Copyright: Note Hound ® 1995 Pulse Ventures Ltd.


Contents

Introduction

Note Hound is a simple to use database that allows you to create notes, then categorize them and associate keywords with them so you can find them again in the future.  You may view the notes one at a time or in a grid to view multiple notes at a time.

Note Hound can be used for:

1.	The creation of databases to store notes, categorize them, and find them by keyword.

2.	The creation of To Do Lists with prioritization, and completion checks.

3.	The creation of  Bibliographies by exporting out your source records.

4.	You can print/export your source/bibliography by using the bundled notbblio.exe program.

How To Do

This topic explains how to use Note Hound and the controls on the screen.

Seeing What Each Screen Control Does

The Commands Reference section shows what each control on the screen does.   A picture of the main screen is shown and you can click on the various controls to see a description of its function.

Tips and Tricks

Some ideas and methods for using Note Hound.  This is a good section to read before setting up a

database.

How To Do

Commands Reference

Tips and Tricks

DISCLAIMER

NOTE HOUND AND THE NOTE HOUND SOURCE PRINT UTILITY ARE USED AT YOUR OWN RISK AND PULSE VENTURES LTD. TAKES NO LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION LOSS OR DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM.

NOTE HOUND IS NOT DESIGNED TO RUN ON A COMPUTER NETWORK OR FOR MULTI-USER ACCESS TO THE SAME DATABASE.  RUN ONLY ON A MACHINE WITH DATABASES ON YOUR LOCAL DRIVE IN SINGLE USER MODE!


How To Do

To see a description of what each command does by clicking on a screen shot of the application press Commands Reference.

The Real Basic Stuff

A note can be completely blank, with no data entered anywhere.  It is recommended that a name and a description is entered at a bare minimum to identify the note and to describe it.  The name can be up to 40 characters and the description can be up to 255 characters in length. For longer pieces of text, place the text in the Note Body field, which can store up to 32K (32000 characters) of text.

There is no real limit to the database size or the number of records you can have, but you should keep databases below 5 megabytes in size for performance reasons.

There are two ways to view your notes. You may see one note at a time, but more fully by using the Single Record tab, or you may see many notes at a time, but not all the information by using the Grid View tab.  The record shown in the Single Record tab is the current note, and the current note is the record that is highlighted in the Grid View tab.  All notes are available to be viewed when Note Hound is first started.

Use the Arrows in the note movement  arrow controls to move from record to record.  This works in both Grid and Single Record modes.  The Arrows with the vertical bars mean move to the very first or very last record in the found note set, while the arrows by themselves just move one record back or forward at a time.

Note Movement Arrow Controls

A note is created by pressing the New Record button.  If you check off the Use Current Record As New Source checkbox then it will copy the note header information from the currently shown note in single record view, or the current row with the highlight in the grid view.  The note header consists of the Keywords, Note Name, Note Category, Priority, Note Descriptions, and Gr. Order fields.

The current note is deleted by pressing the Delete button.

Changes to the current note are saved by pressing the Update button.  Changes are also automatically saved if you make another row the current row by using the note movement arrow controls.

Pressing the Cancel button cancels the changes made to the current record, or the creation of a new record.

The elements of a note

There are many elements to an individual note.

1.	Keywords.  This can be up to 50 characters in length, and stores keywords you wish to file the note under.  For example, a note about the pyramids of Egypt could have the keywords Giza Pyramid Egypt Cheops each separated by a space.

2.	Note Name.  This can be up to 40 characters in length, and is the name of the note which is usually its unique identifier.  For example,  the note name could be Secret chambers of the Pyramids.

3.	Note Description.  This can be up to 255 characters in length, and stores a description of the note if not the entire note.  Use this field if you can for the entire note text as it saves database space.

4.	Note Category.  This field is up to 15 characters in length and is typically a single word that represents a generic category to file your note under.  For example, the pyramid note we have been working with could be under the category Archeology.  Categories are usually picked from a list of precreated categories.

5.	Note Priority.  This field is used for to do lists only, and you may choose from the following priorities from most important to least important.: Immediate, Major, Medium, Minor.

