I had no problems in exporting an RTF file of the entire topic. Make sure that for "Range," you specify "All documents."
I have Nitro installed on my computer but haven't tried using it for this purpose. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.
Recommendation: web sync alternative
I've now done some further experiments in copying topics over to the iPhone, this time using the Stanza app. Searching and moving from page to page are much faster in Stanza than in GoodReader, but so far I haven't found a way to preserve formatting (specifically, Web links, italics, and bold) in Stanza. Stanza can handle various file formats, but of the ones I tested, it seems to strip formatting and convert them into plain text files.
Still, it's another possible solution. Am I the only one obsessed with the problem of getting MyInfo topics on to the iPhone? If there are any fellow-obsessives on this forum, I would be happy to learn about what solutions they have adopted.
Still, it's another possible solution. Am I the only one obsessed with the problem of getting MyInfo topics on to the iPhone? If there are any fellow-obsessives on this forum, I would be happy to learn about what solutions they have adopted.
Bill
OK, still another experiment in using MyInfo (in some form) on the iPhone.
I've just installed an app call NTRconnect, which allows me to open programs and files that are on my computer and edit them from my iPhone. Moving the cursor around on the iPhone screen is a bit awkward at first, but the app does indeed work as advertised.
One nice feature is that NTRconnect's keyboard on the iPhone includes control and alt keys; that means it's easy to do things like italics and bold and centering. Some (but not all) keyboard shortcuts work. As far as I can see, the rule of thumb is that default shortcuts are functional, but user-created shortcuts are not.
It's not an ideal solution, but it's another way of getting access to MyInfo files on the road. Just leave your home or office computer on (and it's useful to reshape the MyInfo to a smaller window that will be easy to read on your iPhone), and you can then read and modify MyInfo files from your phone.
I've just installed an app call NTRconnect, which allows me to open programs and files that are on my computer and edit them from my iPhone. Moving the cursor around on the iPhone screen is a bit awkward at first, but the app does indeed work as advertised.
One nice feature is that NTRconnect's keyboard on the iPhone includes control and alt keys; that means it's easy to do things like italics and bold and centering. Some (but not all) keyboard shortcuts work. As far as I can see, the rule of thumb is that default shortcuts are functional, but user-created shortcuts are not.
It's not an ideal solution, but it's another way of getting access to MyInfo files on the road. Just leave your home or office computer on (and it's useful to reshape the MyInfo to a smaller window that will be easy to read on your iPhone), and you can then read and modify MyInfo files from your phone.
Bill
Just one small correction: custom keyboard shortcuts do work.
Another important key to making this program work well is to resize the MyInfo frame before you leave your computer. A few experiments will show you what looks best on the iPhone. I mention this because it seems to be very difficult to resize on the iPhone itself.
Another important key to making this program work well is to resize the MyInfo frame before you leave your computer. A few experiments will show you what looks best on the iPhone. I mention this because it seems to be very difficult to resize on the iPhone itself.
Bill
-
Crystal401
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:59 pm
To WSP:
If Petko decides to create a public import export API for version 5,
would you be interested in getting together a small group of users to
outsource an iphone app that reads mio files?
I am just brainstorming:
1
* dropbox & MyInfo reader app in iphone
-> myinfo reader app that accesses the mio file from the dropbox app
2
* tool reading mio files, and uploading the data to my own
webserver that I can read from safari.
If its done with html5, it can be read from android or other phones too.
Realistically, asking for a iphone app puts too much resource constraints
on Milenix. However, asking for a public API to develop 3rd party
tools seems like a feasible solution.
Obviously, Petko needs to agree on a public api.
Regards,
If Petko decides to create a public import export API for version 5,
would you be interested in getting together a small group of users to
outsource an iphone app that reads mio files?
I am just brainstorming:
1
* dropbox & MyInfo reader app in iphone
-> myinfo reader app that accesses the mio file from the dropbox app
2
* tool reading mio files, and uploading the data to my own
webserver that I can read from safari.
If its done with html5, it can be read from android or other phones too.
Realistically, asking for a iphone app puts too much resource constraints
on Milenix. However, asking for a public API to develop 3rd party
tools seems like a feasible solution.
Obviously, Petko needs to agree on a public api.
Regards,
An interesting idea, but I must tell you that I am rapidly getting out of my depth here. I'm just a retired professor (slightly nerdy) who still writes books, and my fairly simple need is to consult my MyInfo research notes (which are by now quite substantial) when I'm away from my computer, usually in a library. (Yes, I also have a laptop, and I often take it to libraries, but I grow weary of carrying it with me every time I walk out the front door, whereas my iPhone is always in my pocket.)
I'm not sure I understand all the implications of what you are proposing: that a group of us users fund an iPhone app? How difficult and expensive would that be? If you think that creating an app would be beyond the resources of Milenix, why do you assume that the rest of us can do it?
I'm not sure I understand all the implications of what you are proposing: that a group of us users fund an iPhone app? How difficult and expensive would that be? If you think that creating an app would be beyond the resources of Milenix, why do you assume that the rest of us can do it?
