zlcatalog

Motivation

The zlcatalog system attempts to break away from the common hierarchical paradigm found in many applications today. The tree structure of folders and items is a natural extension of an operating system's structure used to store files. But is this the best way of organizing things? What if I want something to belong to more than one group? What if I want to view my groups in a different way? Do I really need to know how my files are stored on the disk? The zl_catalog system attempts to address these issues.

Features

The library is in its infancy now and currently provides:

• XML file structure
• elements can belong to multiple groups
• groups can be sorted by name, date, modification or access
• API provides easy methods of bulding groups from directories, adding/removing groups, adding/removing elements, etc.

changes for version 0.2 - released 02/12/2002

• elements now track when they are accessed, which can be used for sorting
• moved filesystem related functionality to zl_catalog_fs.c
• added the ability to bound a group to a range
• added the ability to shuffle groups
• various bug fixes

Download

x86 Linux binary: libzlcatalog-0.2.tar.gz
source code: libzlcatalog-0.2-src.tar.gz

Requirements

Applications

Programs that use zlcatalog include:

• zlview, an image viewer and slide show application
• zlplay, an MP3 player
• zlnote, a free-from note application and general catalog editor
• car, a utilitiy for creating catalogs

Comments

We here at Zen Lunatics would love to hear about your experience with libzlcatalog:

• did it work? please send us any bugs/problems you encounter.
• is it easy to use? please let us know if there are confusing aspects to the interface.
• can it do what you want? please let us know if there are features that you think zlview should have.
• do you like the design/approach? any comments, either good or bad, are always welcome.

send comments to lunatics@zenlunatics.com

Thank you!