6.	Note Creation Date.  The creation date of the note. Not Editable.

7.	Last Edit Date For The Note.  The last date a note was edited.  Not Editable.

8.	Status.  This is a checkable field usually used for To Do Lists to indicate the task is done.

9.	Note Body.  This field can be used to store up to 32K of note text, but it takes up a minimum of 2K if you put even a single character in it.  It is good for storing larger bodies of text.

10.	Note Reference.  The note reference is a link to a source.  A source is where the note originated.  If you have taken notes from a book, you would indicate the title, author, and publication information for it when you create a source and link it to the note.

11.	Group Order.  This is a user entered field that is used by the database program only for sorting.  It allows the user to place an id number for a note within a set of notes.  For example, you could use it to number the notes so you know the order they should be read.

Creating a note

The simplest way of creating a note is to press the Create button.  In Single Record mode the fields will clear and you can type in your new data, and in Grid View mode a blank line will appear as the last row.  Once you have typed in your information, press the Update button to save your changes to the database.  Press the Cancel button to abort the creation of the note.

Creating a new note and copying the header information from another note.

By checking off the  Use Current Record As New Source checkbox you can copy the header information from the current note shown in Single Record mode, or the note highlighted in Grid View mode when you press the Create button.  This option can save you a great deal of time typing in a batch of similar notes.

Editing a note

The current note can be edited by simply picking one of the fields for it and typing in it.  As soon as a change is made to any field, the Create button will become disabled, indicating you are in the midst of an edit.  Any note can be picked to be edited.  Some fields on a note may force you to pick from a list.  A source and category are picked from lists, and you can create new list entries via the References Menu.

In addition to regular typing, you can paste text into a field from the clipboard, highlight text in most fields.  Highlighted text can be copied to the clipboard using the Copy command from the Edit menu or by pressing the CTRL+C keys. Highlighted text can also be replaced with the Paste command, or  cut out to clipboard with the Cut command, or deleted by using the Delete command or then press the DELETE key on the keyboard to delete the text.  See the section Editing Commands for more information on the Edit commands.

Deleting a note

The current note can be deleted by pressing the Delete button.  The deletion is immediate and irreversible.  This is not the same command from the Edit menu.

Switching between grid and single record views of your notes

Pressing on the Single Record tab or the Grid View tab takes you between Single Record mode and Grid View mode.  The current record shown in Single Record mode corresponds to the highlighted row in Grid View mode.

What notes are shown by default when the program starts

When Note Hound is first started you can see all notes in the system by default.  By scrolling or moving from note to note, you will be able to browse all notes you have created.  This full set of notes could be quite large, so you may want to filter down the number of shown notes using the Fetch command.  Once you have fetched a set of notes that match some search criteria, you will only be able to see the set of notes found until you do another Fetch with or without search criteria specified.  If you do not specify search criteria in a Fetch, Note Hound will bring all notes back again as in the default setting.

How to use the Fetch Command to find a note

Pressing the Fetch button brings up the Fetch Note dialog.  In this dialog, you can select the search criteria you wish to use to find a certain set of notes.  Press the Close button to remove the Fetch Note dialog and return to the main screen.

The simplest retrieval on the Fetch Note dialog is to just press the Close button without doing anything else on the dialog as this allows you to see all of your notes when it returns to the main screen.  The second simplest type of retrieval is to pick a category from the Category list and then press the Close button.  This retrieves all the notes in a particular category from the database, and shows only those notes.  Reset your set of retrieved notes by using the first type of Fetch described here.

A more advanced query is to search by selecting a field to perform a word search on such as Keywords from the Search Field list box.  All the notes that  match the word will be retrieved back when you press the Close button.  Note that the scope of this search can be limited by the Category and Priority selections which are defaulted to ALL normally.

See the Fetch Button for more information on Fetching and doing queries, including wild cards.

Sorting your notes

Notes can be sorted by one or two fields when you press the Sort button.  You select the first sort field from Keywords, Name, Category, Priority, then you select a second field from this list of fields.  The sorts are always in ascending alphabetical order.  You cannot select the same field as the first, then second sort field.

