TreeLine - How To Use

10/27/2020 TreeLine - How to Use
Version 3.1.3 (stable)

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How to Use
How to Use TreeLine
Contents
Basic Usage
Views
Editing
Files
Data Types
Detailed Usage
Tree Navigation and Search

Defining Node Types
Field Types
Output Formatting Details
Type Format Details
Tree Data Operations
Printing
File Handling
File Import
File Export
Customizations
Basic Usage
Views
Tree View - The left-hand view shows a tree of node titles. Parent nodes can be opened and
closed to display or hide their indented descendant nodes. Clicking on an already selected
https://treeline.bellz.org/use.html 1/15
node allows the title to be edited. Right-click context menus are available for commonly used
functions.
Breadcrumb View - The top pane shows the parent and ancestors of the selected node. It is
blank if no nodes or multiple nodes are selected. Ancestors with blue text can be clicked to
select those nodes.
Right-hand Views - The right pane is tabbed to show one of three different views of the data.
The "Data Output" view shows the formatted text, the "Data Edit" view shows text edit boxes,
and the "Title List" view shows an editable list of node titles.
When a parent node is selected in the tree, the right view will default to showing information
about the selected node in an upper pane and information about the selected node's children in
a lower pane. The "View > Show Child Pane" command will toggle the display of the child
nodes. If the selected node has no children, the view will show a single pane with information
about the selected node only.
When multiple nodes are selected in the tree (by holding down the shift or Ctrl keys while
clicking), the right view will not display any child node information. It will instead show
information about every selected node.
When no nodes are selected in the tree (by clicking on a blank area or Ctrl clicking to
unselect), the right view will show information about the top-level (root) nodes.
Data Output View - The "Data Output" view shows formatted output text. It cannot be edited
from this view.
When the "View > Show Output Descendants" command is toggled, the "Data Output" view
will show an indented list with information about every descendant of a single selected node.
Data Edit View - The "Data Edit" view shows a text edit box for each data field within a
node. It also shows the node types and the node titles. The types of edit boxes vary based on
the field type. Some are just text editors, while others (such as choice fields, date fields, links,
etc.) have pull-down menus or dialogs.
Title List View - The "Title List" view shows a list of node titles that can be modified using
typical text editor methods. If a new line is typed, a new node is created with that title. If a
line is deleted, the corresponding node is removed from the tree.
Editing
Node Menu - The commands in the "Node" menu operate on the selected nodes in the left
tree view. There are commands to add or insert nodes, rename node titles and delete nodes.
There are also commands to rearrange the tree by changing indent levels or moving nodes up
or down. For many of the commands, the descendants of the selected nodes are also affected.
Edit Menu - The edit menu includes undo and redo commands that can fix problems. Cut,
copy and paste commands can operate either on text in the right-hand view (if selected or
active) or to tree nodes.
Format Menu - The format menu has text formatting commands that are active when using
edit boxes in the Data Edit view.
Shortcuts - There are several shortcuts for use in tree editing. Drag and drop will move (or
copy if the Ctrl button is held) nodes. Clicking on a selected node will rename it. Pressing the
delete key will remove the selected nodes. If desired, these shortcuts can be disabled in "Tools
> General Options".
Files
Templates - When starting a new file, a dialog box offers a choice of templates. The default
has only a single text field for each node that contains the title. The Long Text template adds a
second long text field for more output text. Other templates have various fields for contacts,
book lists and to-do lists.
Sample Files - Various TreeLine sample files can be opened by using the "File > Open
Sample" command. These have more detail and example content than the new file templates.
Data Types
Node Types - Multiple node data types can be defined in a TreeLine file. Each can contain
different data fields and have different output formats. See the template and sample files for
examples. Nodes can be set to a specific type using the "Data > Set Node Type" command.
Type Config - The "Data > Configure Data Types" command is used to modify node data
types, fields and output formatting. Refer to the Detailed Usage section of the full
documentation for details.
Detailed Usage
Tree Navigation and Search
Keyboard Shortcuts - There are several keyboard commands that can be used for tree
navigation. The up and down arrow keys move the selection. The left and right arrows open
and close the current node. The "Home", "End", "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys can be
used to move quickly through the tree.
Another way to move through the tree is to type the first letter of a visible node title. Hitting
the letter again highlights to the next possibility.
Selection - Multiple nodes can be selected by holding down the CTRL or the SHIFT key
when changing the active node. Individual nodes are added or removed from the selection
when the CTRL key is held. The selection of all nodes between the old and new active nodes
are toggled when SHIFT is held. The active node can be changed by using the mouse or by
using any of the keyboard navigation methods.
The "View > Previous Selection" and "View > Next Selection" commands can be used to
toggle through a history of selections, allowing faster navigation through the tree.
Searching - The "Tools > Find Text" command will search for text within the tree structure.
The dialog box has options for searching all of the node data or only the node titles. There are
also options for how to interpret the search text. Key words will match nodes with the search
words found anywhere in the node. Key full words will only match complete words anywhere
in the node. Full phrase will only match the complete phrase in the proper sequence. Finally,
the regular expression option will search using Python regular expressions.
The "Tools > Conditional Find" command will search in particular node types and node
fields. Various comparison operators can be selected to exactly match, to match a greater or
lesser value, or part of the value. And the True/False operators give the same result regardless
of the values. In general, the value is interpreted using the edit format for special field types.
Multiple rules can be added, connected with logical "and" or "or" operators. The "All Types"
option makes fields from every type are available, so that multiple node types to be part of the
same search. The condition will be false for node types that do not contain that field name.
There is also a quick, incremental search of node titles. By default, it's bound to ctrl+/. Then,
matching titles are found as the search string is typed. The F3 and shift+F3 keys can be used
to go to the next or previous matches, respectively.
Filtering - There are two filtering commands, "Tools > Text Filter" and "Tools > Conditional
Filter". They work like the corresponding search commands above, except that they show all
of the matching nodes in a flat list that replaces the tree view. The nodes can be selected and
edited from this view. Use the "End Filter" button to restore the full tree view.
Searches for Conditional Find and Conditional Filter can be saved in the dialog boxes and
loaded again at another time.
Defining Node Types

