or 200LX User's Guide.) 
      The structure of my database is quite simple. 

Item D The name of the todo.
Category D This field is used to organize the different types
of todos I have. The basic set includes:

      ~ Appointment D is used to view or schedule specific
      appointments within the database.
      ~ Business D indicates work related items
      ~ Call D is used to organize phone calls.
      ~ Meetings D is used to track, view and schedule meetings.
      ~ Personal D is used for non-work related items.
      ~ Project D is used for simple project tracking.
      ~ Reminder D is the "string around the finger" for reminders
      that don't fit elsewhere.

Multiple categories can be selected. For example, if I need to
set up a todo for a business meeting, I can select Business
and Meeting under the category field. To do this from the Data
Item view, press (ALT)-(T) to go to the Category field. Select
the first category (Business), press (<Spacebar>) (not
(ENTER)), select the second category (Meeting) and press
(ENTER). 

<Screen Graphic>

<Screen Graphic>

You can use the subsets described later to display all todos
of the same category. In the example above, the Meeting subset
would display the todo because it had Meeting in the category
field, and the Business subset would display the todo because
it also had Business in the category field.

Priority D contains a number to designate the importance of
the todo. I stayed with the "standard" numbering scheme (1 =
most important, 10 or higher = least important). If you plan
on using another scheme, i.e. maybe A1-Z10, you will need to
change the "priority" subsets (described later).

Start D The date to start the todo.

End D The expected completion date for the todo.

Completed D A check box to mark the todo as completed.

Notes D Used for storing various bits of information relating
to the todo. Also used to schedule appointments and meetings
(see Macros section).

Subsets Organize Todos
Subsets let you organize and look at a smaller portion of the
Todo Database. Define a Subset from the list view by pressing
(F6) (F2) to display the Define Subset screen.

<Screen Graphic>

Define the subset, press (F10) and give the subset a name, and
press (F10) again. Select a subset in the View Subset screen
by highlighting it and pressing (F10). 
      My subsets were created using the Palmtops' Subset Selection
Language (SSL), which lets you create more complex selection
criteria for your Subsets. From the Define Subset screen,
press (F2) and enter the SSL Statement in the General Subset
Entry screen. Press (F10) when finished. 

<Screen Graphic>

For example, I created a Business subset to display
uncompleted business-related items. In the General Subset
Entry screen I entered the following statement:

Category#"Business"&!Completed

This statement tells Subset to list all todos with "Business"
in the Category field (Category#"Business") and (&) with the
Completed box unchecked (!Completed). (See "subset defi-
nitions" or "SSL" in the index of your HP 100LX or 200LX
User's Guide for more on this subject.) 
      The HP 100/200LX lets you define the Sort order of items
displayed in a particular subset. After selecting a particular
Subset, from the All Items view press (F7) (Sort) and define
the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sort fields. Press (F10) when finished.
Whenever you display that Subset, it will be displayed in the
order you selected.
      Listed below are the Subsets I use with my Todo Database:

All Database Items D This is the standard subset that lists
all todo's. Items are sorted by Priority, Category then Start.

Meetings D This lists all items containing Meeting in the
category field. Items are sorted by Priority, Start date then
Item.

Business D This lists all items containing Business in the
category field. Items are sorted by Priority, Start date then
Item.

Reminders D This lists all items containing Reminder in the
category field. Items are sorted by Priority, Start date then
Item.

Urgent D Items with 1 in the Priority field. Items are sorted
by Start, Category then Item.

Custom Datacard
The Datacard is a great 200LX feature. The Datacard is dis-
played in the All Database Items list and is enabled by
default on the HP 200LX. Press (CTRL)(D) to toggle the
datacard display on or off. The Datacard adds a more "graphi-
cal" view of the data displayed in each subset.

<Screen Graphic>

      At the top of each Datacard is the name of the Todo. Below
this is displayed the Category, Priority, Start, and Notes.
The Datacard can be changed to display the data fields you
wish, however there is a 10-line limit to the data that can be
displayed. See "data card" in the index of your HP 200LX
User's Guide for information on modifying the datacard.
      I have included a custom icon for the Todo Datacard
(TODO.ICN  <Available ON DISK>). This icon file must be in the
same directory as the Todo Database (TODO.GDB <Available ON
DISK>).

Macros 
Function key macros are used on the HP Palmtops to automate
repetitive key strokes. I use them in conjunction with my Todo
Database to automate certain tasks. I have the following
macros in TODO.MAC  <Available ON DISK>:

F1 D Archive Completed Todo's D This macro selects all
completed todo's, archives them into a file using today's date
as the name (i.e. 081094.GDB). 

{F6}{Home}c{Enter}{Menu}ea{Menu}fe
{Date}{Left}{Left}{BackSp}{Left}
{Left}{BackSp}{Enter}{Del}{Enter}
{F6}{Home}{Enter}

To view the old todo's, you can load the extracted database
(081094.GDB in the example above) into the Todo Database. If
for some reason you need to put the archived todo's back into
the database, use the Merge function (press (MENU) File
Merge). This will incorporate the todo's back into the
database, which can then be viewed via the "Completed Todo's"
subset.
      NOTE: after archiving it would be best to either move or
copy the archive file to another directory. This will prevent
accidental overwriting (in case you press (Fn)-(F1) by acci-
dent).

