Minido

A simple, generic, multi-user, database free todo list manager / tracking system written in GTK2

License: GNU General Public License
Latest version: 0.5
Dependencies: gtk+2.2, libxml2
Tested platforms: GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris
Available interface languages: English, French
Contact for support, bug reports, patches and improvements: contact me through my home page.
Helps you to remember things and tasks, just like the Forget Me Not flower.

Though Minido is still very young, it already give a key competitive advantage to major industry players like Texas Instruments... Like TI, leverage this new paradigm to proactively re-engineer your core processes and drive cross functional empowerment!

Screenshots

These are just examples. The names and types of columns are up to the user!

Minido main window	Minido add / edit window
Another main window example

Features

Minido is database free: you don't have to configure and start a database program first to manage your data. Thanks to this, you can start working with Minido very quickly. No special skills are required.
Minido is multi user: several users can edit the same data, based on standard Unix file permissions.
All the users automatically see the changes made by other users.
Column names and types are described in a XML file format. You can easily create new ones for your own needs.
A few predefined types are available to generate default values for a new row.
Each row is stored in a separate XML file. You can directly edit/modify/remove row files by hand or do that through other programs.

Downloads

The latest releases can be found in our releases directory. See our ChangeLog and NEWS files for details about releases.

Why I wrote this program

I was looking for a simple program for keeping track of support requests at my work. Though several programs were available, most of them were based on a database and/or web server. What I needed was much simpler, so I decided to write my own tool.
As lots of people can have the same need, and as I believe in the usefulness of Free Software, I decided to write my program at home so that I could own it and release it under the GNU General Public License.
I wanted to learn interface programming with gtk+-2.2 and glib-2.2, and also to get back to C programming after years of abstinence!

Installation instructions

See the INSTALL file in the sources for instructions on building and installing the tool from its sources.

How to use Minido

Set the MINIDO_PROFILE environment variable to the path of the profile file describing the data you are going to handle. Example:
> export MINIDO_PROFILE=/usr/local/share/minido/support_team.xml (bash)
> setenv MINIDO_PROFILE /usr/local/share/minido/support_team.xml (tcsh)
Create an empty directory in which you will store the data. If several users are going to access these data, make the directory writable to these users.
Set the MINIDO_DB variable to the path of this directory. Example:
> export MINIDO_DB=/home/bart/minido_db/ (bash)
> setenv MINIDO_DB /home/bart/minido_db/ (tcsh)
You can now run the tool (note that there are no command line options yet!):
> minido &

How to write your own profile files

These files are in XML format and are parsed by standard XML parsing libraries. Though the tags are not documented yet, they are self explanatory and you can take the below example as starting point:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<columns name="Support team">
<column name="Submit date" type="current_date" format="%b %d">
</column>
<column name="Submit time" type="current_time" format="%I:%M %p">
</column>
<column name="Severity" type="string">
        <value>Production stop</value>
        <value>Critical</value>
        <value type="default">Minor</value>
        <value>Improvement</value>
</column>
<column name="Assigned to" type="user_first_name">
        <value>Pierre</value>
        <value>Paul</value>
        <value>Jacques</value>
</column>
<column name="Comments" type="string">
</column>
</columns>

Here are available column types:

Type name	Default value
string	Empty string. If a list of values was given, the last value with the type=default attribute.
current_time	The current localized time, in the format specified by the format attribute. See the manual of the strftime function for the list of available switches.
current_date	The current localized date, in the format specified by the format attribute. See the manual of the strftime function for the list of available switches.
user_real_name	The full name of the current user.
user_first_name	The first name of the current user. Caution: this just returns the first word of the current user real name.

If you agree to share them, I'd be glad if you send me the profiles files that you create, in any language and character set. I would like to ship more examples in the minido releases. I could use them too as a test database. Thank you in advance!

Helping

You can help the development of Minido by

Sending interface translations.
Reporting bugs and/or sending patches by contacting me through my home page.
Coding features in the below pending work section.
Sending your own profiles files if you think they can be useful to other people.

Known issues

XML parser issues in row files with user data containing characters or words that mean something in XML syntax, such as double quotes...
Don't copy any file , in particular your MINIDO_PROFILE file into the MINIDO_DB directory, or you will face an ugly XML parser crash.

Pending work

Translate the interface to other languages. Translators are welcome!
Create a nice splash screen and icon.
Implement simple file locks to prevent 2 users from editing the same row.
Implement a --version command line option.
Implement a check box type... very useful in such a tool.
Replace the MINIDO_DB and MINIDO_PROFILE environment variables by a graphical dialog to chose these values, possibly remembered from previous sessions in a .minidorc file.

