# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Lucid Aids >  >  Liquid Dream III

## IAmCoder

Liquid Dream III  - a professional journal designed to wake you up in your dreams. *Free, as in beer.*

Let me know your first thoughts... and please hit the Like / Tweet buttons!

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## Wristblade56

hi, you wanna know my first thought? it came to me before the page loaded: boogers. that word has been popping up in my head very often lately. i'm trying it though.  :smiley:  i'll let you know how it works.

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## IAmCoder

> boogers



Imaginary monsters used to frighten children?  ::huh::

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## Ev

I got that app installed last summer, good app, very feature rich. What prevented me for consistently using it was the amount of effort required to make it useful and maintain it. I got a stack of 7 chicken scratch dream journals and very little motivation to transcribe them myself  :Sad:  Maybe if I can get more organized with my new dream journal, I'll start using it again.

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## IAmCoder

Thank you. I suspect you must have had version II last summer, which I wrote almost a decode ago. I only released LDIII this winter, so hopefully when you start using it you will find it much easier to maintain and more rewarding.

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## Wristblade56

Boogers: things that form inside your nose from a combonation of mucus and particles of dirt in the air.

 you have just provided me with the ultimate DJ. thank you! my only issue is that the RCs won't play.

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## Jay12341235

I looked at your about page on that website... are you a god?

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## IAmCoder

@Wristblade: Thanks, I guess... You must be running Windows 7 - there is a hotfix available from Microsoft (details and download). Please let me know if that works for you, then I will add it to the download page.

@Jay: Only in my dreams, I'm afraid. But you can call me "I Am" if you want.

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## Wristblade56

umm... dude it's givin' me warnings that this program could crash my system. are you absolutely sure it's safe to install on my windows 7 notebook?

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## Jay12341235

> umm... dude it's givin' me warnings that this program could crash my system. are you absolutely sure it's safe to install on my windows 7 notebook?



already installed it and it works fine. I also have a win 7 pc btw

I should ask though Iamcoder, has this worked for you?

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## IAmCoder

Yeah, it has worked for me. And don't worry - that is just Microsoft's standard message on hotfixes and it is only a problem on Win 7 because they do not officially support the agent characters anymore. But you are welcome to leave that part out as the RCs are just a minor feature and not really necessary for the full effect.

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## Mantralucide

Hi, i'm using your program. can you write a FAQ or a basic user's guide? it seems very useful and interesting.
one problem: if i press play on any reality checks i get this message : "Exception of type 'System.Windows.Forms.AxHost+InvalidActiveXState' was thrown."
any ideas on what to do ? thanks

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## Wristblade56

yeah, a user's guide on what everything is for would be usefull. just as a precaution i think i'll leave the rcs out.

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## IAmCoder

@Mantralucide: Thanks. Try the links above if you have Win 7, otherwise this should work: Download details: Agent 2.0 Core components.

I thought no one ever reads the guides, but I guess I'll have to write one?

To create a new dream journal entry, simply click on New -> Dream and start writing down your dream.

To add a song to a new REM Cycle, right-click on the graph and select Insert -> Sound File... and browse to a sound file on your computer. Then select it on the graph and slowly drag the little x at the bottom to the desired time. The magic number is 04h00 into your sleep.

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## pichulick

hello. I have installed your program but when i click the application it says that "liquid dreams iii has stopped working." i have windows vista. can you please help me?

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## IAmCoder

Hmm, does it say anything else, like an error code? And did you download it from CNET?

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## cinpez

Great program. I used Liquid Dream II years ago but eventually got out of the habit of recording my dreams. When I tried to start back up, I couldn't remember the name of the program. I just recently rediscovered it and as surprised to find Liquid Dream III available. I've started using it and enjoy it but I have a quick question.

Back in Liquid Dream II the Merlin character would stay on screen and periodically do reality checks. Is there a way to do the same in Liquid Dream III? Right now I can only get the checks to play when I click them and even then, it'll only play it once. If I leave it alone, Merlin eventually just goes to sleep. I'm running Windows XP by the way.

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## pichulick

no it doesen't say anything. I downloaded it from your site lucid code...

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## IAmCoder

Hi cinpez, and welcome to the forum. I am glad that you are back in the habit of recording your dreams. Thanks for the reminder! I have enabled the play button in the reality check folder in the latest version (3.0.9). Please let me know if this works for you and if you have any other requests.

Pichulick, thanks - any luck with the new version? Otherwise, can you try changing your Date / Regional Settings to USA?

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## pichulick

no ... not working.. by the way do I have to do something with that Liquid Dream III.exe.config file\?

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## cinpez

Yep it's working fine now. I wasn't sure if it was working at first but after letting him sleep for awhile he woke back up and did another check. Thanks again.

