MDE InfoHandler 2008 11.1.64

MDE InfoHandler 2008 11.1.64 offers an effective tool which helps you to organize notes, documents, web links, dates, programs, and more, using a uniform and sophisticated interface.

InfoHandler version 11, also called InfoHandler 2008, is a new generation of this software, completely re-implemented using current technology. The new user interface is similar to the previous but also enhanced in many aspects.

InfoBases, the databases of InfoHandler, now are using standard XML (Extended Markup Language) making them readable by humans and other applications. For the online help HTML Help has replaced the old WinHelp engine.

The Card File Problem

1. Think of a card file box. In this box you have several thousand cards with evaluations of articles in periodicals. Every card with a header line - author, title, and reference - and below that extensive notes. All cards are ordered accurately by subject. If you are looking for something for a given subject, you only need to find an appropriate index and view all cards belonging to this topic.
2. So far so good - but now you are looking for something that was published for a certain subject in a certain magazine. You scan the few hundred cards for the subject and select those with the wanted periodical. Because you are uncertain about the subject you search other subjects as well. Now you see you got far to many cards, you couldn’t examine them all. You guess that really you are only interested in certain products together with this subject. Unfortunately, after deciding to order by subject, you couldn’t have ordered the cards by products too. So now you begin to search the collected cards for the wanted product. Don't forget to return all the cards that you have removed to the right places in the box when you have completed your task.
3. Libraries use to solve this dilemma by having two card indexes with duplicated cards, one ordered on authors, the other on subjects.
4. Another problem comes about if, preparing a new card, you find that several of the categories seem to fit and you cannot decide where to put the card - unfortunately, a card cannot be simultaneously at several places.

The InfoHandler Solution

1. To solve these kinds of problems with organizing information, this time using not a card file box but a computer, we conceived the unique concept of categorizing information that we implemented with InfoHandler. This is much more than just attaching "keywords" to the info. Most important is the centralized management of the Categories and their organization in groups. Categories are not just "words" or "character strings" but "objects" with their own properties and functionality. Shortly, with the help of these grouped Categories , a kind of multi-dimensional view on the data is accomplished, as opposed to the one-dimensional view of the common card indexes or with the hierarchical organization that is offered by most of the available tools for personal information management (PIMs).
2. But what is "information"? Bits of information are not only the perhaps numerous notes that you make on all sorts of occasions and topics and store somehow on your computer. Information are also the documents of all kinds that you create, the programs ("applications") that run on your computer, dates - single ones and recurring (e.g. birthdays) - that you have to observe, Internet pages that you want to revisit, postal and e-mail addresses, e-mail messages and News articles, and so on. For managing all these many types of information there exist many specialized programs or features of the operating system, all with their own concepts and user interfaces.
3. MDE InfoHandler enables the organization of all this information under one uniform interface. To do this, of course, you need some other special features aside from the universal categorization technology. Most important is the quality of the text that you can attach to the info. With InfoHandler this text can be "richly" formatted, it can be initialized automatically for new info, and it knows about "fields" where you can jump to using the keyboard or toolbar buttons. To manage documents, Internet pages, or e-mail addresses you can attach links to those objects to the info and then manipulate the objects from within InfoHandler. To manage dates, or birthdays, or other time data two universal time objects (called InfoTime1 and InfoTime2) are optional components of the Info. And last not least InfoHandler Alarms, attached to InfoItems , remind you about things to do.
4. To retrieve all these many bits of different kinds of information you apply the same set of powerful means. Using the assigned Categories you compose complex queries on the data ('category filters') with just a few clicks of your mouse. By setting bounds for the diverse time stamps ('time filters') you narrow further the displayed choice of InfoItems . And, of course, there is a handy global text search function that you can apply selectively to the components of the collected data.
5. On the other hand, because InfoHandler has a broad and powerful range of features suited for many different information management tasks, it and its user interface are a bit more complex than some of the more specialized "simple" tools. But it will be well worth the effort to invest an hour or two to familiarize yourself with its concepts and interface. Several sample InfoHandler databases (InfoBases) are provided to assist you in this. Help is also easily obtained from within the program itself.

