kevin1's dashboard

kevin1 marked one of Quasihellfish's replies in I want Sandy as useful. Quasihellfish replied to the idea "Tagged, limited calendar and RSS feeds".

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 09:09 to the discussion "Search FAQ" in I want Sandy:

Q: What are some search terms that I can use?

A: Here's a little list.

You can mix and match the parameters. (xx=yy)
type= (appointment, bookmark, contact, list or note)
tag= Ex: todo or daily or sms or any custom tag
tags= Same as tag. No difference
text= Contains a text phrase to search for.
sort= Tell Sandy what order you want the list in.
date= (today, tomorrow, yesterday, etc. Also an actual date.)

tag=todo -- limit the results to only those items tagged as todo
tags=todo,work -- can use commas to create an OR search.
type=note -- limit the results to only those items that are notes.
sort=alpha -- sort the results alphabetically and adds a Letter divider
sort=date -- sort the items by date. Excludes items that don't have a date.
sort=tag
sort=todo
sort=status
sort=updated -- sort by most recently updated.
date=none -- This doesn't work. Currently there is no way to specifically search for items that do not have a date.
date=today
date=7/4/2008

archived=1 (Use 0 or 1)
past=1
done=1
filtered=true
page=2 (Use 1 to ?)

Example:
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo,...

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 08:53 to the discussion "Search FAQ" in I want Sandy:

Q: How do I exclude items from a search?

A: Right now, there really isn't a good way to exclude items from a search.

There are some things you can do:

Use "done=0" to exclude @done items. (This is the default.)
Use "archived=0" to exclude @archive items. (This is the default.)
Use "past=0" to exclude items that occurred in the past.

There is currently no way to search for an item with one tag but NOT another.
I call this a NOT search. It would be really nice if this were implemented.

Here is one idea for performing an AND NOT search:
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo+...

For more information, see http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 08:44 to the discussion "Search FAQ" in I want Sandy:

Q: How do I search for items that have multiple tags?

A: You can add multiple tags to your search. The problem is that the results are not limited to those items that have BOTH tags. Right now Sandy returns all the items that have EITHER of those tags. (This is an OR search.)

Clicking on two tags in the "tag cloud" will return a list of all items that have *either* tag. (An OR search) You can specify multiple tags on the URL line, but this will also be interpreted as an OR search.

http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo,... (OR search)
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo&... (OR search)

For more on the limitation on searching for multiple tags, see http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

There is currently no way to perform an AND search. You can't limit the search results to those items that have BOTH tags. Although several request have been made.

Here is one idea for performing an AND search.
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo+...

See this thread for some ideas. http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 08:04 to the discussion "Search FAQ" in I want Sandy:

Q: How do I create a custom calendar feed or RSS feed?

A: Use the base feed and then add on search terms to the end.

http://iwantsandy.com/list?search_ter... (for regular search)
http://iwantsandy.com/list.rss?search... (for RSS feed)
http://iwantsandy.com/list.ics?search... (for iCalendar feed)
http://iwantsandy.com/_secret_code_/l... (using private iCalendar feed)

The search terms that you can add to the end are covered in more detail elsewhere. Here are a few examples:

http://iwantsandy.com/list?tag=todo&s...
http://iwantsandy.com/list.rss?type=b...
http://www.iwantsandy.com/_secret_cod...

Note: The RSS feed and one of the calendar feeds is "password protected". This means that the program calling the feed must "authenticate" itself by providing the appropriate username and password before Sandy will give out the contents of the feed. This has caused numerous problems because some Calendars (iCalendar feed) and News readers (RSS feed) don't support authentication. As a result, the "private" iCalendar feed was created.

Note: There are 2 calendar feeds. The short one, which is password protected, and the long one, which is not password protected. The long one is called your "private" calendar feed. It's not really "private". It just uses a hard-to-guess string of 32 characters. It was created because several calendar programs, including Google Calendar, do not support authenticated calendar feeds.

Note: The RSS feed will currently only give you the first "page" of results. That's about 25 items.

Problems with RSS authentication. See http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

See http://iwantsandy.com/help/feeds for help with feeds.