Type List - The "Type List" is the first tab of the "Data > Configure Types Dialog". The list
of data types can be modified by the buttons on the right. New types can be added, and
existing types can be copied, renamed or deleted.
Type Config - "Type Config" is the second tab of the Configure Types Dialog. It contains a
selection for the default child type. If set, this will be the initial type used for new children
with this type of parent. If set to "[None]", children will default to either the type of their
siblings or their parent.
The "Change Icon" button allows the selection of a custom tree icon for this data type. The
"Clear Select" button on the icon dialog can be used to set the icon to "None", so that no icon
will be displayed for this type. To avoid showing any tree icons, the "Show icons in the tree
view" general option can be unset.
There are also options here for adding blanks lines between nodes, allowing HTML tags in
the common format text, and changing the output to add bullets or tables.
Field List - The "Field List" is the third tab of the Configure Types Dialog. The list of fields
within a data type can be modified by using the buttons on the right. New fields can be added,
and existing fields can be moved, renamed or deleted. Sort keys can also be defined to specify
the fields that are compared when nodes are sorted.
Field Config - "Field Config" is the fourth tab of the Configure Types Dialog. The field type
and its output format string can be set, if applicable to the field. Extra prefix and suffix text to
be output with the field can also be set, and a default field value for new nodes can be
entered. The number of lines displayed in the editor for the field can also be specified. Finally,
an option to evaluate HTML tags can be set to recognize HTML tags in Choice, AutoChoice,
Combination, AutoCombination and RegularExpression fields. If this is set, special characters
(angled brackets and quotation marks) will need to be manually escaped to show up in the
field text.
Output - "Output" is the last tab of the Configure Types Dialog. The left half of the dialog
shows the fields. The right half shows the formatting for the title (used for the node text in the
tree view) and the node output. The formatting consists of text lines with embedded fields.
The fields are shown as "{*field_name*}". The fields that are selected in the list (multiple
fields can be selected by holding Ctrl or Shift keys while clicking) can be added to a format at
the cursor position with the ">>" keys. The field reference at the cursor can be removed with
the "<<" keys.
Field Types
Field Options - The field type and options are set in the "Field Config" tab of the "Data >
Configure Types Dialog". The many different field types are described in the paragraphs
below.
Several of the field types use a formatting string to define their output. For a list of available
formatting characters, use the "Format Help" button. Entries in the data editor which do not
match the format will cause a blue triangle to show in the upper left corner of the edit box,
and the output for that field will be replaced with "#####".
Text Type - The default field type is a text field. It is the most commonly used field. These
fields are edited using edit boxes in the data editor view. There are several commands in the
Format menu (and also in the context menu) for setting the font style and adding external or
internal links. The edit box height expands when re-displayed after adding several lines of
text. The minimum edit box height can also be set explicitly in the "Field Config" tab.
HTML Text Type - This type allows simple HTML tags to be used in the text. Commonly
used tags include "bold", "underline", "line break ", "horizontal
line<hr/>", and various font tags. Complex block tags should generally be avoided. Carriage
returns are ignored and non-escaped "<", ">" and "&" symbols do not display.
One Line Text Type - This type restricts the text length to a single line. It does not allow
carriage returns but does not restrict line wrapping of a single long line.
Spaced Text Type - This type holds plain text and preserves all spacing. Other formatting of
the text is not permitted. It could be useful to use the "Tools > Customize Fonts" command to
set the editor font to a mono-spaced font when using this field type.
Number Type - In the number type, special characters in the format define the display of the
numbers. The format uses a string of "#" (optional digit) and "0" (required digit) characters to
define the output formatting. For example, pi formatted with "#.#" is "3.1" and formatted with
"00.00" is "03.14". Regardless of the formatting, digits to the left of the decimal point are not
truncated, since that would display an incorrect result. But use care to show enough decimal
places (either optional or required) to avoid problems with round-off error.
The radix character can be specified as either "." or "," to handle internationalization. For use
as a thousands separator, use "\," or "\.". For example, a large number may be formatted as
"#\,###\,###.##" or as "#\.###\.###,##". Press the "Format Help" button from the field format
dialog for more formatting details.
Unlike most other formats, the number type also uses the output format for display in the
Data Editor. Of course, any new entry with a reasonable format is correctly interpreted (but
the correct radix character must be used).
Math Type - Math field types are configured by defining equations. The equations can
reference number fields, date fields, time fields, boolean fields, text fields and/or other math
fields. The resulting values of math fields are automatically calculated for each node. Various
mathematical, relational and string operators are available. The results can be numbers, text,
boolean, dates or times.
To define a math field equation, press the "Define Equation" button in the "Field Config" tab
of the "Data > Configure Types Dialog". This brings up a dialog with fields to reference on
the left and math operators on the right. The "Reference Level" pull-down determines
whether the reference is from the same node, the node's parent, the root node, or the node's
children. The "Result Type" pull-down allows arithmetic, date, time, boolean or text results to
be chosen. The "Operator Type" pull-down allows numeric, comparison or text operators to
be shown in the operator list. The down-arrow buttons below the references and operators add
the selected item to the equation text below. Portions of equations can also be typed directly
in the equation text line editor.
References to child nodes must be enclosed in a grouping function, such as sum, max, min,
mean or join. A math field can contain a parent or child reference to itself, but not a same-
level reference to itself (a circular reference). The references only contain the field name, so
they will reference a parent or child field with that name even if it is a different node type.
In equations, date fields are represented by the number of days since January 1, 1970, and
time fields are the number of seconds since midnight. So date fields can be subtracted to give
the number of days elapsed, and numbers of days can be added to or subtracted from dates to
result in new dates. Time fields can be subtracted to give the number of seconds elapsed, and
numbers of seconds can be added to or subtracted from times to result in new times.
The "if" comparison operator can be used to make the result depend on the value of another
field. The expression is written as "true_value if condition else false_value". Of course, the
"true_value", "condition" and "false_value" strings must be replaced with valid fields or
