Hyperlinking to MindManager 7

[tfjern]

Greetings!

Hyperlinking in MindManager to items in a UR 3.5 database works quite well, though the process is somewhat laborious. Be nice if the process could be speeded up somehow (say, by being able to drop and paste directly from UR into MindManager).

My question is this: what happens when items are added to the database, say above the link(s) that have been created in MindManager? Will the links have to be "refreshed" eventually?

I experimented and found that adding a new item above the old item (linked in MindManager) still works (even after repacking the database), namely the four-digit numbers remain the same (even though an item has been added above the hyperlinked item).

ur://E:/Ultra%20Recall/WIKI.urd?item=1389,1024,1023,1000

How can this be? Just curious.

If I go through a lot of trouble hyperlinking in MindManager, then add a lot of items to the urd I am linking to, is there any chance I might have to go back and relink all these hyperlinks?

[kinook]

As long as you don't move the .urd file, the links will remain valid. The link includes the item ID of the linked item and its parent items back to the root. Once created, an item's ID will not change. Even if the item is moved (changing its parent hierarchy), UR will still locate the item by its ID.

[tfjern]

Thanks Kinook, especially for giving us such a fine program. Now all we need is a new batch of help videos for the upcoming UR 4.0.

[quant]

tfjern,

I tried a lot of "Visual" managers to somehow make it work with UR (The Brain, MindManager, FreeMind, ...) and spent (wasted) incredible amount of time trying to make it efficient.

I also tried various ways to get some kind of "visual mind map" directly in the Item pane as UR can display both rtf and html ...

I gave up ... it's not worth the hassle

The only way to make it work in an internal "view".

I wouldn't mind to code it myself, there was some discussion about making extensions to UR, but that thread is dead.

[quant]

btw, what is your incentive for linking to MindManager?

Is it just the visual representation of your data, or is there some other feature you like/prefer compared to UR?

[tfjern]

Yes, visual representation at times beats using the tree, hoisting notwithstanding. It would be nice if UR eventually gets around to including this feature, sort of like the one in ConnectedText (see below). I don't believe this is on the roadmap, but it should be.

By the way, below is a recent post at

http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/1189/0/pim-with-visualization


Posted by Manfred
Jul 16, 2009 at 02:36 PM


ConnectedText already allows you to see its contents in the Navigator as a visual representation, sort of like the Brain. You can navigate to any topic or node from any other node, and when you click on any of the nodes and are taken to the corresponding topic.

In the next version -- I am a beta-tester -- there is a “Graph” command that allows you to embed a static navigator-like graphic in any topic. You can specify the size of the picture and the level of depth in the linked topics desire. This looks very much like a mind map, and clicking on any node will take you to the corresponding topic.

So ConnectedText in addition to a very capable outliner will have a visual outliner that I have not seen as well implemented in any other application.

Manfred

[quant]

yeah, I know, I believe both ConnectedText and MindRaider are using TouchGraph, but that's based on Java ...

Visual Representation was on the roadmap, I brought up this topic several times, but I think there might not have been enough requests for this feature ...

[armsys]

Hi Quant & tfjern,

I'm a fervent user of MindManager since 2003. It's still one of my mission critical applications in spite of Mindjet's deteriorating tech support for the last 2 years.
One thing for sure: neither UR nor MindJet can replace each other due to their fundamentally different design, especially in terms of file structure.

The true limitation of MindManager is its inability to handle a large volume of text. Once the mindmap file exceeds 1MB, the MindManager is no longer useful for any practical purpose.

It is not merely visual representation per se. Rather, with MindManager, you can see and feel the relationship between the "topics", which is not possible in UR.

Therefore, for the large volume of textual data such as Supreme Court decisions and Federal Court Rulings, I store it in UR as a text info item, which will be hyperlinked to a topic/callout in the mindmap file. In so doing, the overall operational efficiency is improved enormously.
The limitation of UR is its lack of programmability. For highly structured data (relational database), I use Access instead.

Ideally, UR and MindManager should be used together.

Armstrong

[tfjern]

Armsys,

Yes, it would be nice if the two products cooperated, so to speak (or if UR developed a ConnectedText-type feature -- don't hold your breathe, though), because as you said MindManager starts to slow down once one megabyte is reached.

My question: have you found a way to streamline the hyperlinking process UR to MindManager? It would be nice to simply drag and drop an item from UR into MindManager. Or how about other mind-mapping software, regarding ways to enter UR hyperlinks? Any suggestions? Any hope?

[armsys]

Hi tfjern,
Thanks for your feedback.
I'm afraid the hyperlinking UR Info Item to MindManager is irritatingly tedious as per your original post. It's because first you have to find out the UR address such as yours ur://E:/Ultra%20Recall/WIKI.urd?item=1389,1024,1023,1000. Then in the MindManager, you select a topic and press Ctrl+K and insert the UR address.

On the other hand, hyperlinking a MindManager topic/callout to UR is straightforward. Just pressing Ctrl+Alt+C on a topic, go back to a UR Info Item and press Ctrl+V.

