.KEYWORD listpro
.FLYINGHEAD SOFTWARE REVIEW
.TITLE At the top of the list: ListPro 2.0
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY If you’re a person who likes to use lists to help manage your shopping, your prized collection of beanie babies, or a project you’re in charge of, this article about a handy-dandy piece of software called ListPro 2.0 will definitely be right up your alley.
.AUTHOR Clifford Brooks
You might think it’s difficult to get excited about a program that’s been designed to create and manage lists. I did. Until I discovered ListPro 2.0 from Ilium Software, which can be found at http://www.iliumsoft.com. ListPro is one of those programs that adds power to the Windows CE platform, and, on a more personal note, makes your Windows CE device even harder to live without.
ListPro is really a small database that has been written with a small form factor and limitless functionality in mind. It’s available for palmtops, handhelds, and even your desktop, to make entry and backup as convenient as possible. For this review, I worked with the palmtop version of ListPro 2.0.
.H1 So what kind of lists can you manage with ListPro?
You can create lists with check-off boxes and radio buttons; lists with extensive notes; lists with indented, collapsible subheadings; lists with the ability to sum. Now, you can take your hobby on the road with you, or keep tabs on your collection, or outline procedures or steps. And don’t forget the grocery list! If you’re anything like me (and many other users of ListPro 2.0), you’re likely to find more uses for ListPro than you thought imaginable.
.FIGPAIR A ListPro is also available for the H/PC (pictured here), H/PC Pro, and your Windows 95/ 98/NT machines.
.H1 Installation
Installation was a snap. Ilium uses the standard Windows CE script, so if you’ve done it once, you’ve done it a million times. No problems here.
.H1 Support
I didn’t have much need for Ilium’s customer support, but from the little contact I did have, I’ve no doubt it’s top notch. They offer both email and telephone support. You can’t argue with that.
.H1 Documentation
I don’t know why it is, but I’ve always been one for documentation. My satisfaction with a product is often tied pretty securely to the level of documentation that accompanies it. If I were in the ratings game, I’d probably give ListPro’s documentation a seven, with a caveat or two. As with most Windows CE software, ListPro provides you with a help file that can be accessed from the Start Menu or the Help menu. You’re then presented with a standard table of contents with hyperlinks. So far, so good. Until you try to find the answer to a specific question. The answers are there but, as with many such help files, it’s a little more difficult to find your answer than it should be. The documentation was a bit spotty and hard to follow at times. This was due, in part, to the fact that there were no graphics included in the documentation. Getting started took a little longer than necessary but, once the basics were out of the way, it was smooth sailing.
.H1 The basics
ListPro uses a hierarchical format similar in form and function to the familiar Windows Explorer. Therefore, the first thing you’ll need to wrap your brain around is the concept of lists and files. A file, in ListPro lingo, is the name for a group of lists. Though ListPro is not a relational database, it allows you to manage related lists using files. You can also use folders to further organize the lists in your file, although you can keep lists in the files without the use of folders. Got it? I didn’t at first. Figures B and C, examples of how I used ListPro to create a file for all my carnivorous plant-related lists, should make things clearer. Figure B shows that the file itself, with the checkbox icon, is called Carnivorous Plants. Note that there are two folders within that file: Care and Plants.
.FIGPAIR B The file, with the checkbox icon, is called Carnivorous Plants.
Figure C shows that inside the Plants folder is a list of plant names.
.FIGPAIR C Inside the Plants folder are the Carnivorous Plants lists.
It’s very easy to use the hierarchical structure once you grasp the basic concept and realize that a file is merely a group of lists. You can easily and quickly create folders and move lists in and out of these folders.
One more thing before we talk about the actual lists, and that’s the difference between checkboxes and flags. Both checkboxes and flags function like radio buttons, allowing you to check and uncheck them with a simple tap of the stylus.
Checkboxes are used to check off items in a list. For example, you can create a nifty grocery list, or lists of steps in a task, that can be checked off as completed. For my Carnivorous Plant list, I use checkboxes to note the plants I own.
Flags are another story altogether. On the surface, they work just like checkboxes, but they serve a filtering function that allows them to be used to create specialized, reusable, Two-Step shopping lists.
.H1 Shopping lists (or why you’ll never forget the half and half again)
Let’s look at the Two-Step shopping list function. I created a simple shopping list in a matter of minutes. Yeah, it was just that easy and twice as satisfying. Here’s how it works. First, I created a file called "Shopping" and a list called "Items". Figure D shows what my hierarchical view looks like.
.FIGPAIR D Here’s a look at the shopping list hierarchical view.
After that, I selected three columns for my list: Checkbox, Flag, and Item. If you look at Figure E, you can see that all three of these columns are part of the default set of columns for each new list. I simply checked the columns I wanted to include. The unchecked columns, while still available to me, will not show up in my list unless I go back and select them. With ListPro, changing your mind is never a problem. You can add, delete, move, or resize a column at any time.
.FIGPAIR E Here’s the List Properties dialog box, where I selected the columns for my shopping list.
Once I had my columns, I wrote in the list of items I normally buy, shown in Figure F.
.FIGPAIR F Here’s where I added a new item to my shopping list.
