• Further development specification

    By Barna Kovács 2 decades ago

    Dear Participants,





    there were some critics in the postings related to the functionality of this template. To move ahead, I think we sould gather the problems and requirements. If we can agree on a common base I can (and want) do the design and coding part.

    I think we should somehow incorporate Bertt Philip's GTD template.



    Just to begin brainstorming, some ideas:

    • somebody mentioned the option to forward mail by delegation
    • make creation of new (offline, from the desk inbox) ideas easier, something to figure out instead of the new memo-save as draft-followup-remove from draft cycle
    • define and accomplish next actions (Brett Philip style) something better than a simple followup text
    • how to accomplish actions



      Something similar. Please help to gather more ideas and then specific features to make this template better!



      Regards,

      Barna
    • Some ideas

      By Jamie Colpean 2 decades ago

      I very much appreciate any further development on this project. Off the top of my head, here a re a couple suggestions:



      1) Further or SOME clarification/ explanation on what "Flag with Rule" means and how to best use it.

      2) The ability to un-select an option in the "Convert Message" section

      3) Yes yes…the ability to create a Task/Appoint entry from scratch and not have to act on a message that exists in the inbox.

      4) Delegation - make it do what is implies…..automatically sending this item to someone else

      5) Inview editing of the Proejcts, tasks, mail etc would be nice



      Will post more if something jumps out at me.

    • Include Tasks....

      By Jamie Colpean 2 decades ago

      Working on all you tasks in 1 area would be nice….so…



      Have a setting in preferences where you can set to include your exisiting tasks in der the ACTION Folder…..



      For that matter, allow me to open an existing Task and assign it a category/ Project

    • Re: Further development specification

      By Kool Pal 2 decades ago

      Dear Barna,



      I wholeheartedly agree with your thoughts and welcome the inputs given by you. There are many of such ideas that are floating on my mind, but limited (read as non-existent) programming skills prevent me to introduce such modifications.



      When I started this project the idea was that programmers would also be pitching in with code changes, but unfortunately I have not got much help! I keep googling, surfing lotus notes websites, forums, etc to look for code that I can implement and have managed to get this template so far. But there is so much more to do and I am stuck. I need help guys!! (read- Notes programmers!!)



      If you are a notes programmer, I would REALLY appreciate if you could help implement the changes suggested by you. Please help make this template turn into something that REALLY makes our daily life easier!!



      While we are on programming, let me also bring to light one modification which I have been struggling with for quite some time.



      Objective: As pointed out by some people in this forum and elsewhere, I wanted a mechanism where I could see all emails on a common topic, together. I also realised that the given view of Mail Threads fails horribly in giving what is required. I thought and found that the best way to get mail threads using the subject. Then I started hunting for such a code (since I cannot write code to save my skin!! ). I found something but it seems to break every now and then and I just cant seem to find out why?



      Details of this code: Obtained from http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/clean-subject/



      I have modified the original code to suit my internal email subject prefixes that get added in my company:



      My Smarticon code:

      ———–

      shortsubject:=Subject;

      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Re:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Re:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "RE:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "RE:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "<.FW.>");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "<.FW.>"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "AG:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "AG:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "WG:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "WG:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Fwd:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Fwd:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Fw:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Fw:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "FW:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "FW:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Wtr:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Wtr:"));"");



      REM {remove leading, trailing, and dup blanks:};

      @Set("shortsubject"; @Trim(shortsubject));



      @Command([OpenView];"BySubject"; shortsubject)

      ——————–



      In the new view that I have created (called BySubject), the following code has been used for the column called CleanSubject



      ——————–

      shortsubject:=Subject;

      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Re:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Re:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "RE:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "RE:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "<.FW.>");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "<.FW.>"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "AG:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "AG:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "WG:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "WG:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Fwd:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Fwd:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Fw:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Fw:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "FW:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "FW:"));"");



      @If(@Contains(shortsubject; "Wtr:");

      @Set("shortsubject"; @RightBack(shortsubject; "Wtr:"));"");



      REM {remove leading, trailing, and dup blanks:};

      @Set("shortsubject"; @Trim(shortsubject));



      @If(Form = "NonDelivery Report"; "DELIVERY FAILURE: " + FailureReason;

      Form = "Delivery Report"; "DELIVERED: " + Subject; Form = "Return Receipt";

      "RECEIVED: " + Subject; Form = "ReturnNonReceipt"; "NOT RECEIVED: " +

      Subject; shortsubject)

      ———————-





      Issue with this code:



      This view usually fails to return accurate results. Observation has shown that these errors are not ALWAYS occurring, but when they do, the observation is as follows:

      1. When the subject starts with Re: it usually throws an error.
      2. Where the email has gone back and forth many times and it starts with Re: <.FW.>, it fails to give results.
      3. This code does not return ALL mails with the same subject. It shows a few less. I have not been able to figure any pattern there.



        Can anyone help with this? Or come up with a completely different option which helps?



        TIA,



        -=KoolPal=-
      • Notes on my mods

        By Jamie Colpean 2 decades ago

        Kool Pal,



        I too…am no Developer. I try to be a bit of a hack to get what I want. In this case….I have made quite a number of changes to your template and though my



        changes could be much improved….they have helped me come to rely even more on the template. Having never submitted code/ design changes here, I am hesitant on



        uploading the altered template for fear that might only create confusion.



        First, I needed to be able to create a "Project", so rather than creating a whole new form and muddying up the design….I use the Task form and set the Category to



        be "Projects". This makes that non-completed Task show up in a "ProjectList" view that is used for lookups.



        Next, I needed to be able to see both Tasks AND Mail in the "ACTION" Folder. Accomplish this by creating a new Task, picking its category and project and then Ctrl



        -S to save and F9 to refresh and reveal the "GTDFile" share action….add it to the ACTION folder.





        I have documented all the changes. Here is the list along with my comments. Please let me know if you would like to review or correct me for any part of my



        logic….being new to GTD is evident.


        1. Added a Page called "ADVICS Change Log" to document each change I made to the template.
        2. The following is the sequence of alterations made to the original template.
        3. Created view called ProjectList

          Selection Criteria: SELECT (Form = "Task" | DueDateTime != "" | @AllDescendants) & !(ExcludeFromView = "T") & categories="P"



          ***Seems that anything with the categories field of "Projects" is collapsed to "P"

          Maintained the Subject field and Date field only (from the ProjectsView)

          Changed Subject Field to sort Ascending


        4. Form - Todo: added field Called "Project", dialog to the ProjectList view


        5. Edited Form (ONTF_DB-FUDateV2) | ONTF_FUDateV2 and changed the Project field to a Dialog lookup back to its own ProjectList view.


        6. Create view called "Todo'sByProject" based off "Todo'sByCategory"

          Replace first column value with: @If(Project="";"No Project Assigned";Project)


        7. Copied the "Project" Field from Form (ONTF_DB-FUDateV2) | ONTF_FUDateV2 and pasted it into the Todo Form


        8. View "ProjectsView" added form "ToDo" : "Task" to selection criteria


        9. Edited ProjectsView and changed: @Contains(@LowerCase(Form) ; "memo" : "reply" : "todo" : "task") & !@Contains(DueState;"9":"8")


        10. Copied the GTDFile button from the Memo form and added it to the Task form


        11. Copied the GTDFile button from the Inbox and added it to the view Todo\Incomplete


        12. Added Shared Action "Mark Complete" to Action folder.


        13. Changed Folder ACTION Column "Followup By When" to be:

          Due := @If(DueDate != ""; @Date(DueDate); "");

          @If(FollowUpDate != ""; @Date(FollowUpDate); Due)