Preface: using pilot-qof to convert PIM data between applications.
data-freedom description. Data Freedom is about being able to liberate your data from one application and make it seamlessly available on another. Data Freedom also seeks to help liberate your data from one platform and make it seamlessly available on another. Rather than reverse engineering specific troublesome file formats, data-freedom concentrates on encouraging the development of implementation architectures and conceptual foundations to synchronise arbitrary data.The goal is to encourage generic data handling using extensible mechanisms that are inter-related to allow free exchange of data between disparate applications, systems, architectures and platforms.Each implementation is free to choose the most suitable method of providing data and receiving data. All that is required is that the method chosen is as open, extensible and generic as possible. Naturally, the eXtensible Markup Language - XML - features strongly, as does perl. For more information on data freedom: http://www.data-freedom.org/.
Splitting pilot-qof into specialised packages. The stylesheets, scripts and this extensions manual had previously been part of a single pilot-qof package. From pilot-qof >= 0.1.3, pilot-qof comprises of four main parts: the pilot-qof binary, the XSL stylesheets, a growing set of Perl scripts using the XML::QOFQSF module (available from CPAN or in Debian) and this extensions manual.
pilot-qof description. pilot-qof provides a query interface to data on a Palm device, using pilot-link and QOF - the Query Object Framework. pilot-qof supports reading addressbook, datebook, expenses and ToDo data from a Palm device to XML files using the generic XML format used by QOF, called QSF. A Palm database record is an instance of the object, called an Entity. Objects are collated to form one data source, called books, that can contain any number of different objects. pilot-qof runs SQL-type queries on the live data or a QSF XML file and results can be imported into other QOF applications or converted to other text based formats, including non-XML formats like vcard using these extensions. http://pilot-qof.sourceforge.net/
Current Palm utilities only offer the Palm data as a single block.
pilot-qof allows that data to be queried: e.g. to exclude old results, to
correlate records from different Palm databases, to extract results within
a time period or isolate data for one specific event, customer, project or
task.
pilot-qof XML (QSF) is a generic format that can support any
QOF object and is relatively easy to convert to other formats
using XSL processors like xsltproc. If you
have an XSL stylesheet to contribute, please post it to the
QOF-devel mailing list.
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/qof-devel or
use the
Pilot-QOF Wiki.
pilot-qof can be just the starting point for your personal data.
This extensions manual documents stylesheets and scripts that convert
pilot-qof data to and from standard formats. pilot-qof also tries to
work with a variety of other applications via text-based formats. Recent
additions include calcurse: a text-based calendar and
todo manager and dlume: a small Gtk addressbook tool.
pilot-qof datebook entries can be converted to calcurse calendar
appointments and pilot-qof todo entries to the calcurse todo list.
pilot-qof address entries can be converted to dlume records.
Support is also being implemented for GPE Palmtop Environment applications like gpe-calendar, gpe-contacts and gpe-todo as well as the new gpe-expenses which uses the same objects as pilot-qof.
The examples are primarily intended to be run from within a shell script, example scripts are included alongside the manual.
Currencies. Also included is the Palm Default Currency Table to help in converting Palm currencies into standard monetary conventions.