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## IAmCoder

Pichulick, you don't need to change anything to the config file. Can you check if you have any folders in _C:\Users\MichaelCoder\Documents\lucidcode\Liquid Dream III_ and send me the list? And is your copy of Vista installed in English?

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## pichulick

yas I do have 2 folders:categories and lucidity. and what do you mean my copy of Vista? I have original vista buyed by me, in english...

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## IAmCoder

Ok, thanks. I just wanted to know what language your version of Vista was in. Can you run these files :
Download details: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
Download details: Agent 2.0 Core components: self-installing executable
Download details: Agent 2.0 Character: Merlin Character File

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## pichulick

what are theese?

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## pichulick

i have tried your program on my sister's laptop with windows 7 and works fine. i will use it a few days. but is there a guide for the program? how do i use it?

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## Sugabombs

I've been trying to use this for a few days. But it's acting up all the time. It's a great idea though!

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## IAmCoder

Pichulick - I am afraid no one has made a guide yet... Click on New -> Dream and start writing down your dreams.

Sugabombs - thanks for trying! When does it not act as expected?

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## pichulick

i used the whole night the rem cicles thing but didn't heard any music in my dream. but the dream jurnal is great.

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## IAmCoder

Thanks. And yeah, the REM Cycles is more of a hit and miss thing. You need to make your own cycle (New -> REM Cycle, then right-click -> Import -> Sound File and drag it by the "x") - I have found better results with songs starting after 4 to 5 hours of sleep and will change the default soon.

But for guaranteed results you would need some form of biofeedback device - I am working on a freeware app for just that, called Lucid Scribe. So let me know if anyone has a biofeedback device that runs on Windows and I will see if I can make a plugin.

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## Autumnal

is there a way to run this on ubuntu?

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## IAmCoder

I imagine you should be able to run it with WINE?

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## Shebba

you are a super smart person my goodness! ::shock::   :Cheeky:

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## lopsarong

> Liquid Dream III  - a professional journal designed to wake you up in your dreams. *Free, as in beer.*
> 
> Let me know your first thoughts... and please hit the Like / Tweet buttons!



wow! nice..where can i get that?

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## IAmCoder

Err, from download.com, or the link in the quote...

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## duke396

When I tried this program a month or so ago I was having some issues with an error code popping up ('s' is an unexpected function in line 110, expected blank space" or something like that) but I think I caused it.  I didn't know what I was doing and I think I killed the program while it was in the middle of a write operation because I thought it froze.  

I started over and it's working great, I've put in 30 entries with no stability issues and I'm happy with the results.  But I have a character named Ali and it seems to be picking it up inside other words like "reality" when I look at the graphs.  Is there any way I can avoid that?  Or exclude words?  For example if I want it to pick up "shoot" but not "shooting" or something along those lines.

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## IAmCoder

That definitely is a bug; from within a dream I compare each category item word for word, but from within an item I just check if the string is anywhere in the dream text. I will fix that before the next update. I have also been working on making the saving / cross-referencing more efficient and multi-threaded, so it does not look like it is freezing. And some of the older version definitely had problems with non A-Z characters, so it was not just you.
Thanks for the feedback again!

Have you had a chance to play with the settings in WINE? If there is an error message, perhaps I can help...

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## duke396

Thanks for listening to my feedback, I can be quite longwinded sometimes.  It's nice to be able to communicate with the developer though instead of shooting off an email and hoping they pay attention or care  ::lol::   I'll be looking out for the next version!

Don't get me wrong though, it's very handy to be able to enter a base word and it pick up words that begin the same way so I don't have to add every variation that might be used.  But I was thinking it would be cool to maybe be able to use search engine commands, like putting the word in quotes or adding a minus symbol before it to exclude certain things.  And if you narrow down the string search maybe a * after the word to make it find all variants.  The main thing was I wanted to have "Dad" as a character but exclude references to "Dad's house" because he usually isn't in the dreams, but still be able to pick up things like "walk" "walking" and "walked" together.

Now that I know it isn't freezing when I save its not an issue, but if it was me I'd add a progress bar in the corner or something just for kicks.  But since the last language I tried to code in was BASIC I don't even know what that entails, lol.

No I really haven't had a chance to play with WINE. I run Ubuntu on my laptop and lately I've barely even turned it on since I have this desktop at home now and we don't have wireless internet at work yet.  I'll try to remember to do that, but I'll admit I'm not very good at configuring it.  With WINE I usually just click and pray then if it fails I'll boot up in XP...

Oh and not trying to nitpick your work at all (this already goes well above and beyond any other dream journal software I've found) but while I'm thinking about it I noticed I have to manually refresh every word for the graphs to be accurate even after restarting the program, I don't know if that's normal or not.  Seems like it could get hectic if I add a bunch of words.

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## IAmCoder

Sure. The enhanced save / cross-reference functionality is now in 3.1.2. And it has a little progress bar!

