Ajebe DatePad 2.1

DatePad update available!
Please note, there is a newer version of DatePad available. Please go to the datepad page of this website to find the latest version of DatePad.


DatePad - Documentation

DatePad

version 2.1
copyright 2001 – 2007 by Adrie Berg
ajebe.com

download now (zipfile)

Introduction

DatePad - Main screen
DatePad combines the power of a calendar with the ease of a text editor. DatePad can be used in a large number of ways. It’s main function is to store text which is specific to a certain date. You can also store text specific for certain times. It is the perfect way to keep track of whatever you are interested in of your own history.

Use DatePad to keep a diary, use it to manage a project, write down your thoughts, keep a record of your dreams.. and for sure there are a lot more possibilities.

On this website it is also possible to read more about DatePad news and events.

The help file is divided into a few sections to make it easier to navigate to the help section your need.

General

Installation

To install DatePad 2.1 first download the zipfile containing the installation package. Unzip this file and run the ‘setup.exe‘ file. During the installation there might be some warnings, normally these warning can be ignored and the program will work.

License

DatePad is freeware. DatePad comes with absolutely no warranty. Use at your own risk. If you encounter any problems with this software please inform me about them, and I’ll try to come up with a solution.

Requirements

DatePad has been tested and will run on the following Windows versions:

  • Windows 95
  • Windows 98
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows NT

    • DatePad may also work on other versions of the Windows operating system but this is not guaranteed.
    During the installation of DatePad some addition software is also installed. These include MSXML, used for the internal storage of DatePad documents, a calendar control and a rich text control. The effects of these parts of the program on your computer should be zero, but this is not guaranteed.

    Distribution

    The author only allows distribution of DatePad on any media after permission. Send an email to adrie@ajebe.com to ask for permission. Include in the email the distribution type (Magazine, Shareware CD, etc.) and a description of the references made to DatePad (article, product comparison, etc.).

    DatePad screen

    The main screen is divided into three parts. By default there is a treeview on the left side of the screen and an area to enter text on the larger right part of the screen. Texts you type are related to the date selected in the treeview. Using the F1 and F2 keys it is easy to navigate to earlier (F1) or later (F2) dates.

    Editing area

    This part of the screen is where you type your text. Text typed here are related to the date currently selected which is displayed in the statusbar and in the treeview. You can access a few functions by right clicking in this area. The right click options are:

    Remove formatting Removes all formatting like color, font types, alignment, style and reverts all text to the default formatting as specified in the editing settings.
    Insert Text Inserts a variable. The available variables are:

  • System Day
  • System Date
  • System Time

  • Entry Day
  • Entry Date
  • Entry Time

    • System Day display the system day name, like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. System Date displays the entire system date like 29 July 1975, 1 April 2007, etc. and System Time displays the current time like 12:00, 21:15, 08:15, etc.
    Entry Day, Entry Day and Entry Time add similar text to the editing screen, but based on the entry time and not based on your system time.
    The shortcut key to quickly type the current date is Ctrl-J. The shortcut key to quickly type the current time is Ctrl-K.

    Insert Text From File... Imports a text file into your DatePad document.
    Font... Change the font of your selection.
    Size Change the font size of your selection.
    Align Change the alignment of the currently selected line.
    Style Change the style of your selection.
    Color... Change the color of your selection.

    Treeview

    The treeview is used to show a schematic view of your document. It shows years, months, days and times, and provides a simple way to navigate to the various parts of your document. Simply click in the treeview on an entry to navigate to the text belonging to this entry.
    Right clicking on an entry in the treeview shows the following options:

    Previous Navigate to the previous entry in the currently active DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is F1.
    Next Navigate to the next entry in the currently active DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is F2.
    Delete Selected Entry... Deletes the currently selected item in the treeview including all items nested inside the selected item. Be careful with this option because it cannot be undone. Deleting a year entry will also delete all months, days and times inside. The shortcut key for this option is Delete.
    Delete Empty Entries... This option scans your entire document and deletes all entries that do not have and sub-entries and which do not have any text. No text will be deleted, only entries in the document like times without text or dates without underlying times and without text.

