=ctx-prj:Jiminy-docu=
A 'to-do' system that watches MarkDown files in a set of nominated directories, scans through new and changed ones to gather custom tags from an expandable GTD-esque set, combines them and generates one or more highly configurable static HTML and/or JSON outputs from templates.
It's fairly basic at the moment, right now it's evolving rapidly as I use it and find new things I want it to do but it is (and should remain) fast, clean, very configurable and generate 100% portable output.
I am essentially developing it to suit my needs rather than trying to provide a utility that is ideal for everyone.
Feel free to suggest improvements and tweaks that would make it more useful to you but please bear in mind that I'm not attempting to rewrite OneNote.
Here is a sample of the output that is generated, viewing the project for err, this project. I've obscured a few vaguely private/commercial project names.
Over the years I've used numerous systems to organise the things I need to do, such as EverNote, OneNote, BoostNote and a few others.
Essentially I've been trying to shoehorn a personalised version of the GTD system into various hosts that seemed to prefer that I didn't.
While they are all capable, pretty and/or useful in their own ways, I found each to be variously annoying, bloated, awkward or otherwise not ideal, and were tying me into their way of working.
I wanted something that is very simple and quick to add items to, where I can just dump a note, reminder or other to-do item that I need to be nudged about into whatever I'm typing into, then via some unbidden sorcery find them all in one place in a nice structure that helps me prioritise and schedule getting on with them.
I also wanted something that can be backed up easily, where the backups are immediately readable and greppable, and be can be selectively restored or the content copy-pasted; not a proprietary .unreadablebyhumans format that I might find I can't open in a few years without installing something I stopped using ages ago.
Since I use MarkDown for making notes and drafting documents anyway, and a lot of my to-dos in other systems just referenced those .md files (or worse, duplicated chunks of them), I figured why not just add the to-do items (I'll just call them 'items' hereafter) directly into the MarkDown in such a way that they can be easily recognised and dug out by software.
So my solution is to go back to good old text files in directories for my to-do system, rather like the method I used back in the Cambrian era, namely having a 'todo.txt' in each folder.
This time though, with a system that gathers all the items into one place, reminds me about things and makes it easy to work out what's important while keeping a complete set of everything that I confidently expect to complete during my next two or three lifetimes.
The delicious CSS-only tabs were gleefully lifted from Code Convey, it's an impressively smooth and good-looking implementation that handles any number of tabs without a hint of JavaScript or external dependency.
The SVG files that it uses are taken from the Bootstrap icon collection.
The idea is that I can keep using my favourite Markdown editor (the splendid GhostWriter, but any will do) to make notes and draft documents and when I identify a new task or just need to remind myself about something later, I add a line such as;
=b:n-p:2-prj:Jiminy-enh-pho= Call Fred about making it do XYZ in a better way
..and continue typing without breaking my stride to open up Evernote, click a button to create a new note, find that it now asks me what type of note, oh, that's new, no I don't want a task thanks, hit new note again, type in the title and add the text, then add 5 different tags to make it a priority 2 'next' enhancement in the Jiminy project that involves a phone call, remember yet again that there isn't a save button to press, then switch back to the document I'm writing and try to remember what I was planning to write next.
This way I have no context switching and no little surprises when Evernote decides to add a new feature I don't want into a well-established work flow, I just keep typing and Jiminy tells me what I need to remember later.
Tags are the way you tell Jiminy everything about an item. There will be a full explanation of each standard tag and how to add custom ones somewhere below this section but as a brief introduction to how it works, take the example from above, namely;
=b:n-p:2-enh-pho= Call Fred about making it do XYZ in a better way
Tags start and end with a selected string, by default both are '=' as I don't personally use them with Markdown, but they could be any characters or strings; say '>=>' and '<!=' or 'tagstart' and 'tagend' if you prefer.
Tags are separated by hyphens and parameters are delimited by colons but again, any alternative strings can be defined instead.
I chose these defaults because they are easily typed without pressing shift (oh yes, apart from colon, maybe semicolon or comma would be better) and they visually separate the tags nicely.
=b:w-que= Use Semicolon or comma for default parameter delimiter ?
The default delimiters are;
"TagSettings": {
"Prefix": "=",
"Suffix": "=",
"Separator": "-",
"Delimiter": ":",
"FromHere": "\u003E",
"ToHere": "\u003C=",
...etc...
