NAME

progconv - convert between .txt, .csv and Palm Progect's PDB format.

SYNOPSIS

Export from a .pdb database to a text representation:

perl progconv lbPG-MyProgect.pdb MyProgect.txt

Convert a text tree back into a database:

perl progconv MyProgect.txt lbPG-MyProgect.pdb

You can convert to/from CSV files:

perl progconv lbPG-MyProgect.pdb MyProgect.csv
perl progconv MyProgect.csv MyProgect.txt
perl progconv MyProgect.csv lbPG-MyProgect.pdb

You can convert between various Progect database versions:

perl progconv --output-format=23 MyOldProgect.pdb MyNewProgect.pdb

DESCRIPTION

progconv is a program you run on your desktop computer to allow you to import to and export from Palm Progect database files.

For its text format, it uses a layout very similar to the one used by Progect's own built-in converter:

[x] Level 1 Todo item
    [10%] Child (progress)
        . Child of Child (informational)

[80%] (31/12/2001) Progress item
    [ ] Unticked action item

Almost all of Progect's fields are supported using this format, including categories, ToDo links and notes.

See below under "PROGCONV TEXT FORMAT"

For its CSV format it uses a simple table of records, with indent level being one of the fields. See below under "PROGCONV CSV FORMAT".

This program was written on Linux (Redhat 7.1). It was tested on Windows 98 with perl 5.005 and perl 5.6.1, and on Linux (Redhat 7.1) with perl 5.6.0 and perl 5.6.1.

OPTIONS

General Options

--quiet

Suppress informational messages

Conversion Options

--input-format=auto|pdb|text|csv

The format progconv should import from. Either auto, pdb, text, or csv.

When auto is selected, then progconv will guess the file's type based on its extension.

The default is auto.

--output-format=auto|pdb|text|csv

The format progconv should export to. Either auto, pdb, text, or csv.

When auto is selected, then progconv will guess the file's type based on its extension.

The default is auto.

--input-version=n

Ignore the version number stored in the source database, and import it as version n.

Currently supported versions are 18 (for Progect database version 0.18) and 23 (for Progect database version 0.23).

Progect database version 0.18 was used all the way up until Progect version 0.22, so if you saved a database with Progect 0.22, the database will be a version 0.18 database.

--output-version=n

Write the output database in version n.

Currently supported versions are 18 (for Progect database version 0.18) and 23 (for Progect database version 0.23).

Progect database version 0.18 was used all the way up until Progect version 0.22, so if you saved a database with Progect 0.22, the database will be a version 0.18 database.

Text Conversion Options

--tabstop=n

Treat tabs as n columns wide (default is 8)

--use-spaces

By default, progconv uses tabs to indent records. With this --use-spaces option, it will use spaces instead, using --tabstop spaces per indent level.

--date-format

The input and output format for dates. You can have any text here so long as it includes some combination of dd, mm, yy, yyyy. Using words for months at this point is NOT supported.

The default is yyyy/mm/dd, so nobody can accuse me of being Y2K non-complient. If you want to use dd/mm/yy (which is how the Progect program itself seems to currently export things on my Palm), then you can use:

--date-format=dd/mm/yy

--columns=n

For multiline descriptions and notes, progect will wrap text to fit the screen. Use this option to tell how wide the screen is. The default is 80. To disable wrapping, use --columns=0

CSV Conversion Options

--csv-sep=c

Use character c as the csv separator (defaults to ;)

--csv-eol-pc

Use \r\n as the csv line terminator (the default)

--csv-eol-unix

Use \n as the csv line terminator

--csv-eol-mac

Use \r the csv line terminator

--csv-quote-char=c

Use character c as the csv quote char (defaults to ")

--csv-date-format

The input and output format for dates in csv files. See --date-format

PROGCONV TEXT FORMAT

Here is a summary of the various types of records:

[ ] action type
[x] completed action type
< > action type with todo link
<x> completed action type with todo link

[80%] progress type
[4/5] numeric type

. info type

[ ] [5] action type with priority
[ ] (15/7/2001) action type with date

[80%] [5] (15/7/2001) {category} progress type with priority and date and category

[80%] [5] (15/7/2001) {category} progress type with priority and date and category <<
    Multi-Line note
    for this item
    >>

PROGCONV CSV FORMAT

The CSV format allows for basic import/export with spreadsheet programs. The CSV file does not look like a tree structure; instead, there is a level column, which indicates the indent level for the current row.

The columns in the format are:

level

The indent level of the record.

description

priority

The priority of the record from 1 to 5, or 0 for no priority.

isAction

isProgress

isNumeric

isInfo

Any record can have one (and only one) of the above types.

If you are going to change the type of a record, remember to set all the other types to false:

isAction isProgress isNumeric isInfo
0        0          0         1

completed

Completed has different values depending upon the type of record. For action items, it is either 1 or 0, for complete or not complete.

For Progress items, it is a number between 1 and 100, indicating a percentage.

For Numeric items it is a number between 1 and 100 indicating the the integer percentage of the numericActual value divided by the numericLimit value.

numericActual

The numerator of a numeric record. If the numeric value of a record is 4/5, then the numericActual value is 4.

numericLimit

The denominator of a numeric record. If the numeric value of a record is 4/5, then the numericLimit value is 5.

DateDue

This is a date in the format specified on the command line with the --csv-date-format option

category

opened

description

note

Additionally, see the "--csv-sep ", "--csv-eol-pc ", "--csv-eol-unix ", "--csv-eol-mac " and "--csv-quote-char " options.

BUGS and CAVEATS

Categories

progconv reads and writes categories properly from and to Progect PDB files. As of version 0.25, Progect itself can read these categories properly. (However version 0.25 has problems with preferences - see below)

Versions of Progect earlier than 0.25 may have problems reading the categories as saved by progconv.

This is due to the fact that progconv does not write the preferences block correctly.

As a result, when you load into an older version of Progect a database that you created with progconv, You will get a warning that "Your preferences have been deleted".

Progect will then reset the category list.

However, all of the records will still keep their references to the deleted categories.

So, if you select "Edit Categories..." and recreate the categories in the exact same order as they were before, the records will magically return to their proper categories.

Again, these steps are only required when you are using a version of Progect that is older than version 0.25.

Preferences

Preferences are not handled properly yet. They cannot be imported or exported, and they are not read from the Progect database file.

Additionally, in Progect version 0.23 and earlier, when you load a database created by progconv into Progect, you will get a warning that "Your preferences have been deleted". The preferences for the database will be reset to sensible defaults.

In Progect version 0.25, you will not get this warning.

Two-digit Dates

Using a two digit date format will fail for dates before 1950 or after 2049 :).

AUTHOR

Michael Graham <mag-perl@occamstoothbrush.com>

Copyright (C) 2001 Michael Graham. All rights reserved. This program is free software. You can use, modify, and distribute it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The latest version of this program can be found on http://www.occamstoothbrush.com/perl/

SEE ALSO

http://progect.sourceforge.net/

Palm::Progect

Palm::Progect::Converter::Text

Palm::Progect::Converter::CSV

Palm::PDB

Text::CSV_XS

cpanm Palm::Progect

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Palm::Progect