F2 D Marking A Todo As Complete D This macro marks the current
item as completed.

{Enter}{Alt+C}{F10}

F3 D Setup A Call Todo D To use this macro, enter the name of
the person you wish to call in the Item field then press (Fn)-
(F3). 

{Shift+Home}{Ctrl+C}{Phone}{F4}
{Ctrl+V} {Enter}{Enter}{Tab}{Ctrl+C}
{F10}{More} b{Tab}Call{Enter}{F3}
{Ctrl+V}{F10}

The macro will switch to the Phone Book, copy the the person's
business phone number to the clipboard, go back to the Todo
Database and insert it into the Notes field of the todo item.
It will also put Call in the Category field.

F4 D Schedule Meeting / Appointment D This macro is designed
so you can enter meetings or appointments into the Todo Data-
base and then automatically schedule them in your Appointment
Book. 

{Alt+I}{Ctrl+C}{More}a{F2}{Ctrl+V}
{More}b{Alt+N}{Home}{Ctrl+Right}
{Ctrl+Right}{Left}{Shift+Home}
{Ctrl+C}{More} a{Alt+T}{Ctrl+V}{More} b{Ctrl+-
Right}{Ctrl+Right}{Shift+End}
{Ctrl+C}{More}a{ Alt+I}{Ctrl+V}{More}
b{Alt+S}{Ctrl+C}{More}a{Alt+D}
{Ctrl+V}{F10}{More}b{F10}

In order for this macro to work properly, enter the following
in the Todo Database fields:

~ Item D Name of the event.
~ Category D Appointment or Meeting.
~ Priority D The priority (used only in the database).
~ Start D The date of the event.
~ Notes D The starting time and ending time using the
following format: start-end (i.e. 10:00am-12:00pm).

It is important that the times be entered as shown, with no
spaces. The macro does a lot of switching between Appt and the
Todo Database. When the macro finishes, the current todo is
closed and you are returned to the subset view. The macro does
not close Appt when finished.

F5 D Add Selected Item To Todo DB D 
This is used from Memo, NoteTaker, or another application when
you wish to create a todo based on something you just keyed
in. 

{Ctrl+C}{More}b{F2}{Ctrl+V}{Tab}

For example, you are typing the following note in Memo: "I
will call Joe tomorrow." You realize after typing this in that
you need to add "call Joe" to your Todo Database. To do this
with this macro, first highlight "call Joe" (move cursor to
the "c" in "call" and press (<Shift>)(<RightArrow>) several
times until the phrase is highlighted). Then press (Fn)-(5)
and the macro copies the phrase to the clipboard, switches to
the Todo Database, inserts "call Joe" in the Item field, and
moves the cursor to the Category field, waiting for you to
enter the category.

Using the Todo Database
A tool is only effective if it is used. There were a couple of
occasions where I stopped using the Todo Database on a daily
basis. I found that I would neglect and forget about things
that I needed to do. I finally got in the habit of loading the
database every morning when I get to work to review the tasks
for the day. Several times during the day I review the urgent
tasks and if I happen to have a "slow" period I review non-
-urgent tasks.
      Before I start a particular activity (for example, before a
class begins) I select the subset for the activity and review
the items. I have found out that it is sometimes useful to do
this well in advance of the activity. For example, before I
head off to a meeting I load the "Meetings" subset to see if
there is anything I need to bring to the meeting.
      This database is a basic tool that can be used with a
variety of time management systems. By modifying the subsets
and categories you can customize the Todo Database to tailor
your particular method of time management.

Backup to 
Prevent Data Loss
The database application on the HP 100/200LX is not perfect.
Occasionally I've received a "Record not found" message. This
may occur with any database that is used heavily. I've had
this happen to me on a couple of occasions with the Todo
Database. Here are a few things you can do to prevent data
loss.
      First, keep backups of your data! This is a good general
practice for any computer user. To backup your Todo Database
you could use FILER to make a copy of the TODO.GDB file in
another directory. Give the copy a different name (e.g. BACKUP
.GDB) so you don't confuse the two. You could also use the
Database File Extract option. In the All Items list, press
(<Shift>)-(<Spacebar>) to tag all the database items. Then
press (MENU) File Extract, give the backup file a name (e.g.
BACKUP.GDB) and save by pressing (ENTER). 
      If you do happen to get a "Record not found" message, you
can restore your backup copy. From the Database application,
press (MENU) File Open, select BACKUP.GDB and press (F10).
Make sure everything looks fine, then delete the old TODO.GDB
and rename BACKUP.GDB to TODO .GDB. I have used this method
successfully with the Todo Database.
      [Editor's Note: The "Record not found" message can often be
fixed by running the database repair program GARLIC 
<Available ON DISK>, found on the 94/95 Subscriber PowerDisk.]


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