The 'FromHere' and 'ToHere' ones are for adding multiple lines to an item, see 'Tagging multiple lines' below. In human readable form they are '>' and <='.
The tag set above is interpreted as;
| Tag | Short for | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| b:n | bucket:next | This item goes into the 'Next' GTD bucket; aka 'GTD list', but I prefer bucket, you can customise the settings to make them be called lists if you like. |
| p:2 | priority:2 | Priority 2 item, this could have been 'p:med', 'pri:medium' etc. Priorities can be indicated by number or name, you can redefine the priority list as you like but by default there are 1, 2 & 3 for high, medium and low. |
| enh | enhancement | Custom tag to indicate an enhancement, you can have as many custom tags as you like and add a custom icon and colouring for each. |
| pho | phone | Custom tag to indicate this item needs a phone call to get done. You can have it make lists of specific tags so for example could have a list of all the phone calls you need to make, or all items that require you to be in a specific place to do. Essentially the GTD 'context' concept. |
This tag set results in a display in the output HTML along the lines of;
Tags must begin as character 1 on the line, the system only looks for the starting prefix there, at present anyway.
Trying to interpret everything following an '=' found anywhere in a file as an item doesn't sound entirely wise, so there would clearly need to be more distinct delimiters, and it'd slow things down a fair bit of course.
The examples above have a sneaky space in front of them to stop them messing up my Jiminy output with reminders to call Fred. That preceding space makes them be ignored.
All the text after the suffix, until the end of the line, is added to the item as the associated text. This text is displayed at the top of each item in the output.
The text is added raw and as-is, so can include valid html, or invalid html for that matter; it's entirely up to your browser what it makes of it.
As such, the below results in what you'd expect it to.
=b:n-enh= Do these things;<ul><li>Thing 1</li><li style='color:blue'><b>Thing 2</b></li></ul>
Please note that failing to terminate an element, eg. leaving off the '</ul>' in the above would not be caught by the parser, at least currently. This may well have some impact on the readability of the subsequent output ;).
To avoid having to add the project or any other frequently used tag to each item you can set that as a context by adding something like;
=p:Jiminy-setctx=
This tells it to set the context that all subsequent items in this file are for project 'Jiminy', so for the rest of the document I don't need to tell it which project items are for. You can set a context with 'setcontext', the synonym 'ctx' or whatever other synonym you want to define.
You could then override the context for a specific item, change the context to another project or clear the context entirely with 'clearcontext', 'clear' or 'xctx', the default synonyms for the 'ClearContext' tag.
You can use any set of tags as a context, so;
=setcontext-prj:Jiminy-b:wait-enh-pri:low-rem:3/nov-due:10/dec=
..would give every subsequent item the tags for project 'Jiminy', bucket 'Waiting', priority 'Low', and mark it as an enhancement, set a reminder for the 3rd of November and a due date of 10th December.
This document has a context setter at the beginning to set the context for items I want to remind me about things to do with the document, namely;
=ctx-prj:Jiminy-docu=
So all items I add in here are put in my 'Jiminy' project, and marked as relating to documentation. If I want to add an item that is also a bug, I just add a tag as below;
=bug= This one is a bug, not documentation
The 'bug' tag is one of the standard custom tags.
Or if I want to override the project and mark it as needing a phone call;
=prj:AnotherProject-phon= Item for another project that I need to call somebody about
..gives me an enhancement item for the other project instead with a phone tag as well as the document tag from the context.
Setting a second context while one is in place will add to and replace the tags in the context, so;
=ctx-prj:Jiminy-enh-p:1=
=ctx-docu-p:2=
Will leave the current context as project Jiminy, priority 2 (having over-written the priority 1) with custom tags Enhancement and Document.
Clearing the context with 'xctx', 'clearcontext' or whatever you have defined will get rid of all current context.
If you have set a context already and just want an item to use that context, use;
== Just add an item with whatever context is in place
This assumes the start and end delimiters are both equals signs as per the defaults, if not, use whatever delimiters you have defined.
A warning will be generated if there isn't any context at that point, though the item will still be created.
A tag set can apply to more than one line, for example;
=b:n-docu=>
This line will be the item text
As will this one
And this too
<=
The delimiters to start and end multi-line tags are under TagSettings, 'FromHere' and 'ToHere'.