Bill
-
Crystal401
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:59 pm
Hi WSP,
Sorry to throw in technical jargon. Judging from your posts, I thought you were a developer =p
I used to work in software development 7-10 years ago.
Although I don't write code any more, I still follow the trend.
Yes, you are right. I thought of getting MyInfo users together to fund an
application that some 3rd party provider could develop.
elance.com, rentacoder.com etc...
Cost would depend on the feature set, and I have to admit, I don't know as I never hired an iphone developer.
Technically possible? - Yes, if Petko decides to publish an API (an interface that allows other software to access mio data)
I don't think creating an iphone app is beyond the resources of Milenix.
However, I think its quite low on the priority list because not too many
users are interested in it.
If developing an iphone app would cost 200 man hours and only 20 are
willing to pay... the 200 hrs should go into a feature that could
lead to 200 new buyers.
So because not too many users want an iphone app.... our
request is low in the priority queue.
However, if an API for ver 5 is available, which would most likely take considerable less time to develop, somebody else could write an intermediate solution.
BTW:
So far I am mixing, Evernote 3.5, MS Onenote, and Myinfo 5.
And its not pretty.
Regards,
Sorry to throw in technical jargon. Judging from your posts, I thought you were a developer =p
I used to work in software development 7-10 years ago.
Although I don't write code any more, I still follow the trend.
Yes, you are right. I thought of getting MyInfo users together to fund an
application that some 3rd party provider could develop.
elance.com, rentacoder.com etc...
Cost would depend on the feature set, and I have to admit, I don't know as I never hired an iphone developer.
Technically possible? - Yes, if Petko decides to publish an API (an interface that allows other software to access mio data)
I don't think creating an iphone app is beyond the resources of Milenix.
However, I think its quite low on the priority list because not too many
users are interested in it.
If developing an iphone app would cost 200 man hours and only 20 are
willing to pay... the 200 hrs should go into a feature that could
lead to 200 new buyers.
So because not too many users want an iphone app.... our
request is low in the priority queue.
However, if an API for ver 5 is available, which would most likely take considerable less time to develop, somebody else could write an intermediate solution.
BTW:
So far I am mixing, Evernote 3.5, MS Onenote, and Myinfo 5.
And its not pretty.
Regards,
I wonder if Petko would care to join in this discussion?
I realize that designing for multiple platforms is difficult for any small software outfit, but the example of Evernote is instructive. It now has . . . what? . . . about two million users, I think, and half of them have installed the iPhone app. What you seem to be proposing is not a sort of all-singing, all-dancing, multi-platform program like Evernote but just an iPhone app that would make use of some third-party syncing program like Dropbox. Surely that would be doable -- even for Milenix?
As for myself, I use MyInfo for any data that has to be tightly organized (mainly research notes) and Evernote for all the other miscellaneous, unstructured information that comes streaming into my life. I'm reasonably happy with this division, but I'm constantly frustrated that I can easily read and edit notes in my Evernote files when I'm away from a computer but can't do that in MyInfo.
I realize that designing for multiple platforms is difficult for any small software outfit, but the example of Evernote is instructive. It now has . . . what? . . . about two million users, I think, and half of them have installed the iPhone app. What you seem to be proposing is not a sort of all-singing, all-dancing, multi-platform program like Evernote but just an iPhone app that would make use of some third-party syncing program like Dropbox. Surely that would be doable -- even for Milenix?
As for myself, I use MyInfo for any data that has to be tightly organized (mainly research notes) and Evernote for all the other miscellaneous, unstructured information that comes streaming into my life. I'm reasonably happy with this division, but I'm constantly frustrated that I can easily read and edit notes in my Evernote files when I'm away from a computer but can't do that in MyInfo.
Bill
-
Crystal401
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:59 pm
Hi WSP,
Although iphone development is "generally" not as complex as a windows application development such as MyInfo, it requires a very different skillset.
Evernote can afford to expand because they have funding -
I think it was approx 1 million USD ...
I have the exact same problem as you with evernote and MI5.
I emailed Petko - hope he takes a look here.
Alex
Although iphone development is "generally" not as complex as a windows application development such as MyInfo, it requires a very different skillset.
Evernote can afford to expand because they have funding -
I think it was approx 1 million USD ...
I have the exact same problem as you with evernote and MI5.
I emailed Petko - hope he takes a look here.
Alex
The problems we face for iPhone or other phone reading app are technical. MyInfo files (.mio) store document texts in the proprietary file format of third party text editing component, which has no non-Windows support. So, we can read these files only using Windows applications. So, we have no many options, until we change the underlaying file format of MyInfo (which could happen for most early for version 6, but because this will lengthen the development cycle too much, it will probably happen even later).
So, currently, the most viable ways for using MyInfo files outside Windows environment are:
* export to a web site (with Dropbox this could be reasonably fast)
* export to some other applications (using MyInfo export plugins)
* using remote control application (like NTRconnect)
I am open for further discussions on this topic and although I wasn't very active in it, I was following it.