Now we get to the fun part: using the list. Whenever I realize there’s something I need, I simply click the flag by the item’s name. If the item is not yet part of my list, I can add the item and then flag it. Then, when it’s time to go shopping, I select "Show Only Flagged Items" from the "View" menu, and the display changes to show only those items that were flagged. The flags themselves no longer show. You’re left with a pared-down list of just the items you need to purchase, and their checkboxes, so that you can check them off as they’re acquired. See Figure G for a look at my shopping list. Note that although there are 38 items on the complete list, only the five flagged items are showing.
.FIGPAIR G Here’s my shopping list, showing just the items I need to purchase.
Once the list is done, select "Reset List" from the "Edit" menu, and the checks are removed so the list is ready to go again.
You can also use the Two-Step shopping list for variable steps in a process. For example, a project manager at a software company may have to complete certain tasks to bring a program to market, tasks that vary slightly from product to product. He could then flag only the tasks he needs for a particular product, and only use those items. With ListPro, flexibility is the name of the game. It really is the tool you want, when you want it.
.H1 A typical list
The first list I created was in support of one of my hobbies — carnivorous plants. Since a picture will make it all clearer, I’m going to share my Carnivorous Plants lists with you. Although not everybody collects carnivorous plants, my Carnivorous Plants lists typify what can be done with ListPro. Figure H shows the main screen of one of my plant lists — notice how the bottom half of the display presents the Notes section for the selected entry.
.FIGPAIR H Here’s the main screen of one of my plant lists. Notice the Notes section at the bottom of the screen.
The Notes section allows you to create notes as if you were working in an editor. As with all of ListPro’s fields, you can put whatever you want in the Notes section. I really like that feature because I’m somewhat verbose!
.H1 List Properties
The List Properties dialog box is where you go to format your list and to create and customize your columns. It has four tabs, which I’ll tell you about in the next few paragraphs.
.H2 The General tab
The General tab, shown in Figure I, is where you set up overall features for your list, such as whether or not to show item numbers, or enter amounts on flagged items.
.FIGPAIR I This is what the General tab looks like.
.H2 The Columns tab
The Columns tab, shown in Figure J, is where you select among the predefined columns, create new columns, or alter existing columns.
.FIGPAIR J Here’s the Columns tab, for creating your list columns.
.H2 The Reset tab
The Reset tab is used when creating a Two-Step column. Figure K shows you that this tab allows you to decide which type of fields are cleared when Reset is selected.
.FIGPAIR K Reset allows you to select what should be cleared when you reset your list.
.H2 The Color tab
The Color tab is a very thoughtful touch. It allows you to assign a different color to entries that have been checked or flagged. This is shown in Figure L.
.FIGPAIR L The Color tab allows you to change the color of select items.
.H1 Power user features
For a program to earn a permanent spot on my palm-sized PC, it has to be flexible. When I begin to feel like I’m bumping into walls, it’s time to uninstall and look elsewhere. That hasn’t happened with ListPro 2.0. Its only limitations are my own creativity and ingenuity. I like that. It works for me, with me, and doesn’t get in the way with a lot of ifs, ands, or buts. It performs beyond my expectations, and allows me to get the job done, no matter how frivolous or important. Here’s a list of some of the ListPro features that make this program shine:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET You can add columns to your list at any time;
.BULLET Color has been used to good effect — flagged or checked items can appear in another color;
.BULLET It has an unlimited notes feature;
.BULLET Columns can easily be resized;
.BULLET You have control over font size and style;
.BULLET There’s a powerful Category feature that allows you to sort items within a list based on your criterion;
.BULLET You can cut and paste with ease;
.BULLET There’s an unlimited file size;
.BULLET You can click a column head to sort your entries;
.BULLET It’s easy to save and share data;
.BULLET Two-Step shopping lists are very flexible.
.END_LIST
.END_LIST
.H1 And that ain’t all
If it were, it would certainly be enough. But Ilium has gone one step further and provided a means for users to exchange lists with each other. They call it the List Exchange. Users of ListPro can download, free of charge, lists created by other users. Currently, there are over 50 lists available, covering a wide range of topics and interests. And I do mean wide — these lists go from Beanie Babies, to sports schedules, to Cisco routers, to mnemonic tips and back. There’s something for everybody here. Once you download a list, you can customize it and make it your own.
And finally, ListPro 2.0 costs just $24.95. And there’s a 30-day free trial, so that you can try before you buy. And get this: if during that 30 days you create a list that’s added to the List Exchange, the program is free. Isn’t that cool?
.PAGE
.H1 Conclusion
So, is ListPro perfect? Damn near. Sure, I’d love to see a few extra tidbits thrown in, like support for graphics. It would be really nice if I could include a graphic of each of the carnivorous plants that I own in the database. As Windows CE grows into more than just an organizer, it’s important to keep its multimedia qualities in mind. That said, the current version is pure bliss to use. I find myself consulting, tweaking, and adding to at least one of my lists on a daily basis. Check it out, you’ll be glad you did.
Well, that’s all from me for this issue. I have to go now, there are lists to build!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
ListPro 2.0 from Ilium Software can be found at Ilium’s Web site at http://www.iliumsoft.com.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
