Author Topic: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008  (Read 6486 times)

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Online ideasguy

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Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« on: November 26, 2008, 01:56:41 PM »
Heres a nice project we can all get involved in over the cold dark days of winter.
As you know, the gardening season starts in spring, but planning is done over winter, particularly if you plan to grow things from seed.
In a series of sessions we will work our way through the Ideas Genie programs to use features which have been designed to help us in the various stages - ordering, sowing, repotting right through to planting out, and aftercare.

Heres an outline of what we will cover. This plan may change depending on how things go.

Session 1.
The Catalogs program GA040
Select plants from Catalogs which will be made available as downloads. A lot of prepartion work to do here, but it will be very much worthwhile.
You will use the Catalogs to buy your seed or plants either a) on-line, b) using email to place orders and pay by cheque/credit card, or c) Post the good old fashioned Order by snail mail with cheque enclosed.
In each case, the list of items will be selected from our new Catalogs.
I envisage a Preliminary, then Session 1a, 1b etc to cover the different catalogs, buy options etc

Session 2
The Tasks program GA047
Once the orders are placed, its time to plan when to sow, or when to plant. We will do that using the Tasks program.
This program underwent a major overhaul in the last upgrade. The old tasks program GA012 was replaced with a new one GA047.
Theres a LOT of features in there, and we will look at each one.
We will cover how to plan tasks for specimens.
We will also cover other uses for the Tasks program - plant care tasks such as pruning, dividing, feeding etc.
We will also work through the three types of task which can be planned with GA047.
I envisage a Session 2a, 2b etc etc to get through this.

Session 3
The Labels Program - GA048
Once you have bought your seed or new plants, you are ready to print labels.
This program comes with a number of "standard" labels. However, thanks to Toby (Bossgard) that list of Labels now includes professional quality labels which are readily available in the US. Toby and I worked on this at the beginning of the year. Toby now has a whole growing season of test results, and Ive learned tonight that they have been a great success -  using a special ink to print on those labels. See other thread in this forum.
Here in the UK, thanks to the communication with a number of professional users, a number of horticulture labels suppliers have been identified and in this Session we will develop a set of labels for the UK/European market.
This should be a very interesting project, and you will learn how to print all kinds of fancy labels.

Session 4
Specimens and Events
Each time you perform a task, that is recorded as an Event. You will use GA047 (above) to track your tasks. Events are generated in GA047 when you record a task as Completed.
We will then use GA029 to see an overview of Tasks and Events.
Hidden (I fear) within that program is a very well planned out feature, based on a model sent to me by a professional who grew 180 plant species from seed each year. This is a great opportunity to explain how that works.

Session 5
The Print Photos Program GA049
We must have a look at this program and make sure everyone can use it.
The printed photos are perfect for inclusion with the reports "My Garden", "My Plants" and "Garden Tours"

May add to this as more things come to mind folk!
Over to you to make suggestions of anything you'd like to cover.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2008, 11:00:42 PM by ideasguy »

Offline Lynda A

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2008, 10:17:14 AM »
 Hi George,
  That all sounds very interesting.  I'm afraid I haven't been using my software due to my attachment to my Mac and the ease of use regarding photo's that are already on my Mac in iphoto, that I use for my work.  Saying that, i don't want to get left behind and would like to get the downloads that would bring my software up to speed with everybody else's so I can try the things you are writing about.  Whats the best way to do this.
Regards   

Online ideasguy

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2008, 10:48:22 AM »
Thats great, Lynda. The more the merrier on this project.
Latest program versions.
In the case of IG Pro, IG etc (its the same kind of thing on each product) click the Ideas Genie on the Web button.
You then find a link to the Product Support web site.
From there, look for and click the link Ideas Genie Pro Program Updates
Takes you here:
http://www.ideasgenie.com/updates-igprox/
For each program, check the version number on your computer, and compare with version numbers on the web page. Download anything out of date.

Offline Lynda A

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2008, 12:57:35 PM »
Thanks , I will get on to it

Offline roiphil

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2009, 02:51:30 PM »
Been having a little play again on Session 2 The Tasks program GA047, date seeds went in fridge for stratification, date when to come out of fridge and when to sow, how does the alert work i have it set on 7 days, how does it alert me,
Phil

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2009, 11:46:51 PM »
I'll update this reply tomorrow, Phil (gettin late here and a few things to do).

In IG Pro, you will see the alerts when you open the Tasks program.

In Bonsai genie, theres a special feature to alert you when you click the Bonsai Genie icon and start the program.
Need to look over all this. You're on Lesson 2 and I havent started to Lesson 1, so apologies for that. I'm fully occupied with the Chiltern Catalog project, so hope to catch up when thats done.


Offline roiphil

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2009, 10:40:26 AM »
You're on Lesson 2 and I havent started to Lesson 1, so apologies for that. I'm fully occupied with the Chiltern Catalog project, so hope to catch up when thats done.


had a brief look at lesson 1 useing gower fuschias, selected plants, added them to order, useing email fuction, which works fine with windows mail in vista home premium (i think its the same, it looks the same, as i had with my office xp, just renamed email programe) checked that out able to edit in email etc, and that was that, did not order any actual plants, not sure on the regulations for purchasing plants from UK and having them sent to Southern Ireland, dont fancy a knock on door from customs, i suspect your ok if useing royal mail/An Post, i think its the parcel couriers that will check everything for customs, read somewhere a while back that DHL? are liable for paying customs charges on any packages thay handle irrelevant of country to country, which is why we have to pay customs charges, i could be wrong, you know what its like when you start to lose your memory  :-\ ???

Phil

Online ideasguy

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2009, 10:40:26 PM »
Thats good work Phil.
I have some more work to do on the Print Mail Order option, but as you know I'm working on the Chiltern Catalog and it needs the same feature. I need to ensure GA040 is generic, and can handle multiple shopping cart variations.
Hope I have some hair left in March!

I spoke to Paul Fisher, the owner of Gower Fuchsias, before Christmas. Overheads have made it impossible for him to peg last years prices, so the proces in the IG Pro downloadable catalog will change.
On his web site it states:
We deliver anywhere in Great Britain
I'll get in touch and ask about Ireland and Europe.


Online ideasguy

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Re: Sessions - The Ideas Genie Tour - Winter 2008
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2009, 01:14:54 AM »
The tour begins after a long delay!

Ive been writing up a User Guide for Bonsai Genie.
Bonsai Genie is an extension of Ideas Genie Pro, and apart from one section on Pots, the User Guide is applicable to Ideas Genie Pro.

Heres the link:
http://www.garden-software.co.uk/Bonsai/userguide/userguide.html

In Bonsai Genie, all plants must be  defined as specimens so their care can be tracked through Tasks and Events. Both these features are exactly as per Ideas Genie. 
If you havent set up specimens before, be sure to work through Chapter 1 and add a few plants to your database with specimens for use in the other chapters.
In Chapter 3, setting up the Care Classifications is relevant.

Chapter 4 and 5 may be new ground to many of you. Thats what I want to concentrate on over the next few weeks.
You can use Tasks and events to track growing plants from seed.
Chiltern Catalog next important item on my agenda so you can start planning.

I made a few minor changes to the program you use for Chapter 4
GA029 Now at version 21
http://www.ideasgenie.com/updates-igpro/GA029-dl.exe
« Last Edit: January 19, 2009, 01:18:29 AM by ideasguy »