Using the data control to move around in a set of displayed notes

You can use the data control to move to the beginning or the end of a set of notes in both Single Record mode and Grid Views of your notes.  The inner set of arrow buttons on the data control allow you to move forward and back one note.  Alternatively, you may use the PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN buttons on your keyboard to move ahead or back a screenfull of notes in Grid View or one note in Single Record view.  The vertical scroll bar can also be used to move around your notes in Grid View mode.

Setting up categories

Categories can be set up by using the menu command References, Categories or by pressing CTRL+G.  This brings up a dialog box that allows you to enter, edit, and delete categories from your category list for the database.  You must shutdown this dialog before you can continue working.  Press the New Category button to add a new category to your list.  This action blanks out the edit box at the top right of the dialog and allows you to type in your category.  Just typing in the edit box will change the text of the category already in the edit box which is also the highlighted row in the list box at the left hand side of the dialog.  Press the Cancel button to cancel the editing of a new category or the creation of a new record.  Press the Update button to accept the change.   Press the Delete button to delete the current note highlighted in the left hand list box and shown in the edit box.  Deleting a category does not delete it from a existing note, so you could still have the old categories shown in your notes.  Press the Close button to exit the Category Edit dialog.

Using your categories

Once a category is set up, there is a different way to get a category list to appear in Single Record mode or Grid View.  In Single Record mode you can press the dropdown button (the down arrow) at the right hand side of the category field to get a list of available categories to choose from. Click on the category you wish to use.  In Grid View you must double click on the category cell you wish to get the list to appear for.  Once you have done this click on the category you wish to use.

Setting up sources

Sources can be set up by using the menu command References, Sources or by pressing CTRL+O.  This brings up a dialog box that allows you to enter, edit, and delete sources from your source list for the database.  You must shutdown this dialog before you can continue working.  Press the New Source button to add a new source to your list.  This action blanks out the edit fields at the right side of the dialog and allows you to type in your source information in each field.  Just typing in any of the edit boxes will change the text of the source field already in the edit box which is also the highlighted row in the list box at the left hand side of the dialog.  Press the Cancel button to cancel the editing of a new source or the creation of a new record.  Press the Update button to accept the change.   Press the Delete button to delete the current note highlighted in the left hand list box and shown in the edit box.  Deleting a source does not delete it from a existing note, so you could still have the old sources shown in your notes.  Press the Close button to exit the Source Information dialog.

Using your sources

Once a source is set up, you can assign it only in Single Record mode.  Grid View just indicates if a source exists for a record.  In Single Record mode you can press the Source Link button to pop up the Link/Unlink source dialog.  This dialog allows you to click on a source name in the list box at the top of the dialog and assign it to the current record by pressing the Link Source button at the bottom of the dialog.  To unlink the source from a record, you just activate the dialog again and press the Unlink  Source button.  The currently linked source is shown in the Selected Source: field.  Press the Close button to exit the dialog.

Setting up the quick categories and keywords.

Quick categories and keyword assignments can be set up by using the menu command References, Set Quick Buttons.  This brings up a the Quick Keyword and Category Entry dialog box that allows you to edit two sets of keyword and category data.   You must shutdown this dialog by pressing the Close button before you can continue working.   You  may place these preset values in a record by pressing the Q1 or Q2 buttons at the bottom of the main form to have them placed in the Keywords and Category fields.

Using the scratchpad

The scratchpad is just a text edit box that allows you to store up to 32K of text.  It is actually a text file on your computer.  Whenever you start up Note Hound it loads this text file and whenever you shutdown Note Hound it updates this text file with the current contents of the text edit box.  Press the

Save Now button to immediately save any text changes.  Press the Reload button to wipe out any changes you have made by reloading the last saved file from disk.

Printing a note(s)

There are two printing functions.  The first function is File, Print Grid View.  This prints all the notes that are currently shown in the Grid View.  A page preview browser is brought up so you may examine the data before printing. This function can print a great many notes, and you might want to think twice before printing the entire database if there are hundreds of notes.  This print function does not print the note bodies.

