What to Do*
ToDo enhancement for Newton 2.0
by Dan Rowley <dan@newts.com>
Copyright 1996, Innovative Computer Solutions

Version: 1.0
Released: 10/20/96

***What is What to Do?
    
What to Do is an enhancement for the built-in ToDo manager which provides
several powerful new features:
    *) The ability to add notes to a ToDo item.
    *) The ability to add several ToDo items in succession, without having
to wade through the "new" menu every time.
    *) The ability to quickly add ToDo items, without having to launch the
Dates app first, either by interpreting selected text, or by entering data
into a quick data entry slip.


***ABOUT SHAREWARE

What to Do is SHAREWARE.  You have fourteen days to try What to Do and
determine if it's right for you.  If you want to keep it, you need to
register it.  The registration fee is $15.  Upgrades to new versions of
What to Do are free to registered users.  You can register What to Do
several ways-

    1 - Via the Kagi Shareware registration service - you can register
online by visiting our web site at <http://www.newts.com/>.
    2 - On Compuserve via SWREG (GO SWREG), #12938.
    3 - By sending a check for $15 to Innovative Computer Solutions at
23005 North 21st Way; Phoenix, Arizona 85024-7513.

    When we receive your registration, we will send you a code to unlock
your copy of What to Do.  To unlock your copy of What to Do, tap the
"Register" button on the What to Do prefs screen and enter your name and
registration code.


***Installing What to Do

Install What to Do as you would any other Newton software, by downloading
it to your device using the Newton Backup Utility, Newton Package
Installer, X-Port, or other package installation utility.  Before using
What to Do, you should launch the application (by tapping on the icon in
the extras drawer) to set your preferences.


***What to Do preferences

What to Do has three major preference settings:

INSTALL STATUS BAR BUTTON - Installs a quick-access button on the status
bar of your backdrop application.  If you are using NewtCase Desktop, then
this button would appear on your floating button palette.

HOT ZONE LOCATION - In lieu of (or in addition to) a status bar
quick-access button you can also install a small 5-by-5 pixel hot zone in
one corner of the visible area of your Newton's screen.  The hot zone will
appear as a small 5-by-5 white square in the chosen corner.  The hot zone
has the same effect as the status bar button, but can be more convenient
because it's always available.  Note that the "LOWER RIGHT" and "LOWER
LEFT" settings place the hot zone in the corner of the VISIBLE screen area,
just ABOVE the silk-screened (permanent) buttons, NOT in the corner of the
physical screen.

ALLOW LARGER NOTES - By default, your ToDo notes are stored in the same
soup entry as the actual ToDo items.  If you generally take small and/or
few notes this setting will be fine for you.  This is because the Newton
stores all ToDo items for a single day (and *ALL* repeating ToDos) in a
single soup entry.  If you take large and/or many notes, this entry can
become very large, possibly overflowing available heap memory (this is less
of a problem on the MP130 than it is on the MP120).  If you need to take
larger notes, you can enable the "ALLOW LARGER NOTES" pref, which will
force What to Do to store each of your notes in its own soup entry. 
Although this permits much larger notes, these notes do not get deleted
when you delete the associated ToDo item.  If you use this setting, you
will need to periodically purge "orphaned" ToDo notes by using the "Purge
Orphan Notes" option in the What to Do prefs.


***What to Do ToDo enhancements

What to Do makes two major enhancements to the built-in ToDo application. 
First, it adds a new button to the ToDo entry slip which allows the
addition/editing of notes.  Notes are associated with a single ToDo, and
are shared among all instances of a repeating ToDo.  Second, it adds a "new
ToDo" button to the ToDo entry slip, which allows you to post the current
ToDo item, and open a new slip so you can immediately enter another new
ToDo.  This allows you to enter multiple ToDos in succession without wading
through the "new" menu every time.

***What to Do Quick-Access menu

The What to Do Quick-Access menu is accessed via either the Status Bar
button or a corner Hot Zone.  The Quick-Access menu has four options:

MAKE TODO FROM SELECTION - Takes the currently selected text, and posts it
as a new ToDo item.  If the ToDo is successfully posted, the text will be
unhilited.  If What to Do finds a date in the selected text, the ToDo will
be posted on that day.  A date must be at least three characters long, and
must contain either the slash "/" or dash "-" character (9-6, for example
would be september 6th).  If no date is found, today's date will be used.

NEW QUICK TODO - Opens a mini ToDo-entry slip which allows very fast entry
of multiple ToDos.  You can specify the ToDo text, due date, and priority,
and post as many ToDos as you wish before closing the Quick ToDo slip.  If
you have selected text before choosing NEW QUICK TODO, the ToDo-entry slip
will be populated with the selected information.

NEW FULL TODO - Opens the Dates app (if it's not already open), and opens a
blank ToDo entry page.  If you have selected text before choosing NEW FULL
TODO, the ToDo-entry page will be populated with the selected information.

PREFS - Opens the What to Do prefs screen.


***Other features

The (i)nfo menu in What to Do prefs has two options:

ABOUT - opens the about box.

PURGE ALL TODO NOTES - Erases all ToDo notes.

What to Do prefs has one additional button, PURGE ORPHAN NOTES, which is
used to round up and delete all ToDo notes which cannot be matched to ToDo
items.  This button is only necessary when you have selected "Allow Larger
Notes", and you have deleted some ToDo item(s).



KNOWN ISSUES WITH VERSION of What to Do

*) WTD currently does not work with Dates as the backdrop application


Version History

Changes since 0.9b5:
No hard-coded expiration date.  Now expires after 14-days.

Changes since 0.9b4:
Fixed a problem with losing notes when moving Todos with the drag-and-drop
method.  Expiration date extended to 10/31/96.

Changes since 0.9b1:
    1) NEW FEATURE: Configurable hotzone/Status bar button behavior.  Two
new   prefs items allow you to change the behavior of the Hotzone and
Status bar  button when you CLICK or CLICK AND HOLD on the button.  "Click
and hold" is defined     as clicking and holding on the button/hotzone for
a full second, until you hear     the second click.  The default behavior
for CLICK is to bring up the menu of choices,   and the default for CLICK
AND HOLD is to bring up the QUICK TODO slip.

    2) NEW FEATURE: What to Do now makes it easy for you to move Todos
without  leaving your todo list in the Dates application.  Without WTD,
moving a Todo is     a tedious process that has the side effect of moving
you to the new date you    selected for your Todo.  WTD allows you to more
easily change the date of a Todo    simply by allowing you to drag the Todo
and drop it on the calendar in the upper    right-hand corner of the Dates
screen.  When you do this, you will be presented     with a picker that
allows you to select the new date for the Todo.  The Todo will   be moved
to the new date, without dragging you along with it.

    3) INTERFACE CHANGE: The informational paragraph for "allow longer
notes" has   been moved to a seperate screen, accesible from the "About
Longer Notes..." button.

    4) NEW BEHAVIOR: When you open a Quick ToDo slip when the Dates app is
open,    the form now defaults to the currently selected date instead of
"today's" date.

    5) NEW EXPIRATION DATE: The beta period has been extended to OCTOBER
15, 1996.

    6) BUG FIX: The "Quick ToDo" slip now operates correctly in landscape
orientation.



***Legal Mumbo Jumbo

Newton, MessagePad, Connection Kit and Apple are registered trademarks of
Apple Computer, Inc.  What to Do is a trademark of Innovative Computer
Solutions.

In using this software, you understand and agree that this software is
provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.  The authors do not make any
warranties, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose,
with respect to this software.

In no event shall the author be liable for any consequential, incidental,
or special damages whatsoever (including without limitation, damages for
loss of critical data, loss of profits, interruption of business and the
like) arising out of the use or inability to use this software.

Have a nice day.  ;-)