DateLook is a free electronic date book that features alarms, the ability to handle cyclic events, supports printing and is fully mouse-driven. It has an import/export-function (vCalendar V 1.0-format) and is able to synchronise its local database with a database in the net. The synchronisation can use FTP via TCP/IP or any net file system. Therefore it is suitable for multi-user-operation. DateLook provides an unconventional graphical user interface. It is written in Java and requires a Java runtime environment 1.4.0 or later.
The Main-window is split into the upper part with a calendar and the lower part, the "events display", to show your events as coloured rectangles. When the mouse is over a rectangle, then a summary of this event appears. The "events display" has five rows used to group the events as you like (e.g. row 1: family; row 2: work ...) and to prevent overlapping.
Dragging with left-mouse-button or rotating the mouse-wheel shifts the visible space of time. Dragging with right-mouse-button in the calendar or rotating the mouse-wheel while holding the shift-key zooms the visible space of time. If you use the wheel, then the shift or zoom speed depends on where the mouse-pointer is: fast in the year-bar, medium in the month-bar or slow in the rest.
A click with the right-mouse-button on an empty place of the "events display" or pressing control-m opens a pop-up-menu with the options:
Extended View, Goto, EventManager, Print, Predef Colours, Help, Save Pos & Zoom, Revert & Exit and Exit:
Remark that pressing the F1-key opens the Help-window from each other window. Furthermore many functions can be controlled by keyboard. For details see chapter 2.9.
Note for Mac OSX users: To emulate the right mouse button (unfortunately absent on Mac Computers) press the command-key additionally before pressing the only mouse button.
Press the left-mouse-button into the "events display" at the place where your event begins and in the row of your choice. Drag to right to the place where the event ends and release the mouse button. Automatically the Editor-window appears. If you like to create a whole-day-event (0 - 24:00 e.g. a birthday) press additionally the shift-key while dragging.
The Editor-window shows different entries:
A right-mouse-click increases, a left-mouse-click decreases the value of an entry. For fast changes the mouse-wheel can be used too. Alarm can be set On or Off. But there are three rules that must be observed: Alarm (if On) must be equal or earlier than Begin, Begin must be equal or earlier than End and for cyclic events it is not allowed to overlap itself. If one of these rules is violated you can't save the event but the wrong entry is highlighted red.
Remark that there is no plausibility check for entered Begin-, End- and Alarm-times and -dates. If you enter e.g. the 31st of February or 02.30 at the day when the day-light-saving-time is switched on the date or time would silently corrected to the 3th of March or 03.30 o'clock.
DateLook handles cyclic events. For that you can choose in the Cycle-entry a multiplier (range 1 to 9) followed by:
daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.
With the help of the multiplier cycles of e.g. 2 weeks or 3 months can be chosen. Cyclic event occurs first like a non-cyclic event according to its Alarm-, Begin- and End-time, but later on periodically with the given cycle. Of course the number of occurrences (including the first) can be chosen. The range is from 2 to 999. For your information the day of the last occurrence is shown right of that number.
An alarm (if On) is given for each occurrence. Note that the Editor-window shows the Begin-, End- and Alarm-time always for the FIRST occurrence of this event. The EventManager-window shows cyclic events only once at its first occurrence.
The summary of the event can be entered in the text field using the keyboard.
If you want to store additional information attached to that event, press the Description-button. The Description Edtor-window appears now. Here a longer description can be entered. As long as the Description Edtor-window is open the Edtor-window is locked. Changes in the description are saved only with the save-button in the Edtor-window.
Pressing the save-button saves the new event and closes the Editor-window. Pressing the cancel-button discards the new event and closes the Editor-window.
You can individually choose the colour of an event by pressing the colour-button. If done the ColourChooser-window appears. As long as the ColourChooser-window is open the Edtor-window is locked. The ColourChooser-window displays eight rows for eight different colours. Each row consists of a Label-entry, three colour-values for red-, green- and blue-part of the colour (RGB, range 0 to 255) and the select-button to choose that colour for the current event. In the first row the current colour of the event appears. This colour can be changed by mouse-click on the colour-values. Left click increases, right click decreases the colour-value. Mouse wheel works too. In the following seven rows there are predefined colours and labels. They can not be changed here.
A right-mouse-click on an event's rectangle or summary in the Main-window opens the Editor-window for that event. Another possibility is to open the EventManager-window as described above. Here a right-mouse-click on an unhighlighted event's row opens the Editor-window for that event. A right-mouse-click on a highlighted event opens Editor-windows for all highlighted events. Coming from the EventManager-window in the Editor-window an additional go to-button appears to make this event quickly visible on the Main-window.
In the Editor-window you can modify all entries. Furthermore here a delete-button appears to delete this event completely. The cancel-button discards changes and closes the window.
Pressing the Description-button the Description Edtor-window appears to edit the event's detailed description. Changes in the description are saved with the save-button in the Edtor-window.