TO PRINT JUST ONE NOTE SET YOUR FETCH TO RETURN JUST THE ONE NOTE.  FOR EXAMPLE, FETCH ON THE NOTE NAME TO RETURN JUST THE NOTES WITH THAT NAME.

NOTE: The width of the printed fields in the page preview browser can be adjusted by adjusting the width of the columns in Grid View Mode.

Printing a note body

The second print function is File, Print Note Body.  This allows the note body for the current note shown in Grid View (or the one note shown in Single Record mode) to be printed out.  There is no preview for this function.  The note name is printed along with the note body to reference the note body.

Creating a new database.

You may require more than one database on occasion.  If you have enough records or radically different types of data to store you may wish to segregate them by database.  Note Hound allows you to have multiple databases, although you can only access one at a time.  The current database you are connected to is shown in the title bar at the top of Note Hound.

A database is created by using the File, Create Database command.  This makes a copy of the template database note_new.mdb and note_new.ldb files (do not delete these files if you wish to make new databases).  Once this database has been created you can switch to this new database using the File, Open Database command.

Changing between databases.

You may switch between existing databases by using the File, Open Database command to close the current database you are in and open a new database to work with.

Compacting databases.

A database is compressed by using the File, Compact  Database command.  If you have been busy editing, creating, and deleting notes within a database, you may wish to compact it.  The compaction process removes unused space from the database that has been freed up by deletions, etc.  Before you can compact a database you must open another database to read so the compaction process can begin.  You cannot compact your current database.  The compaction process will ask you to enter a new file name to compact to.  After it is done compacting, go into file manager or DOS to rename the database to its old name if you wish.  The old database can be archived or deleted.

ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATABASE BEFORE A COMPACTION.

Repairing databases.

A crashed database can be potentially fixed by using the File, Repair Database command.  The repair database command is a command that tries to repair an access database that Note Hound is not currently connected to.  Run this command if you are getting weird error messages or behavior.  You will have to specify a file name to copy the repaired database to.

ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATABASE BEFORE A REPAIR.

Contents

Commands Reference

Tips and Tricks


Command_Reference
Commands Reference

Screen Shot of Note Hound in Single Record Mode.

Click on the control to see a description of what the control does.

This shows the Single Record tab view of a note.  The Grid View has the same controls, but the display of information is in a row and column format instead.  You may edit most fields in both modes by clicking on the field with the mouse or by using the TAB key to move from field to field.

Screen Shot of Note Hound in Grid View Mode.  No Hot Spots on this graphic!

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Tips and Tricks

BIGGEE TIP

MAKE REGULAR BACKUPS OF YOUR DATABASE FILES (NOT TO MENTION YOUR OTHER FILES).  BACK UP TO AVOID LOSS OF IMPORTANT WORK!

General Headings for Tips and Tricks.

1	Setting Up Keywords and Categories

2	Setting Up Prioritized To Do Lists

3	Setting Up Bibliographies

4	Searching For Information

5	Neat Features

1	Setting Up Keywords and Categories

Keywords should be used as more specific methods of finding a particular note.  For example, a category might be politics, but you may use keywords such as the country name, a political figure's name, an event to better find the note.  The Keywords should not repeat the note name usually.

Categories should be a more generalized method of finding a note. Good categories are words that describe a general idea or field of study, and keywords can be used to be more specific.  For example, some categories would be anthropology, shipping, aviation, etc.    Anthropology would then have keywords for its various specialties such as paleoanthropology, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology.   Aviation would have keywords like balloons, propeller aircraft, jet aircraft, air safety, airports, etc.

2	Setting Up Prioritized To-Do Lists

Place your to-do lists into categories so you can find them quickly with the Fetch command.  For example, you could set up a categories for hobbies, work, and home.  The to-do lists notes can then have a priority assigned to them.  You can check off the items that are finished or delete them.  Note you can sort your notes by priority and choose to show the checked off or unchecked off notes if you wish.