Annex 1: strftime string format

Ordinary characters placed in the format string are copied to s without
conversion. Conversion specifiers are introduced by a ‘%’ character,
and are replaced in s as follows:

%a     The abbreviated weekday name according to the current locale.

%A     The full weekday name according to the current locale.

%b     The abbreviated month name according to the current locale.

%B     The full month name according to the current locale.

%c     The preferred date and time representation for the current
       locale.

%C     The century number (year/100) as a 2‐digit integer. (SU)

%d     The day of the month as a decimal number (range 01 to 31).

%D     Equivalent to %m/%d/%y. (Yecch ‐ for Americans only.   Americans
       should note that in other countries %d/%m/%y is rather common.
       This means that in international context this format is ambigu‐
       ous and should not be used.) (SU)

%e     Like %d, the day of the month as a decimal number, but a leading
       zero is replaced by a space. (SU)

%E     Modifier: use alternative format, see below. (SU)

%F     Equivalent to %Y‐%m‐%d (the ISO 8601 date format). (C99)

%G     The ISO 8601 year with century as a decimal number. The 4‐digit
       year corresponding to the ISO week number (see %V). This has
       the same format and value as %y, except that if the ISO week
       number belongs to the previous or next year, that year is used
       instead. (TZ)

%g     Like %G, but without century, i.e., with a 2‐digit year (00‐99).
       (TZ)

%h     Equivalent to %b. (SU)

%H     The hour as a decimal number using a 24‐hour clock (range 00 to
       23).

%I     The hour as a decimal number using a 12‐hour clock (range 01 to
       12).

%j     The day of the year as a decimal number (range 001 to 366).

%k     The hour (24‐hour clock) as a decimal number (range 0 to 23);
       single digits are preceded by a blank. (See also %H.) (TZ)

%l     The hour (12‐hour clock) as a decimal number (range 1 to 12);
       single digits are preceded by a blank. (See also %I.) (TZ)

%m     The month as a decimal number (range 01 to 12).

%M     The minute as a decimal number (range 00 to 59).

%n     A newline character. (SU)

%O     Modifier: use alternative format, see below. (SU)

%p     Either ‘AM’ or ‘PM’ according to the given time value, or the
       corresponding strings for the current locale. Noon is treated
       as ‘pm’ and midnight as ‘am’.

%P     Like %p but in lowercase: ‘am’ or ‘pm’ or a corresponding string
       for the current locale. (GNU)

%r     The time in a.m. or p.m. notation. In the POSIX locale this is
       equivalent to ‘%I:%M:%S %p’. (SU)

%R     The time in 24‐hour notation (%H:%M). (SU) For a version includ‐
       ing the seconds, see %T below.

%s     The number of seconds since the Epoch, i.e., since 1970‐01‐01
       00:00:00 UTC. (TZ)

%S     The second as a decimal number (range 00 to 61).

%t     A tab character. (SU)

%T     The time in 24‐hour notation (%H:%M:%S). (SU)

%u     The day of the week as a decimal, range 1 to 7, Monday being 1.
       See also %w. (SU)

%U     The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range
       00 to 53, starting with the first Sunday as the first day of
       week 01. See also %V and %W.

%V     The ISO 8601:1988 week number of the current year as a decimal
       number, range 01 to 53, where week 1 is the first week that has
       at least 4 days in the current year, and with Monday as the
       first day of the week. See also %U and %W. (SU)

%w     The day of the week as a decimal, range 0 to 6, Sunday being 0.
       See also %u.

%W     The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range
       00 to 53, starting with the first Monday as the first day of
       week 01.

%x     The preferred date representation for the current locale without
       the time.

%X     The preferred time representation for the current locale without
       the date.

%y     The year as a decimal number without a century (range 00 to 99).

%Y     The year as a decimal number including the century.

%z     The time‐zone as hour offset from GMT.   Required to emit
       RFC822‐conformant dates (using "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z").
       (GNU)

%Z     The time zone or name or abbreviation.

%+     The date and time in date(1) format. (TZ)

%%     A literal ‘%’ character.

Some conversion specifiers can be modified by preceding them by the E
or O modifier to indicate that an alternative format should be used.
If the alternative format or specification does not exist for the cur‐
rent locale, the behaviour will be as if the unmodified conversion
specification were used. (SU) The Single Unix Specification mentions
%Ec, %EC, %Ex, %EX, %Ry, %EY, %Od, %Oe, %OH, %OI, %Om, %OM, %OS, %Ou,
alternative numeric symbols (say, roman numerals), and that of the E
modifier is to use a locale‐dependent alternative representation.
Ordinary characters placed in the format string are copied to s without
conversion. Conversion specifiers are introduced by a ‘%’ character,
and are replaced in s as follows:

%a     The abbreviated weekday name according to the current locale.