The Print-button opens a printer dialog to print this single event including its detailed description.
In Main-window events can easily changed by drag-and-drop. With left-mouse-button events can be shifted to another date or row. Begin-, End- and Alarm-time are shifted by the same value. If you want to shift the event exactly by one day or you want to change the row only without changing of time, then press the shift-key additionally while dragging. After drop the Editor-window appears automatically. To save the changes press the save-button or to cancel the changes press the cancel-button.
Pressing the cntrl-key while dragging makes a copy of the event.
Open the Editor-window by a right-mouse-click on an event's rectangle in the Main-window or on the event's row in the EventManager-window and press there the delete-button. If you want to delete more than one event at once, then open the EventManager-window select all events, you want to delete, with the left-mouse-button and press the delete-button in the upper part of the EventManager-window. The button text changes to "sure?". If you are sure press the button again within the next three seconds. Otherwise the button will return to "delete" and you must start again. Note that the selection model is the same as for Windows(c). Use the cntrl-key to add/remove a single event to/from an existing selection; use the shift-key to select a whole area between an already selected event and the event you click on.
If the Alarm-time of an event is reached or DateLook detects events with pending alarms (at program-start), then for each of these events an Alarm-window is opened accompanied by a beep. If the Alarm-time of an imported or newly created event is in the past, then no alarm is given.
First open the EventManager-window. Enter in the text field one or more search strings seperated by blanks. A search string can consist of alphabetic characters, numbers and special signs except of quotation (") or, if you like, of nothing (to quickly select all rows). If a search string should include blanks it must be encapsulated by quotation ("). Pressing the search-button starts searching. Searching is done within the Date-, Time-, Class-, Cycle- and Summary-column of the table, not in the descriptions of the events. (Remember that cyclic events occur only once in the table.) As result all rows containing ALL of the search strings are selected and the table scrolls to the first hit. All other rows collapse to a small stripe. A left-mouse-click into the table re-opens all rows.
DateLook provides the possibility to predefine colours for specific topics of events such as "family" or "sports" or what ever you want. The advantage is that you have a better overview of the kind of events in the Main-window.
The PredefColourEditor-window can be opened from Main-window by a right-mouse-click into the "events display" and choosing the Predef Colours-option.
This PredefColourEditor-window displays seven rows for seven predefined colours. Each row consists of a Label-entry, three colour-values for red-, green- and blue-part of the colour (RGB, range 0 to 255) and the colour-field to show how the colour looks like. Labels can be modified by keypad. First click into the field you want to modify and then edit the label text. The colours can be changed by mouse-click on the colour-values. Left click increases, right click decreases the colour-value. Mouse wheel works too. The save-button save the changes of the labels and colours and closes the window. The cancel-button closes the window too but without saving.
Remark that the events don't contain any information about labels. They only contain the colour. This means if you change the predefined colours later then all already stored events don't change its colour. Imported events have the colour chosen by its creator independent of his or your predefined colours and labels.
DateLook can export selected events to a file in "vCalendar V 1.0"-format or events can be imported from a file in "vCalendar V 1.0"-format. This is suitable if you are using DateLook at different computers e.g. at home and in the office or if you want to exchange events with other programs that understand the "vCalendar V 1.0"-format.
To export events open the EventManager-window. Select the events you want to export to a file with the left-mouse-button as described in the chapter 2.3. Then press the export-button. A file chooser appears. Select a directory here, enter any desired file name (file extension .vcs is recommended) and press the export-button of the file chooser. That's all. Remark that an already existing file will be overwritten without any warning. You can use the "search"-function to select events to export.
To import events press the import-button in the EventManager-window. Select a valid file in "vCalendar V 1.0"-format with the help of the appearing file chooser and press here the import-button. After successful import the new events are highlighted in the EventManager-window. All other rows collapse to a small stripe. A left-mouse-click into the table re-opens all rows. If you dislike the imported events, you can easily delete them all by pressing the delete-button as long as they are highlighted.
The import feature follows the rule that each event with an unknown or without an Unique IDentifier (UID) is taken over into the own (local) database. Otherwise if there is an event with the same UID in the local database, then the LAST-MODIFIED-property is compared and the younger one is taken. If there is no LAST-MODIFIED-property in the event in file, then this event is not taken. But all events which are deleted during a DateLook-session (Start to Exit) are stored internally till the end of session. During import, events with same UID of a deleted event are not taken over into the own (local) database, if the deletion took place later then the last modification.
Remark that the exchange of events with other programs than DateLook can lead to the lost of some properties of an event. Because not all programs can handle all properties. Especially some programs don't support cyclic events. Please, turn the special attention towards the exchange of events between hosts in different time zones. E.g. an event starting at 08.00 will start at 07.00 after transfer from a host in Berlin to another one in London, because this is exactly the same time if globally seen.