expressions. If this operator is inserted from the operator list (under comparisons), it will
include parenthesis as placeholders. These parenthesis are optional in the equations.
The "join" text function is used to combine text from several other fields (or from child
nodes). The first argument to the function is a separator string that is placed between each
piece of text. The remaining argument(s) are the text to be joined.
By default, math fields are shown in the data edit view, but they are read-only. To hide them,
uncheck the "Show math fields in the Data Edit View" box under "Tools > General Options >
Features Available".
There is also an option under "File > Properties" that toggles whether blank fields are treated
as zeros. If checked (the default), a blank field that is referenced by a math field has a value
of zero (for numeric operations) or blank (for text operations). If unchecked, any blank
references also cause equations that reference them to be blank.
Numbering Type - This type (not to be confused with the number type above) provides fields
that are automatically filled in with the "Data > Update Numbering" command. The "Format
Help" button in the field format dialog shows the output format options. A single format level
will result in a simple sequential numbering scheme. Use of the "/" level separator will result
in an outline-type numbering with different sequences at different levels. Use of the "."
section separator will result in a "2.3.5" type numbering scheme.
Since numbering fields are automatically populated, by default they are not shown in the data
edit view. To show them, check the "Show numbering fields in the Data Edit View" box under
"Tools > General Options > Features Available". When they are shown in the data edit view,
they show up in section numbering style, regardless of the output format.
Date Type - In the date field type, special characters in the format (all starting with "%") are
replaced by elements of the data, similar to number fields. Press the "Format Help" button
from the field format dialog for formatting details. Non-special characters will be output as
themselves.
There is also an edit format under "Tools > General Options > Data Editor Formats". This
controls how date fields are displayed in the Data Editor view. Generally, entries in the data
editor with various formats will be correctly interpreted regardless of this setting, but dates
must use the correct day-month-year sequence. Also note that the date editor format does not
support days of the week.
A default initial field value of "Now" can be used to enter the date of node creation.
Time Type - In the time field type, special characters in the format (all starting with "%") are
replaced by elements of the data, similar to number fields. Press the "Format Help" button
from the field format dialog for formatting details. Non-special characters will be output as
themselves.
There is also an edit format under "Tools > General Options > Data Editor Formats". This
controls how time fields are displayed in the Data Editor view. Generally, entries in the data
editor with various formats will be correctly interpreted regardless of this setting.
A default initial field value of "Now" can be used to enter the time of node creation.
DateTime Type - The DateTime field combines dates and times into a single field that is
useful for timestamps. Special characters in the format (all starting with "%") are replaced by
elements of the data, as in date and time fields. Press the "Format Help" button from the field
format dialog for formatting details. Non-special characters will be output as themselves.
The DateTime edit format is uses the date and time formats located in "Tools > General
Options > Data Editor Formats". The date and time formats are combined, separated by a
space character.
A default initial field value of "Now" can be used to enter the date and time of node creation.
Boolean Type - This type gives two choices corresponding to true/false values. The format
help menu includes typical values such as "yes/no", "true/false" and "1/0", but users can also
enter their own word pair. The data editor boxes will accept either the currently set format or
any of the typical values.
Choice Type - The choice field type allows for the selection of text items from a pull-down
edit list. The formatting strings for these types list the items separated with the "/" character
(use "//" to get a literal "/" in an item). Entries in the data editor which do not match the
choices will cause a blue triangle to show in the upper left corner of the edit box, and the
output for that field will be replaced with "#####".
Auto Choice Type - This field type is similar to the choice type, but without a format string.
The entries in the pull-down menu are automatically generated from all previously used
entries. Any entries that are typed will be available in the pull-down menu for future use.
Combination Type - This is basically the equivalent of the choice type with multiple
selection. The formatting string entries are separated by the "/" character. The pull-down
menu shows check-boxes that are checked for currently selected nodes. By default, the
selected entries are output separated by a comma and a space. This can be changed in the
"Type Config" tab of the "Data > Configure Types Dialog". Click the "Show Advanced"
button to see the separator setting.
Auto Combination Type - This field type is similar to the combination type, but without a
format string. The entries in the pull-down menu are automatically generated from all
previously used entries. Any entries that are typed will be available in the pull-down menu for
future use.
External Link Type - This type can support various link protocols, including http and https
for web pages, mailto for email addresses and file for local files. A pull down dialog in the
data editor allows the selection of the protocol type and the entry of an address and a display
name. In the edit boxes, the display name shows up in [brackets], and it is used as the text of
the link in the output view. The "file" protocol also provides a button to browse for a path and
buttons to choose either absolute or relative path names.
Clicking on the link in the output view or choosing "Open Link" from the right-click context
menu in the edit box will open the link in a web browser. In Linux, setting the "BROWSER"
environment variable to a string like "mozilla %s" will result in the desired browser being
used.
Internal Link Type - These links create shortcuts to select nodes elsewhere in the tree
structure. To create a link, click the pull-down arrow and then select the target node in the tree
view. The display name is shown in brackets. It is initially set to the target node title, but it
can be edited. The right-click context menu can be used to clear the link or to select the target
node.
Clicking the link in the output view will select the target node in the tree view.
Picture Type - These links add referenced pictures to the output view. A pull down dialog in
the data editor has a button to browse for picture files to be linked. It also allows absolute or
relative paths to be used and has a small image preview.
Regular Expression Type - This type allows arbitrary format strings to be matched that
restrict the data to a particular format. It uses Python regular expression syntax. Entries in the
data editor which do not match the format string expression will cause a blue triangle to show
in the upper left corner of the edit box, and the output for that field will be replaced with
"#####".
Output Formatting Details

