How to find logging apps that aren't to do with computer logging?
I'm looking for programs that might help with maintaining a log, as in a ship's log or a log of maintenance activity on a vehicle. It's well nigh impossible to use the word log in the search because one is immediately swamped by hits relating to computer logging, e.g. things which write to syslog. The word journal isn't much better because it too has computer related meanings which swamp any useful output and, anyway, journal isn't quite the right word for what I'm looking for. So does anyone have any bright ideas either for what to search for or programs that I might find useful. -- Chris Green
On 04/02/16 12:28, Chris Green wrote:
I'm looking for programs that might help with maintaining a log, as in a ship's log or a log of maintenance activity on a vehicle.
It's well nigh impossible to use the word log in the search because one is immediately swamped by hits relating to computer logging, e.g. things which write to syslog.
The word journal isn't much better because it too has computer related meanings which swamp any useful output and, anyway, journal isn't quite the right word for what I'm looking for.
So does anyone have any bright ideas either for what to search for or programs that I might find useful.
Chris, I'm surprised at you! I just Googled: [ "ship's log" software ] and found loads. Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------
On Thu, Feb 04, 2016 at 12:33:20PM +0000, Laurie Brown wrote:
On 04/02/16 12:28, Chris Green wrote:
I'm looking for programs that might help with maintaining a log, as in a ship's log or a log of maintenance activity on a vehicle.
It's well nigh impossible to use the word log in the search because one is immediately swamped by hits relating to computer logging, e.g. things which write to syslog.
The word journal isn't much better because it too has computer related meanings which swamp any useful output and, anyway, journal isn't quite the right word for what I'm looking for.
So does anyone have any bright ideas either for what to search for or programs that I might find useful.
Chris, I'm surprised at you!
I just Googled: [ "ship's log" software ] and found loads.
Hmm, I didn't try exactly that before but I'm sure I tried something like it. However I just tried what you suggested and while there are lots of hits when you follow them they're mostly not what one is looking for. I am looking at the results but nothing useful has turned up so far. Thanks anyway and I'll come back and say thank you again if something useful does turn up down that road. -- Chris Green
On 04/02/16 13:27, Chris Green wrote:
On Thu, Feb 04, 2016 at 12:33:20PM +0000, Laurie Brown wrote:
On 04/02/16 12:28, Chris Green wrote:
I'm looking for programs that might help with maintaining a log, as in a ship's log or a log of maintenance activity on a vehicle.
It's well nigh impossible to use the word log in the search because one is immediately swamped by hits relating to computer logging, e.g. things which write to syslog.
The word journal isn't much better because it too has computer related meanings which swamp any useful output and, anyway, journal isn't quite the right word for what I'm looking for.
So does anyone have any bright ideas either for what to search for or programs that I might find useful.
Chris, I'm surprised at you!
I just Googled: [ "ship's log" software ] and found loads.
Hmm, I didn't try exactly that before but I'm sure I tried something like it. However I just tried what you suggested and while there are lots of hits when you follow them they're mostly not what one is looking for.
I am looking at the results but nothing useful has turned up so far. Thanks anyway and I'll come back and say thank you again if something useful does turn up down that road.
http://www.mvosonegro.com/YachtMgr.html http://www.crystalship.com/ http://www.landfallnavigation.com/-evms1.html Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows only
http://www.crystalship.com/ Windows only
http://www.landfallnavigation.com/-evms1.html Reduced to the knockdown price of $199, and Windows only I think
-- Chris Green
On Thu, 4 Feb 2016 12:28:32 +0000 Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
I'm looking for programs that might help with maintaining a log, as in a ship's log or a log of maintenance activity on a vehicle.
It's well nigh impossible to use the word log in the search because one is immediately swamped by hits relating to computer logging, e.g. things which write to syslog.
The word journal isn't much better because it too has computer related meanings which swamp any useful output and, anyway, journal isn't quite the right word for what I'm looking for.
