a third widget: "favorite note"

[CampelloManuel]

Make a new widget, different from both the "shortcut" and the "list widget". It is similar to the big widget, but here you can choose only one note. This note is shown on the nome screen in a simple style. It shows only:

• Title
• content
• due date

It needs no more than 3 buttons:

• copy text
• open in TaskDetailView
• open widget configuration activity

One of this could be the action triggered by simply touching the widget.

Try to make this widget minimal, or else users can just use the "list widget" with a list with only 1 note.

To do:

• a settings activity
• a service class, like ListWidgetService

An easier way to implement this is as an instance of the "list widget" with a custom configuration, since that may be easier for users. The list widget already does 80% of this, but setting it up is not trivial for users.

[JackDotJS]

+1 for this!

the notes app i was using on my old phone had this feature (minus the copy text button) and i found it incredibly useful. it'd be very nice to have something similar here

[CampelloManuel]

To be honest, I don't think I'll ever work on this: right now it is already possible to get something similar. I just added it in this section of the tutorial: https://github.com/spacecowboy/NotePad/blob/master/documents/TUTORIAL.md#show-a-single-note

So this feature seems somewhat superfluous.

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P.S.: I would appreciate any feedback on that tutorial. Feel free to share.

[JackDotJS]

i've tried out the tutorial, and... i guess it sorta works...? but it feels like a really hacky solution with several downsides.

right out of the gate, this requires a (relative) ton of setup, like making an entire separate folder dedicated to a single note. then assuming you follow the tutorial perfectly, there's no widget header. that means you cannot change how the widget looks without going through the entire setup process again (this is even mentioned at the end of the tutorial!). plus, you cannot change which note is displayed without opening the app and manually moving around notes between folders, OR just going through the widget setup process again and changing the folder from there. finally, if all of that wasn't enough, widgets appear to have a character limit for each list item, meaning larger notes are completely unreadable after a certain point.

in my honest opinion, having a dedicated widget for singular notes is significantly more appealing.

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....also, out of curiosity, why does the tutorial specify you need to use manual sorting? there's (supposed to be) only one note, so I can't see why it would matter either way

[JackDotJS]

btw if you do add this feature, i think making the "copy text" button optional would be really useful. after thinking about it for a while, i have this dreadful feeling i'd accidentally hit it while navigating the home screen on my phone lol. and android doesn't (natively) have a clipboard history feature afaik

either that or somehow make it's activation less instantaneous and error-prone like a simple button would be. i could suggest something along the lines of swiping or scrolling, but that could potentially be even worse for users with multi-page home screens

[CampelloManuel]

why does the tutorial specify you need to use manual sorting

because sorting by date also shows a redundant section title if a due date is set on the note. Manual sorting avoids that.

in my honest opinion, having a dedicated widget for singular notes is significantly more appealing

I was not sure anyone was interested in this feature. Since i see that there is demand, then sure, I'll add the widget. Consider that the app is ~10 years old and there's a lot of deprecated APIs in use, so replacing those is a priority. So I don't expect to work on this anytime soon.

making the "copy text" button optional

Ah yes that button was just an idea. I probably won't even add a copy button unless more people ask for it. As you say, it could cause problems.

android doesn't (natively) have a clipboard history feature afaik

I use anysoftkeyboard from f-droid if you're interested. It has clipboard history and it's offline-only.

[JackDotJS]

because sorting by date also shows a redundant section title if a due date is set on the note.

i think that further proves how weird and hacky this solution is lol

I was not sure anyone was interested in this feature. Since i see that there is demand, then sure, I'll add the widget.

oh yeah, i'm sure there's plenty of demand for such a feature 😄 ive seen plenty of people (including several friends of mine) who want something from a project but never go on places like github to speak up about it. maybe they're too busy or just lazy, idunno. but i feel like it happens a lot

Consider that the app is ~10 years old and there's a lot of deprecated APIs in use, so replacing those is a priority. So I don't expect to work on this anytime soon.

that's totally fair. tbh i didnt even realize how old this project was until about a week ago, i almost didnt believe it at first LOL

huge respect for keeping it alive though!

I use anysoftkeyboard from f-droid if you're interested. It has clipboard history and it's offline-only.

thanks, but i've tried tons of different keyboards and i've never been happy with any of them besides gboard and (now) unexpected keyboard 😅 i have very specific needs in that area, and clipboard history (on my phone, anyway) isn't really one of them tbh