Output Format Examples - Here is an example of output formatting for a book list:
"{*Title*}" (c) {*Copyright*}, Rating: {*Rating*} {*PlotDescription*}
Each of the field names in enclosed in {* *}, curly brackets and asterisks. For more examples,
see the sample files that can be opened using the "File > Open Sample" command.
Title Formats - When a node in the tree is renamed, the program attempts to match the title
formatting pattern to set the appropriate fields (the same title matching occurs when editing
lines in the "Title List" view). If the title formatting is too complex, it may not correctly guess
the intent. Things like adjacent fields with no characters separating them should be avoided
unless you do not wish to rename nodes from the tree.
If the text data used for a tree view title has multiple lines, only the first line will be used as
the title.
Skipped Output Lines - If all of the fields in an output format line are empty for a given
node, then the line is skipped. No blank line or embedded text will be output for that line.
Note that this does not apply to a line without any fields (only embedded text). Also, when a
line ending with a or an <hr/> tag is skipped, the ending tag is retained.
HTML Tags - By default, the "Allow HTML rich text in formats" option is unchecked in the
"Type Config" tab of the Configure Types Dialog. So any HTML tags are treated as plain text.
If the option is enabled, simple HTML formatting tags can be used in node output formats.
Commonly used tags include "bold", "underline", "line break ",