    Menu bar

    • File
      New Starts a new document. The default entry will be an entry for the current day. If the displayed date is incorrect check the date you computer is set to. The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-N.
      Open... Opens an existing DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-O.
      Reopen Shows a list of recently opened DatePad documents to easily reopen these documents.
      Close Closed the current active DatePad document. A warning will appear when a document is closed which contains unsaved changes. The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-Q.
      Save Saves the current active DatePad document. Files are by default saved in the DatePad format (*.dp2). The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-S.
      Save As... Saves the current active DatePad document using a different name, or using a different file format. Documents can be saved as text, rich text, html or xml. Rich text is a file format that can be read by many other programs, and it is the perfect file format if you wish to enhance your document for printing or if you wish to stop using DatePad.
      Save Page As... Saves only the current page of the current active DatePad document.
      Set As Default Sets the current active DatePad document to be the default. This means this document will be opened automatically in the future when DatePad is started.
      Print... Prints the current active document.
      Print Page Prints the current page of the current active document. The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-P.
      Print Setup... Configures the printer
      Settings... Shows the settings screen.
      Exit Exits DatePad. The shortcut key for this option is Alt-F4.
    • Edit
      Undo Changes Undo your last change.
      Undo All Changes Undo all changes made since your last save.
      Delete Selected Entry... Delete the entry that is selected in the treeview, including ALL entries on a deeper level. Be careful with this option! If you delete a month entry, all underlying day entries will also be deleted.
      Delete Empty Entries... Scans the entire current active document and removes all entries that contain no text.
      Insert New Entry Inserts a new part in your DatePad document. This can be the current day, the current time, or any selected date or time.
      Use F11 to directly insert a new entry for the current day, or if this entry already exists F11 will navigate to this entry.
      Use F12 to directly insert a new entry for the current time, or if this entry already exists F12 will navigate to this entry.
      Insert Text Insert a piece of text at the place of the cursor stating the computer date, time or entry date or time.
      Insert Text From File... Import a text file, and place the text at the place of the cursor.
      Remove Formatting Removes all formatting from the current selected entry in the current selected document. Only the current page is modified.
      Font... Change the font of your selection.
      Size Change the font size of your selection.
      Align Change the alignment of the currently selected line.
      Style Change the style of your selection.
      Color... Change the color of your selection.
      Find... Find any literal text in the currently active DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-F.
      Find Next Find the next occurance of a previously found term. If there was no previously entered term this option will show the normal search screen. The shortcut key for this option is F3.
    • View
      Previous Navigate to the previous entry in the currently active DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is F1.
      Next Navigate to the next entry in the currently active DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is F2.
      Calendar... Show the calendar. Select a date in the calendar to add an entry for this date in your currently active DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-D. To cancel the calendar screen press Esc.
      Clock... Show the clock. Select a time to add an entry for this time in the currently active DatePad document. The shortcut key for this option is Ctrl-T. To cancel the clock screen press Esc.
      Show Toolbar Defines if you want to see the toolbar or not. This setting is automatically saved when you close DatePad.
      Show Statusbar Defines if you want to see the statusbar or not. This setting is automatically saved when you close DatePad.
      Show Treeview Defines if you want to see the treeview or not. This setting is automatically saved when you close DatePad. The shortcut key for this option is F4.
      Show Docked Calendar Defines if you want to see the docked calendar or not. This setting is automatically saved when you close DatePad. The shortcut key for this option is F5.
    • Window
      Tile Horizontally Organize the opened DatePad documents horizontally.
      Tile Vertically Organize the opened DatePad documents vertically.
      Cascade Organize the opened DatePad documents cascaded.
      Arrange Icons Organise the opened DatePad documents which are minimized within DatePad.
      -list of active documents- Change the currently active document to one selected in this list of active documents. There can be up to 5 documents listed here. If available the shortcut keys for this option are Shift-F1, Shift-F2, Shift-F3, Shift-F4 and Shift-F5.
    • Help
      Contents... Displays this help document. More help can be found online at ajebe.com.
      About DatePad... Shows DatePad version information.

    Buttonbar

    DatePad - Buttonbar

    DatePad - Buttonbar Previous Navigate to the previous entry in the currently active DatePad document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Next Navigate to the next entry in the currently active DatePad document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar New Starts a new document. The default entry will be an entry for the current day. If the displayed date is incorrect check the date you computer is set to.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Open Opens an existing DatePad document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Save Saves the current active DatePad document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Print Prints the current active document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Calendar Show the calendar. Select a date in the calendar to add an entry for this date in your currently active DatePad document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Clock Show the clock. Select a time to add an entry for this time in the currently active DatePad document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Search Find any literal text in the currently active DatePad document.
    DatePad - Buttonbar Help Shows DatePad version information.