If DateLook imports events created on a computer using a different character set, these events are displayed properly. But if such an event is modified and saved then all characters only belonging to the current character set (used on own computer) and not belonging to to origin character set are replaced by question marks.
DateLook can synchronise its local database with a remote database in the net. The synchronisation uses FTP or any net file system. The remote database is stored in a file on a FTP-server or a file-server. This file is in "vCalendar V1.0"-format too. The synchronisation takes place in two steps. First step is the import of events from the remote database according to the same rules as described in chapter 2.7and the second step is to overwrite the remote database with the updated local database. But here only events of the Class "Public" are written to the remote database. This is suitable for multi-user-operation to protect your "private" events from propagation into the remote (common) database.
All events which are deleted during a DateLook-session (Start to Exit) are marked internally till the end of session. If after deletion a synchronisation takes place, then events with same UID (Unified IDentifier) of a deleted event are not taken over into the local database and removed from remote database too, but only if the deletion took place later then the a last modification from another party. The remote database doesn't store any information about deleted events, except of that these events are removed from here. Therefore the remote database can not request the deletion of an event in the local database. If you want to delete an event from all different local databases, then it must be deleted from each local database separately BEFORE synchronisation. This is suitable for safety reasons.
To perform a synchronisation open the EventManager-window and press the sync-button. Now the Synchroniser-window appears. Here you have the choice between FTP-server or file-server. To change click on this text field. If you choose FTP-server and the FTP-server needs authentication, please enter your user name ("UID") and your password ("PW"). Otherwise leave both entries empty. Remark that the password is stored unencrypted in a settings-file. In the entry "H/P" the host name and the path of the remote database (e.g. "ftp.blabla.de/datelook/database.vcs" or "h:\blabla.de\datelook\database.vcs") is required. The file name of that database is free. If it doesn't exist, it will be created during synchronisation. Note that the chosen file (remote database) will be overwritten with the updated local database independent of its old content.
Press the sync-button in the Synchroniser-window to start the synchronisation. If finished the Synchroniser-window disappears and in the EventManager-window all updated and imported events are highlighted. If an error occurred during synchronisation, then the Synchroniser-window remains and shows an error-message. To close the Synchroniser-window without synchronisation press the close-button.
Remark that simultaneous synchronisation of different DateLook-users in multi-user-operation can NOT lead to a lost of data (provided that FTP- or file-server works well). But it can occur, that not all local databases are really synchronised. Because there were a race condition between to "Synchronisers". For that reason it is recommended to synchronise the databases again if you recognise some unexpected delay.
The following table shows available shortcuts:
| Window | Shortcut | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Main | Control-m | open menu |
| Control-v | switch between Extended and Simple View | |
| Control-g | open Goto-Window | |
| Control-e | open EventManager | |
| Control-o | open PredefColourEditor | |
| Control-p | open Print-Dialog | |
| Control-q | Exit | |
| left/right | shift visible space of time in small steps | |
| Control-left/right | shift visible space of time exactly one window size | |
| Shift-left/right | changes the zoom state | |
| Editor | Control-s, Control-q | save changes of the event and close window |
| Control-c | discard changes and close window | |
| Control-d | open Description-Editor | |
| Control-o | open ColourChooser | |
| Control-p | open Print-Dialog | |
| Description Editor | Control-q | close window |
| Control-c | copy selected text to clip board | |
| Control-x | cut selected text | |
| Control-v | paste from clipboard | |
| ColourChooser | Control-q, Control-s | use changed current colour and close window |
| Control-c | discard changes in current colour and close window | |
| PredefColourEditor | Control-q, Control-s | save changed predefined colours/labels and close window |
| Control-c | discard changes and close window | |
| EventManager | Control-q, Control-c | close window |
| Control-e | open Export-Dialog | |
| Control-i | open Import-Dialog | |
| Control-s | open Synchronisation-Dialog | |
| Sync-Dialog | Control-q | close dialog and remember content of entries |
| Control-c | close dialog and discard changes in entries | |
| Control-s | start synchronisation | |
| Goto | Control-q, Control-c | close window |
| Control-g | goto chosen date | |
| Help | Control-c, Control-q | close window |
| Alarm | Control-c, Control-q | close window |
| Control-e | open Editor-Window | |
| all | F1 | open Help-Window |
Linux, Windows: DateLook itself comes as a single JAR-file datelookXXX.jar. XXX stands for the version number. This file can be copied to a place where ever you want. Best places are e.g /usr/local/bin or C:/Programme/....
Mac OS X: The application and all needed files are located in the Folder DateLook.app. This folder is part of the download-file datelookXXX.dmg.gz. If datelookXXX.dmg.gz is mounted you can copy this folder where ever you like. But the Application-folder is recommended. Remark that the Finder hides the extension ".app". You only see "DateLook".
For all OS the settings files and the database are generated automatically and stored in the subdirectory .datelook of the user's default directory. These files are:
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. you should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
For more information or support see http://www.rr-e.de/dl/.
Have a lot of fun.