A Bookmark Utility for
the Libronix Digital Library System

by Stephen Genusa

Current Version

1.4.4 November 23, 2004

Requirements

  • Libronix Digital Library System version 2.0
  • Microsoft Windows Scripting Runtime (most systems already have this installed)
  • Microsoft XML 4.0 (most systems already have this installed)
  • OLEACC.DLL (make sure this is installed in your system32 directory. If you don't have it use the older v 1.1 copy below)

Terms

You may use and download this utility, for free, based on the conditions of the license agreement.
          Briefly, (1) the license agreement has the standard "no liability" clause and (2) prevents redistribution of the utility.

 

 

 

Installation and Updating

Usage

You will notice that the bookmark utility is built on the idea of Categories/Bookmarks. To start using the program click the Add Category button. Type in the category name and select OK. Once a Category is selected you can press the Add Bookmark button. Whichever window is active in LDLS will have a new bookmark created under the currently selected category.

Categories

Double-clicking a category will expand/collapse the category.
Single-clicking a category waiting a second and then clicking it again will enter the Category name edit mode.
Clicking delete on a category will delete the category and all bookmarks for that selected category.

Bookmarks

Double-clicking a bookmark (or clicking the Goto button) will cause LDLS to load that selected resource.
Single-clicking a bookmark, waiting a second, and then clicking it again will enter the Bookmark name edit mode.
If the "Activate LDLS on Selection" checkbox is checked the LDLS window will be moved to the top. If it is not checked it will appear behind the Bookmark Utility.

General Notes

The Current Link Command edit box is useful for sharing links with others.

The "Into Libronix" button   moves the Bookmark Utility into the Libronix application as a child window of the Libronix Application. Note: The one disadvantage to running it internally to Libronix is that it causes the active Resource window to lose focus. This can change the bookmark names that are generated for Bible resources. The program does not currently appear in the list of Libronix windows since the Libronix API does not appear to support registering pre-created windows. So if you use this button you need to realize that other Libronix windows may obscure the Bookmark application's window, and then the only way to show the Bookmark window is to move those windows which are hiding it out of the way, or start the Bookmark program again which will bring the first instance to the top. The "New Instance" checkbox will not be visible if you use this button since it would be confusing for the program to be a child window of an instance of LDLS it is not tracking windows in.

The Bookmark window can be reduced or enlarged vertically but not horizontally. The Exit button moves as you change the window size.

You can rapidly (as fast as Libronix will call them up) review a series of bookmarks by unchecking the "Activate LDLS on selection" checkbox and then double-clicking on the Bookmarks you want to view. Place the Bookmark window opposite the location where the resources are displayed.

The Workspaces listbox shows all saved workspaces at the time the Bookmark utility was started. To change workspaces just double-click the one you want. When the Bookmark utility is operating as a child window in Libronix there is a slight delay and then the Bookmark window is moved to the top.

If you have the "New Instance" checkbox checked and you double-click the workspaces listbox, a new instance of LDLS will be created and the selected workspace will be loaded into that instance of LDLS. Warning: Because the bookmark program cannot run as an integral child window of LDLS, it can only track windows (and therefore bookmark names) for one instance of LDLS. I think there's a way this could be worked around with a lot of Win32 API code (the COM ROT table would have to be walked, the z-order of windows would have to be determined, if possible, via Win32 code &c). Better yet, I'd rather wait for Libronix to have a bookmark feature before I have to write that code!

The bookmarks are saved to an xml format for interoperability with other applications that may wish to use the xml format. The file is created in the SAME directory the EXE is installed into. Future versions may allow multiple bookmark files. For now it is limited to a single file.

