Tips and tricks

[hilary]

A user just mentioned in email that she identifies the type of entry in the entry title, for easier scanning in the entry list. Why did I never think of that? Just prefixing titles with 'Y:', 'D:', 'S:' or 'G:' will be enough.

(Creating a whole thread for this in the happy assumption that there'll be plenty of other good ideas that never occurred to me...)

 

[Liselle]

This is pretty obvious, but one way to have various translations/commentaries/notes available in one place is to create a new translator with last name set to something like "All." Then if you select the "All" translator in Hexagram Browser, all the translations will appear in the right-hand cast pane.

Even if you want to also have each translator separately, it's not much extra work - just copy and paste to more than one spot.

(A downside to this is that it can become a very long narrow column of text, but it's at least an option I've found handy.)

 

[hilary]

Another one so obvious I never thought of it...

 

[Olga Super Star]

Do we have tranlations here? I never came across I ching text here

 

[hilary]

Resonance Journal contains my translation and LiSe's, and you can copy in others of your choice.

 

[Liselle]

It turns out Resonance Journal will accept entry dates in the future, e.g. 2100-01-01. What is this useful for? "Sticky-ing" entries at the top of the entry list, much as the forums here have important threads stickied at the top. Currently I have Hilary's templates stickied, and a looseleaf entry where I jot down non-urgent things I'd like to ask Yi someday. (A tag like "questions to ask" would also work, but it's less formal and thus quicker to add a phrase or two to this one entry as things occur to me.)

(A tilde or other character in front of the stickied entries will help them stand out better visually, like "~ Dream template".)

 

[hilary]

Ooh... never thought of that. Note to self - ensure this probably-entirely-accidental feature stays intact!

 

[Blwu Star]

Resonating with New Means of Scribing

Well, I guess I should get my two cents (probably a few dollars worth in length) in here about electronic Journaling in general. The issue for most of us isn't about using it but the complexity of learning it to use it as with any software. Many people use a word processor fairly easily now but there still is a great number of people who just slave over the old way, paper and pencil. These are not iterate folks either. Why this is still more prevalent is the crux of why people like me struggle to journal in any form. It has to do with the influence to be on the fly more than on the computer. The older the person, the longer the list to have to fly to.

Most of us interested in things preferring to write down are old enough to be still "use to" making notes on paper with pens or pencils. It is a simple and instinctive quick process that takes no prepping other that finding blank paper and pens that have ink. It is hard to keep track of the paper notes though, Harder still to gather and organize. Sticky notes, marker boards, bulletin boards are all still a great part of our lives living in the modern speedy world. The pace won't slow down probably in the near or far future either and more likely the pace will increase. This goes against the grain of sensibility but the world isn't sensible in the need for quick results and movement. The easier and quicker way is always more compelling. We invent better ways to do it always too far ahead of the mental incentive to learn it. The pace is fast but the learning curves are slow. Somewhat conflicting realities.

Even electronic hand held voice cassette or digital recorders still aren't preferred by most of us adults in this generation just yet and they have been around a long while. With the innovation of the computer and now the tablet there is a trend to ideally want to use it to keep track of small bits of information but then not take the time to switch. Every phone now has the ability to keep calendars, notes and numbers but you will still find yourself just jotting down on a slip of paper in a pinch (which is still more the norm than not). As the pace increases it competes with the added complexity of learning how to use electronic means instead of paper. That may be why the newer tablets and phones now have an electronic pencil to make notes by hand on the screens rather than a mini keyboard because it is what we know and prefer more than typing on a keyboard is to "write it down". A rather backwards electronic innovation. I still hate texting to speaking but I like time to write my thoughts.

Some people are prone to like to be more organized than most. We are becoming a culture on the go more than having the time to organize. Automation is becoming more attractive (like the little robot vacuum cleaners - you got to be kidding me using those). Most of us are not organizers and learning software isn't a matter of just needing the time to do it but taking the time to learn to do it. Writing on paper doesn't need to know formats or menus. Computerization competes with human nature for simplicity although that is the intention.