(Re-)implemented are:

1. The powerful categorization method including hierarchical organization of Categories, master-slave relationships, Text , Number, and now also Date type Categories.
2. Automatic categorization.
3. Many kinds of drag&drop include dragging web content, documents, and whole folders from browsers and File listings, creating Info items linked to those objects as a result.
4. Filter for the Info items list set up by logical combination of Categories, restrictions for the various time stamps, or for contained words in the title, long text, or linked documents of the items.
5. Active links to external objects like those to web pages and documents as well as between Info items in the same or in different InfoBases.
6. Stored Styles and Templates for using with the rich formatted text of the items.
7. Export data to the Pocket PC companion program and re-import changed and new info.
8. Connecting to MS Office Outlook.

InfoHandler 2008 is installed using current ClickOnce deployment. This ensures that after each start the program checks for available updates and loads new components after confirmation.

Major Features:

1. InfoBases - the databases of InfoHandler
   • manage items containing info (called Info items - see below),
   • manage Categories (see below),
   • store general file info like author, topic, and comment,
   • store the names and formats of the InfoTimes (see below),
   • remember used folders, the layout of its windows, print options, search patterns and much more,
   • can be password-protected for access by multiple users,
   • Each InfoBase is viewed in its own window (the InfoBase Window ).
   • Many InfoBases can be loaded at the same time - their windows being arranged in a common frame window.
   • For each loaded InfoBase you can open several InfoBase Windows side by side.
   • The layout of an InfoBase Window can be adjusted in many ways to the requirements of the InfoBase and the current task.
   • You can copy, or merge Info items between InfoBases by "drag & drop".
   • InfoBases and their backup copies are managed by InfoHandler.
2. Info items - the records of an InfoBase
   • are identified by an internal ID and a title (InfoTitle) of unlimited length,
   • store time stamps for the first creation and last modification, /li>
   • have Categories (see below) assigned to it - manually, by simple selecting them from several lists - or automatically, by searching the InfoText (see below) and InfoTitle and optionally also linked files, or by setting up a View with a CategoryFilter that controls the assignment,
   • can contain extensive and rich formatted text (InfoText - see below),
   • can contain two free changeable and universally usable time stamps (InfoTimes - see below),
   • can contain links to other Info items and global objects,
3. Categories - categorize the Info
   • are assigned to the Info items like 'key-words' - we call this 'categorizing the Info ';
   • are the basic means for the easy retrieval of relevant information;
   • are managed in CategoryGroups for each InfoBase ;
   • can be arranged hierarchically;
   • can have slaves that are assigned to Info items automatically if one of their masters is assigned;
   • are defined on the fly as required;
   • are named by character strings containing any characters (even blanks) and can be renamed any time;
   • can be combined logically into queries onto the InfoBase by simply selecting them in several lists, such controlling the displayed choice of Info items ;
   • are created automatically when Info items are copied to another InfoBase ;
   • can have synonyms assigned that are used together with the name for automatic categorization (auto-categorization);
   • can be restricted to numbers and then used for calculation of statistics like means and sums for selected Info items;
4. InfoText - the 'rich' text of the Info
   • can be initialized automatically when creating new Info items ;
   • can contain TextFields (see below);
   • can contain embedded links to external objects;
   • can contain embedded links to other Info items ;
   • can contain embedded or linked OLE objects;
   • can be used for automatic categorization (auto-categorization);
   • Important parts can be highlighted in different colors.
   • The InfoText editor
   • allows for virtually unlimited undo and redo;
   • can be set for automatic URL (web link) detection.
5.  InfoTime1 and InfoTime2 - two optional, freely usable time stamps for Info items
   • Store date and time in the range from year 1756 to 9999. Resolution external up to the minute - internal keeping milliseconds.
   • Use them as the publication date of periodicals, as historic dates, as the date of an appointment or a birthday, or as the date of last accessing an external object - just a few examples. /li>
   • Name them as you like.
   • Set their formats as you prefer it and take your choice of seeing only the year, year and month, year, month, and day, or all of those plus hour and minute.
   • Use them for filtering the displayed Info items .
   • Use them for representing a time span.
6. InfoLinks - link the Info items with files, folders, Internet pages, Outlook contacts, and e-mail addresses
   • can be created by dragging icons from other sources onto the  InfoBase Window.
   • As a side effect new Info items may be created by this process.