So does anyone have any bright ideas either for what to search for or programs that I might find useful.
If I search for 'vehicle log software' it throws up pages of them. Here are the first few :- http://www.kzsoftware.com/products/vehicle_maintenance/ http://www.freelogbook.biz/ http://en.softonic.com/s/vehicle-log-software?ex=SWH-2097EN.6 Note that I didn't specify linux so you might want to add that to your search criteria. -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|
On Thu, Feb 04, 2016 at 12:37:30PM +0000, Chris Walker wrote:
On Thu, 4 Feb 2016 12:28:32 +0000 Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
I'm looking for programs that might help with maintaining a log, as in a ship's log or a log of maintenance activity on a vehicle.
It's well nigh impossible to use the word log in the search because one is immediately swamped by hits relating to computer logging, e.g. things which write to syslog.
The word journal isn't much better because it too has computer related meanings which swamp any useful output and, anyway, journal isn't quite the right word for what I'm looking for.
So does anyone have any bright ideas either for what to search for or programs that I might find useful.
If I search for 'vehicle log software' it throws up pages of them.
Here are the first few :- http://www.kzsoftware.com/products/vehicle_maintenance/ http://www.freelogbook.biz/ http://en.softonic.com/s/vehicle-log-software?ex=SWH-2097EN.6
Note that I didn't specify linux so you might want to add that to your search criteria.
Much the same as Laurie's suggestion, yes it does produce some results and I'll take a look but there's no obvious "right" result. Sorry I'm being a bit negative, thanks for the ideas. I've been banging away at this requirement for a *long* time now and haven't come up with anything very suitable. You may remember I've been burbling on about a nice, easy, editable grid view of a database. That's the same requirement. I'm after a way of entering sequential sort of information, mostly free format text but also some specific numeric information that I want to be able to do calculations with. I also want to be able to see the 'surrounding context', i.e. the previous entry. Finally I want straightforward editing of existing entries, again with the ability to see the context while editing. It's nearly possible with a simple text file and a decent editor but this rather limits the validity checking. I have a boat log that works this way (written by me for Dokuwiki) but, having used it for a while, it has some drawbacks. In particular the syntax for the entries, while quite simple, is just a bit too difficult to remember without looking at some sort of cheat sheet. A more structured data entry system would make it work much better. -- Chris Green
On 04/02/16 13:45, Chris Green wrote: [SNIP]
It's nearly possible with a simple text file and a decent editor but this rather limits the validity checking. I have a boat log that works this way (written by me for Dokuwiki) but, having used it for a while, it has some drawbacks. In particular the syntax for the entries, while quite simple, is just a bit too difficult to remember without looking at some sort of cheat sheet. A more structured data entry system would make it work much better.
Have you looked at the Sublime Text editor? I've come across this recently for Ansible and HTML/CSS and am blown away by it. There's a plugin for Dokuwiki syntax: https://github.com/sentience/DokuWiki As I use Dokuwiki for internal documentation, I'll be looking at this soon myself. Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------
On Thu, Feb 04, 2016 at 01:53:59PM +0000, Laurie Brown wrote:
On 04/02/16 13:45, Chris Green wrote:
[SNIP]
It's nearly possible with a simple text file and a decent editor but this rather limits the validity checking. I have a boat log that works this way (written by me for Dokuwiki) but, having used it for a while, it has some drawbacks. In particular the syntax for the entries, while quite simple, is just a bit too difficult to remember without looking at some sort of cheat sheet. A more structured data entry system would make it work much better.
Have you looked at the Sublime Text editor? I've come across this recently for Ansible and HTML/CSS and am blown away by it. There's a plugin for Dokuwiki syntax: https://github.com/sentience/DokuWiki
Ooh, that looks fun! It's got a Python API too. I'll take a good look, thank you.
As I use Dokuwiki for internal documentation, I'll be looking at this soon myself.