I think the Resonant Journal is a brilliant creation and also a very in depth clever tool of scribing that I believe will aid anyone interested in logging what Hilary teaches so well. I really would like to learn it but unfortunately like many complex tools we buy, they sit around due to not having the time or incentive to ride the learning curve to use them second nature. it is hard to get over that hump of learning to make it an instinctive habit. I myself still struggle greatly over the simple habit of having a pad and pencil near my bed over grabbing my laptop and opening up some program. My son had an expression when he was very young. "I really want it but I can't." I, as a (old) adult, can relate to that very well.

I think many electronic gadgets and software programs try very hard to have friendly primers to encourage the switch to use things like the instructions that comes with your small CD player with a remote. One, I can tolerate but the normal household now has a half dozen remotes. The universal remote then came out to reduce them all but needed 6 times the time to program them. You know where that one went in the house, some drawer - forever. What I find with software programs with instructions (help menus) no matter how clever they are is to decipher and get into the mindset of what the author chooses to assume you need to know and the language they used to tell you. Computer indexes are Catch 22s because you need to know the keyword of what you don't know to begin with. Dictionaries are the same, looking up how to spell something by looking up the spelling. Digital indexes you can't just "browse". I find that being most likely enough of a different mindset from anyone else, I have to invariably spend lots of time translating certain terminology and words for a while before I "get it" to "use it". How much time does it take to grab a pen and paper? So you learn which keystrokes to make and submenus to go into but then a week later "what were they now?". Our memories are not non-volatile.

In the computer world it is called degree of User Friendly. The ultimate form of the computerized innovation of course as we've seen in futuristic movies is for the filing system to be a humanized robot that we talk to and it performs for you the organizing and scribing. You just talk to it and not use your hands at all. It would even filter out side comments not to be taken seriously. Keyboard errors leads to places you didn't know existed. Alice or Alex in virtual Wonderland. We're not there just yet to have such a perfect Millennium Man aid so we have to struggle with either foregoing electronic scribing and doing the quick and dirty way or relying upon memory or that pile of sticky notes (somewhere about) to keep track of all our "items" of interest.

So what is the solution, fight or switch? I don't know. My world is about "wanna do" vs "can do". I guess my $ worth leads to try harder is all I can come up with. The Resonant Journal is a creation that inspires bucking the quick and lazy. I give Hilary thumbs up on explaining how to use it but thumbs down on my rotten habits to avoid reading it. Sorry Hilary. I'm old. Maybe you can do what the banks do, give out cookies and tea.

 

[Liselle]

Hi Blwustar,

I agree with a lot of that! Many things seem like complete overkill to computerize - grocery lists, for example .

Resonance Journal suits me for readings because I do them all on the computer anyway - formerly in another database, now in Resonance Journal. So I'm not having to learn a whole new way of working with the I Ching; Resonance Journal just does more for me with the same amount of work. A set of readings is more complicated than grocery lists - and I want to use my readings and learn things from them, so I find the benefits of the computer are worth it.

But I do have a ton of readings in paper notebooks. Putting them in Resonance Journal would be a herculean task. I've thought about (haven't actually started yet) recording only the date, time, and casting for each one - not even the question. Date and time are enough to distinguish one from another - I could label each notebook cover with the date range, and use Resonance Journal as an index. When Resonance Journal tells me I had 56.2 on January 15th, 2004 at 5:02 p.m., I could easily find it in its notebook.

I'd probably tag readings with at least one broad subject tag as I was entering them - it's a quick thing to do. A subject tag or two, and maybe also a tag like "notebook". Full notes could be added if and when I felt like it.

Resonance Journal does require entry titles, but Hilary has suggested that in appropriate circumstances, placeholder titles could be used. I've thought about using just an equals sign (=), or some other single character as the title of all my notebook readings - it's the quickest thing I can think of.

It needs experimenting with - there are a lot of options.

 

[Blwu Star]

Yes, lots of options, mind boggling are they. Sometimes I wish for a "where to go" sign that says forget all but this sign. Rather than options, I seek relief right now. Tomorrow, who knows. Intention may be the saving grace.

 

[Liselle]

Easy workaround - multiple instances of the same image file in Resonance Journal

Lately I've been making a bit more use of image files in my journal (O Nifty Feature ).

