[codepoet80]

Update - Now Released as a webOS app!

icon-256.png

I know I said I had another next project in mind, but a big part of my daily routine, that I frequently need my Android phone for, is building and updating my daily To Do list. I use Microsoft ToDo (formerly know as Wunderlist), and its pretty nice, but is a to do list really something that needs modern computing equipment? (no, obviously not).

I wanted to build something that would be web-based, so it could be on multiple devices. I also want to support both self-hosting, and multiple users. Finally, while it will have a first-class webOS client, I also want to build a web-based client that would be accessible from my old Macs, or maybe even my NeXTStation.

With those goals in mind, and a couple days of ideation, I've sketched out the web service layer here: https://github.com/codepoet80/checkmate-service

To work with retro devices, I'm not going to be able to support any modern authentication or security, and I certainly don't want to try to ingest any directory services like Google or Microsoft. So in keeping with the name, I designed a chess-based identity scheme -- that should scale to 400ish without issue. It won't really be secure, because everything is passed in the clear, but it will be obscure -- but also memorable. When you create a new To Do list, you are randomly assigned a chess move (using the old-style descriptive notation) which is the name of your list -- eg: Pawn to Queen's Bishop 4. For a password, you're randomly assigned a chess Grand Master. One piece of information goes in the query string for every function call, the other in a Header. A "simple web" version of the UI will be built for really retro clients.

Right now, you can:

• Create a new To Do List
• Add a new Task to your List
• Update an existing Task (including marking it done)
• "Clean Up" your To Do list, purging completed tasks

Obviously there's no UI at this point -- except Postman or CURL. But with these functions down, it should be trivial to build a really nice Mojo app that works on everything from the original Pre to the Touchpad. Stay tuned!

[codepoet80]

Read, create and update functions are working on Classilla/MacOS 9 through Firefox 84/Mojave or Windows 10 using the form-based experience. I plan to detect sufficient Javascript and toggle to an XMLHttp request experience for web clients. OmniWeb on NeXTStep posts, but doesn't send any data -- not sure if its even capable of it, I'll try a newer version on OpenStep to see if it makes a difference, before fighting with too much 1992 tech.
The webOS client will be most like the XMLHttp experience.

Update 1/16: Login screen, plus forms-based CRUD operations in a reasonable UI for all eras working on browsers from OmniWeb for NextStep (circa 1995) and Classilla for Mac OS 9 through to latest Chrome and Firefox!

[codepoet80]

These all need a little refining, but so far, which icon do you like best?

icon1.png - Icon 1

icon2.png - Icon 2

icon3.png - Icon 3

Vote in the comments!

[mrhall17]

Icon #3 Please

-- Sent from my Palm TouchPad using Forums

[Preemptive]

Icon 1 - otherwise, it might appear to be a chess program

I had hopes for this one: New App: Todo.txt Enyo
todotxt is a text file, so human readable and there are quite a few clients now to add bells & whistles to the basic format. The cross platform ability appealed with a webOS phone and 'otherOS' on the rest of my devices. Maybe this is different to your plan, but the source code is here: https://git.sr.ht/~thrrgilag/Todo.txt-Enyo/tree

[codepoet80]

Forums seem to be up and running again!

I love the idea of todo.txt, I'll have to think about whether I can move the back-end schema to that. JSON parsing is so easy on webOS, that I'm not sure I want to jettison that...

[Fred Zyphal]

Yea, the forum is back ... And I vote for icon number one ... And I'll try to get the Hue light info. to you asap Jon.

[codepoet80]

icon.png
Check Mate is now available as a hosted service. Only the forms based client is up and running -- but I've been using it for more than a week on a variety of just-barely-web-capable retro machines, including a NextStation and an Old Mac. Your browser needs to support tables, forms and POSTs -- and almost nothing else. It also looks and works pretty good in the browser on all webOS devices.

I've also begun the process of adapting to newer browsers, when detected. For now, certain styling and UI elements adapt automatically, but it still retains the form based back-end interaction -- as evidenced by the need to manually "Save" changes. Future versions will detect AJAX capability and switch the user experience to a more "live" one.

The intent is that you can use your To Do list basically anywhere -- not just with a webOS device. But I do intend to build a first class Mojo app... I got a little distracted with SimpleChat when the forum went down.

You can quickly and easily create a new task list, just by agreeing to some terms. There's no user authentication per-se (and no real strong security or privacy, in order to support old browsers). Instead you're given a chess move and grandmaster to identify yourself with. You'll use these in the browser, and on the webOS app.

Create your own Chess Game from anywhere: Check Mate - Your To Do List Anywhere

As usual, everything is open source. If you'd rather self-host, you just need a PHP-equipped web server. Source code on GitHub.

[Preemptive]

I love the idea of todo.txt, I'll have to think about whether I can move the back-end schema to that. JSON parsing is so easy on webOS, that I'm not sure I want to jettison that...

I had a quick read on JSON. I'm not sure I understand its usage, but if it is plain text, "name"/"value", I'd guess importing and exporting according to the limited rules of todotxt should not be too difficult. A possible obstacle might be that the format does not require all possible elements to be present, so parsing items according to position on the line could be tricky.

For me, one thing lacking is a time format for deadlines. Though the format allows extensions, I think they should specify/standardise a time format. I guess the variable would be "DueDate" with the time as the value.

[codepoet80]

Time to learn to code, Pre ;-)

[codepoet80]

Check Mate 1.0 is now available for webOS!


Check Mate for webOS takes full advantage of Mojo's list widget, with swipe-to-delete, drag-to-reorder, and pop-up menus for context-aware actions.
The app syncs your actions with the web service, and automatically (depending on configuration) refreshes to pull any changes you might have made on other devices, or on the web site.
The best part of keeping a To Do list is the little dopamine hit when you check something off, and Check Mate delivers, with customizable sounds to reward your productivity.

Right now everything work as intended -- the only thing you can't do in-app is create a new Task List (Fixed in 1.2.0!) I'll get around to that part, but I need to re-factor the web service a little to make that app friendlier. You can always visit the website to create your list and get your credentials for the app: Check Mate - Your To Do List Anywhere

The app supports self-hosting, the link to the back-end service repo is above. Source code for the app itself is at http://www.github.com/codepoet80/webos-checkmate
And of course, you can download the app online here: Check Mate - webOS App Museum II

Attachment 70839

[codepoet80]

Check Mate 1.1.0 Released!
This version adds "JustType" support for adding a task from the webOS Launcher.
It also addresses an issue with sorting.
And finally, it keeps the checkmark present -- but faded out when not checked. Now that its persistent, it can be used to quickly check/uncheck a task. Tapping anywhere else on the task will still bring up the context menu.

[codepoet80]

Check Mate 1.2.0 Released!
This version lets you create a new task list from right within the app, making it a complete on-device experience.