Installation in 2 different directories

[Didier Bretin]

Hi,

If I install Tudumo in 2 different directories, each Tudumo.exe file
use the Default.tudumo of its own directory ? If yes, can I launch 2
Tudumo.exe at the same time ?

Regards.

[Richard Watson]

Hi Didier,

Yes, you can put it in two directories. Currently it'll only allow
one at a time to run, though - if you try open the second it'll bring
the first window up.

If you copy Tudumo.exe to a new directory (and copy the key there too)
outside of Program Files, it'll create local data directories. Inside
Program Files, the data goes in My Documents.

Regards,
Richard

[Dave Miller]

Hi Richard,

Is there any reason for preventing two different copies of the program running, or is it just that you haven't had time to modify it to check which data files the existing copy is accessing? If the latter, and it's not quick to implement, would it be possible/easy to add a switch that disables this check (for advanced users)? It would be very useful...

Regards,
Dave

-----------------------------------------
http://www.Dave-Miller.com/
-----------------------------------------

2009/9/29 Richard Watson <ric...@tudumo.com>

[Richard Watson]

Hi Dave,

The intention was to reduce ways that actions get lost, and simplify
the experience. The task tray icon is linked to one window, the
Windows auto-start should really run one app, you know that your
actions are in one place, not all over your computer. If you use F3 to
search, you're searching all places your actions could be. If there's
a due action that you need to be alerted to, Tudumo knows about it
without maintaining a central registry of all actions. There are
certainly pros and cons to either approach, but these seemed fairly
consistent with the general vibe of the app.

I did some work to change the method of managing the single-instance
(actually to allow for remoting and an API), but there are still a few
niggly issues with the newer method, so I've left the original for
now. To make it multi-instance I kinda need the newer method so I'm
able to switch it off. Alternatively, have one instance manage
multiple windows. Both don't seem as important as other features
though!

Regards,
Richard

[Dave Miller]

Hi Richard,

I can see building in proper multiple window support could get complex... But I still wish I could somehow force it to run multiple instances at once, so I can easily review both home and work tasks without switching back and forth. The issues of multiple tray icons and conflicting global keyboard shortcuts wouldn't bother me because I don't use either, and I can't see any other problems worse than the current problem of having to switch back and forth between different copies. Maybe I'm missing something though?...

[Sam Kale]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't the point of having a task
management system to have your entire life in one place? By
versioning your lists aren't you just creating that many more places
where your data *may* be and forcing yourself to look int multiple
places for the same or similar information?

I'm not trying to start a drawn-out GTD discussion here, only to ask
whether there might be a different way to skin the proverbial cat.
One way that I've been thinking about this sort of thing recently is
through the concept of "perspectives" (taken from OmniFocus). This
might be obvious, but a perspective is a group of contexts that go
together. So all of my work-based contexts (@office, @email, @calls,
for example) are grouped together because for me they always happen
while I'm working.

Where this breaks down in Tudumo is that you can only filter by one
tag at a time (or if you can do multiple tags at a time I haven't
figure out how). If you could filter on multiple tags - @work and
@email, for example, to show work-based emails - at the same time, it
might be another way to solve some of the issues mentioned recently.

RICHARD - I know you try to keep the app as streamlined as possible,
so could you perhaps weigh in on this idea from both a coding and a
design perspective?

------------------
Sent from my iPhone

[Dave Miller]

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the suggestion. I've considered putting both home and work into a single file, but it just gets too long. And since the two don't overlap there's no advantage for me in doing so, other than it's a limitation of Tudumo. It would just mean I have to add an extra home or work tag to every action.

Filtering on multiple actions is done by holding Ctrl, Shift or Alt - it's in the help file I believe.

Regards,
Dave

-----------------------------------------
http://www.Dave-Miller.com/
-----------------------------------------

2009/9/29 Sam Kale <sam.k...@gmail.com>

[Richard Watson]

Hi Dave,

Using multiple files is non-standard, so most people don't do it. I
really have to focus on issues that affect most people. I can put in
some time for the edge cases, but when they get expensive I have to
pause. Changing the single-instance code got expensive - many days of
fiddling with windows becoming invisible so I can't find them in the
window list, or finding how to support command-line parameters being
passed via a different method because I can't use remoting, etc. The
method that I'm using was reported as the most reliable, so I have to
unwind that and re-develop things that depend on it. So that's
currently on hold. Even if I could switch it tomorrow, and you don't
need global shortcuts, someone else will want that to work...

Regards,
Richard

[Dave Miller]

Hi Richard,

Thanks, if removing the check does cause stability issues then of course it's not worth it - I was just wondering if it did or not. (Windows Live Messenger, for example, has the same kind of single-instance check, but if it's removed it works just fine.) If it was open source I'd have tried it myself, but I'm not as good with a hex editor :P

[Richard Watson]

Hi Sam,

We've discussed grouping tags by maybe using a prefix and being able
to group/ungroup that, but it wasn't unanimous that it would improve
things. I've also toyed with the idea of "pinning" some filters, so
you could e.g. pin a tag as hidden. It wouldn't really help with the
work/home question if you really have many projects and need to e.g.
add a home or work tag for *every* action. I have everything in the
same list but that doesn't make sense for everyone.

Design-wise, I'm wary of trying to put too many features in there.
There is an obvious question to what "too many" is - the vast majority
of users writing in say "don't add anything else...except this one
thing I want" :) I've long suspected it might be better to have a
project and team-focused version.

For tags: as Dave says, using shift/control and alt to click tags does
let you select multiple.

Regards,
Richard

[Richard Watson]

Hi Dave,

It's not so much a check, it's that the application inherits from a
single-instance class that is imported from the VB namespace, and that
can't be switched off - I have to replace it with other code. It
contains a method of interprocess communication that lets you pass
objects as opposed to strings, so when you run Tudumo on the command
line I can pass an action to the running instance. I went through all
the alternatives at the time but none seemed as reliable or fast -
iterating through windows, or process lists, etc. IIRC if you use the
window list, a hidden window isn't found. If you use the process
list, you can't bring a window forward or something...will have to
look at the code to remember what it was. Obviously enough code gets
around them, but the hex editor method is the path to madness :)

Bedtime - chat tomorrow,
Richard

[Dave Miller]

Haha definitely wouldn't be able to do it with a hex editor then! (Unlike WLM.) Thanks for the explanation.