However, if you try to use the same image file more than once, you get the following error message:

Fixing this can be done entirely from within Resonance Journal as you're inserting the image. It's quick and easy (quicker and easier in practice than the instructions make it sound):

1. In the Resonance Journal menu, click on Insert, then Insert Image.
2. Navigate to the Windows folder containing your image.
3. Select (highlight) the image file you want to add (for the second or more time) to your journal. Press the F2 key (rename). This will allow you to edit the filename.
4. Edit the filename. I've been adding a numeral to the end of the name, and then incrementing it by one each time I want to use it ("picture.jpg" becomes "picture1.jpg" becomes "picture2.jpg" etc.).
5. Press the Enter key - now the filename will be selected (highlighted) instead of in "edit" status.
6. Click the "Open" button to add the picture to your journal.

What's nice is that prior instances of the image in your journal are unaffected by the renaming. In other words, you can have picture.jpg, picture1.jpg, and picture2.jpg in your journal simultaneously, even though the first two files don't exist anymore on your hard drive. (Also, you don't need a separate copy of the same image on your hard drive for every occurrence in your journal - saves hard drive space and clutter.)

 

[hilary]

Thanks! I hadn't actually realised the images were stored in the journal database. Good to know.

 

[Liselle]

Over in this thread:

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?18921-Announcing-new-Yijing-dreams-journal-software-coming-in-October

alan_sp mentioned that since the Entry Type dropdown list is in alphabetical order, you have to scroll in order to click on Yijing Reading, which is last in the list.

People probably discovered long ago what I just noticed : there's a really easy way to avoid this.

Click once on the down arrow to open the dropdown list - then type a "y" - and press the enter key. That's all - it will select Yijing Reading and close the list.

You can do this with every entry type except Looseleaf Entry (because Line Translation takes precedence).

 

[alan_sp]

Thanks, this is really useful, especially if you usually work with keyboard and mouse at the same time. Of course, some people just tend to stick to mouse only, but having that info (which, actually is logical when you come to think about it) is really useful and certainly would speed a process of casting I Ching a bit.

 

[cecily80]

I am a heavy user of images and I've noticed that all image types are not displayed as image files in the program. There is a another image type: jpe. When you bring up insert image and go to your image library folder, the file type defaults to image file. jpe file extensions will not show up with file type image. I've been getting around this by selecting all files. With all files selected, the image shows and can be selected.

 

[Liselle]

Hi Cecily,

Is this what you mean? Where you'd select "All files" instead of "Image files" from the dropdown box, and then .jpe file types would appear in the list for you to select? (And then I'm assuming once you're able to select them, they display just fine in an entry?)

That's good to know, since there are a gazillion different file types floating around.

 

[cecily80]

Yes, Lisa. That's right. Minolta camera came up with this unusual file extension. I downloaded some photos and wasn't able to see the image files in the journal to select and couldn't figure out what happened to them until I chose all files.

 

[Liselle]

A helpful use for font colors

I feel pleasantly spoiled by the text formatting options in Resonance Journal, as my old database had none of that and I often wished for it.

I've been using the color red to make certain kinds of notes stand out at a glance when re-visiting a reading.

This is in conjunction with tags such as "follow-up" and "good example." I'll make notes about why an entry needs following-up (questions I still have about the reading, or what to watch for in real life), and color them red. Then when I go back to those entries via tag info, I can quickly locate the relevant notes in amongst the rest of my babbling.

 

[Liselle]

Something else I keep meaning to actually say: Anonymous User with the great idea in this thread's first post, if you're around and reading this, I use your prefix idea all the time, and I love it.

 

[Liselle]

alan_sp mentioned that since the Entry Type dropdown list is in alphabetical order, you have to scroll in order to click on Yijing Reading, which is last in the list.
[...]
Click once on the down arrow to open the dropdown list - then type a "y" - and press the enter key

Maybe another way to fix this would be to make one of the entry types the default, if that's possible to do? "Yijing reading"?

That might make the list short enough to fit in the length of the dropdown box (if the box can't be made longer, and if the "- Select an entry type -" instruction is taking up an actual slot), plus it would eliminate the error message you get when you try to save but you've forgotten the entry type.

On the other hand there might be half-a-dozen unintended consequences.

Added: one of those might be people not realizing there even are other entry types, if what they see is "Yijing reading" rather than an instruction...that would not be good.