%A     The full weekday name according to the current locale.

%b     The abbreviated month name according to the current locale.

%B     The full month name according to the current locale.

%c     The preferred date and time representation for the current
       locale.

%C     The century number (year/100) as a 2‐digit integer. (SU)

%d     The day of the month as a decimal number (range 01 to 31).

%D     Equivalent to %m/%d/%y. (Yecch ‐ for Americans only.   Americans
       should note that in other countries %d/%m/%y is rather common.
       This means that in international context this format is ambigu‐
       ous and should not be used.) (SU)

%e     Like %d, the day of the month as a decimal number, but a leading
              zero is replaced by a space. (SU)

%E     Modifier: use alternative format, see below. (SU)

%F     Equivalent to %Y‐%m‐%d (the ISO 8601 date format). (C99)

%G     The ISO 8601 year with century as a decimal number. The 4‐digit
       year corresponding to the ISO week number (see %V). This has
       the same format and value as %y, except that if the ISO week
       number belongs to the previous or next year, that year is used
       instead. (TZ)

%g     Like %G, but without century, i.e., with a 2‐digit year (00‐99).
              (TZ)

%h     Equivalent to %b. (SU)

%H     The hour as a decimal number using a 24‐hour clock (range 00 to
       23).

%I     The hour as a decimal number using a 12‐hour clock (range 01 to
       12).

%j     The day of the year as a decimal number (range 001 to 366).

%k     The hour (24‐hour clock) as a decimal number (range 0 to 23);
       single digits are preceded by a blank. (See also %H.) (TZ)

%l     The hour (12‐hour clock) as a decimal number (range 1 to 12);
       single digits are preceded by a blank. (See also %I.) (TZ)

%m     The month as a decimal number (range 01 to 12).

%M     The minute as a decimal number (range 00 to 59).

%n     A newline character. (SU)

%O     Modifier: use alternative format, see below. (SU)

%p     Either ‘AM’ or ‘PM’ according to the given time value, or the
       corresponding strings for the current locale. Noon is treated
       as ‘pm’ and midnight as ‘am’.

%P     Like %p but in lowercase: ‘am’ or ‘pm’ or a corresponding string
       for the current locale. (GNU)

%r     The time in a.m. or p.m. notation. In the POSIX locale this is
       equivalent to ‘%I:%M:%S %p’. (SU)

%R     The time in 24‐hour notation (%H:%M). (SU) For a version includ‐
       ing the seconds, see %T below.

%s     The number of seconds since the Epoch, i.e., since 1970‐01‐01
       00:00:00 UTC. (TZ)

%S     The second as a decimal number (range 00 to 61).

%t     A tab character. (SU)

%T     The time in 24‐hour notation (%H:%M:%S). (SU)

%u     The day of the week as a decimal, range 1 to 7, Monday being 1.
       See also %w. (SU)

%U     The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range
       00 to 53, starting with the first Sunday as the first day of
       week 01. See also %V and %W.

%V     The ISO 8601:1988 week number of the current year as a decimal
       number, range 01 to 53, where week 1 is the first week that has
       at least 4 days in the current year, and with Monday as the
       first day of the week. See also %U and %W. (SU)

%w     The day of the week as a decimal, range 0 to 6, Sunday being 0.
       See also %u.

%W     The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range
       00 to 53, starting with the first Monday as the first day of
       week 01.

%x     The preferred date representation for the current locale without
       the time.

%X     The preferred time representation for the current locale without
       the date.

%y     The year as a decimal number without a century (range 00 to 99).

%Y     The year as a decimal number including the century.

%z     The time‐zone as hour offset from GMT.   Required to emit
       RFC822‐conformant dates (using "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z").
       (GNU)

%Z     The time zone or name or abbreviation.

%+     The date and time in date(1) format. (TZ)

%%     A literal ‘%’ character.

Some conversion specifiers can be modified by preceding them by the E
or O modifier to indicate that an alternative format should be used.
If the alternative format or specification does not exist for the cur‐
rent locale, the behaviour will be as if the unmodified conversion
specification were used. (SU) The Single Unix Specification mentions
%Ec, %EC, %Ex, %EX, %Ry, %EY, %Od, %Oe, %OH, %OI, %Om, %OM, %OS, %Ou,
%OU, %OV, %Ow, %OW, %Oy, where the effect of the O modifier is to use
alternative numeric symbols (say, roman numerals), and that of the E
modifier is to use a locale‐dependent alternative representation.