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Very Good Contact Manager

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August 31, 2010 - 9:02am
#1
Kim_Wood
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Very Good Contact Manager

I have quickly searched the forums, and may have missed this - but is anyone interested in making a launcher for the freeware contact manager, Open Contacts (http://fonlow.com/opencontacts/)

There is a portable version on the author's website, but there appears to be some incompatibility between a USB key portable implementation versus an installed version on the same desktop. I suspect that the portable app is accessing the registry entries. Not really obvious until a fresh Outlook contact data import is done. There is some risk that the old/new copies of contact data get muddled. I have removed my desktop version and only use the portable USB key copy to ensure that I have a single source of contact data. This is simply an artifact of the author's portable implementation I believe.

Anyway, while the app has a clunky looking GUI, it does sing like K D Lang on a good day. Superb Outlook data import, and a good range of import/export options.

I really like this app, and have found it to be the best open source/freeware contact manager I can find. I use it as my primary portable contact manager now, and see nothing better out there. It is extremely versatile, and very robust.

I suspect the difficulty in making this fully portable will be low. Anyone interested? It should prove to be popular. It's crying out for a launcher!

Regards,

Kim

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August 31, 2010 - 10:07am
computerfreaker
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I'll have a look at it

Your mention of Outlook integration worries me (since Outlook is completely non-portable), but I'll take a look at this anyway.

Just FYI, my life is about to go haywire so, if I don't have this done today, it may take a few weeks before I can get back to it.

"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."

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August 31, 2010 - 3:57pm
(Reply to #2)
Kim_Wood
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Outlook is not integrated

Thanks Computerfreaker,

I was probably not clear enough in my initial post. Open Contacts is not integrated with Outlook at all. All is well there. It is able to very effectively import Outlook contacts - the import sucks Outlook contact records into its own Firebird database.

A difficulty with the current (non-PortableApps.com) "portable" implementation as available on the author's website seems to be that the database location settings between a portable version of Open Contacts and any installation on the desktop can get confused. That is, an Outlook import initiated from a portable Open Contacts may in fact be imported into the desktop Open Contacts database.

I often run a desktop version of an app (for speed or convenience reasons) when at home. The good thing about PortableApps.com implementations, is that generally the portable app version generally coexists fine with a conventionally installed desktop version without either being aware of the other due to utilisation of the same Windows registry entries. I guess that the current portable version is not actually fully portable. There is registry stuff going on that is not gracefully resolved by the portable implementation. This looks like a simple registry setup/clean up job by the portable version on start/termination.

I hope that is a little clearer. Anyway, I believe this one is worth having a look at. It is an excellent contact manager.

Regards,

Kim

Kim

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August 31, 2010 - 4:54pm
(Reply to #3)
computerfreaker
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Oh, OK. I've got it now. That

Oh, OK. I've got it now.

That should be pretty easily workable, then. A simple PAL launcher with a couple of Registry entries should do it.
I'll see if I can find time for this later today.

Thanks for the request & the additional info!

computerfreaker

"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."

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August 31, 2010 - 7:13pm
computerfreaker
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Done!

I finally finished 6.1.0.702 DT1: https://portableapps.com/node/24792

I need somebody to Regshot it to make sure it's portable; I haven't had so much trouble with an app since I used to write handcoded launchers. It's definitely got potential, but it's one bad boy to portabilize.

Anyway, enjoy it! Smile

-computerfreaker

"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."

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August 31, 2010 - 7:27pm
(Reply to #5)
Kim_Wood
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Thanks

Well done. I will let you know how it goes. You technical wizards make this such an amazingly useful forum.

Regards,

Kim

Kim

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