3	Setting Up Bibliographies

Once your bibliographical information has been entered, you can export it out in a tab separated format file.  Open this file in a word processor or a spread sheet program to view it, then copy and paste the contents into the document of your choice.  To get rid of the tabs, use a global search an replace function.  If you wish to view or edit the entire exported record in a text format you should not load the results into a spreadsheet as it will force you to deal with each field in the record in a separately.

4	Searching For Information

Try using just the category if you do not have a great number of notes within an area to search through.  The grid view works well for browsing this way.  If you have many notes, try using a more specific search based on the note name or a keyword.  Don't forget to use your wild card characters to guarantee the best results of a search.

5	Neat Features

You can copy information from one cell in a column to another cell in the same column by clicking on it then dragging and dropping it on the new cell.

You can copy entire rows using the row copy and paste commands.

Do not forget to use the Order field to make notes appear in a particular sort order.

The width of the printed fields in the page preview browser can be adjusted by adjusting the width of the columns in Grid View Mode.

Contents

How To Do

Commands Reference


Fetch Button

The Fetch command is Note Hound's search command.  Use it to find just the notes you are looking for in the database without having to manually scan through all of your notes.

Fetch Note Dialog

The default search for the Fetch Note dialog is to retrieve all notes from the database.  The default value is *ALL* in the Category, Priority, and Keywords fields to retrieve all notes in the database.  Press the Close button to close the dialog, retrieve the found notes, and return to the main screen.

The Find Results area on the screen shows you the results of a particular search.  The Keywords and the NoteName fields display the respective values from the first record that matches your search.  The Hit Number fields shows how many records were found by your search.  A value of 0 indicates that no records were found.  In the example screen shown, 14 records were found for the entered keyword of egypt.

The search criteria you enter in all of the fields is interrelated for all searches you do.  For the widest scope of searching, leave as many of the fields defaulted to *ALL* as you can.  The find text is not a case sensitive search.

To reset the views to display all notes, press the Fetch button and then the Close button on the Fetch Note dialog immediately to reset the fetch to show all notes in the database.

Finding by a Category:

•	Press the on the down arrow to show the categories in the Category dropdown list box.

•	Click on the category of your choice.

•	Press the Close button to exit and find all the notes for that category.

Finding by a Priority:

•	Leave the Category dropdown showing *ALL* unless you also want to restrict the search by a Category.

•	Press the on the down arrow to show a list of the priority types in the Priority dropdown list box.

•	Click on the priority type of your choice.

•	Press the Close button to exit and find all the notes for that priority.

Finding by a Search Field:

•	Leave the Category and Priority dropdowns showing *ALL* unless you also want to restrict the search by a Category and a priority or some combination of the two.

•	Press the on the down arrow to show a list of the search field types in the Search Field dropdown list box.

•	Click on the search field that you want to do a text search on.

•	Type in the search text you want to find in the Find Text text box.

•	Press the Close button to exit and find all the notes that match the search text for the chosen search field.

Example Search Using a Search Field:

•	User leaves the Category and Priority dropdowns showing *ALL*.

•	User selects Keywords from the Search Field dropdown list box.

•	User types in USA in the Find Text text box.

•	User then presses the Close button to initiate the search after seeing the Hit Number does not say 0.

This example would find all the notes with the word USA at the beginning of the Keywords field. However, it would not find notes with the word USA in the middle of a string of words.  To do this you must use wild card operators.

WILD CARD OPERATORS

Wild card operators are used in the Find Text text box to find occurrences of characters in a larger string of characters.  The * is the most powerful wild card, with the ? being a slightly less powerful wildcard.  Wild card operators are named so because they allow the * or the ? to substitute for other characters.  The * can substitute for zero to many characters, while the ? can substitute for one character. Wild cards can be used more than once in a search string, and you can mix the two types of wild cards.