"horizontal line<hr/>", and various font tags. Complex block tags should generally be
avoided.
Other Field References - References to fields that are not contained within the node can be
added to the output. Pushing the "Show Advanced" button on the "Output" tab of the
configure dialog makes a reference level selection become visible.
If the reference level is changed to "File Info Reference", fields containing file meta-data can
be added to the output. These include the file name, path, size, modified date and modified
time. These special fields are shown as "{*!field_name*}" in the title and output format
editors.
There are field references to various ancestor nodes (parents, grandparents, etc.). These
require the data type of the reference to be specified. This selection determines the field
names that are available, but the data from any type with a matching field name will be shown
in the output. References to fields from parent and grandparent nodes are shown as "
{**field_name*}" and "{***field_name*}", respectively. There are also general ancestor
references, shown as "{*?field_name*}", that take data from the closest ancestor with a
matching field.
References to child nodes can also be added, shown as "{*&field_name*}". These also
require that the child data type be specified. The child data becomes embedded in the parent
output. The child data is delimited with a separator string defined on the "Type Config" tab
(with show advanced active). The separator defaults to a comma and a space, but can be set to
 or anything else.
Finally, a "Child Count" reference can be added. This field will show the number of children
("Level1" field) or grandchildren ("Level2" field) of a node. These are shown as {*#Level1*}
in the format editors.
For examples of these fields, see the "sample_other_fields" file (by using the "File > Open
Sample" command).
Math Fields - For more complex output formatting, the math field can be used to combine
other fields using various mathematical, relational and string operators. See the Math Type
section for details.
Type Format Details