Another way to do mutiple lines, especially for when you have a few similar ones to do is to set a context and define a series of items;
Please note that I have prefixed the starting delimiters below with a space so they don't keep showing up as items in my Jiminy output. To be recognised, all tag sets must start at the beginning of a line.
=ctx-prj:Jiminy-enh=
...
=>
Blah multi-line enhancement item..
..for project SomeProject
<=
=>
And another
Blah
<=
=>
Yet
Another
<=
All the tag names and the synonyms for them are customisable. The default settings fragment below shows you can add a tag to mark an item as complete with 'completed', 'closed' or 'x'. Bucket has a synonym of 'b' and priority 'p' or 'pri', you can have as many synonyms as you like.
On startup, if any names or synonyms clash, it will complain and refuse to run.
"TagSettings": {
...blah...
"Defintions": {
"Items": [
{
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [
"closed",
"x"
],
"Code": "completed",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Completed",
"IconFileName": "completed.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 1,
"Description": "This item is completed"
},
{
"Type": 5,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [
"b"
],
"Code": "bucket",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Bucket",
"IconFileName": "bucket.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "This item is in a bucket (in, next, waiting, maybe)"
},
{
"Type": 2,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [
"p", "pri"
],
"Code": "priority",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Priority",
"IconFileName": "priority-medium.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "The priority of this item"
}
...etc...
A few standard custom tags are pre-defined such as bug, enhancement, document, phone call, video call and conversation (for an in-person chat).
Any of these can be removed or altered, and any number of custom tags can be added, some of the standard custom tags are shown in the settings fragment below.
By default, the system will add a tab for each custom tag under the top-level 'tags' tab, ou can disable this by setting GenerateView' to false for that tag.
"TagSettings": {
...blah blah...
"Defintions": {
...standard tags...
"Items": [
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "enhancement",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Enhancement",
"IconFileName": "enhancement.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 8,
"Description": "Enhancement"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "conversation",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Conversation",
"IconFileName": "conversation.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 9,
"Description": "Talk to somebody"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "phonecall",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Phone call",
"IconFileName": "phone.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 10,
"Description": "Phone call required"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "question",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Question",
"IconFileName": "question.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 10,
"Description": "Question"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "document",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Document",
"IconFileName": "document.svg",
"Colour": "SlateGray",
"DisplayOrder": 10,
"Description": "Related to documentation"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "videocall",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Video call",
"IconFileName": "video-call.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 10,
"Description": "Video call"
}
]
After an item is created it may be filled out with default tags if they do not already exist.
- If it has no project it will be added to a project called 'No Project'
- If it is not in a bucket it will be added to bucket 'Incoming'
- If it has no priority it will be given the lowest priority (i.e. whichever priority has the highest number)
- If a reminder tag is found with no date, it will set today as the reminder date
- If a due tag is found with no date, it will set today as the due date
Each item has a set of buttons, these allow you to temporarily move the item around to focus on particular items or ignore them for a while.
These changes are temporary alterations to the HTML and can be undone by refreshing the browser.
This does not alter the source files or item properties in any way. If you restart the browser or refresh the page, all changes will be reset.
| Button | Function |
|---|---|
| Promote | Moves the item to the beginning of the set. |
| Demote | Moves the item to the end of the set. |
| Hide | Moves the item to the 'Hidden Items' tab under the top-level 'Other' tab. |
Currently the hide button invalidates the item count in the tag header, and it probably always will :).
By default it only looks at '*.md' files but you can tell it to look in any files you like, according to the settings fragment below. Currently you can only have one file specification per directory, but can have multiple entries for a directory with a different file specification for each.
=b:eve-enh= Make IncludeFileSpecification a list, set up a watcher for each.
"MonitoredDirectories": [
{
"Recursive": true,
"IncludeFileSpecification": "*.md",
"IsActive": true,
"Path": "C:\\Personal"
},
{
"Recursive": true,
"IncludeFileSpecification": "*.md",
"IsActive": false,
"Path": "C:\\Development"
}
],
...etc...
You can have any number of HTML and/or JSON output files, filtered on lists of project names or tags.
The HTML files use a .HTML template file and insert the generated content into it. You can completely customise the templates with whatever styling you like.
For example you might just want one overall HTML output for all items, or have a second output for a specific project, perhaps plus another just for bugs and enhancement requests, another for all reminders and items with due dates or another with just items relating to a specific client which you can send to them.
