Pete's Jrnl™

[petesjrnl]

The calendar and a day’s view. On the iPad these are side by side.

[petesjrnl]

Version 3.0

Another version of Pete’s Jrnl makes its way to the App Store. This one is a lot different from the previous version.

In version 3.0, you’ll see find your entries via calendar, much the same way you would in the normal Calendar app. Each day that has at least one journal entry is highlighted. Tap on a day and you’ll see the entries for that day.

You can also tap on a month “View” button to see all of the entries for that month.

I think you’ll find this will be a lot easier to manager many journal entries.

[petesjrnl]

Version 1.4

Version 1.4 brings a couple new things:

- You can change the location of an entry either by dragging the pin or using a long-press with your finger to drop the pin at a new location. Once you have relocated the pin, change the title of the location if needed and then tap “Done”.

- You can view your entries on a map. Tap “Map” on the main journal list and you will see a filter to select a date range. After you’ve applied the filter, those journal entries with locations that fit within the date range will get pins on the map. Its a great way to see where you have been.

[petesjrnl]

Version 1.2

This version fixes two bugs and makes some minor improvements.

Bug 1: If your Journal was sorted “newest first” and you added a new entry, the new entry would appear last rather than first. This is fixed; new entries appear in their correct sorted order.

Bug 2: If you were editing a Journal entry and Pete’s Jrnl was put into the background (e.g., you accidentally hit the Home button), the edit might have been lost. This is fixed; putting the app into the background saved everything first.

As for other changes: it turns out an app can only gather 4 years’ worth of calendar events. So Pete’s Jrnl, for now, picks up entries from the last 3 years and 1 year forward. The Date/Time picker has been set to prevent selections going beyond one year from the current date.

[petesjrnl]

Version 1.1

New version of Pete’s Jrnl is now available on the App Store. I changed the look of the app a little to make it appear similar to my other app, Pete’s Pwds, incorporating translucent panels. There are also a couple of other changes:

- Fixed a couple of minor bugs - You can reorder the entries by date; either oldest first (the default) or newest first, using the Sort menu on the main screen. - The location can be changed via a map. When you tap on the location field, a map appears with a pin centered on your position. Tap it once to activate it, then hold and drag the pin to a new location. You can zoom and pan the map as needed. Once the tip of the pin is where you want, pick Done and that location will be saved with the Journal entry.

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About Permissions

Pete’s Jrnl needs access to your device’s calendar for it to work. The app will create a new calendar called “Journal”. Since the entries for journal are in a separate calendar, you can easily show or hide them on the main Calendar app display. You can also search for them more easily.

Pete’s Jrnl will also need access to your location if you want to record the location the journal entry as it happens. If you decide you do not want Pete’s Jrnl to track your location while you are using the app, but still want a location for the Journal entry, just go to the Calendar app and open any Journal entry and add the location there. The next time you open Pete’s Jrnl the location information will be displayed.

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How to Use Pete's Jrnl™

This one's really easy: after you start it you'll be asked to allow the app to access your calendar. You'll want to say "Yes" because the alternative makes the app useless; Jrnl uses the device calendar as it's database. Jrnl makes a new calendar called, "Journal", so it's super easy to view from the Calendar app and to group all of its entries. 

• Tap the + on the first screen to start a new entry. The entry has the current date and time. All you need to do is give it a title and write the note for the entry. 

• Pick "Done" to dismiss the keyboard or tap the back button. If you want you can change the date and time or drop the time altogether. Just tap on the date and you can make those changes. The entries do not set the location, but if you want to use your current location, just "Tap to use current location". It make take a couple of seconds to determine where you are. The location will set and a check mark will appear. Tap again to un-set the location. 

• On the main screen you can search for past entries for quick reference; you can also search in the Calendar app. 

Now you can use either the Calendar app or Pete's Jrnl to make and edit entries. Your calendar was always there to do this, but filling out its form is a little tedious and it often sets alarms and such. Plus these journal entries are not appointments, they are notations that mark events in the past or as they happen (appointments are for the future and once they occur, you can just switch them to the Journal calendar if you want to reference them later). Happy Journalling

[petesjrnl]

Pete's Jrnl (Journal) is way to get more out of the Calendar app. When you want to document something that's happened (e.g, bought a new TV or car; started to plan the wedding) you can make an entry in the Calendar so that when you need to refer back to something ("I called the Cable Company last Tuesday and I still haven't heard from them!") you can quickly find it. You'll known exactly when (and even where) the event happened.

Your calendar is a great time-centric database. Pete's Jrnl makes it easy to add journaled entries without having to edit the Calendar app's more complex form. Pete's Jrnl presents you with fields for title, date, location (optional), and notes. That's it. When you save the entry form, a Calendar entry is made.

Pete's Jrnl creates its own calendar, Journal, in the Calendar app database. This way you can use the Calendar to get a bird's eye view of all of your past events. By keeping the journaled entries in a separate calendar, you can show or hide them in the Calendar app as you see fit. You can even search them.

So why use Pete's Jrnl? Well, its just easier and faster. Pete's Jrnl just presents just the entries from the Journal calendar. You can still use the Calendar app to add more entries to the Journal calendar, edit those entries, and even delete them (Pete's Jrnl will sync up with the Calendar the next time you open the app).

By storing journal entries in the Calendar you also get the benefit of having those entries appear on all your iCloud-sync'd devices. With Pete's Jrnl you will wind up using the Calendar more than ever.