Todo

  1. Support Hebrew/Greek

  2. Ability to change the order of the bookmarks (categories are sorted automatically)

Updates

Date

 Description

11/23/04
  • Options menu added with 3 options:
    • Show Workspace Name (in application window caption; toggle)
    • Show Link command as HTML (toggle)
    • Move Utility into Libronix (disappears after first use)

11/22/04
  • Added support for regular expressions in the Search editor
  • Added popup menus for the units part of the BEFORE/AFTER/WITHIN search parameters
  • Enabled the languages listbox

11/21/04
  • Added a new Search button. I miss the Logos 2.0 search window which helped me with the features I didn't remember. This  new button attempts to open the Basic Search dialog, reads the current contents of the search query, and opens up a query editor. They way I am opening up the Basic Search dialog needs to be improved and the Query Editor needs more work. Consider it Alpha but useful in helping me remember search options. In version 1.4.1 I have added a Basic Search area and now have the raw search operators and types in an Advanced Search panel. That way you don't have to go to the advanced area if you don't want to. Note: Selecting (highlighting) a term and applying a modifier should have the desired result on just the selected term.

9/9/04
  • A new listbox shows all the open search windows and allows you to Expand all search hits, Hide, or Toggle. You can also Save the results of a Search to an HTML file for later use.

7/5/03

  • Fixed: When running LDLS 1.x multiple copies of LDLS 1.0 were started.

  • Fixed: An internal COM object was being repeatedly created/destroyed without reason. It is now only created once.

  • Fixed: When Bookmark titles are generated, if the Resource type is Bible then the Reference (Book Name) format is used. Otherwise Book Section (Book Name)  is used.

  • New: Automatically loads default workspace for LDLS if startup of LDLS required

  • New: Workspaces may now be switched

  • Improved: The Current Link Command now displays Links in the same format that bookmark titles use.

7/6/03

  • New: When a copy of the Bookmark program is already running, trying to execute another copy, whether the existing instance of the application is a child window within Libronix or not, should cause the existing instance of the application to become the top window and the new copy terminates quietly.

7/7/03
  • Fixed: The Bookmarks are automatically saved when you exit the program.

7/11/03
  • Hopefully anyone experiencing the '429' error will find this version works without that error.
  • New: Add 'New Instance' checkbox in the Workspaces panel. See note about this feature above.

 

Things That Did not Work/Comments...

  1. Tried to make the Information Window a normal Window that moves/resizes/tiles like all the other document windows work (and it works for a short time) but due to the way Libronix handles the Info window internally, LDLS gets confused after the modifications are made. I've rethought my window layout to adjust for this.

  2. It appears that the (normal) internal IE windows created by Libronix do not allow the hosting of ActiveX controls. This prevents 3rd party developers from developing DLL-based add-ons that would work within an internal Libronix window. The Libronix COM API is great, so far as it goes. Obviously there should be limited access to Commercial/Copyrighted Resource windows and Libronix has very skillfully developed a secure system to protect those works. However, a lot of useful stuff is unnecessarily closed for 3rd party development (limited window access, the ability to add resource types like Reports, custom homepages &c) so that the COM API almost becomes irrelevant for serious 3rd party development. There are some Win32 API ways around some of the COM API limitations but who wants to write code that has to work in an adverse environment? Hopefully version 3.x, if not incremental updates will open some of these closed doors... Hopefully it is not Libronix's intent to keep these doors closed and/or to close the few remaining ones. Their forte is selling books and it may be their intent to keep the environment closed to serious 3rd party development. Time will tell. Either way, they have the best Bible Study software on the market.

    • For those who don't follow all the comments in #2 to put it simply: Internet Explorer windows by default will host components & programs like Microsoft Word. It takes no special effort on the part of the Libronix developers to allow the use of programs like Word from within LDLS. Making Word work within Libronix is normally nothing more than a call to the IE component to open a Word document, whereupon IE loads the Word process within the IE window (menus, toolbars etc all being configurable to an on or off setting). Libronix, for whatever reason, has created an IE window that prevents the creation of any ActiveX components like that.

Link Requests

Individuals may freely link to this page but it is requested that you not link directly to the Installation EXE. Also, according to the terms of the license agreement, you may not make copies of the installation, or its contents, available from another Web site or by other means of electronic redistribution.

 

http://www.genusa.com/LDLSBookmarks/
http://users.aol.com/Bible2007/

Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Stephen Genusa