I'll add more filtering criteria but with existing functionality its easy to just add a new custom tag 'PutInOutputForFred', tag a bunch of items with it and define a new output that only includes items with that tag.
Each output can use either the standard HTML template or a specific template just for that output.
I wanted a system where the output is entirely portable and could be viewed or copied anywhere, emailed to somebody, chucked onto a phone etc. so the HTML is completely self-contained in a single file, not dependent on any external files or internet connection.
The CSS is completely in-line and the icons are SVGs which are read in on startup, included in the file as HTML statements and customised for their base size and colour at output generation time.
There is a small amount of JavaScript which makes the buttons work, if JavaScript is disabled, the buttons will be disabled.
"HtmlSettings": {
"ShowDiagnostics": false,
"VerboseDiagnostics": false,
"HtmlTemplateFileName": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\HtmlTemplate.html",
"Outputs": [
{
"IsEnabled": true,
"Title": "All Items",
"HtmlPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Output.html",
"OverrideHtmlTemplateFileName": null,
"ItemSelection": null
},
{
"IsEnabled": false,
"Title": "Jiminy Items",
"HtmlPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Jiminy.html",
"JsonPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Jiminy.json",
"OverrideHtmlTemplateFileName": null,
"ItemSelection": {
"MustMatchAll": false,
"IncludeTagNames": [],
"IncludeProjectNames": [
"Jiminy"
]
}
},
The template HTML file mainly consists of two <style> statements, the second is purely for the tabs so can be altered but with care. The tremendous CSS-only tab code was cheerfully robbed from Code Convey.
The first <style> section contains all the styling that applies to the item content, and can be tweaked to your heart's content.
The HTML within the <body> element is generated entirely by code and is inserted into the template where it finds '[ContentPlaceholder]'.
The generated HTML uses classes everywhere to allow extra customisation.
You can add more HTML around the placeholder to slot the output into a larger document, as long as Jiminy can find the placeholder it will replace it with the generated html and be oblivious to any other content.
Below is the <body> section of the default template;
...head stuff...
</head>
<body>
<!--The placeholder below will be replaced by the content, feel free to add any custom content around it-->
[ContentPlaceholder]
</body>
</html>
If the item data needs to be played with more extensively you can always use the JSON output as the source data for something more involved, or import it into another system.
The JSON file outputs aren't configurable other than filtering which items are included, you just get a standard .json file with all the item and tag information. It is indented so as to be human-readable.
=b:next-bug= Don't write diagnostics to JSON output if ShowDiagnostics setting is false.
Sample JSON output below;
{
"Items": [
{
"AssociatedText": "",
"SetsContext": true,
"SourceLineNumber": 42,
"FullText": "=prj:Jiminy-ctx=",
"SourceFileName": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Jiminy.md",
"Warnings": [],
"Diagnostics": [
"Processing tag \u0027prj:Jiminy\u0027",
"Code \u0027prj\u0027, parameter \u0027Jiminy\u0027",
"Setting project to \u0027Jiminy\u0027",
"Processing tag \u0027ctx\u0027",
"Code \u0027ctx\u0027, no parameter",
"Set context: Repeat:, Pri:, Bucket:, Project:Jiminy, Text:, File:",
"Setting context"
],
"CreatedUtc": "2021-09-02T02:35:49.9839061Z",
"BucketName": "Incoming",
"ProjectName": "Jiminy",
"PriorityName": "Low",
"PriorityNumber": 3
},
{
"AssociatedText": "Implement delete clearing tags",
"SourceLineNumber": 43,
"FullText": "=b:eve-enh= Implement delete clearing tags",
"SourceFileName": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Jiminy.md",
"Warnings": [],
"Diagnostics": [
"Processing tag \u0027b:eve\u0027",
"Code \u0027b\u0027, parameter \u0027eve\u0027",
"Set bucket to \u0027Eventually\u0027",
"Processing tag \u0027enh\u0027",
"Code \u0027enh\u0027, no parameter",
"Added custom tag \u0027Enhancement\u0027",
"Applying context project \u0027Jiminy\u0027"
],
"CreatedUtc": "2021-09-02T02:35:49.9839307Z",
"BucketName": "Eventually",
"ProjectName": "Jiminy",
"PriorityName": "Low",
"PriorityNumber": 3
},
{
"AssociatedText": "Open Ghostwriter from Jiminy.html",
"SourceLineNumber": 44,
"FullText": "=b:eve-enh= Open Ghostwriter from Jiminy.html",
"SourceFileName": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Jiminy.md",
"Warnings": [],
"Diagnostics": [
"Processing tag \u0027b:eve\u0027",
"Code \u0027b\u0027, parameter \u0027eve\u0027",
"Set bucket to \u0027Eventually\u0027",
"Processing tag \u0027enh\u0027",
"Code \u0027enh\u0027, no parameter",
"Added custom tag \u0027Enhancement\u0027",
"Applying context project \u0027Jiminy\u0027"
],
"CreatedUtc": "2021-09-02T02:35:49.9839648Z",
"BucketName": "Eventually",
"ProjectName": "Jiminy",
"PriorityName": "Low",
"PriorityNumber": 3
},
...etc...
