Bulk import

Started by: rjbull on Jan 11, 2011 6:57 PM

rjbull
Post #1 - Jan 11, 2011 6:57 PM
Bulk import

I know it's possible to import TXT, RTF and KNT files. Will there be any more import formats, particularly Horst Schaeffer's excellent MemPad, http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/win.htm , please? And, will it be possible to import a text file with a structure, so that if you put markers in the file, AllMyNotes knows that they represent new nodes at a particular child level? Jot+Notes implements extra formats as an external program, I think, which might be better than building lots of formats into AllMyNotes itself.

Thanks...

vlad
Post #2 - Jan 12, 2011 6:20 AM
Re: Bulk import

Soon we are going to support OPML file format soon, as it seems to be most commonly used exchange data format for Outliners.

:idea: Despite there may be no direct way to import/export data from/to third-party software due to variety of data exchange formats, there may way to do it using third-party convertors, or, even, competing software. For example, we don't support direct import from TreePad (http://www.treepad.com/), but!.. As we support import from .knt (KeyNote tree structure), and KeyNote supports export from TreePad, you can use Key Note (http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html) to convert TreePad data to KeyNote format, and from KeyNote to AllMyNotes.

And also thank you for your idea to implement batch importing, we'll implement it.

And, will it be possible to import a text file with a structure, so that if you put markers in the file
By the way, on importing from TXT file you can use -- separator line to automatically split Notes. We are using this feature for import notes from Info Select (http://www.miclog.com/is/index.shtml), and it can be used for other software titles, simply need to replace notes separator to =-=

rjbull
Post #3 - Jan 12, 2011 5:05 PM
Re: Bulk import

Thanks - the separator lines will probably be enough for what I want for now. Extending the idea:

-- basic level node (level 1)

--- child of that node (level 2)

---- child of *that* node (level 3)

--- another child of the last level 2 node

-- another basic level 1 node

just a thought...

rjbull
Post #4 - Dec 28, 2011 4:30 PM
Re: Bulk import

I don't know if this is a bug or not. Further to my attempts to import MemPad files into AllMyNotes, I discovered that the author of KeyNote had written a utility to import structured text into KeyNote *.KNT files, structured in the sense that it would retain the node structure. I made a simple test file in MemPad, exported it from MemPad, used a simple AWK script to convert the MemPad output into the format needed by KeyNote's importer, ran kntconvert.exe, and opened the resulting file in KeyNote to check. It opened without errors and appeared to be correct. I closed the file and asked AllMyNotes to import it. I got this error message:

AllMyNotes Organizer

An error occurred when reading file content. File is missing or exclusively

locked.

Well, it wasn't missing, and I don't think it was locked as I'd closed it in Key Note. This error box popped up twice in quick succession. Some other KeyNote files imported without problems, but others have failed in the same way. My simple test file m.knt should be attached as a ZIP file m.zip.

vlad
Post #5 - Dec 29, 2011 8:03 AM
FIXED: Bulk import

Thank you for reporting this issue. Indeed, there was a problem with importing from this particular KNT file. We've just fixed it, please use build #496 below:

http://downloads.vladonai.com/Install_AllMyNotes_2_54_b496.exe

Let me know if you'll observe something else with KNT import.

rjbull
Post #6 - Dec 29, 2011 4:06 PM
Re: Bulk import

Thanks - it's a tiny file, and imported in a flash. But, something still isn't right. The first node is named "MemPad to KeyNote to AllMyNotes import test" and contains text

"MemPad to KeyNote to AllMyNotes import test

Node 0, top node"

i.e. the node name, plus more text: I usually name a node to the title of the text it contains. In AllMyNotes, that node is named correctly, but it doesn't contain any text. Likewise, if I put the cursor on Node 1 in AllMyNotes, it shows its two child nodes with their names, "Node 1, child 1" and "Node 1, child 2". Again, I used the names as the content of the nodes. When I put the cursor on either of those two child nodes, both are empty. So, it's imported tree structure, but hasn't included note text.

Please can I repeat my request for improved text-delimited import? I know you can use tab-delimited format to reconstruct the tree structure, but I'd like to be able to do the same with text-delimited. If AllMyNotes' text-delimiter is "=-=", then I'd like to be able to use multiple delimiters to give the level of the node to reconstruct the tree. That is, I'd like to be able to mark up text files, using mine above as an example, like this:

=-= MemPad to KeyNote to AllMyNotes import test

MemPad to KeyNote to AllMyNotes import test

Node 0, top node

=-= Node 1

Node 1

=-= =-= Node 1, child 1

Node 1, child 1

=-= =-= Node 1, child 2

Node 1, child 2

=-= Node 2

Node 2

=-= =-= Node 2, child 1

Node 2, child 1

=-= =-= =-= Node 2, child 1, grandchild 1

Node 2, child 1, grandchild 1

=-= =-= =-= Node 2, child 1, grandchild 2

Node 2, child 1, grandchild 2

=-= =-= =-= =-= Node 2, child 1, grandchild 2, greatgrandchild 1

Node 2, child 1, grandchild 2, greatgrandchild 1

=-= =-= Node 2, child 2

Node 2, child 2

=-= Node 3

Node 3

=-= =-= Node 3, child 1

Node 3, child 1

=-= =-= Node 3, child 2

Node 3, child 2

I know many editors can make tabs visible as characters, but note text could contain tabs anyway, and text delimiters are more clearly visible. I think this would be clearer and easier for most of us to use, and be a good step towards a universal text importer. Any file that could be reduced to plain text could be edited into this form.