Armstrong

[tfjern]

Thanks, armsys, but in my case at least it is not of much value hyperlinking from UR to MindManager. I have a huge number of Info Items that could be better organized visually, ala mind-mapping, than trying to find something quickly on the alphabetized tree.

Frankly, though I have purchased upgrades to MindManager 7 (8.0 appears to have mostly cosmetic changes), I am not very satisfied with the program. On the other hand, I have yet to be disappointed with UR, though it is missing a few features I would like to see: global searching across urds, a better selection of flags, visual representation, and a few others.

It would be nice if kinook could be persuaded to program into 4.0 something like this: right click on the Info Item on the tree, and the UR link is stored on the clipboard, or something like that. Just a thought.

[armsys]

Kinook is direct opposite of Mindjet. Just visit http://forum.us.mindjet.com/viewforum.php?f=16, you can see the total indifference and total deterioration of MindJet tech support. You made a sound decision of not upgrading your MM7.
Regrettably, I did upgrade to MM8 by trusting MindJet's overhyped product features which are mostly underdelivered. See my review (http://forum.us.mindjet.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3525&p=9815#p9815). Save MindJet's tech support, I enjoy using MindManager together with UR on daily basis.

Kinook is very receptive and responsive to users' comments.

For global search, I gave a lot of thoughts about it. Finally, I agreed with Kinook's approach. It makes sense for not supporting it. Otherwise, you'll receive a great deal of noise hits rather than useful information.

For the global search of random data, your best bet is dtSearch (http://www.dtsearch.com/). That's the fastest search engine you can find on the market.

Armstrong

[kinook]

If 'Tools | Options | Miscellaneous | Item command-line format' is set to

ur://%DB_URL%?item=%ITEM_PATH%

copying the item URL from UR can be done via Item | Copy Item Command-Line (default shortcut Ctrl+Alt+I, which can be customized at Tools | Customize | Keyboard).
http://www.kinook.com/UltraRecall/Manual/option_miscdialog.htm

And it looks like it would be fairly simple to support direct copy/paste and drag/drop from UR into MM. We'll try to squeeze this into the 4.0 release.

[tfjern]

That helps a lot. UR rarely if ever disappoints. Too bad much of the goodies are somewhat hard to find or figure out, unless kinook does the explaining.

[armsys]

Originally posted by kinook
If 'Tools | Options | Miscellaneous | Item command-line format' is set to

ur://%DB_URL%?item=%ITEM_PATH%

copying the item URL from UR can be done via Item | Copy Item Command-Line (default shortcut Ctrl+Alt+I, which can be customized at Tools | Customize | Keyboard).
http://www.kinook.com/UltraRecall/Manual/option_miscdialog.htm

And it looks like it would be fairly simple to support direct copy/paste and drag/drop from UR into MM. We'll try to squeeze this into the 4.0 release.
Hi Kinook,
The Copy Item Command-Line (it's Ctrl+Shift+I in my case) significantly simplifies the hyperlinking a UR info item to a MindManager topic/callout. I didn't know it. Now, the hyperlinking UR Info Item can be performed as follows:
1. Select a UR Info Item;
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+I;
3. Go to a MiindManager topic/callout;
4. Press Ctrl+K;
5. Press Ctrl+V;
6. Click OK.
That's it.
Definitely it's a great news to support direct link between UR and MindManager.
The major fault of MindManager is Search, which is exactly the major strength of UR.

Thanks a lot.

Armstrong

[quant]

I like dreaming ...

http://www.thebrain.com/#-49

[armsys]

Originally posted by quant
I like dreaming ...

http://www.thebrain.com/#-49
Hi quant,
Have you tried out these products on mission critical applications? They are visually seductive. Otherwise, they are not designed for mission critical applications due to lack of functionalities.
Major features of any practical mindmapping should include:
1. Relations between topics,
2. Filtering
3. Callout
4. Boundary
5. Notes
6. Split windows
7. Linking to database such as Access
8. Bookmarks
9. Hyperlinks (internal & external)
10. Text/icon/Color markers
11 Styles & templates
12. And more...
Armstrong

[quant]

Originally posted by armsys
Hi quant,
Have you tried out these products on mission critical applications? They are visually seductive. Otherwise, they are not designed for mission critical applications due to lack of functionalities.
Major features of any practical mindmapping should include:
1. Relations between topics,
2. Filtering
3. Callout
4. Boundary
5. Notes
6. Split windows
7. Linking to database such as Access
8. Bookmarks
9. Hyperlinks (internal & external)
10. Text/icon/Color markers
11 Styles & templates
12. And more...
Armstrong
the link I provided is SDK (software development kit), i.e. something that could be added to UR to provide visual navigation ... for the rest, UR is the best :)

[armsys]

Originally posted by quant
the link I provided is SDK (software development kit), i.e. something that could be added to UR to provide visual navigation ... for the rest, UR is the best :)
Sorry for my misunderstanding. A long time ago I saw a dictionary implemented with the SDK, but didn't like it due to its inability to contain complex details, though it was an interesting innovation.
Armstrong