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 GBIC >> Software >> gbJournal
gbJournal

gbJournal is a freeware application for writing a log/diary of daily activities.

gbJournal provides very basic features - creating multiple logs, adding/editing dates to existing logs, and navigating between dates. Color, font, and sorting options are also supported. Encryption of the log files is also supported.

Download (v1.0, 709K)

gbJournal uses a single main screen, consisting of a toolbar, list of entries, edit fields and search controls. Additional. the entire log history is displayed in a scrollable window.

Key Features

gbJournal provides a variety of features that allow manipulation of the tag cloud design.
  • Multiple journals
  • Daily entries (calendar popup to select date)
  • Scrollable display of all journal entries
  • Navigation (Next/Previous date or select date from list)
  • File Encryption
  • Color/font selection for caption, headers and content
  • Search Options (highlight all matches, Next/Previous match, prior match terms list, case sensitivity)
  • Sort entries by date (ascending/descending)
  • Copy journal entry to clipboard

Using gbJournal

Using gbJournal couldn't be simpler.
  1. Press "New" on the toolbar to create a blank journal entry with today's date
  2. Edit the date (date/author/keywords and content)
  3. Save & Exit

That's it. All other features of gbJournal allow you to modify the display (sort/colors/fonts) or search for existing content. Encryption is allowed at a journal file level.

Toolbar

Almost all of the commands and settings available in gbJournal are accessed through the toolbar and the dropdown menu associated with several of the toolbar buttons.

New
Creates a new journal containing a journal entry with the current date. Requests permission to save changes to the current journal, as required.

Open
Opens an existing journal file. Requests permission to save changes to the current journal, as required.

Save
Saves the current design without prompting for user approval.

The associated dropdown menu, "Save As", allows the user to save the current journal under a new name.

Previous
Moves from the current date to the next date upward in the journal entry listbox.

New
Create a new journal entry with today's date.

The associated dropdown menu, "Select Date", opens a popup calendar that allows the user to enter a new journal entry for a specified date.

       
Duplicate date entries are allowed.

Delete
Deletes the currently selected date.

Next
Moves from the current date to the next date downward in the journal entry listbox.

Highlight
Toggles highlighting of all matching terms in the journal entry listing. The journal entry listing is not scrolled. If a Search has been executed, which results in highlighted terms, this command will un-highlighted the terms.

Encrypt
Directs gbJournal to encrypt files. When the Save or Save As commands are used, the user will be prompted to enter a password.

Opening an encrypted file always requires that the user supply a password.

Settings
When clicked, reverses the sort direction of the journal entry listing. The following dropdown menu is available:

  • Sort Ascending
    Sorts the journal entry listing by ascending date.
  • Sort Descending
    Sorts the journal entry listing by descending date.
  • Select Colors
    Allows user to select the colors (FG/BG) to be used to display the display caption, journal entry headers, and journal entry content.
  • Select Fonts
    Allows user to select the font to be used to display the display caption, journal entry headers, and journal entry content.
  • Alternating Header Colors
    Displays every other header with a darker version of the header background color. This makes it easier for the user's eye to track an entry while scrolling.
  • Show File Name
    Displays the current journal file name in the gbJournal title bar.
  • Confirm Delete
    Requires the user to confirm deletion of a journal entry listing.
  • AutoSave
    Directs gbJournal to automatically save all changes when it closes.
  • Case Sensitive Search
    Enables case sensitive searches

Help
When clicked, opens the online Help page in the user's default browser. The following dropdown menu is available:

  • Content Summary
    Display summary information of content in currently opened journal.

  • Displays current gbJournal settings.
  • About
    Displays gbJournal version information.

Daily Journal Entries

There are four parts to each daily journal entry:
  • Date
    This is the field on which journal entires can be sorted. The sorts are alphanumerice sorts, so the date format must be "yyyy-mm-dd" to sort correctly.

    Actually, there is no requirement for the content of the Date field to be a date at all. Any alphanumeric data can be entered into the field, up to 20 characters.

  • Author
    The Author field would typically be used if multiple persons were creating journal entries. For journals maintained by a single user, the Author field would likely be left empty.
  • Key
    The Key field is simply provided to allow the user to enter search terms which may not be found in the body of the journal entry. The Key field is included in searches.
  • Content
    This is where the user types in the content of the daily journal entry. Any number of lines is allowed.

Highlighting

Pressing the Highlight toolbar button will highlight all search terms in all journal entries. Case sensitive settings are observed. Press the button again to remove all highlighting, including any highlighted from previous searches.

Highlighting only applies to the journal entry content. If a search term is found in the Date/author/key fields, the search term is not highlighted.

Colors/Fonts

gbJournal allows the user to select the color and font of these three areas:
  • Caption
  • Journal Entry Header
  • Journal Entry Content

To help visually separate each entry in the journal entry listing, gbJournal can optionally alternate the color of the header in every other entry. The alternate header color is generated automatically by gbJournal by slightly adjusting the user-specific header color.

Sorting

Journal entries are always sorted. The default sort is in ascending date order, but entries may also be sorted in descending order. Sort order is an application-level setting, so whenever a journal is opened, it's content is displayed in the current sort order setting. Whenever a new journal is created, with the toolbar New command, it is also sorted in the current sort order setting.

Sorting is done by date, using a numeric sort. So to sort correctly, dates should be entered in the "yyyy-mm-dd" format.

Journal Date Listing

Journal entries are listed (by date) in the listbox, found in the upper left hand corner of the display. Selecting an item in the list performs three actions - fills the edit boxes with the content of the selected journal entry, scrolls the journal entry listing until the selected date is at the top of the window, and fills the date caption with the selected date.

Journal Entry Listing

All journal entries are listed vertically bottom window of gbJournal. The user may scroll horizontally or vertically through the list. Clicking on the list causes the journal entry under the mouse to be selected, i.e., the date will be selected in the Journal Date Listing and the edit boxes will fill with the content of the selected journal entry.

Searches

To use gbJournal's search feature, just type in a search term and press the Next or Previous search buttons. The search does not include the currently selected journal entry, i.e., it starts with the Next or Previous journal entries.

Searches can be case sensitive or case insensitive. The default is case insensitive searches, and can be changed using the toolbar Settings button pulldown menu.

When a search is made the search term is added to the search term history list. The last 5 previous search terms are available via the context menu of the search term textbox.

Other Comments

This sections contains miscellaneous additional information about using gbJournal.

Beep
There are several occasions when gbJournal will issue a beep:

  • Next/Previous navigation commands are already at list/first journal entry
  • Next/Previous search commands are already at list/first journal entry
  • Attempt to delete last date in a journal (all journals must contain at least one entry)
  • Incorrect password entered when required to open existing journal file
  • Search is requested but no search term is specified
  • Search finds no matching term

INI File
gbJournal application settings are saved in an INI file, kept in the same folder at the gbJournal EXE.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!