List - A Simple Database

Status of List

PalmOS is effectively a legacy system now.  I realize that the recently released PalmPre will have some form of compatibility layer, but I suspect there will be native Pre applications which have the same functionality (or at least if the BEST applications are emulated 68k apps, then the platform is in trouble).

The iPhone has really filled the gadget gap for most of the Treo users now (or they’ve got to a Blackberry).  I’ve very recently picked up an iPod Touch - and I may one day write some software for it, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

I see that HanDBase is available on the iPhone - and it should be possible to convert your List format databases for use with it. If someone knows of a better database program for the iPhone, add a comment here and I’ll be happy to investigate and post my opinion.

From this point on - don’t expect another version of List for PalmOS.  There may be a future version for some other platform, but I don’t see that happening for literally years.  So it may be a long wait.

I will continue to host this site - and answer questions as best I can.

5 comments June 29th, 2009

Not Forgotten… Really!

So I recently upgraded to a newer version of Wordpress, but it appears that that has broken my theme. The fix originally didn’t look easy, but after poking around a bit I was able to get things looking mostly correct.

While there haven’t been updates for a while - there hasn’t been a lot of traffic in terms of bugs or problems with List either.  I still get regular requests for a Windows Mobile version - the answer is still no plans for this.  Support for something cool like the iPhone is tempting, but I’m holding off until at least the 2nd generation of these before they are compelling enough to justify the cost.

11 comments March 20th, 2008

Automate Backup & Backup next Hot-Sync

I get a fair number of questions about what these options do exactly - so I will attempt to explain them here.

Backup next Hot-Sync

List uses the default backup conduit - refer to your Palm user documentation on the backup conduit. This conduit knows how to take files from your Palm device and back them up onto your PC. There is a standard flag in the Palm database format that controls if this needs to be done (for advanced users - this is very similar to the archive bit on PC files). The Backup next Hot-Sync check box allows the user to manually control this flag. The Hot-Sync operation will clear this flag automatically when the database has been backed up. In List this flag is set per database.
Automate Backup

Since there is no need to backup a database that has not been edited, it is fairly simple for List to toggle the flag for you if you edit. The Automate Backup check box is used to tell List that it should flip the Backup next Hot-Sync check box for you when you edit databases. In List this flag is a system setting.

Synchronization

There is no synchronization with List and any PC application (that I know of). This is different than the built in applications which allow editing of records on both the PC and Palm device - and sort out things for you. If you use a PC companion program to edit a List database - simply install it on your Palm device. This will overwrite what is on the Palm device. I recommend you start by doing a hot-sync to get the latest backup of your data, locate the file - edit, and then re-install.

2 comments June 13th, 2007