Examples of using a *:

Typing *dog would find the following notes with the text (searches are not case sensitive):

The dog

Thedog

The furry dog

dog

cats and dogs

dogs

However, typing in dog* would only find the one item from the text items from above:

dog

This is because the wild card is at the end and the search would only find items beginning with dog, but ending in something else.  For example, it could find dogstar, dog and cat, doggy, and dog-eared.

Typing in *dog* could find cats and dogs, or dog and cat.

Typing c*t would find the following notes with the text (searches are not case sensitive):

ct

cat

city

coat

Examples of using a ?:

The ? is a substitute for any one character or no character.

Typing in dog? could find:

dogg

dogt

Typing in d?g could find:

dog

dag

dig

However, it would not find doog, dang, or drag as there are two characters between the d and the g.

Typing in d??g could find:

doog

dang

drag

However, it would not find dog, dag, or dig as it is looking for two characters in between the d and the g.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Sort_Button
Sort Button

The Sort command allows you to order the notes found in ascending dictionary order by one or two selected fields.

Sort Order Dialog

You can pick one of the fields for the first sort field by pressing the mouse on one of the radio buttons.  The default is the Original Order which is lit up with the black dot in the center.  Once you have selected a First Sort Field, then you are allowed to select a Second Sort Field.  Only a single item maybe chosen for each Sort Field.  To reset the sort, press the mouse on the radio button marked Original Order.  The original sort order is the order the notes were created and entered into the database.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Data_Control
Data Control

The Data Control allows the user to move from one record to another record.

Data Movement Control

The outer arrow buttons with the vertical bars take you to the first and last records in the database for the set of notes found.  The inner two arrow buttons move you forward and back one note at a time.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Set_Bookmark
Set Bookmark

The Set Bookmark button is the rolodex with the arrow pointing down at it.  This marks the current note so you can instantly return to it later. This is handy for marking a position in a large set of notes.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Goto_Bookmark
Goto Bookmark

The Goto Bookmark button is the rolodex with the hand selecting a card.  This instantly takes you to the record marked by using the Set Bookmark command. This is handy for finding a marked position in a large set of notes.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Record_Edit_Buttons
Record Edit Buttons

The record edit buttons allow you to do four commands which are:

•	New Record. Creates a new record. Press the Update button or move to another note to save.

•	Cancel. Cancels the current edit button operation.  If you have edited an existing note, pressing the Cancel button discards the changes.  Can also stop the creation of a new note.

•	Update. Saves the changes to a new note or the changes to an exisiting note.

•	Delete. Deletes an existing note.  There is no recovery from this command.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Use_Current_Record
Use Current Record As New Source Checkbox

Checking this box allows you to use the currently selected record as the template when the New Record button is pressed.  All the information from this record is copied over to the new record, except for the note body.  Unchecking this box makes the New Record button create blank new records.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Quick_Category
Quick Category Buttons

The two Quick Category buttons copies the information from one of the two preset categories into the currently selected record.  The copies information is for the Category and Keyword fields.  Use the Set Quick Buttons command from the References menu to set up the two quick categories.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Status_Radio_Buttons
Status Radio Buttons

These radio buttons control the display of records by status.  This is especially useful for checklists or to-do lists where you can show what items have been done or not done.

•	Both. Shows both checked and unchecked status records.

•	Checked. Shows just checked status records.

•	Unchecked. Shows just unchecked status records.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Results_Message
Results Message Box

This message area at the bottom of the screen shows you the current status of a command you are issuing or on the status of the database.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Number_of_notes
Number of Notes Found Counter

Indicates the number of notes found by a Fetch command.  Always check this before doing any printing.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Single_Record_View
Single Record View Tab

Pressing this tab takes you into Single Record View, showing the current record with the highlight in Grid View.  Only shows one record at a time.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Grid_View
Grid View Tab

The Grid View tab shows you all the records found by a Fetch command in the database.  You can see all the records at once or by scrolling up and down through the grid.  Does not show note bodies which are only displayed in Single Record View.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Scratch_Pad
Scratch Pad Tab

Brings you into the scratch pad which allows you to enter up to 32K of text.  This information is automatically loaded when you start up Note Hound and when you shut Note Hound down.  The scratch pad is intended for the quick jotting down of a short item or two, or as a very temporary place to store some information.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