I see the "- Enter tag name -" dropdown box is exactly the same height as entry type. It's just not as noticeable a problem in that list as in entry type. When the item you want most often is just one line below the length of the box, it can get a bit maddening.

There has to be some limit, though. We've probably all seen dropdown boxes which expand right off the top and/or bottom of the screen, and that's a worse problem.

 

[Liselle]

"What have I updated recently?" queries

Found myself wondering today whether I'd added updates to any old entries recently - what readings had I followed up on, or added interpretation notes or outcomes to, that sort of thing.

Turns out if you date-stamp your note additions in a consistent way, you can easily find that sort of information.

For example, when adding a note today (March 20, 2016) to a reading from September 2015, you could put something like the following at the beginning of it:

[2016-03-20] (the date in the format yyyy-mm-dd)

Then use Advanced Search: put 2016-03 in the "Search Text" box, and tick only the "Entry Text" checkbox in the "Search for text in:" area. The results list will consist of entries created on any date, which you've added notes to in March of 2016.

"What entries have I updated in all of 2016?" could be searched for by putting 2016- in the search box. (The dash is to distinguish a date-stamped update from more casual mentions of 2016.)

Examining lists of results will probably uncover ways to improve - one that I found in my own is I'll often add updates to entries the same day I create them. I think it might be better to mark that sort of progress with just the time, e.g. [10:17am]. Omitting the date in those situations would not only save typing, it would also eliminate false positives from the "any updates to older readings?" sort of query.

Another - whatever you designate as your "update date stamp format," it helps to use a different format when mentioning dates for other reasons. (E.g. "Sally's next concert is on May 3, 2016" rather than "...is on 2016-05-03.")

 

[hilary]

Oh, I wish you'd come up with this before! Yes, I put the date when updating a reading - but in full form, like 'Monday, March 21, 2016', which isn't nearly so search-friendly. I can use the 'entry text' only option on advanced search to find mentions of 2016 in entry text, but that's all. I'll change the format I use for the datestamp.

 

[Liselle]

Oh, sorry...mine aren't 100% either, just out of carelessness, but I hadn't actually settled on something else.

Putting the day of the week - great idea - thank you! Would help provide a "feel" (at a glance) for what was going on, e.g. was it a weekend when X happened. (Days of the week have different feels to them, for me anyway.)

Will have to think where's the best place for it... not at the beginning
[Monday 2016-03-21 9:16am], as it would ruin the [2016-... searches... (am thinking today it might be easier to include the bracket '[' in the search text. Then wouldn't have to be so careful about using a whole different format for other sorts of date-mentions, as long as I wasn't putting brackets around them elsewhere, and why would I).

Maybe bury it in the middle? [2016-03-21 Mon 9:21am]
Or put it at the end? [2016-03-21 9:21am Monday]

Separate stamp into two pieces? [2016-03-21 9:21am][Mon] Useless complication?

Might not matter as long as it's not at the beginning.

Needs playing with for each person, probably.

 

[alan_sp]

Just to mention, searches usually search for certain string within whole text, not just from the beginning.

You could put date stamp, as well as day stamp wherever you want, search should find it within text. If not, Justin should easily change search behavior that it looks for search string within whole entry text.

 

[Liselle]

Tag searches in "Tag Db List" give users the options of "tag starts with..." and "tag contains...".

This was really meant to be much simpler, trivial even, something we can do for ourselves with what we already have. (If anyone even wants to - I did it yesterday, and it seems like it might be good information, but time will tell how much I / we continue to use it.)

A problem with "find it anywhere in the entry text box" - I think, unless I'm misunderstanding? - is that it would literally do just that. How would it distinguish between things meant to be date stamps, and other mentions of dates or days? You couldn't specify a date stamp with just "bracket followed by year followed by dash" if it would find any instance of any of those pieces. At least (I think?) not without implementing regular-expression-type-stuff, which, aside from the work for Justin, has a large learning curve for users and would anyone take the time.

 

[hilary]

Just to mention, searches usually search for certain string within whole text, not just from the beginning.

You could put date stamp, as well as day stamp wherever you want, search should find it within text. If not, Justin should easily change search behavior that it looks for search string within whole entry text.

