Where are URLs stored?

I use DEVONnote, and have created templates by creating .rtf files for specific categories: Contacts, Blu-Rays, Fuse Box Breaker locations, CDs, etc.)

I just added a URL to one of them, and viewed the .rtf file in TextWrangler. I do not see the URL.

My question is two-fold:
1- where is the URL stored?
2- can I create a custom location to appear in the header bar to sort on a particular field? (I have CDs with a field called “slot number”. Sure would be nice to sort on it, else I have to add the slot to the URL field. I could write a program to update the .rtf file, but the URLs do not seem to be there.) Any thoughts?

Many thanks

I assume you are thinking of URLs added to the text of an RTF file – either typed into the file, or added to words in the file as links. For example (RTF file):

in TextWrangler we see the raw RTF encoding

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1404\cocoasubrtf470
{\fonttbl\f0\fnil\fcharset0 HelveticaNeue;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
{\info
{\author ABRACA}}\pard\tx720\tx1440\tx2160\tx2880\tx3600\tx4320\tx5040\tx5760\tx6480\tx7200\tx7920\tx8640\pardirnatural\partightenfactor0

\f0\fs24 \cf0 This is a URL\
\
{\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.google.com"}}{\fldrslt http://www.google.com}}\
\
This {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.google.com"}}{\fldrslt word}} has a link}

you can see those two URLs in the last two lines of code.

If you are thinking of the URL in the bar above the note, in DEVONnote you can modify that by opening Window > Show Info and modifying the URL field in the Show Info panel. This is an internal bit of information for DEVONnote – it is not sent to TextWrangler (or other editor) when you open your file there. (I think your question implies you already know this.)

No, not a feature of DEVONnote (or DEVONthink, for that matter). Could you use Tags instead?

OK, bummer, don’t really want to sort by tags, as I have 500+ CDs, but can I? (It could be in th .RTF file, no?)

It seems like a Sheet would have been a better format to use. And while a URL isn’t clickable, you can select it, right-click, and choose Open URL.

You can always use the Spotlight comment field for text, and sort your rtf files on that.

Jim: A Sheet, Aw sheet! Where are these in DEVONnote? (Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was self-contained? I wrote a BUNCH of VB6 files to convert Sidekick98 entries when I migrated from PC to Mac. It let me sort on 3 fields of its "templates’)

korm: sort on the Comment field? Even spotlight does not seem to find the comment I left.

Aren’t sorting and finding two different things?

Anyway, DEVONnote (and DEVONthink) do not insert the “Spotlight Comment” into the file until until that file is exported. And, anyway, Spotlight does not index the contents of your DEVONnote database.

But the comment can be entered and sorted-upon nonetheless:

Of happy memory! Sidekick is still one of my all-time favorite apps. Sorry it’s no longer with us.

:smiley:
Sorry about that. I had missed the DEVONnote part of the equation. Sheets aren’t available in DEVONnote. You can import a CSV or TSV file into DEVONthink Pro Office and it will display as a Sheet (though you may have to massage the column headers).

korm: The purpose of my Sidekick98 to DEVONnote was to maintain the structure of Memos and Cardfiles. The former is freeform, and the latter structured templates. I wrote at lease 6 VB programs to convert its data to .RTF files before I cut the cord to my PC. The ability to use any of the template fields to sort was immensely productive. And, the fact that the spotlight data is not stored in the rtf until exported does not do me much good. If it was truly in the RTF field (perhaps in the header area or something), then I could use it. I appreciate the ability of the Spotlight and URL field to be sortable, but until they are contained in the .RTF file, I am saddened.

:question: An RTF file isn’t sortable in the way a spreadsheet or table is sortable. Indeed, RTF tables aren’t sortable either. I guess I’m a little confused as to what you expect to be able to do with an RTF file, in terms of sorting data.
(And maybe I’m just a moron this morning :mrgreen: )

No Jim, you are fine. Would be neat if I could use the left column in the .RTF file as a column header in DEVONnote.

And, while I can sort on the URL, it is not a field. (And neither is the Spotlight comment, which is not sortable.)

And, exporting a .RTF document with both did not place either in the .RTF file.

(BTW: I tried to upload the exported .RTF file, but it is not allowed. Renaming to .TXT was rejected as well. Why did it let me select the file with the Choose File Button?)

I’m confused. Are you talking about the file listing in the panel above your document in DEVONnote? There, URL is a field. It can be edited by clicking into it – or by using Window > Show Info. It’s just a text field. And Spotlight Comment is editable the same way, and it can be sorted on.

Yes, I understand that. I just would like it to be in the .RTF file. The comment is not sortable, and it is inconvenient to put 500+ numeric entries that exist in a row called “Slot” into the URL.

I’m not sure what you mean by this. korm’s graphic shows entering a Spotlight Comment, then clicking the Spotlight Comment header to sort that column.

I’m not sure what you mean here either, as he was showing entering a Spotlight Comment, not to the URL column.

I have entered a Spotlight comment, but clicking above the “bubble”, only changes the direction of the name sorting. At least I can sort the URL column. Edit: Forgive me! I had to add the column via the View option. That was not entirely clear. I inferred that you click above the bubble.

However, I have that data in 500 RTF files in this particular group, and it would be extremely time-consuming to put that data in either place.

That is why I wrote the VB programs to create editable RTF files that I could import into DEVONnote.

It would be an easy task to do if either were embedded in the RTF file. I realize that is impossible, and am giving up here.