Generic and Derived Types - Data types can be set to derive their field settings from a
generic type. This allows types with different output formatting to always use the same set of
fields. Any changes to the generic's list of fields and field types are automatically reflected in
the fields of all derived types. This does not apply to a field's output formatting, which can
still be set independently.
There are two methods for creating derived types. First, a derived option can be selected
when copying a type on the "Type List" tab of the "Data > Configure Types Dialog".
Alternately, a generic type can be specified from the derived type's "Type Config" tab of the
dialog if the advanced functions are shown.
Conditional Types - Conditional expressions can be used to automatically assign a data type
based on each node's content. Conditions can be assigned only to a generic type and its
associated derived types. This allows the automatic assignment of different output formatting
or different icons depending on each node's field data.
The conditional dialog box is accessed from a button on the "Type Config" tab of the "Data >
Configure Types Dialog" if the advanced functions are shown. Each line of the condition
includes a field, an operator and a comparison value. The operators include equality, greater
than, less than, starts with, ends with, and contains. There are also True and False operators
that will toggle the type of all nodes simultaneously.
For special field types such as dates, times, and booleans, the comparison value should be
entered in the same format that is used in the Data Editor window. In general, the starts with,
ends with, and contains operators should not be used for these special fields, since the
comparison is done using an internal data representation. Dates and times also support a
special comparison value of "now", which is always interpreted as the current date and time.
The "Add New Rule" button is used to add additional condition lines. The lines can be joined
with "and" or "or" operators. The "Remove Rule" button deletes the last condition line. If
only a single line is present, the "Remove Rule" button completely removes the condition.
Conditions do not have to be set for all types in a family. If no conditions are true for a node,
the program will select a blank condition rather than a false one.
For an example, see the "sample_conditional_todo" file (by using the "File > Open Sample"
command).
Copying Formats - Another method for changing data type formatting is to copy the formats
from another TreeLine file. This is done with the "Data > Copy Types from File" command.
All types from the chosen file are copied. Any types in the current file with matching names
are overwritten, but types with unique names are retained.
Child Type Limits - In addition to setting the default child type, the child node types that are
available to be set can be limited. There is a pull-down list of child type limits in the "Type
Config" tab of the configuration dialog if the advanced functions are shown. Only checked
types will show up in the type lists when using the "Data > Set Node Type" command on a
child node.
Tree Data Operations