Yes, that's what it does - searches the full text. Lisa is just thinking about how to write the datestamp in her entries so as to differentiate it from other casual mentions of dates.

Tag searches in "Tag Db List" give users the options of "tag starts with..." and "tag contains...".

This was really meant to be much simpler, trivial even, something we can do for ourselves with what we already have. (If anyone even wants to - I did it yesterday, and it seems like it might be good information, but time will tell how much I / we continue to use it.)

A problem with "find it anywhere in the entry text box" - I think, unless I'm misunderstanding? - is that it would literally do just that. How would it distinguish between things meant to be date stamps, and other mentions of dates or days? You couldn't specify a date stamp with just "bracket followed by year followed by dash" if it would find any instance of any of those pieces. At least (I think?) not without implementing regular-expression-type-stuff, which, aside from the work for Justin, has a large learning curve for users and would anyone take the time.

Er, yes, I should think regular-expression-type searching is pretty low on the list of things to implement! Though I am very impressed by people who do implement such things, and then set to work trying to teach their users to work them. (I for one am hopeless with complex searches and have to go running to David to write such things for me.)

I've taken to writing dates as {Monday 21 March, 2016} which is probably the only time I will use a '{' in an entry, and certainly the only time I'll write 'month, year}'. Hooray for curly brackets.

By the way, do you use a text expander? I have Breevy, and it's tremendously useful. I can imagine you coming up with lots of ingenious time-saving applications for it.

 

[Liselle]

By the way, do you use a text expander? I have Breevy, and it's tremendously useful.

Um, well, had never heard of either text expanders or Breevy. I see it works with any application, and has a nice trial period.

Off to download! Thank you!

 

[alan_sp]

I don't think that creating unique text is a problem, if it is created by one person who knows "own standards".

You always can use whatever you want for special date stamp. As your need is to control it "from start of date stamp", you just need whatever prefix you like. You don't even need sufix.

-2016.03.28 is today's date stamp. In text, you'd use 2016.03.28 (minus minus sign, or whatever prefix). If you in search include -2016 (or whatever part), this is unique search and you always get results you want. Just mentioning 2016 wouldn't give you result, because there's no prefix you use (here it is minus sign, e.g. -).

Just use whatever prefix you like and you're set. In "normal" text, don't use prefix, i.e. put space before date stamp.

 

[Liselle]

A couple of fun and helpful searches

• Find exact readings by combining system tags with yin or yang pattern.
  
  For example, to find all 52.5 > 53 readings, and only those, fill out the Advanced Search form this way:
  Search Text: "# hexagram 52" (this is the system tag; the "#" seems to be optional for searching)
  Search for text in: Tags (uncheck "Title" and "Entry Text")
  Hexagrams: 14
  Hexagram type: Yin pattern (uncheck all the others)
  
  Since hexagram 14 is , yin pattern 14 is "only line 5 moving."
  Hexagram 8 (yang pattern 8) gives the same result.
  
  As far as I can tell, the only time this does not work perfectly is with single-digit hexagrams. For example, if you enter "hexagram 6" in the search text box, limit that to tags, enter 59 in the hexagrams box and check off yin pattern (or 55 as yang pattern), the results will be any reading whose primary hexagram starts with "6" and has lines 1, 3, and 4 moving. 6.1.3.4 > 9; 61.1.3.4 > 44, 60.1.3.4 > 28, and so forth.
  
  Adding a trigram filter to the above doesn't help. E.g. if you try to narrow it down to hexagram 6 by specifying upper trigram = qian, the search produces no results.
  
  
  
• If you know the primary and relating hexagrams, but not the moving lines.
  
  This is a common occurrence on the forums, where someone will ask for help with, for instance, their 35>14 reading. Or if you just want to know if you've ever cast 35>14 without having to look up what the moving lines are. You can easily get that information (as long as there are any in your database) this way:
  
  Search text: # hexagram 35 ("#" is optional)
  Search for text in: Tags (uncheck the other boxes)
  Hexagrams: 14
  Hexagram Type: Relating (uncheck the others)

 

[hilary]

Ooh - brilliant! I'd never thought of combining a search on the hexagram tag and the pattern of change. (I'm mostly bone-idle and just use 'cast history', but that doesn't do 'only line 5 changing'.) Very clever!