    Status bar

    The status bar shows the date of the entry you are currently working in. Double clicking the displayed date will show the calendar window.

    Settings

    DatePad - Settings
    The settings are used to configure DatePad.
    Default behaviour of DatePad includes the main screen size and coordinates which are saved when you close DatePad. Also the status of the treeview and the docked calendar is remembered automatically. These options cannot be changed. Other customizable options are as follows:

    Startup

    Default Document The document displayed here is your default document. It will be opened automatically each time you start DatePad. The default document is not opened when you start DatePad by double clicking a DatePad file. In this case only the requested file is opened.
    Start with an empty document If you do not supply a default document DatePad can open a new document each time you start the program. This option if only used if no default document is specified.
    Backup any opened document Makes a backup copy of the files that are opened.
    Enable file locking Makes a file lock for all the files that are opened. This file lock is removed when the file is closed. If another user tries to open a locked file a warning will be displayed.
    Optional locking identity If file locking is used a identity can be specified. This identity will be used in the warning message to indicate which used is editing a DatePad file. To correctly use this option different instances of DatePad should have different identities.
    Save unsaved changed when closing Automatically saves a DatePad file when is contains changes at the time it is being closed.
    Start with a day entry When a DatePad document is opened DatePad will automatically add an entry for the current year, month and day.
    Start with a time entry When a DatePad document is opened DatePad will automatically add an entry for the current year, month, day and time.

    Editing

    Enter the following text when a new day is added If this option is enabled a new day entry will contain the text that is written in the box below this option. The text box can contain normal text, some variables, colors and layout items. Right click in the text field to enter these things. The variables that can be used are:

  • <systemday>
  • <systemdate>
  • <systemtime>

    • <systemday> display the day name, like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. <systemdate> displays the entire date like 29 July 1975, 1 April 2007, etc. and <systemtime> displays the time like 12:00, 21:15, 08:15, etc.
    Enter the following text when a new time is added If this option is enabled a new time entry will contain the text that is written in the box below this option. The text box can contain normal text, some variables, colors and layout items. Right click in the text field to enter these things. The variables that can be used are:

  • <systemday>
  • <systemdate>
  • <systemtime>

    • <systemday> display the day name, like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. <systemdate> displays the entire date like 29 July 1975, 1 April 2007, etc. and <systemtime> displays the time like 12:00, 21:15, 08:15, etc.
    Default font This is the font that will be used if you use the ‘Remove Formatting’ option in the main editing screen. All formatting will be removed and will be reset to the font indicated here.

    Display

    Colors used in the treeview This option is used to enhance the treeview display. Bij clicking the buttons in front of the text a color can be selected. This color will be used for all entries of the selected type in the treeview display. This option can for example be used to display weekends in a different color, by selecting different colors for Saturday and Sunday.

    Change language

    DatePad 2.1 uses by default the English language. It is however possible to change a lot of the language related items in DatePad. This way you can translate all the menus, the context menus, the settings screens and the tooltips to the language you prefer. Translations are made available in an initialization file which is delivered with DatePad. Right now there is translation for the Dutch language only. To activate a translation you need to follow the next steps:

    1. Locate the place where you installed DatePad. Normally this will be C:\Program Files\DatePad\
    2. Locate the language file of your choice (for example: “dutch.ini“)
    3. Rename the language file to “datepad.ini“

    The next time you start DatePad it should use the new language wherever possible. You can try to make your own translation my modifying the “datepad.ini“. If you make a different translation please send it to me, so it can be made available to more people.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Is it possible to copy and paste?

    Yes, you can copy and paste textual information to and from other applications. There is not a menu option to copy and paste, but you can use the windows keys. Select the text you want to copy and press the control key and simultaneously the ‘c’ (Ctrl-C). Then to paste select the location you want to put the text and press simultaneously the Control key and the ‘v’ (Ctrl-v).

    More help

    You did not find the information you needed? Don’t worry, there are more ways to find out that you need to know.

    Updates

    There is more information about DatePad online at ajebe.com and also at leiden365.nl. This is also the place to find updates, fixes and other things related to DatePad.

    Comments

    Please feel free to email questions, comments, remarks or whatever to the author of DatePad. My name is Adrie Berg and my email is adrie@ajebe.com. I will be happy to receive your reactions. You can also post your comments online.

    Copyright 2007 by Adrie Berg