Sorting - The "Data > Sort Nodes" command can sort nodes based on either node titles or key
fields predefined in the node type configuration. The predefined sort fields can be changed in
the "Field Config" tab of the Configure Types Dialog. The "Sort Keys" button brings up a list
of fields that define a sort key sequence. The fields higher in the sequence have a higher
priority. The direction for each key field can be flipped.
Numbering - The "Data > Update Numbering" command updates the contents of fields with
a special numbering field type. The field's output format defines how the numbers are
displayed in the output, including whether individual numbers, outline numbers or a section
numbering scheme are shown. See the Numbering Field Type for more information.
Note that numbering fields are not shown in the data edit view unless "Show numbering fields
in the Data Edit View" is checked under "Tools > General Options > Features Available".
When they are shown in the data edit view, they show up in section numbering style,
regardless of the output format.
Find and Replace - The "Tools > Find and Replace" command can be used to change the text
in several nodes. The search text and replacement text are entered. Searching can be based on
any match, full words only, or a Python regular expression. The operation can optionally be
restricted to a particular node type and to a particular node field.
Replacement using regular expressions is quite powerful. Searching for ".*" will match all of
the text in the field. The replacement string can contain back references that consist of a
backslash and a number. The back references get replaced with the corresponding
parenthesized group from the match. For example, "\2" will be replaced with the text that
matched the second group of parenthesis. The "\g<0>" back-reference can be used to
substitute the entire matching string.
Spell Check - There is a spell check command in the "Tools" menu. Use of this command
requires an external program to be installed (either aspell, ispell or hunspell- see the System
Requirements section). If there are any misspelled words in the selected branch, a dialog will
allow the word to be ignored, added to the dictionary, replaced with a suggestion or edited.
This will spell check the text in all data fields of each node.
Cloned Nodes - Cloned nodes are used to duplicate sections of the tree. Editing their data or
child structure in one location changes all locations. When a cloned node is selected, multiple
lines are shown in the Breadcrumb view, showing ancestor nodes that have multiple parents.
The selected node will appear black (not a link), but its clones can be clicked to select their
location in the tree view.
Cloned nodes are created by copying nodes or branches and then using the special paste clone
commands found in the "Edit" menu to paste them elsewhere. The clone link can be removed
by deleting the nodes or by using the "Data > Detach Clones" command to convert them back
to regular nodes.
Cloned nodes can also be created automatically by using the "Data > Clone All Matched
Nodes" command. This will convert all identical nodes in the tree structure into cloned nodes.
For an example of cloned nodes with multiple parents, see the "sample_genealogy" file (by
using the "File > Open Sample" command).
Category-Based Arrangement - The "Data" menu contains commands for arranging and
flattening the data by category. These methods are used to automatically add and remove
levels of nodes below the current node in the tree.
The "Add Category Level" command allows you to select one or more of the fields that the
child nodes have in common. These fields are used to create new parent nodes for the
children, grouping them by common categories. For example, in a list of books, picking the
"author_first_name" and "author_last_name" fields will result in a tree with the books under
new nodes for each unique author.
The "Flatten by Category" command is almost the opposite of "Add Category Level". It
eliminates any descendant nodes with children, transferring their data fields to their children.
It will rename fields instead of overwriting data with the same field names, but this command
is most useful when the children and parents are different types with unique field names.
There is also a "Swap Category Levels" command that will swap the child and grandchild
nodes beneath a selected node. A child node with multiple nodes under it will become cloned
under each one. Any existing grandchild clones will become individual nodes with multiple
children.
Printing
Print Setup - The dialog for print setup contains four tabs. The first, General Options,
includes settings for what part of the tree to print, whether to include lines to child nodes and
whether to allow page breaks between a parent an its first child node. It also has place to set
the printer queue, to make pagination and print previews more accurate. The second tab, Page
Setup, includes paper size, orientation, margins and columns. The third tab selects the font for
printing. The last tab, Header/Footer, defines text and file data meta-fields for inclusion in
headers and footers.
Print Preview - The Print Preview window shows how the printout will look with current
print settings. It can be dragged larger to show more detail, or the zoom settings can be
changed. It also includes buttons for the Print Setup dialog and for printing.
Print to PDF - This command prompts for a path and file name to export a PDF file. It uses
the current printer settings.
File Handling
File Compression - A TreeLine file is in a JSON text format. There are options to compress
the files (gzip format) to save storage space. Individual files can be set to compressed mode
from either "File > Properties" or from the file type pull-down in the save-as dialog.
File Encryption - There is a file encryption option to password protect TreeLine files.
Individual files can be set to encrypted mode from either "File > Properties" or from the file
type pull-down in the save-as dialog. The encryption uses an SHA hash function as a stream
cipher - it should be fairly secure.
Auto-Save - An auto-save feature can store unsaved files with a "~" appended to the file
name. The backup files are automatically removed when the file is saved or TreeLine exits
cleanly. The auto-save time interval is set in the general options. Setting the interval to zero
disables this feature.
Saved Tree States - When opening a recently used file, TreeLine will restore the states of
open and selected nodes. This information is stored in the user's TreeLine configuration files.
If desired, this feature can be disabled with a general option.
File Import
General Information - A TreeLine file is in a specific JSON text format. Other types of files
can be imported using the "File > Import" command, which will show a dialog box where the
type of import can be selected. Alternatively, using the "File > Open" command with a non-
TreeLine file will also show this dialog.
Text Import - Several different text formats can be selected for import. Tab indented text
creates a node title from each line in the file, structured based on the number of tabs before
each line.
