I write my lab journal with pen and though of getting a linux supported tablet. Has anybody ever used ELOG and did input using a tablet?

> Is there a possibility to prevent elog to overwrite attribute values when 
> editing an old message? The old values are overwriten with the preset 
> options for that attribute. 
> But sometimes you will preserve attribute text and /or options from the old 
> message.

The option "Fixed attributes = ..." will do the job.

> Ok, but is there a possibility to preserve the fields of the old message, 
but 
> still be able to edit it. This would be a nice feature in the case of an 
entry 
> with lots of attributes (set to something different then the preset 
values). 
> After submiting the message you realize : one option was wrong and now you 
> want to edit it without changing the other options again.
> Is this possible?

Actually this is a good idea. After thinking a while, I wonder if anybody at 
all would like not to preserve the preset values. So if nobody complains, I 
will set the behaviour such that elog always preserves the entries if one 
edits an existing message.

Just since some people asked for: Here is the elogd.cfg for this demo 
logbooks:

========= cut here ===================

[global]
logbook tabs = 1
SMTP host = mailsend.psi.ch
URL = http://midas.psi.ch/elogdemo/
user = midas
group = midas

[Linux]
Theme = default
Comment = General linux Tips & Tricks
Data dir = /usr/local/elogdemo/logbooks/Linux
Attributes = Author, Type, Icon, Category, Subject
Options Type = Routine, Software Installation, Problem Fixed, 
Configuration, Tips & Tricks, Info, Other
IOptions Icon = icon1.gif, icon3.gif, icon4.gif, icon5.gif, icon6.gif, 
icon7.gif, icon8.gif, icon12.gif, icon13.gif, icon14.gif
Options Category = General, Hardware, Software, Network, Applications, 
Shell, Account, Packages, Daemons, Other
Required Attributes = Author
Subst Author = $author
Summary on default = 1
Summary lines = 0
Email all = stefan.ritt@psi.ch
Email message body = 1

[Database]
Theme = default
Comment = Demo of database-like elog
Data dir = /usr/local/elogdemo/logbooks/database
Attributes = Type, Operating system, Location, Status, Comment
Required Attributes = Type, Operating system, Location, Status
Options Type = PC, Router, Bridge
Options Operating system = Linux, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, 
Windows ME, Embedded
Options Location = Building1, Building2, Building3
Options Status = working, defect, in repair
Show text = 0
Start page = ?cmd=Search&mode=summary
Display search = #, Type, Location, Status
Summary lines = 0
Find menu commands = New, Find, Last
Menu commands = Back, New, Edit, Delete, Find, Config, Help
Number Attachments = 0
Suppress default = 2
Entries per page = 10

[Forum]
; general options
Password file = /usr/local/elogdemo/logbooks/forum/passwd
Admin user = stefan
Self register = 2
Theme = default
Comment = Discussion forum about ELOG
Data dir = /usr/local/elogdemo/logbooks/forum
Display mode = threaded
Start page = ?cmd=Search&mode=threaded
Menu commands = Back, New, Edit, Reply, Find, Last day, Last 10, Admin, 
Config, Logout, Help
Find menu commands = New, Find, Last x, Admin, Config, Logout, Help
Guest menu commands = Back, Find, Login, Help
Guest find menu commands = Find, Login, Help
Number Attachments = 1
Message comment = <img src=icons/icon6.gif> Please enter only serious 
messages here, for testing use the <b>Linux</b> Logbook:
Filtered browsing = 0
Entries per page = 8
Reverse sort = 1
Restrict edit = 1

; Attributes
Attributes = Icon, Author, Author Email, Category, Subject
IOptions Icon = icon1.gif, icon2.gif, icon3.gif, icon4.gif, icon5.gif, 
Options Category = Info, Bug report, Bug fix, Question, Request, Comment, 
Other
icon6.gif, icon7.gif, icon8.gif, icon12.gif, icon13.gif, icon14.gif
Required Attributes = Author, Author Email, Subject, Icon
Subst on reply subject = Re: $subject
Thread display = $subject, posted by $author on $Entry date
Thread icon = Icon
Remove on reply = Author, Author Email
Date format = %B %d, %Y
Preset Author = $long_name
Preset Author Email = $user_email
Locked Attributes = Author

; Email notification
Email message body = 1
Display Email recipients = 0

Starting from version 2.2.4 which has been released today, the 
option "quick filter" has been added. A "quick filter" is a drop down box 
on the message display page. By selecting a value from the drop down box, 
only messages of that type are displayed. See this forum which uses "Quick 
filter = Date, Category".

This new option adresses a couple of installations which require a large 
number of logbooks. Instead of using many similar logbooks, the old logbook 
name can now be defined as an attribute. All messages get now mixed, but by 
defining the logbook attribute as a quick filter, one can display the 
messages belonging to the individual logbooks separately with a single 
click.

> I'm interested using elog for a lab notebook.  Once entries have been
> entered they cannot be changed/edited.
> Is it possible for elog to be setup to support something like this?  A write
> only mode?

What you need is an entry in the elogd.cfg file:

Manu commands = Back, New, Reply, Find, Config, Logout, Help

As you see, the "Edit" and "Delete" commands are missing here and therefore 
do not get displayed. So you can enter a message with "New", but you cannot 
change it afterwards.

> Does this truly disable the edit command or just hide it?

You're right! In some earlier versions, it did disable it, but in 2.2.5 it 
just hides it. I fixed that bug and from 2.3.0 on it will really disable 
that command again, such that if someone enters manually

http://midas.psi.ch/elogdemo/Forum/202?cmd=Edit

will produce and error if the command is not in the menu list.

> Can you consider implementing the following additions to the functionality
> 
> 1) Subt on edit <attribute> = xyz 
> 
> This would be fantastic for implementing version control so you can see 
who 
> has edited a posted or a db entry.

Can you give me an example of how you would use that?
 
> 2) Have a SORT fieldname flag so you can decide which column to sort 
things 
> by on a display listing in conjunction to the display flags, it current 
> defaults to the # column and I find i am directly linking to a sorted 
> display

Sorting is not done by the "#" column but by the sequence when messages have 
been entered. You can sort the table differently by clicking on the table 
titles (twice for reverse sort). To sort by default on a column, for example 
sort by the author, you can add

Start page = ?sort=author

into elogd.cfg which does the job.

> 3) Have the elogd.conf track actual log entries people have changed 
> detailing date and time etc.

Revision management is not forseen by the structure of the ELOG database. 
What you can do is if you edit a message you check "Resubmit as new entry", 
then you keep a copy of the old version. 

> 4) Ability to export contents of the log books to files on disk for backup 
> purposes as all data is contained within a single log file which causes 
> problem for command line searches.

Well, you have already all log book files on disk in a simple format:

YYMMDDa.log

(Year/Month/Day) which you can easily backup. By a mask like 02*a.log you 
can backup all data from 2002 and so on. The idea of having separate log 
files for each day is to have this possibility to simply backup various date 
intervals. 

What kind of command line searches are you interested in?

- Stefan