The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

[Mod note: the present is the official forum topic for MemPad; database entry is at https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=889]

MemPad

Link: http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/wmem.htm

MemPad is a notebook with an index tree.

The program features plain text pages, offering standard editing functions including cut, copy, paste, undo, date/time insert, drag&drop. Web links as well as network and local file links (full path not required) are supported.

Page size and index depth are virtually not limited. The index structure can be modified with the buttons, through context menu, or hotkeys.

Search function, Word wrap mode, Read-only handling (through file attribute);
Options: Always on top, Custom font, Background color, ESC shortcut to quit

Export a page, node or all to a file or to another program;
Import functions; Page insert from text file.

Password protected encryption, optionally in Win98 compatible mode.

Automatic backup with the option to restore the last backup (can be disabled by option).

MemPad can handle different file environments (by extension or directory) with their own INI files. No Registry entries. File/Open menu within a file environment; optional "New Window".

Writes settings to: Directory that program was extracted to.....

This is my first suggestion and I hope I did everything correctly... There are other very small utilities on the same site at this addresss. ENJOY!!!!



http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/win/index.html

Nice one alphasurfer,
I really like it, I also like the fact that it automatically saves the files ( upon first time launch )
Now, I have to make up my mind then, ShirusuPad or MemPad

I'm sure I've seen this program before... is this one of the programs including with "Floppy Office"? If so, then it is a pretty good program.

Posted to the database. Thanks!

I have used Mempad as a note manager application on and off in the past, 'cause I really like its concept of lightweight yet flexible text note manager; I would like to extend my use of it, but I always seem to hit some snag that I'm unable to overcome.

The latest one is about the 'Data folder' (workspace) feature -- I'm posting it here just in the unlikely case someone has a solution...

Some context, taken verbatim from Mempad help file:

[*] Data folder: You can use any folder as MemPad's "data folder", if you do not want MemPad's own program folder (default) . You may even use several different data folders.

Just specify the data folder in the "Start in" field of the shortcut properties. [...]

Each data folder with MemPad files constitutes an "environment", and inside a MemPad instance you can only use files of the environment you started with.

[*] Start options: Start options are specified in the properties of the shortcut (right mouse click), as command parameters in the "Target" field:

Set the cursor to the end of the program path (make sure the path is not marked), and add a blank space, followed by the parameter(s). Enclose a parameter in quote marks if necessary.

Presently, I'm on XP SP3 and no matter what I do, I can't seem to be able to make this work -- Mempad always uses its program folder for the environments it creates.

I've tried dragging and droping a folder on Mempad's exe, setting a shortcut with the desired path (both relative and absolute, and in the 'Target' and 'Start in' fields) and even putting this in a batch file.

In all my tries, Mempad never created it's environment elsewhere than its application folder. Until further proof, I'm assuming that, although documented, this function isn't really implemented...

For me the "Start in" method works, even for directories outside Mempad's main folder (using v3.53).

tproli wrote:For me the "Start in" method works, even for directories outside Mempad's main folder (using v3.53).

Is that so? I'm at wit's end...

Specifying the data folder in the command line also works fine. For instance:
C:\Path\Mempad.exe C:\DataFolder\

I'm a BIG fan of MemPad by the way. I have found it to be incredibly robust and useful over the years.

flatfly wrote:Specifying the data folder in the command line also works fine. For instance:
C:\Path\Mempad.exe C:\DataFolder\

Tried that, too. Unsuccessful, at first. Finally got it.

What didn't work:
- placing a relative path in the shortcut 'Target' field;
- placing a relative path in the shortcut 'Start in' field;
- using a method for portable links (as detailed at http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... 410#p65410);
- dragging and droping the environment folder on 'Mempad.exe'.

What did work:
- placing an absolute path in the shortcut 'Start in' field -- provided the environment path is ended with a slash!
- launching from a batch file, with absolute paths retrieved with '%~dp0' switch parsing -- provided the environment path is ended with a slash!
- using yaP launcher for the same effect -- provided the environment path is ended with a slash!

So there's your culprit -- repeated three times so never it be forgotten...

Since shortcuts are handled by the OS which not really supports relative paths, it was very unlikely to get it work.
In case of yaP, did you use the "workdir" setting?

tproli wrote:Since shortcuts are handled by the OS which not really supports relative paths, it was very unlikely to get it work.

Yeah, I get it, but then CMD readily accepts paths without an ending slash -- not to mention drive less ones (\Dir\DirToo).

tproli wrote:In case of yaP, did you use the "workdir" setting?

Nope, I used the "commandline" key with the {YAPROOT} variable; but I have now checked your suggestion, and it works, too -- better, when using the "workdir" key, it still works when the final backslash is omitted.

BTW, wasn't there a way to get a prompt from yaP?

BTW, wasn't there a way to get a prompt from yaP?

A prompt for what? What would be the goal?

tproli wrote:A prompt for what? What would be the goal?

E.g., for an application parameter -- a filesystem path comes to mind here...

EDIT: another snag. In trying to get Mempad to output Markdown and process it with Pandoc, I tried the following routes.

• Setting the line below in file 'Launcher.txt' in Mempad environment folder to make an option for this available in the 'F8', 'Quicklaunch' and 'Chevron' menus only makes Mempad crash... (without the double quotes around the dollar sign content insertion placeholder, it just silently fails).

  Code: Select all

  Pandoc/Selection to HTML;..\Pandoc\pandoc.exe;"$" -f markdown -t html -s -o export.html
  [Format: menu text; program path; parameters]

• Changing the "Export | Single page" dialog options (either directly or through the specific environment INI file [Export] section) to the following produces only an 'export.txt' file; the line in the Prog key correctly converts 'export.txt' to 'export.html' in the CLI...

  Code: Select all

  [Export]
  File=.\export.txt
  TitleLNfeed=1
  hPage=
  LSymbol=
  Prog=..\Pandoc\pandoc.exe export.txt -f markdown -t html -s -o export.html
  DoDeco=0
  Product=3
  

I suspect the problem might be with the Pandoc executable, but haven't been able to pinpoint it, since it behaves flawlessly when invoked in the CLI.

E.g., for an application parameter -- a filesystem path comes to mind here...

Not a bad idea, perhaps I should add macros like {USERTEXT}, {USERFILE} and {USERDIR}. Better wording is welcomed

tproli wrote:Not a bad idea, perhaps I should add macros like {USERTEXT}, {USERFILE} and {USERDIR}. Better wording is welcomed

Would the different macros denote different parsing for the input?

'Cause if not and applying a little KISS philosophy, then just {USERINPUT} -- making a dialog appear at the relevant yaP step, with only a text field (perhaps decorated with some prompting text and a drop-down list for history?) and an OK button (ESC or empty field denoting don't use) -- would probably do...