Note_Body
Note Body Text Box

Shows the note body for a note.  You can edit in this box and can store up to 32K of text in it.  Not every note should have a note body, as it is used to store a large amount of text.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


status_checkbox
Status Checkbox

This checkbox is used for to do lists or to indicate that an item has been finalized.  A checked note would be either done or proofed, etc.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


create_date
Create Date

Date a note was first created.  Format is month/day/year.  Not an editable field.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


update_date
Update Date

Date a note was last updated.  Format is month/day/year.  Not an editable field.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


source_checkbox
Source Checkbox

Indicates if a note has a source attached to it.  This means there is a reference to a book, magazine, paper, etc., and you can look up the source by pressing the Source Link button.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


source_link
Source Link Button

This button pops up the Source Link dialog.

Link/Unlink Source Dialog

This dialog allows a predefined reference source to be linked to a note when in Single Record Mode.  The source currently linked to the note is shown in the text box underneath the Selected Source: title.

Perform the following steps to link a source to a note.

•	Select a source from the list box by clicking the mouse on it.

•	Press the Link Source button.

•	The source should now appear in the Selected Source: text box and is linked.

•	Press Close to exit.

Press the Unlink Source button to unlink a source from a note.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


note_description
Note Description Textbox

A long description for a note, or if the note is short enough, the entire note.  This fields stores up to 255 characters.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


category
Category Drop Down

A drop down list box that allows a preset category to be assigned to a note and enforces that only valid categories are picked.  Typical categories should be general and relate to a field of study.  For example archeology, botany, medicine, disease, etc., would be good categories.  For more specific information about a category, see the Keyword field.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


priority
Priority Drop Down

A drop down list box that allows one of the four preset categories to be assigned to a note: Immediate, Major, Medium, Minor.  A priority is mainly useful for to-do lists and is not usually used for data storage notes.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


note_name
Note Name Textbox

Stores the name for the note, which should uniquely identify the note and give some hint of its contents.  Stores up to 40 characters.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


keywords
Key Words Textbox

An indexing field used to enter in keywords so a note maybe found in the future.  Stores up to 50 characters.  This field typically stores some more specific identifiers and doesn't repeat the category of a note.  For example, it could contain the words pyramid, stone blocks, nile, cheops, egypt, but would not usually store the word archeology as that would be better off as a category.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


group_order
Group Order Textbox

A field that can be used to indicate some non-standard ordering to your notes.  It is not used by Note Hound.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


file_menu
File Menu

The File menu contains file level operations and print functions.

Open Database command

This opens an existing Note Hound database for use.  When a database is first opened, it will show all the records.

•	A common dialog is displayed where you can pick the database to open.

•	This is now your default database, so when you start up Note Hound, it will be this database you are looking at.  Your current database is displayed in the Note Hound title bar.

Create Database command

Creates a new empty database with the name you give it. This is done by copying the note_new.mdb and note_new.ldb files to the file name you specified. Never use the note_new files as a regular database as they are template files.

•	You must open the new database after you create it to use it.

•	Ensure you have about 100K free disk space for the new database to be created.

Print Grid View command

Prints all of the records shown in Grid View in a tabular display format.  To print fewer notes use the filter to reduce the number of notes shown in Grid View.

•	A print preview dialog appears showing you what notes will be printed in the tabular format.

•	Use the print command on this popup preview dialog to actually print your notes.

NOTE: The width of the printed fields in the page preview browser can be adjusted by adjusting the width of the columns in Grid View Mode.

Print Note Body command

Prints the note body attached to the current note shown in Grid View to the printer.

•	There is no page preview function for this command. The note is just printed.

Export Shown Notes command

Exports all the fields of the notes shown in Grid View to a tab separated value file.  Each line in the file is one record, and this file can be loaded into a spreadsheet program.

•	Each note is uniquely numbered.  This number field is the first field of the record.

•	You might want to think twice before printing the entire database if there are hundreds of notes.

