Poor Man's Jotter
Introduction:
One major thing I use my Psion for is to keep a list of things I have to do: shopping items, telephone calls, etc. I don't find the ToDo lists in Agenda particularly useful. I have tried various freeware and shareware applications but find them either too complex or too simple for my personal needs. Everyone knows that Data can be used for this purpose but Data lacks the one feature that I find indispensable - the ability to easily strike through completed items. In thinking about this I realized that Macro5 could be used in combination with Data to provide this function. Thus Poor Man's Jotter was born. I hope that someone else finds this approach useful as well.
Instillation:
Poor Man's Jotter is a note taker/task list. It consists of a Data file named, aptly enough Jotter, and two Macro5 files StrikeThrough.opl and StrikeThrough.opo. Instillation is simple: install the Jotter file in any folder (Documents on my machine) and the two StrikeThrough files in the directory that you use to store Macro5 macros (Macro on my machine). Then open Macro5 and install the macro as you would any other Macro5 macro.
Use:
If you know how to use Data then you know how to use Poor Man's Jotter. Entries can be entered and edited in the usual way. Objects such as voice recordings, sketches, etc. can be attached to notes, and telephone numbers can be dialed using Fn-dial. Entering a new entry brings up a dialog box with several fields. In most cases you should only use the first two fields. The ToDo field is for the note itself. The # field is for the note's priority. The other two fields should not be changed in most cases. The Done? field is used for sorting purposes only (see below) and the Date field contains the date the note was first created.
Completed Tasks:
The macro StrikeThrough is used to mark the task as completed. This macro strikes though the entry, changes the Done? field from 'no' to 'yes'. The entry is then sorted to the bottom of the list. Invoking the macro a second time reverses the above process.
Sorting:
The notes are sorted in the following order: 1. Done? with completed tasks sorted to the bottom of the list 2. Priority and 3. Date with later dated tasks occurring before prior dated tasks. Of course the order can be adjusted to suit your personal preferences. For instance you might want the date to be sorted before the priority or to sort prior dates before later occurring dates. Just use the menu options 'Tools-Sort by label' to customize the sorting to your personal preferences. 
Languages other than English:
My machine is English(US). The data file should work on non-English machines. Although the macro is pretty simple, I'm not sure if it works on non-English machines as I don't know the key combinations in these machines. If the macro doesn't work on your machine here are some suggestions: First if the completed entries are not sorting to the end of the list try to changing the sort order of the Done? field from ascending to descending order. (In English 'no' is sorted before 'yes', thus the ascending order for English machines). If this doesn't help please contact me at the email address below and I'll try to help.
Disclaimer:
(Do I really have to?) If this blows up your machine, makes you miss your mother in law's birthday, or anything else - I'm innocent, blame Psion Inc. After all it's their Data application :)
Contacting me:
I'd really like to hear from anyone who finds this useful or has any suggestions. The basic idea is so simple that I was reluctant to post it but Pascal liked it so ... blame him :) My email address is:
arnowitz@pangaea.co.il
That's all. Thanks for Pascal for his wonderful Macro5. My machine would be brain dead without it!
Enjoy.
Ed Arnowitz
June 1, 1998