   • Create documents (objects of local applications) from within InfoHandler and then manage these documents using the created links.
   • For internal documents the link paths can be absolute or relative. The latter allows for freely moving or copying folder trees managed by InfoBases.
   • Move, rename, or delete linked documents (files) from within InfoHandler .
   • Open linked objects by (single) clicking on the icons in the InfoList.
   • Linked files can be included in the automatic categorizing process (auto-categorization).
7. Alarms - remind you of dates and other things
   • To every span class="InfoHandlerTerm"> InfoItem you may link one or more alarms (InfoAlarms ).
   • There are also 'free' alarms, not referring to any Info, that can be used as a general reminder for any purpose.
   • An alarm sounds precisely to the minute and may carry a lengthy message. You wouldn't miss it. One click with your mouse lets you go to the linked Info Item .
   • The number of active alarms is not limited.
8. InfoList - displays the Info items of an InfoBase
   • Select one of three alternative views, the non-hierarchical TableView, the ColumnView (Of course you can also see both kinds of views simultaneously - in different windows.)
   • In TableView you can sort the Info items by title, InfoTime, creation or modification time, or one of the Category columns. And you can change the sequence of the columns to your preferences.
   • You can set a filter for the displayed Info items by using their assigned Categories.
   • You can set a filter for the displayed Info items by using their various time stamps.
   • You can set a filter for the displayed Info items by found words in title, text, or liknked documents.
   • Click on the title of an Info item in the InfoList to 'activate' its Info - displaying it at the Info Area of the InfoBase Window .
   • Open linked objects by clicking on the icons in the InfoList .
   • Select many Info items in the InfoList and then act upon them, e.g. move all files linked to the selected items to a common folder or add, remove, or replace a Category for all the selected items.
   • Move or copy Info items between InfoBases by selecting them in the one InfoList and dragging/dropping them onto the other one.
9. Full text search - supplements the information retrieval with Category filters and time bounds
   • Four different methods for finding text: Find next/previous occurrence of selected InfoText, Find & Process in InfoText, Global Find and Replace in InfoBases, Search with Categories (using auto-categorization) and CategoryFilters for the InfoList .
   • Processing of found text includes Replace, Format, Highlight, Count, Delete Line , and more.
   • Search/replace patterns are retained per InfoBase for reusing them at a later time.
10. Printing - make your choice
    • Print all the data of an InfoBase or any part of it. Select from many options to define the choice of Info items and their components to be printed.
    • Print only the active InfoText including embedded objects.
    • Preview the print output on the screen.
11. Drag & Drop - simplifies your work.
    • Drag files and Internet links onto the InfoList to create and link new Info items .
    • Drag files and Internet links onto the Info of an Info item to assign or change the InfoLink .
    • Drag files and Internet links onto the InfoText of an Info item to create 'embedded links'.
    • Drag Info items from one InfoList onto another to move or copy them from one InfoBase to another one.
    • Drag text from an external source onto the InfoText to insert the info.
    • Drag text from an external source onto the InfoList to create a new Info item initialized from the text.
    • Drag an Info item from an InfoList onto the InfoText of another Info item in the same or another InfoBase to create an internal link between the Info items .
    • Drag words from the InfoText onto a CategoryGroup to create and assign new Categories.
12. Interoperability - exchange data with other applications
    • Export Info items to other applications viaCSV/TXT files.
13. Pocket InfoHandler - the Companion of InfoHandler on your PDA
    • Export all or part of an InfoBase , including alarms, to your Pocket PC.
    • Reimport changes you made on the PDA back to the PC.
14. Online documentation and samples
    • Context sensitive help is provided for each object of the graphical user interface including the dialog windows.
15.  What else?
    • Navigation between recently activated Info items by commands Next/Previous or selection from the HistoryList .
    • The View Manager enables you to save and recall Views of InfoBaseWindows including layout and set CategoryFilter .
    • The Styles Manager lets you store paragraph and character formatting under a name and reuse it later as a macro while editing or automatically processing InfoText .
    • Extensive possibilities for customizing the user interface and functional behavior.
    • Hot keys for many of the commands.
    • Fast selection of different views. You can switch between three states of an InfoBase Window: normal view, maximized InfoText, and maximized InfoList .

Enhancements:

• Clipping of Web content
• Mapping folder trees
• Connecting to MS Outlook

Requirements:

• Microsoft Windows Installer
• .Net Framework 3.5 SP1