The comma-delimited (CSV) and the tab delimited text tables use the first line as a header
row to create field names, then each additional row becomes a node with field data taken
from each column. The CSV import with level numbers creates a tree structure from level
numbers in the first column that are incremented to show child relationships.
The plain text, one node per line import creates a flat tree of node titles.
Finally, the plain text paragraph import creates long text nodes from text separated by blank
lines.
Bookmarks Import - TreeLine will import bookmark files in both the Mozilla HTML format
(Firefox browser) and the XBEL format (Konqueror, Galeon and Elinks browsers). Each
bookmark becomes a node with a name and a link field. Some information in the files, such
as visited dates and icon references, is not imported. For an example, see the
"sample_bookmarks" file (by using the "File > Open Sample" command).
Old TreeLine Import - Files from older versions of TreeLine (1.x or 2.x) can be imported.
These files are in XML format and generally have a ".trl" file extension (current files are in
JSON format with a ".trln" file extension). Unlike other file imports, these older files will
import without showing the import dialog box when using the "File > Open" command.
Treepad Import - Files from the Treepad shareware program can be imported. Only Treepad
text nodes are supported.
XML Import - TreeLine will import and export generic XML files. These routines do not
have much intelligence - each XML element becomes a node and each XML attribute
becomes a field. XML text content become fields named "Element_Data". This lets TreeLine
function as a crude XML editor.
ODF Import - TreeLine will import Open Document Format (ODF) text documents, from
applications such as Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice. The node structure is formed based
on the heading styles assigned in the document. Any text under each heading is assigned to
that heading's node. The import filter is intended for simple text outlines only. No formatting
is maintained, and objects such as tables and pictures are not imported.
File Export
General Information - Files are exported using the "File > Export" command. This will
show a dialog box of available export types and options.
HTML Export - The HTML export subtypes can export to a single page or to multiple
pages. The single page export contains all of the indented output. A navigation pane on the
left with links to anchors at node positions is optional.
The multiple HTML pages export has one web page per node. It includes a navigation pane
on the left with links to the pages with sibling, parent and aunt/uncle nodes.
Multiple HTML data tables export creates a table in each HTML file that contains the data for
a set of siblings, as well as links to the parent and child pages.
The Live Tree HTML export uses Javascript and CSS to create an interactive view. Nodes in
the tree can be expanded and collapsed, and a separate pane shows the output for all
descendants of the selected node. The first form of this export creates separate files that are
linked to the existing TreeLine file. These files are intended for use on a web server (browser
security usually prevents local access). The HTML file stores the relative path from the
TreeLine file to the initial export directory, so this relationship needs to be maintained on the
web server. Only the TreeLine file needs to be replaced to update the data (re-export is not
required).
The second form of Live Tree export creates a single file (with embedded data) that can be
accessed from a local web browser. It appears the same as the first form on the browser.
Text Export - Data can be exported to tabbed title text, comma-delimited (CSV) tables and
tab-delimited tables. These formats are the same as the corresponding import formats.
There is also an unformatted text export the dumps all of the output into a text file without
preserving the tree structure.
TreeLine Export - Files can be exported that are compatible with older versions of TreeLine
(1.x and 2.x), with a ".trl" file extension. Some newer features, such as cloned nodes and
multiple root nodes may not be completely preserved. TreeLine subtrees can also be exported
to save just selected branches of the tree to a file using the current TreeLine version.
XML Export - TreeLine will import and export generic XML files. These routines do not
have much intelligence - each node becomes an XML element and each field becomes an
XML attribute, except for fields named "Element_Data" that become the element's text. This
lets TreeLine function as a crude XML editor.
ODF Export - TreeLine will export an outline to an Open Document Format (ODF) text
document, compatible with Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice. The title of each node is
assigned a heading style at the appropriate level. Any other text in the output of each node
becomes normal text under the heading. The export filter is intended for simple text outlines
only. Any HTML formatting is stripped, and objects such as tables and pictures are not
supported.
Bookmarks Export - TreeLine will export bookmark files in both the Mozilla HTML format
(Firefox browser) and the XBEL format (Konqueror, Galeon and Elinks browsers). TreeLine
will look for a link field in each node that becomes the target of the bookmark.
Customizations
Options - TreeLine's behavior can be modified with several settings available in "Tools >
General Options". Most of these options are covered elsewhere in this document.
Keyboard Shortcuts - Keyboard shortcuts can be customized by using the "Tools > Set
Keyboard Shortcuts" command. Simply type the new key sequence with the appropriate field
selected.
Toolbars - An editor to customize the toolbars is available from "Tools > Customize
Toolbars". The number of toolbars can be set, and the buttons on each can be defined.
Fonts - The default font used in the application can be set using the "Tools > Customize
Fonts" menu. There are also options to specify fonts used in the tree views, the output view
and the editor views.
Tree Icons - There is an icons directory in the user configuration directory ("~/.treeline-
x.x/icons" on Linux, "Users\<user>\AppData\roaming\bellz\treeline-x.x\icons" on Windows).
Image files (PNG or BMP) placed into this directory are available for use as tree icons.
Translations - Translations of the TreeLine GUI are available in German and Spanish. The
translation should load automatically if the OS locale is properly set. Alternatively, "--lang
xx" can be appended to the command that starts TreeLine, where "xx" is the two-letter
language code ("en", "de" or "es").

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TreeLine - How To Use

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10/27/2020 TreeLine - How to Use

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How to Use TreeLine

Tree Navigation and Search

Defining Node Types

Output Formatting Details

"{Title}" (c) {Copyright}, Rating: {Rating} {PlotDescription}

Commonly used tags include "<b>bold</b>", "<u>underline</u>", "line break<br/>",

Type Format Details

Tree Data Operations

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