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 07:39 to the problem "White space influences search results" in I want Sandy:

You were probably using the search box on Sandy's website. This search box doesn't search by tag, it searches for text. It probably searched for all items that contained the text phrase "@work ". Yes, the space matters when doing a text search.

Assume we create an item as "remember blahblah @work" and don't end the sentence with a space. That means that the text phrase "@work" would be part of the "context" of the item. The phrase "@work " would not be part of the "context" of that item. And it's never going to change. Not even if we tag the item as "work". Thus, searches for the text phrase "@work " will never return that item.

See http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy... See http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 07:13 to the discussion "Search FAQ" in I want Sandy:

Q: How does the search box on the iwantsandy website work?

A: This box performs a simple text search. Enter any text phrase and Sandy will return all items that contain that phrase. It will automatically extend the search so that it will search through all archived, done and past items. (Items that are normally excluded from other searches.)

Note: the search box does NOT search by tag. It doesn't matter if you type "@todo", it won't search for items tagged as "todo". It will search for items that contain the text phrase "@todo". Usually, that will include only those items that have "@todo" in their context. In other words, those items that were tagged as "todo" at the time they were created. (Example: "remember to buy milk @todo")

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 07:05 to the discussion "Search FAQ" in I want Sandy:

There's a lot of questions out there on how to search, so I thought I'd collect some of that information and put it here.

GetSatisfaction doesn't have the best interface for creating a FAQ. They're talking about making one, but until then we'll have to made do, or move this FAQ somewhere else.

kevin1 started a conversation in I want Sandy on August 09, 2008 06:57:

Search FAQ

Tips and tricks on how to search. Also, how to create limited feeds (calendar feed, RSS feed) with only the items that you want.

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 06:51 to the problem "changed the tag on an item, but it doesn't show up in search" in I want Sandy:

You were probably searching in the search box on Sandy's website. This doesn't search by tag, it searches for text. It probably searched for all items that contained the text phrase "@giftidea".

I'm guessing that you created the item as "remember blahblah @giftidea". That means that the text phrase "@giftidea" is part of the "context" of that item. And it's never going to change. Thus, searches for the text phrase "@giftidea" will always return that item.

See http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy... See http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

kevin1 replied on August 09, 2008 06:10 to the idea "iCal subscriptions per tag/search/whatever" in I want Sandy:

The earlier replies here have an error. They contain the phrase "text=@todo".

You should never look for tags as text. Searching for items that contain some text phrase has nothing to do with searching for items with a certain tag.

Searching for "text=@todo" will only return those items that contain the actual text phrase "@todo". This is usually only found in the "context" of the item. Example: "remember to buy milk @todo".

Any item tagged as todo after it was created will not contain the "@todo" text phrase. And, the items that do contain the text phrase "@todo" in their context will always contain it. There's no way to remove it. Tagging the item as @done, and/or removing the @todo tag, won't change this.

A comment on the idea "iCal subscriptions per tag/search/whatever" in I want Sandy:

This example link has an error. The "text=@todo" part should be replaced with "tags=todo". Also, when using the RSS feed /list.rss?tags=todo&blahblah, it only lists the first "page" of results. Which is 25 items – kevin1, on August 08, 2008 23:31

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 23:16 to the question "Advanced lookup functionality" in I want Sandy:

Oops. I just realized that the + is currently used by Sandy for tags that contain a space.
So maybe my idea needs to be modified. Or maybe the space can be encoded. A lot of other websites do that.

http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=dry+c... (How to find "dry cleaning" now)
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=dry%2... (Idea for an AND search)

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 23:09 to the question "How to lookup untagged?" in I want Sandy:

I had a further idea about this and I put it over on this thread. http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

I realized that the search box on Sandy's website should not be relied on to search for tags.

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 22:57 to the question "Advanced lookup functionality" in I want Sandy:

I agree. There should be a way to specify what tags we want to search for more precisely.

It would be great if the operators AND OR and NOT could be supported. (Maybe the symbols + and - should be used instead of words though.)
And there really should be a way to find untagged items.