It uses the Microsoft FileSystemWatcher functionality, which will spot changed or created files in the monitored directories immediately and Jiminy will get to work on them within a second or two, so the output should be regenerated within a second or three unless it's a gargantuan file or has hundreds of items, I've not tested it with any monster files yet but it should be pretty snappy.
On startup it takes a few seconds as it completely regenerates the item data, there is no persistent storage at all.
Currently the code is half event based and half timer based, I need to clear that up so it's entirely event based.
=p:1-b:eve-enh= Ditch the timer loop in the monitor.
There is a LatencySeconds setting that is intended to make it hang back for a second or few so as to allow for somebody saving a file repeatedly in a short period and not have Jiminy regenerate the output every single time.
Apart from the output files themselves, no item data is stored in any database, files, cookies or session storage etc., the item data is completely regenerated on startup and refreshed in-memory when source files are changed.
There is a default project called 'No Project' which all items are added to if they are not given a project.
Any project tag that names a project which doesn't exist will create a project of that name, but this way you don't get to specify an icon, colour or display order for the project.
Project tags will try to match partially, so if you have a project 'Hardware' already defined and use tag 'prj:hard', it will match the existing project rather than create a new one.
For your standard set of projects it's better to pre-define them in appsettings.json as below, which allows you to customise how they are presented and what order they are shown in.
Pre-defining projects is also the only way, currently, to end up with a project whose name has a space in it, since spaces are taken as a terminator of a tag set, which might change.
=b:maybe-enh= Allow spaces in tags, enforce use of end tag delimiter ?
"ProjectSettings": {
"Definitions": {
"Items": [
{
"Number": 0,
"Name": "Jiminy",
"IconFileName": "umbrella.svg",
"Colour": "crimson",
"DisplayOrder": 103,
"Description": "Developing Jiminy"
},
{
"Number": 0,
"Name": "Archivist",
"IconFileName": "archivist.svg",
"Colour": "indigo",
"DisplayOrder": 102,
"Description": "Developing Archivist"
},
{
"Number": 0,
"Name": "Writing",
"IconFileName": "writing.svg",
"Colour": "saddlebrown",
"DisplayOrder": 101,
"Description": "Writing English stuff"
},
{
"Number": 0,
"Name": "Hardware",
"IconFileName": "hardware.svg",
"Colour": "darkblue",
"DisplayOrder": 110,
"Description": "Hardware matters to fix or do"
},
=b:n= Document reminder and due date tags, add screenshots etc.
=b:n= Document repeating tags, add screenshots etc.
Each tag and some properties within tags can have an icon associated with them, for example each priority level can have a different icon or there can be just one icon for all priorities. The icons are all configurable, or you can dispense with them entirely.
The icons must be SVG files, the reason being that they are read in by the system and added to the output in html '<svg>...svg stuff...</svg>' form, so the SVG files are not needed to view the output, only when it is generated.
The SVG files are looked for in a local directory indicated by the MediaDirectoryPath setting and named in the settings. If one or more are not found or the directory is not there, Jiminy will generate a warning message for each and use a default question mark icon instead.
The fill colour of the icons is set or left as-is according to the properties of the item. For example, in the standard settings the priority icon defaults to colour 'blue' but there are overrides for this in each specific priority so the icon for high priority items is automatically filled with colour 'orange' but filled with 'darkgrey' for medium and low priority. If the specific priority had no colour, the default 'blue' would be used.
See the relevant settings fragment below.
Colours are identified by the standard CSS colour names, so any valid CSS colour name is supported, or you can supply a hex value.
"TagSettings": {
...blah...
"Defintions": {
"Items": [
{
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [
"p"
],
"Code": "priority",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Priority",
"IconFileName": "priority-medium.svg",
"Colour": "blue",
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "The priority of this item"
},
...etc...
...and...
"PrioritySettings": {
"Defintions": {
"Items": [
{
"Number": 1,
"Name": "High",
"IconFileName": "priority-high.svg",
"Colour": "orange",
"DisplayOrder": 0,
"Description": ""
},
{
"Number": 2,
"Name": "Medium",
"IconFileName": "priority-medium.svg",
"Colour": "darkgrey",
"DisplayOrder": 0,
"Description": ""
},
{
"Number": 3,
"Name": "Low",
"IconFileName": "priority-low.svg",
"Colour": "darkgrey",
"DisplayOrder": 0,
"Description": ""
}
]
}
},
The second fragment is where you can alter or add new priorities to suit.
If you give it a tag or parameter that it doesn't recognise, it will report it right at the top of the HTML output where you can't miss it, so;
=badtag:wrong= Something wrong here
..will result in..
If you can't work out what you're doing wrong with a tag, turn on diagnostics;
"HtmlSettings": {
"ShowDiagnostics": true,
"VerboseDiagnostics": false,
..etc..
...and each item display will include a full report of what happened when it was interpreted and the tags that were applied, as below.
Note that even though the tag on 'Something wrong here' wasn't valid, it still creates an item and warns that it's not tagged properly.
Currently it runs from a Windows console, you can see activity and progress messages displayed there.
At some point when it stabilises I may write a service shell for it, so it runs as a Windows service but for now it's not really a priority.
=b:eve-enh:p:low= Implement Jiminy as a Windows service
There is no updating of the source tags from the HTML. You must go to the source file, change it there and refresh the browser to see the regenerated HTML file.
The name of the source file and the line number the tag was found on are shown for each item.
Having an HTML page writing to local files is theoretically not possible or at least philosophically unthinkable, and even I were to wangle some kind of hack to get around this, having it write back to the source files is fraught with problems; apart from anything else the source file may well be open in a MarkDown editor and the changes would just get overwritten.
The upshot being that there is no "This item is completed", "Move this to the waiting bucket" or "Set a reminder for tomorrow" functionality in the HTML output.
At some point I might put a WPF front end on it, then might revisit that decision but probably not, there would still be the problem of the changes being overwritten.
Perhaps a JavaScript button could pop up a dialogue where changes were made and the the changed tag text put the clipboard so it could be pasted into the Markdown. That would save some typing, but at the cost of clicking checkboxes, selecting from dropdowns etc. which would be slower and arguably more disruptive to the 'flow'.
The main problem is getting to the correct line in the source file to make the change and it wouldn't help with that.
The MarkDown icon that appears at the bottom of each item along with the source file name and line is a link which will open that file in a new tab in the browser via a 'file://' link, assuming your browser allows it.
You can't edit the source there but it can be handy as a read-only viewer, albeit of whatever is in that file right now, which may differ from when the item was extracted from it.
Everything is defined in a fairly large appsettings.json file in the directory the program runs from.
Initially there is no such file, the first time Jiminy runs it will create a default version of it and then fail spectacularly because it has no idea what your directories are called. You can then customise the settings as you wish.
If you ever need to regenerate the default appsettings.json, delete or rename the existing one and restart Jiminy.
One of the benefits of EverNote, OneNote etc is the way they synchronise between PC, Laptop, phone etc.
The thing is, I work almost exclusively from a single desktop machine and only occasionally use a laptop when I am dragged kicking and screaming from my office, and sometimes drop an html onto my phone with a shopping list or the like, so automated synchronisation isn't really a requirement for me.
Since this is all based on good old text files, it would be easy to use a file synching tool to do the job or store the files in a DropBox folder or whatever, but Jiminy isn't ever likely to be doing anything along those lines itself.
There's a lot of stuff in here, most of which can happily be left alone but if delved into, allows you to alter a lot of things about how it interprets tags it finds in source files and what output it produces.
You can add custom tags here, add new priorities, rename almost everything and generally make it work more like you do.
The main one to start with is the 'MonitoredDirectories' settings, without which not a lot will happen.
I've set the json serialiser that generates it to include all values in the below and the default file that is created, it makes for a rather larger file but is much easier to see what options are available if all the defaults are shown too.
=b:eve-pri:low-docu= Document each setting... at some point.
{
"LatencySeconds": 10,
"MediaDirectoryPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Media",
"TagSettings": {
"Prefix": "=",
"Suffix": "=",
"Seperator": "-",
"Delimiter": ":",
"Defintions": {
"Items": [
{
"Type": 9,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [
"closed",
"x"
],
"Code": "completed",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Completed",
"IconFileName": "completed.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 1,
"Description": "This item is completed"
},
{
"Type": 10,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [
"url"
],
"Code": "link",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Link",
"IconFileName": "link.svg",
"Colour": "blue",
"DisplayOrder": 2,
"Description": "A link to a URL"
},
{
"Type": 5,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [
"b"
],
"Code": "bucket",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Bucket",
"IconFileName": "bucket.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "This item is in a bucket (in, next, waiting, maybe)"
},
{
"Type": 2,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [
"p"
],
"Code": "priority",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Priority",
"IconFileName": "priority-medium.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "The priority of this item"
},
{
"Type": 6,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [
"prj"
],
"Code": "project",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Project",
"IconFileName": "project.svg",
"Colour": "green",
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "This item relates to a project"
},
{
"Type": 4,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "due",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Due",
"IconFileName": "due.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 4,
"Description": "There is a due date for this item"
},
{
"Type": 3,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [
"r"
],
"Code": "reminder",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Reminder",
"IconFileName": "reminder.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 5,
"Description": "There is a reminder for this item"
},
{
"Type": 7,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "repeating",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "Repeating",
"IconFileName": "repeating.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 6,
"Description": "This item repeats"
},
{
"Type": 8,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [
"context",
"ctx",
"setctx"
],
"Code": "setcontext",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "SetContext",
"IconFileName": null,
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 7,
"Description": "An abstract property that sets the context of subsequent tags"
},
{
"Type": 11,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [
"clear",
"xctx"
],
"Code": "clearcontext",
"IsCustomTag": false,
"IsStandardTag": true,
"Name": "ClearContext",
"IconFileName": null,
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 7,
"Description": "An abstract property that sets the context of subsequent tags"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "bug",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Bug",
"IconFileName": "bug.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 8,
"Description": "Bug"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "enhancement",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Enhancement",
"IconFileName": "enhancement.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 8,
"Description": "Enhancement"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "conversation",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Conversation",
"IconFileName": "conversation.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 9,
"Description": "Talk to somebody"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": true,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "phonecall",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Phone call",
"IconFileName": "phone.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 10,
"Description": "Phone call required"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "question",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Question",
"IconFileName": "question.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 10,
"Description": "Question"
},
{
"Type": 1,
"GenerateView": false,
"Synonyms": [],
"Code": "videocall",
"IsCustomTag": true,
"IsStandardTag": false,
"Name": "Video call",
"IconFileName": "video-call.svg",
"Colour": null,