Export Shown Note Bodies command

Exports all the note bodies for the notes shown in Grid View to a tab separated value file.  You probably cannot load this into a spread sheet, but could look at it in a word processor as the records are very large.

•	Each note body record is uniquely numbered.  This unique number corresponds with the number of the note it belongs to, linking the two together.

•	You might want to think twice before printing the entire database if there are hundreds of notes.

Export Shown Sources command

Exports all of the sources for the notes shown in Grid View to a tab separated value file.  This file can be loaded into a spread sheet or a word processor.  If you load this into a word processor, you could replace the tab characters with commas and use it in your bibliography.

•	Each source is on one line by itself.

Use the Notbblio.exe if you wish to search and print on your sources.  This program comes bundled with Note Hound.

Compact Database command

Compresses the database file selected to remove unused space from the database file.

•	You do not need to compress your database file unless you have added and deleted a large number of notes.  This creates unused space that can be removed.

•	You need to change databases to another database if you wish to compress the current database you have opened.

Repair Database command

Repairs the database file selected if some file corruption has occurred with your database.

•	You do not need to repair your database unless it cannot be loaded.

•	You need to change databases to another database if you wish to repair the current database you have opened.

Close command

Closes down Note Hound.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


edit_menu
Edit Menu

The Edit menu contains commands related to copying and pasting.

The Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete commands all work within a single field in a record.  They only affect the highlighted text within a text field, except for the Paste which can paste from the clipboard into an unhighlighted field.

The Copy All Field Text command works very similarly to the Copy command, except it always copies the entire contents of a single field without you having to highlight it.

The Copy Row and Paste Row commands copy all the fields from one row and paste all the fields into another row respectively.  The fields are not stored in the Windows clipboard and can only be pasted within Note Hound.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


references_menu
References Menu

The References menu contains commands related to setting up category lists, source lists, and quick categories.

Categories command.

Category Edit Dialog

This dialog allows you to setup the categories you can assign to notes.  You can enter the category in the Category Name: edit box in the top right hand corner of the dialog.  The information displayed in this field corresponds with the item that is highlighted in the list box on the left hand side.  The number of sources in the database is shown in the bottom right hand corner of the dialog.  In the example, it is "Records found = 53".

•	To create a new category press the New Record button.

•	To edit an existing category just type in any one of the fields.

•	To save changes to an existing category or to save a new category press the Update button.

•	To cancel any changes or the creation of a new category press the Cancel button.

•	Press the Delete button to remove the current category displayed.

Click the mouse on the list of categories that appears at the left hand side of the screen to select a category to display on the name field on the right hand side of the screen.

Sources Command

Information Source Dialog

This dialog allows you to setup the sources of information you can assign to notes.  You can enter the Title, Author, Publisher, Country of Publication, Year of Publication, ISBN book number, keywords field and some Notes about the source.  The information displayed in these fields corresponds with the item that is highlighted in the list box on the left hand side.  The number of sources in the database is shown in the bottom right hand corner of the dialog.  In the example, it is "Records found = 10".

•	To create a new source press the New Record button.

•	To edit an existing source just type in any one of the fields.

•	To save changes to an existing source or to save a new source press the Update button.

•	To cancel any changes or the creation of a new source press the Cancel button.

•	Press the Delete button to remove the current source displayed.

Click the mouse on the list of source titles that appears at the left hand side of the screen to select a source to display on the fields on the right hand side of the screen.

While Note Hound does not search on the Keys field, you enter search terms in here just as you would in the Keywords field for a note.

Set Quick Buttons

Quick Key and Category Entry Dialog

This dialog allows you to set the two quick category buttons labelled Q1 and Q2 near the bottom of the main screen.  The top portion is for setting the Keywords, and category you wish to place in the current note when you press Q1 button.  The bottom portion of the screen sets Q2 button.  Press the Close button to accept your changes to this screen and exit.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks


help_menu
Help Menu

The Help menu contains the about box and opens the help file with the Instructions command.

Instructions command brings up this help file.

About command tells information about Note Hound.

Contents

How To Do

Tips and Tricks