Thanks!

rjbull
Post #7 - Jan 9, 2012 3:37 PM
Re: Bulk import

Still trying. Looks like files made in KeyNote itself import correctly. I've tried exporting from MemPad, converting the output with an AWK script, and converting the modified file with "KeyNote converter 1.05" (kntconvert.exe). The result is a file that can be read in KeyNote itself without any problems - but it doesn't import correctly into AllMyNotes, which seems to construct the node tree correctly, but doesn't import the body text. I tried making a file in KeyNote itself that was as identical as possible. The main difference looks to be that KeyNote itself uses RTF, but my converted file is plain text only. Otherwise, I don't see any big differences, but then I'm not a programmer. Is AMN expecting RTF?

vlad
Post #8 - Jan 9, 2012 4:19 PM
Re: Bulk import

"rjbull" wrote:The main difference looks to be that KeyNote itself uses RTF, but my converted file is plain text only. Otherwise, I don't see any big differences, but then I'm not a programmer. Is AMN expecting RTF?
Right, AMN is expecting RTF, could you please send me piece of KNT file (to User Image) so I could take a look how plain text is saved there?

rjbull
Post #9 - Jan 11, 2012 6:53 AM
Re: Bulk import

Just e-mailed you a small file, hope that helps shed some light, thanks

vlad
Post #10 - Jan 12, 2012 3:00 PM
Re: Bulk import

Thank you, and please sorry for delay from my end - I'm bit busy right now, will try to respond here till end of this week.

vlad
Post #11 - Jan 19, 2012 7:34 PM
Re: Bulk import

Thank you for your patience, hope you are still here. Just fixed issues with importing notes in plain text format, indentation, and missing items. You are welcome to try build #498 below:

http://downloads.vladonai.com/Install_AllMyNotes_2_56_b498.exe

rjbull
Post #12 - Jan 20, 2012 4:59 PM
Re: Bulk import

Yes, still here, thanks! I've been banging my head against this, and wondering if the keynote importer, and KeyNote itself, are always correct when they import plain text. I find some notes are "wrapped" in RTF code, but some aren't, and there are note flags to consider as well.

Thanks for working on this - I'm off to test it! :)

rjbull
Post #13 - Jan 20, 2012 5:41 PM
Re: Bulk import

This time I converted my original MemPad file into Treepad.HJT, and it looked right in Treepad Lite (free). Then I imported it into KeyNote, where it also looked correct. But when I imported it into AMN 2.56 build 498, still no luck :( Now it seems to be treating RTF as plain text; see screenshots attached.

vlad
Post #14 - Jan 23, 2012 7:54 PM
Re: Bulk import

"rjbull" wrote:... Now it seems to be treating RTF as plain text; see screenshots attached.
Indeed, just fixed it, please try build #499 below:

http://downloads.vladonai.com/Install_AllMyNotes_2_56_b499.exe

rjbull
Post #15 - Jan 25, 2012 9:37 AM
Re: Bulk import

That's better, but I'm still having a problem with files I've converted into KeyNote format using KeyNote itself. It seems to be marking most nodes as RTF but some not, and as soon as AMN hits a plain text node, it and all subsequent notes are blank. However, I think files made entirely inside KeyNote are OK. Therefore I don't think you should waste any more time on this and I'll just have to find a better method of conversion.

Thanks.

rjbull
Post #16 - Feb 3, 2012 4:54 PM
Re: Bulk import

Cracked it... sort of. I've now got a kludgy AWK script that will convert a file output by MemPad into a simple KeyNote KNT file. I don't know any RTF, so I cribbed the RTF tags from one of the KeyNote support files. It took a while to import, being about 1070 notes in 150 folders. On some occasions the title bar gave the (Not Responding) message and Windows popped up its box asking about terminating, finding the problem etc., but as long as I told Windows to leave it alone and let AllMyNotes continue to import, things seemed to work properly.

Nice quick search/filter feature!

vlad
Post #17 - Feb 4, 2012 12:06 PM
Re: Bulk import

"rjbull" wrote:It took a while to import, being about 1070 notes in 150 folders. On some occasions the title bar gave the (Not Responding) message and Windows popped up its box asking about terminating, finding the problem etc., but as long as I told Windows to leave it alone and let AllMyNotes continue to import, things seemed to work properly.
Indeed, AllMyNotes is not updating the UI during the importing procedure, so Windows may think it's dead. Perviously AllMyNotes was displaying imported items in real-time, but that makes importing process much-much longer, especially when need to import, say, 4-5K notes in to a single folder, after importing every note was needed to re-load and re-display them, it was a very slow process.

rjbull
Post #18 - Feb 5, 2012 3:53 PM
Re: Bulk import

Maybe you could use a "progress bar," or a box that gives the number of nodes imported, updating on every 50th node, but as import is not something done very often, probably not worth the effort. Anyhow I'm glad that the KeyNote import in 2.56 (build 499) works!

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