I use Dokuwiki for lots of things, many of which stretch the concept of a wiki somewhat! :-) I love Dokuwiki and have written several plugins, mostly so idiosyncartic that they're only of use to me, but I have published my RST (ReStructuredText) plugin. -- Chris Green
On 04/02/16 14:08, Chris Green wrote: [SNIP]
Have you looked at the Sublime Text editor? I've come across this recently for Ansible and HTML/CSS and am blown away by it. There's a plugin for Dokuwiki syntax: https://github.com/sentience/DokuWiki
Ooh, that looks fun! It's got a Python API too. I'll take a good look, thank you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AV9zJH2n_Y I can't believe I hadn't looked at this before... Enjoy. Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------
On 04/02/16 13:45, Chris Green wrote:
[]
You may remember I've been burbling on about a nice, easy, editable grid view of a database. That's the same requirement. I'm after a way of entering sequential sort of information, mostly free format text but also some specific numeric information that I want to be able to do calculations with. I also want to be able to see the 'surrounding context', i.e. the previous entry. Finally I want straightforward editing of existing entries, again with the ability to see the context while editing. It's nearly possible with a simple text file and a decent editor but this rather limits the validity checking. I have a boat log that works this way (written by me for Dokuwiki) but, having used it for a while, it has some drawbacks. In particular the syntax for the entries, while quite simple, is just a bit too difficult to remember without looking at some sort of cheat sheet. A more structured data entry system would make it work much better.
Well, the first line up there made me think of the data-entry grid view of a database. To be honest, I bet M$ Access would do it nicely for you, but you're not after Windows stuff, so perhaps there's an open source equivalent - something in Libre Office perhaps? Or even just typing it into a spreadsheet? If you knocked up a simple database and then switched into data edit mode, I'm sure it'd work. Good luck!
On Thu, Feb 04, 2016 at 10:15:27PM +0000, steve-ALUG@hst.me.uk wrote:
On 04/02/16 13:45, Chris Green wrote:
[]
You may remember I've been burbling on about a nice, easy, editable grid view of a database. That's the same requirement. I'm after a way of entering sequential sort of information, mostly free format text but also some specific numeric information that I want to be able to do calculations with. I also want to be able to see the 'surrounding context', i.e. the previous entry. Finally I want straightforward editing of existing entries, again with the ability to see the context while editing. It's nearly possible with a simple text file and a decent editor but this rather limits the validity checking. I have a boat log that works this way (written by me for Dokuwiki) but, having used it for a while, it has some drawbacks. In particular the syntax for the entries, while quite simple, is just a bit too difficult to remember without looking at some sort of cheat sheet. A more structured data entry system would make it work much better.
Well, the first line up there made me think of the data-entry grid view of a database. To be honest, I bet M$ Access would do it nicely for you, but
Yes, one of things that Access does rather well, an editable grid view of the database just comes with the territory *and* it's easy to incorporate in a form design.
you're not after Windows stuff, so perhaps there's an open source equivalent - something in Libre Office perhaps? Or even just typing it into a spreadsheet?
Open Office base just doesn't quite manage it. It either needs an ODBC driver or uses its own wierd database. I really want to work with existing sqlite databases.
If you knocked up a simple database and then switched into data edit mode, I'm sure it'd work.
There ain't nothing with a 'data edit mode', that's the trouble. Well, not quite true, but the major, well maintained, database management programs like sqliteman have a maze of menus to negotiate to get to edit the databse and, once there, the editing is clumsy. I want to be able to design something that allows me to simply run a command (menu or coomand line) which will open up a window with my database table ready to edit. -- Chris Green
On 05/02/16 17:05, Chris Green wrote:
There ain't nothing with a 'data edit mode', that's the trouble. Well, not quite true, but the major, well maintained, database management programs like sqliteman have a maze of menus to negotiate to get to edit the databse and, once there, the editing is clumsy.