Here are some ideas:

By email: (and Twitter)
> lookup @todo AND @project1
> lookup @todo AND NOT @work
> lookup dry cleaning @todo @AND @NOT @work

The "tag cloud" on Sandy's website:
Selecting both tags "project1" and "todo" currently does an OR search.

By URL:
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo,... (This currently does an OR search)
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo+... (Idea for an AND search)
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo+... (idea for an AND NOT search)
http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags= (To find items with no tags.)
(Other ideas for no tags. tags=undefined or tags=notag or tags=untagged)

By Jott:
> lookup tags todo and work
> lookup tags todo and project1 and not work

(Note: the search box on Sandy's website should not be relied on to search for tags.
Typing in "@todo" will only return those items that contain the actual text "@todo". This is usually only found in the "context" of the item. Example: "remember to buy milk @todo")

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 22:35 to the question "How can have Sandy lookup things that have multiple tags?" in I want Sandy:

Yeah, you've found a bug. Actually, it's a feature that needs to be implemented.

Sandy is currently incapable of performing an AND search on multiple tags. Instead, it's always an OR search. (See http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...)

There is a way to do an AND search for a tag and some text though.
Use the URL bar.

http://iwantsandy.com/list?tags=todo&...

You may or may not want to include @done or @archived or past events.
?tags=todo&text=project1&archived=1&done=1&past=1

The problem here is that the item must have the text in it, it can't be a tag. This is the case if you tagged the item correctly when you created it. Then the context of the item will contain the string "project1". (Actually it would contain the string "@project1")

This trick won't work to find anything that you tagged after you created it.

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 20:47 to the idea "Calendar view of events on start page" in I want Sandy:

To get a calendar view, use a calendar program like Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal, etc, and have it subscribe to the the calendar feed from Sandy. (See http://iwantsandy.com/help/feeds and http://iwantsandy.com/settings#calend... to turn on your private iCalendar feed.)

It is some trouble to update Sandy events through a calendar program. The current calendar feed is read-only. The work around is that you have to click on the event to get to the details, and then you need to click again on one of the links inside the event. You will be directed to Sandy's website for that event, and you can make a change to it there.

The problem seems to be that not all calendar programs work the same. Google Calendar is especially non-standard and they're having a tough time with it.
i understand that Google Calendar was updated just the other week with support for CalDAV, so maybe now the iwantsandy people they can get Sandy working with gcal in the next month or so. Or maybe not.

Oh, and even if Google Calendar's behavior does get sorted out, gcal still doesn't have a task list. So you still won't be able to see your task list displayed in Google Calendar, even if you can use gcal to update events.

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 20:27 to the idea "Sandy @todo showing up as actionable tasks in mylyn when I need them." in I want Sandy:

Nice setup. I liked the part about turning Sandy's email reminders into "actionable tasks" for your task-management system.

I agree, Sandy's very helpful. And getting better.

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 15:29 to the idea "Advanced scheduling. Creating an event rule" in I want Sandy:

The main ideas here have now been implemented in Recurring Events.

Recurring Events now have an "All future events" section which serve as the "event rule".

Some further ideas:
1) Recurring Events still need an end date.
2) The individual events created from the rule could still have a reference or link back to the rule that created it.
3) Dependency. So that the next event won't be scheduled until the current instance of the event is marked @done.
4) Recurring Events could use a separate field to specify the frequency of the Recurring Event . (In the "All future events" section.) Right now Recurring Events rely on special tags such as biweekly. (Even after the Recurring Event has been created.)
5) The "frequency" of Recurring Events could be expanded to include more options. (i.e. every third Wednesday)

kevin1 replied on August 08, 2008 13:45 to the idea "I want to be able to specify in my email how soon before the event to be notified" in I want Sandy:

This feature was added in a recent update. See http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...

You can now use a @reminder tag to tell Sandy when you want to be reminded. After the @reminder tag, put the date you want to be reminded. The date can be fixed (like June 20) or it can be relative to the date you want to remember. (use the word "before")

You can send a message to Sandy like this:
> Remind me that my father's birthday is on April 20th, @reminder three days before.