With the newly published v2.2.0, issue management support has been added to shared spaces.
This finally establishes GRO as LAN-based groupware, in addition to its advanced personal organizer functionality.
You may read more about Issue Management in GRO User’s Manual.
In addition, several defects were fixed – you may find more information in the Change List at GRO site.
This update includes the following new features:
Shared spaces evolved further with addition of shared projects and logs (dashboard).
They look and function similarly to personal projects and logs, and include time, cost, and expense tracking.
It is possible to assign projects to one or multiple users.
With separate GRO installations at home and at work, it is handy to use Shared Spaces (available from v2.0.1) to share Listings and Contacts between both installations via web-synchronized drive like Dropbox.
Here a short guide, tailored to Windows and Dropbox, but customizable to other environments:
With version 2.0.2, it is possible to copy or drag & drop files from File Managers, such as Windows Explorer, to GRO – as alternative to using GRO file selection widget.
This significantly speeds-up creating hyperlinks to files.
For example, it is possible to select multiple files in Windows Explorer, and drag them to References tab of an Activity or a Project, or use keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V for it.
Other possibilities:
I’m glad to announce publicly available GRO 2.0 version!
GRO 2.0 supports shared Contacts and Listings repositories for multiple LAN users, as well as for single users with multiple PC (over web-sychronized drives, like Dropbox). Spaces are replicated to local cache at every PC, and allow concurrent offline updates – even when not connected to LAN.
Please read Shared Spaces chapter in the supplied User’s Manual.
GRO 1.x has reached stability, so the next thing is GRO 2.0 – collaboration, as the version implies.
This will be the biggest enhancement, and hopefully will be available before Christmas – at least, in beta.
In the meantime, I wish you happy usage of GRO!
Release 1.8.0 introduces new project tracking facility – cost and expense tracking.
Cost tracking
It is now possible to specify rate per hour in the Project Details dialog (dialog is rewritten for this release). Child projects may inherit rate per hour from their parent, or may override it. Inherited rate is shown as effective rate.
Rate per hour serves to calculate work cost (estimated, remaining, or actual). Cumulative work cost may be viewed by pressing the Totals button in Projects toolbar. Actual cost is prorated based on actual number of minutes reported in Logs for the project and its children.
Expense Tracking
New secondary tab – Expenses – has been added to the Projects tabs. It allows to track estimated and actual expenses.
Total estimated or actual expenses for the project and its children are shown in the Expenses toolbar.
Note that expense catalog may be maintained as one or more dedicated hierarchical projects (e.g., in Inactive status). When a new expense is added (via Expense Details dialog), its code, category, and title may be chosen from the catalog.
Totals Tracking
The Project Totals dialog, invoked by Totals button (also Ctrl+Shift+T), allows to view project hours and cost totals.
I’m glad to present a new major sub-release of Golden Rules Organizer, featuring these highlights:
With version 1.6.4, it is now possible to install Golden Rules Organizer (GRO) on USB stick, as portable software (for Windows, Linux, and Unix).
Portable GRO stores the database and the user settings in the installation directory, and not in the user home directory. This facilitates migration between computers, even if only home and work computers are involved – since there is no need in additional GRO installations on PCs, and no need to restore the data every time location is changed.
How to install portable GRO from GRO Home Page
1. Download Windows installer from GRO home page (may be done on any computer, with the only requirement that Java is available), and start the installation.
2. Change installation path to, for example, F:\GRO (assuming F: is your USB drive)
3. Unselect option 'Create Shortcuts in the Start Menu', and proceed.
How to install portable GRO from your local GRO installation (version 1.6.4 or higher required)
Copy your GRO installation directory (done using Windows installer) to, for example, F:\GRO (assuming F is USB drive).
How to run portable GRO
Submit run.bat (for Windows) or run.sh (for Unix and Lunux) located in the GRO directory on USB drive.
Note: you need to make GRO directory your current working directory before running.
What if a PC will not have Java installed?
To be prepared to the possible situation that target PC will not have Java, do the following (instructions are suitable for Windows):
1. Find out your JRE (Java Runtime Environment) directory: open Control Panel –> Java, go to Java tab, press View, and look-up the Path column.
2. Copy JRE directory to F: (assuming F: is USB drive)
3. Rename JRE directory on F: to jre.
Now your portable GRO will even run on a PC with no Java!