I want to be able to design something that allows me to simply run a command (menu or coomand line) which will open up a window with my database table ready to edit.
Back in the day, on Windows, if M$ access wasn't an option, I'd use some sort of visual programming language, a database, and a grid control - either native to the programming language or proprietary. I expect there's equivalents in the open source world, but I don't know where/how. Good luck. Steve
On Fri, Feb 05, 2016 at 08:22:07PM +0000, steve-ALUG@hst.me.uk wrote:
On 05/02/16 17:05, Chris Green wrote:
There ain't nothing with a 'data edit mode', that's the trouble. Well, not quite true, but the major, well maintained, database management programs like sqliteman have a maze of menus to negotiate to get to edit the databse and, once there, the editing is clumsy.
I want to be able to design something that allows me to simply run a command (menu or coomand line) which will open up a window with my database table ready to edit.
Back in the day, on Windows, if M$ access wasn't an option, I'd use some sort of visual programming language, a database, and a grid control - either native to the programming language or proprietary. I expect there's equivalents in the open source world, but I don't know where/how. Good luck.
There isn't much, that's the trouble. There's Gambas which is a VB lookalike and is a possible way to get what I want. My best shot so far is to use Gnome-DB which is where libgda is developed. It's pretty high level so a C/C++ program to produce a window, form with a grid, etc. is only a hundred lines or so. I can do C/C++ so it's not entirely out of the question. There's a Python wrapper for libgda too but it's a bit under-documented. -- Chris Green
On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 17:05:29 +0000 Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
Open Office base just doesn't quite manage it. It either needs an ODBC driver or uses its own wierd database. I really want to work with existing sqlite databases.
Have you looked at the SQLite browser that's offered in some distros? I've been using it for some years on a couple of databases of my own and one which came as part of an Android app.
I want to be able to design something that allows me to simply run a command (menu or coomand line) which will open up a window with my database table ready to edit.
You do need to run SQL commands but you do that in a window in the app. -- __ __| |_ __ __ .----------------------------------------------. / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk | \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |______________________________________________|
On Sat, Feb 06, 2016 at 09:12:56AM +0000, Chris Walker wrote:
On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 17:05:29 +0000 Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
Open Office base just doesn't quite manage it. It either needs an ODBC driver or uses its own wierd database. I really want to work with existing sqlite databases.
Have you looked at the SQLite browser that's offered in some distros? I've been using it for some years on a couple of databases of my own and one which came as part of an Android app.
Yes, I have it installed on my systems. It's the best of a bad bunch. The grid editing isn't too bad, in fact it's pretty much exactly what I'm after. The only issues with it are:- It takes four clicks to get to a specific table after opening, I'm having discussions on GitHub for sqlitebrowser about this, there are some other users who'd also like some command line options to take one to browsing a specific table. There's no form design ability, not to be expected in a program like this of course, but it means one can only edit a table's values and not have anything update automatically.
I want to be able to design something that allows me to simply run a command (menu or coomand line) which will open up a window with my database table ready to edit.
You do need to run SQL commands but you do that in a window in the app.
Yes. I'm really after a better Glom, or Kexi, or LibreOffice base. The trouble with all of these is that they have effectively made their databases proprietary which rather spoils their 'open source'ness. Glom uses postgresql only which, in itself, isn't a disaster though I'd prefer sqllte. However the real killer is (from the Glom web site) :- "Glom uses the PostgreSQL database backend but it can not edit databases that it did not create, because it uses only a simple subset of Postgres functionality. " Kexi has a similar limitation - "Currently you can not "open" (i.e. connect to) databases created outside of Kexi. You can only import the tables and data. " LibreOffice by default uses its own internal database engine. It can connect to external ones but it really isn't particularly easy to do it and, as far as I can see, the sqlite connector isn't stable. -- Chris Green
participants (4)
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Chris Green -
Chris Walker -
Laurie Brown -
steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk