DateBk4 Released
Thursday May 4, 2000 - 6:21 PM
EST - By
James Hromadka
For those of you who like Datebook+, there is a new version of its predecessor DateBk. DateBk4 is now available from Pimlico. I have the full press release below so you can read about all the features and how DB4 benefits wildlife conservation.
Pimlico Software, Inc. announces the release of DateBk4. DateBk4 is an advanced replacement for the built-in Datebook, ToDo and MemoPad applications and includes integrated viewing capability for the Addressbook application as well. Following on from DateBk3, DateBk4 is very similar in operation to the built-in applications and even though its functionality far exceeds those applications, most of the extensions have been implemented in a manner consistent with the general design of those applications and is thus easy to learn. DateBk4 is an extremely rich application - possibly one of the most complex applications yet written for the Palm OS and will be more appropriate for those users who are not tight on memory. Of course, DateBk4 can be placed in Flash ROM to conserve RAM. DateBk3 will continue to be developed and supported for those users who require less functionality in a smaller footprint.
The most important features of DateBk4 are:
- The ability to beam both events and categories to other DateBk4 (and Datebook users). This makes it possible for husband/wife and Small workgroups to easily share their calendars with each other using DateBk4's extensive category management features to display multiple calendars individually or in any combination.
- Split-Screen display of all four major databases with the ability to link both appointments and ToDo's to other ToDo's, addressbook or MemoPad entries. a single event can be linked to multiple records in different databases and a convenient logging feature makes it easy to log an appointment or ToDo description to the note field of an addressbook entry.
- Ten separate views including a weekly view with text in 1, 2 and half-week displays, a monthly view of both appts and ToDo's with icons, 4-month, yearly and list views. The month, 4-month and yearly views feature popup lists that display all events and ToDo's on a day and provide one tap access to the entry in the Day View.
- Powerful category management in all four databases including the ability tolook at one, all or ANY combination of categories. Default fonts and colors (OS 3.5) can be applied to categories in all four databases. A category synchronization feature makes it possible to automatically synchronize category changes across all four databases. Categories can be automatically hidden and displayed based on the day of the week and can even hide and display at the start or end of each workday. This makes it possible to have business related events, tasks and even advance notices, automatically
suppressed over the weekend.
- Saved Views which save a view along with ALL preferences and category definitions under a user defined name. Such views can then be invoked with just two taps and can immediately apply a complex set of specific preference options. A custom View might, for example, bring up the List View with a list all tasks assigned to Co-workers that have not yet been completed. Or
it might bring up a calendar of a husband and wife, where a spouse's schedule appears in a light gray color so the primary user's events can be readily identified.
- Custom fonts and (on color devices) colors that can be applied as defaults to categories and to individual appointments or ToDo's. An important ToDo can, for example, be put in a large bold font in red which really stands out in the calendar. Category defaults make it easy to color code all birthdays in green for example.
- Advance warnings. DateBk4 has the ability to generate advance warnings on any event including repeat events. Advance warnings can be set up to 99 days in advance of an event. DateBk4 automatically creates a floating event that then floats forwards day by day with a down counter showing the number of days left to the event. Custom advances can also be placed on ToDo's, so advance warnings can be issued for tasks.
- *Custom Alarms can be set on both events and ToDo's. This makes it possible to mark all phone calls with a phone sound, or to use special sounds for important events. DateBk4 can use any sounds in the Midi database (and there are several third party collections of custom alarm sounds now available).
- ToDo's can have repeats which function as a regenerative type repeat (i.e. they are automatically scheduled N days after the last date on which it was checked off.
- Recent items list remembers the last 10 addresses and memos you looked at so you can recall them with just one tap.
- Find/filter capability allows you to filter the splitscreen view by text string, so you can list all contacts that have a common text string, such as a phone number or note. Word search and case sensitive or insensitive filters can be applied.
- Quick hide/show feature quickly shows all events normally hidden on a day and can then quickly hide them all again.
- An anniversary feature makes it easy to see how old someone is on their birthday or know the number of an anniversary. This feature also allows you to quickly count the number of prior and future occurrences of any repeat
event.
- Irregular schedule feature makes it very fast to enter a lot of dates for a particular event that does not repeat on any set schedule.
- Support for all new OS 3.5 features, such as masked events, command bar (includes ability to set/clear alarms as well as delete, beam, copy, paste, etc.)
- More than 40 other distinct improvements over the already extensive list of enhancements in DateBk3, such as the ability to set the current time in the time dialog, an improved time selection dialog, options to suppress the second time column when handling timezones, icons for untimed events in the graphical weekly view, color coding of events supported in all views, warnings on accidentally setting an alarm in the past, specify time of day for untimed alarms to go off, ability to suppress, silence or sound alarms on a category by category basis depending upon whether category is displayed or hidden, shading of days in month/4-month/yearly views, custom icons on ToDo's as well as ToDo categories, startup with last view displayed, or even a custom view, etc. etc.
DateBk4 is priced at $24.95 and available through PalmGear (www.palmGear.com). Existing DateBk3 users can upgrade to DateBk4 for $10. In addition, by mid June, I plan to put up an automated upgrade system for registered DateBk3 users which will allow those users that are able to use this totally automated system to upgrade at no charge. This will be possible provided that the user can supply the name and email address that they originally registered under and their DateBk3 registration code.
Of course, I will encourage ALL DateBk3 users to pay the $10 upgrade as all this revenue is donated to wildlife conservation and in particular, I plan to make a substantial contribution this year towards the conservation of gorillas in Africa. Recently, scientists have discovered that rather than three sub-species as was previously thought, there are actually TWO separate species of gorillas (Western and Eastern) and FIVE sub-species. Two of these sub-species (the Cross River and as yet unnamed Bwindi Forest gorillas) are among the most critically endangered species on the planet, and I intend to do what I can to assist those that work on the front-lines in their conservation efforts.
Further information on DateBk4 is available on the Datebk4 web page.
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