So, currently, the most viable ways for using MyInfo files outside Windows environment are:
* export to a web site (with Dropbox this could be reasonably fast)
* export to some other applications (using MyInfo export plugins)
* using remote control application (like NTRconnect)
I am open for further discussions on this topic and although I wasn't very active in it, I was following it.
Petko, it's good to hear this explanation, but I'm sorry that there is no easy way out of this dilemma.
I was intrigued by your suggestion of creating a website and then accessing it through Dropbox. I hadn't thought of that one. The difficulty, as I see it, is that in the kind of frame-based website that MyInfo creates, there is no way of searching across all the documents. What we need is a small site-search engine. Could that be added by a command from within MyInfo when we export a website?
Alternatively, I suppose I could export an entire topic as a single HTML file, but I worry that doing that might create an unmanageably long file. I will experiment.
And can you tell us more about the MyInfo export plugins? I know how to do RTF, HTML, etc. exports, of course, but I wasn't aware that MyInfo could connect with particular Windows programs -- perhaps one with an iPhone app?
I was intrigued by your suggestion of creating a website and then accessing it through Dropbox. I hadn't thought of that one. The difficulty, as I see it, is that in the kind of frame-based website that MyInfo creates, there is no way of searching across all the documents. What we need is a small site-search engine. Could that be added by a command from within MyInfo when we export a website?
Alternatively, I suppose I could export an entire topic as a single HTML file, but I worry that doing that might create an unmanageably long file. I will experiment.
And can you tell us more about the MyInfo export plugins? I know how to do RTF, HTML, etc. exports, of course, but I wasn't aware that MyInfo could connect with particular Windows programs -- perhaps one with an iPhone app?
Bill
-
Crystal401
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:59 pm
Hi Petko,
Thank you for the explanation - now I understand better.
I will also explore the dropbox and html option.
I experimented with webpages, and had the same problem as wsp.
However, as I am only interested in "read only" from a platform,
I will do the same and experiment with dropbox and html.
REQUEST:
Consistency of text size when exporting to html pages:
* When exporting to a html document, the font size of the text pane
seem to be correlated with the text size of the html output.
However, the text size of the tree that gets exported to html
is set to default and does not change.
* I like that export has all the colors and does indentation,
but mix of font sizes is quite inconvenient.
eg) My settings:
Tree editor : 18 pt
Text pane: 18 pt
However, in exported html file... font of the tree content is default (small) which makes it very hard to read.
Suggestion:
1 Could you implement an option where exported html file has
only 1 default text size? (but keeps color, font type etc)
2 incorporate font size of tree in html export.
This might actually be incredibly helpful.
Thanks,
Alex
Thank you for the explanation - now I understand better.
I will also explore the dropbox and html option.
I experimented with webpages, and had the same problem as wsp.
However, as I am only interested in "read only" from a platform,
I will do the same and experiment with dropbox and html.
REQUEST:
Consistency of text size when exporting to html pages:
* When exporting to a html document, the font size of the text pane
seem to be correlated with the text size of the html output.
However, the text size of the tree that gets exported to html
is set to default and does not change.
* I like that export has all the colors and does indentation,
but mix of font sizes is quite inconvenient.
eg) My settings:
Tree editor : 18 pt
Text pane: 18 pt
However, in exported html file... font of the tree content is default (small) which makes it very hard to read.
Suggestion:
1 Could you implement an option where exported html file has
only 1 default text size? (but keeps color, font type etc)
2 incorporate font size of tree in html export.
This might actually be incredibly helpful.
Thanks,
Alex
I just did a quick experiment of exporting a topic as a single HTML file and then accessing it through Dropbox on my iPhone. Not at all satisfactory. It took forever to load, and then I couldn't do searches within the Dropbox browser (which is fairly primitive).
For read-only access to my notes, the best system I've found so far is to create a PDF file and then view it in GoodReader on the iPhone. I'll be happy to supply more detailed instructions on how to do this if anyone's interested.
For read-only access to my notes, the best system I've found so far is to create a PDF file and then view it in GoodReader on the iPhone. I'll be happy to supply more detailed instructions on how to do this if anyone's interested.
Bill
-
Crystal401
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:59 pm
Petko,
As an another intermediary solution,
Could you create a "pdf" export option with bookmarks specifying
levels?
If first level nodes in the tree can be the bookmark reference points,
this could actually be extremely useful.
I know some pdf bookmarks have nested bookmarks too.
I tried to create bookmarks manually on one exported pdf.
It works, but was too cumbersome.
An automated solution would be really helpful.
As an another intermediary solution,
Could you create a "pdf" export option with bookmarks specifying
levels?
If first level nodes in the tree can be the bookmark reference points,
this could actually be extremely useful.
I know some pdf bookmarks have nested bookmarks too.
I tried to create bookmarks manually on one exported pdf.
It works, but was too cumbersome.
An automated solution would be really helpful.