"DisplayOrder": 10,
"Description": "Video call"
}
]
}
},
"LogSettings": {
"VerboseConsole": true,
"VerboseEventLog": false,
"LogDirectoryPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Logs",
"SqlConnectionString": null
},
"IgnoreFileSpecifications": [
"readme.*",
"README.*",
"LICENCE.*"
],
"MonitoredDirectories": [
{
"Recursive": true,
"IncludeFileSpecification": "*.md",
"Exists": true,
"IsActive": true,
"Path": "C:\\Personal"
},
{
"Recursive": true,
"IncludeFileSpecification": "*.md",
"Exists": true,
"IsActive": false,
"Path": "C:\\Dev"
}
],
"BucketSettings": {
"Defintions": {
"Items": [
{
"Synonyms": [],
"Name": "Incoming",
"IconFileName": "inbox.svg",
"Colour": "red",
"DisplayOrder": 1,
"Description": "The place where new items go when they have no home"
},
{
"Synonyms": [],
"Name": "Next",
"IconFileName": "next.svg",
"Colour": "purple",
"DisplayOrder": 2,
"Description": "Items to do next"
},
{
"Synonyms": [],
"Name": "Soon",
"IconFileName": "soon.svg",
"Colour": "blue",
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "Items to do soon"
},
{
"Synonyms": [],
"Name": "Waiting",
"IconFileName": "waiting.svg",
"Colour": "darkgrey",
"DisplayOrder": 4,
"Description": "Items that are waiting on other items or something else"
},
{
"Synonyms": [],
"Name": "Maybe",
"IconFileName": "maybe.svg",
"Colour": "green",
"DisplayOrder": 5,
"Description": "Items that may or may not end up happening"
},
{
"Synonyms": [],
"Name": "Eventually",
"IconFileName": "eventually.svg",
"Colour": "darkgrey",
"DisplayOrder": 6,
"Description": "Items to do eventually"
}
]
}
},
"PrioritySettings": {
"Defintions": {
"Items": [
{
"Number": 1,
"Name": "High",
"IconFileName": "priority-high.svg",
"Colour": "orange",
"DisplayOrder": 0,
"Description": ""
},
{
"Number": 2,
"Name": "Medium",
"IconFileName": "priority-medium.svg",
"Colour": "darkgrey",
"DisplayOrder": 0,
"Description": ""
},
{
"Number": 3,
"Name": "Low",
"IconFileName": "priority-low.svg",
"Colour": "darkgrey",
"DisplayOrder": 0,
"Description": ""
}
]
}
},
"RepeatSettings": {
"Defintions": {
"Items": [
{
"NumberOfDays": 1,
"NumberOfWeeks": 0,
"NumberOfMonths": 0,
"NumberOfYears": 0,
"Name": "Daily",
"IconFileName": "repeating.svg",
"Colour": "red",
"DisplayOrder": 1,
"Description": "This item repeats daily"
},
{
"NumberOfDays": 0,
"NumberOfWeeks": 1,
"NumberOfMonths": 0,
"NumberOfYears": 0,
"Name": "Weekly",
"IconFileName": "repeating.svg",
"Colour": "green",
"DisplayOrder": 2,
"Description": "This item repeats weekly"
},
{
"NumberOfDays": 0,
"NumberOfWeeks": 0,
"NumberOfMonths": 1,
"NumberOfYears": 0,
"Name": "Monthly",
"IconFileName": "repeating.svg",
"Colour": "green",
"DisplayOrder": 3,
"Description": "This item repeats monthly"
},
{
"NumberOfDays": 0,
"NumberOfWeeks": 0,
"NumberOfMonths": 0,
"NumberOfYears": 1,
"Name": "Yearly",
"IconFileName": "repeating.svg",
"Colour": "green",
"DisplayOrder": 4,
"Description": "This item repeats yearly"
}
]
}
},
"HtmlSettings": {
"ShowDiagnostics": false,
"VerboseDiagnostics": false,
"HtmlTemplateFileName": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\HtmlTemplate.HTML",
"Outputs": [
{
"IsEnabled": true,
"Title": "All Items",
"HtmlPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Output.HTML",
"JsonPath": null,
"OverrideHtmlTemplateFileName": null,
"ItemSelection": null
},
{
"IsEnabled": true,
"Title": "SingLink Items",
"HtmlPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\SingLink.HTML",
"JsonPath": null,
"OverrideHtmlTemplateFileName": null,
"ItemSelection": {
"MustMatchAll": false,
"IncludeTagNames": [],
"IncludeProjectNames": [
"SingLink"
]
}
},
{
"IsEnabled": true,
"Title": "Respondent Items",
"HtmlPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\Respondent.HTML",
"JsonPath": null,
"OverrideHtmlTemplateFileName": null,
"ItemSelection": {
"MustMatchAll": false,
"IncludeTagNames": [],
"IncludeProjectNames": [
"Respondent"
]
}
},
{
"IsEnabled": true,
"Title": "Bugs and Enhancements",
"HtmlPath": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\BugsEnhancements.HTML",
"JsonPath": null,
"OverrideHtmlTemplateFileName": "C:\\Personal\\Jiminy\\BugsEnhancementsTemplate.HTML",
"ItemSelection": {
"MustMatchAll": false,
"IncludeTagNames": [
"Bug",
"Enhancement"
],
"IncludeProjectNames": []
}
}
]
}
}
=ctx-prj:Jiminy-b:next-enh=
=> Make it find tags in source file comments too. <=
=ctx-pri:low-prj:Jiminy-enh-b:eve= => Open Ghostwriter from Jiminy.html <= => Add a duration tag (and time start ?) <= => Implement times for reminders and dues, not just dates <=
== Fix removal of counts on hiding item, or maybe grey the counter out, perhaps better.
=prj:Jiminy-docu-ctx=