The RegEx functionality will have to wait for a rainy day, but I like the idea. And you are right on with manually refreshing every category item for now - I need to find a way to automate it.

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## KidDreamer

No download for Macs? =[

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## duke396

Downloaded the new version earlier when I saw your post.  I like the progress bar, that's pretty cool  :smiley:

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## TommyCat

Hi,
  I just started using this program yesterday.  It looks great.  How do I add a character or location if it doesn't showup in the unassigned box?  The location & character are both typed in the dream.  What determines what gets added to the unassigned box?

Thanks,
TommyCat

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## duke396

TommyCat, I can't really answer what gets added to the unassigned box, I assume it's just a list of common nouns adjectives and verbs.  To add a new one just go under the Controls area, click New, and select Location, Character, or whatever else you're adding.  For the title put whatever word you're searching for, and under "words" put whatever you want to associate with that for example if your character has a nickname or if there is more than one form of the same word (knife, knives).  I find it much easier to add words manually than from the unassigned box, but that's just me.  Good luck with the program, it's already proved useful to me in finding my dream signs.   :smiley:

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## IAmCoder

Thanks duke396 - right on!

Right now the unassigned list simply lists words with 5 ("12345") or more letters that aren't in the ignore list (from the dream sign builder). I have been playing with the idea of removing the unassigned list completely?

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## EruditeBlue

I have the same question about Macs. Any Mac-compatible version of this program?  :smiley:

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## duke396

> Right now the unassigned list simply lists words with 5 ("12345") or more letters that aren't in the ignore list (from the dream sign builder). I have been playing with the idea of removing the unassigned list completely?



Ah, that explains why certain things don't pop up.  I can see how the box would be useful in case you overlook something, but personally I just ended up adding a bunch of words that I later realized I didn't care to keep track of and cluttering up my categories  ::lol::   So I just manually add the ones that I want to look for when they show up again.

As for the Mac version.. I think one of us is gonna have to get it running in WINE.  I was tinkering with it again but Coder, are there any particular Windows DLLs that are required?  I still can't even get it to show the splash screen :\

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## IAmCoder

I appreciate your help and interest in getting it running on WINE. There are a bunch of Windows DLLs that are required - I have uploaded them here: http://www.lucid-code.com/LiquidDream/Libraries.zip. Let me know if this gets you any further... I may have missed some.

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## duke396

No problem at all.  Hopefully I'll have some luck with that. I should have some time to give it a go at work since I have a bit of sitting around to do tomorrow lol.  I'll let you know what I come up with, and I've got my fingers crossed that it's better than nothing this time.

Edit:  *light bulb/facepalm* .Net Framework -- Now I have a solid place to start...

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## IAmCoder

Holding thumbs.

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## IAmCoder

Many thanks to duke396 for getting Liquid Dream III running on WINE in Linux and perhaps even Mac! And writing a guide: LD3 on Linux.

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## duke396

Cool, you got that before the server went all funky.  Not that I don't have it saved, it's symbolic  ::lol::

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## IAmCoder

Yeah, I wouldn't let that slip by. Thanks again!

Do the subliminals pop up on top of other applications, and are they transparent?

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## duke396

To be honest I just made sure they worked.  I haven't had another application in front so I'll have to go look, which is gonna mean reinstalling my grub.  Just installed a fresh copy of Windows on the other partition last night so naturally it got rid of that.

Oh, and I'm partially blaming you for this (not that it's a bad thing): I started dabbling around in VB .Net a couple days ago. Some of it's really giving me a headache, I haven't tried anything like this in years.

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## IAmCoder

Ah, no worries then. And welcome to the light!

If you are getting a headache you are doing something wrong. Try this: add a timer and a picture box (from the tool box) to a form. Then set the timer's enabled property to true, double click on it and paste the following code: 



```
PictureBox1.Left = PictureBox1.Left + 10
```


And don't forget to set the picture's image property. If you get that working, you might be ready to write a plugin for Lucid Scribe?

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## duke396

Thanks, I have VB 2010 Express and something called SharpDevelop 4 that I haven't really messed with yet.  I think I tried to move past the "newbie" stuff a little too quick.

I had a smiley face scrolling across the form with that code lol.

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## Mahdi

So does this thing work?

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## pichulick

I downloaded today the program but when I want to install it(click run) it says it is not a valid win 32 application..  have a new laptop with win 7 on 32 byt.

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## Kristijan

problems for me too, only with version 3.1.4

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## IAmCoder

Interesting. Please try this link: http://www.lucid-code.com/liquiddrea...Dream3.1.5.zip and let me know if it works.

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## pichulick

you're the man! installed it and works just fine!

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## Kristijan

thanks

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## pichulick

coder, wouldn't it be better if we can write our own characters objects, locations etc in the dream jurnal? I am writing it in romanian so it's a little wierd how it selects the words...also can I delete one word in the "objects" section? I wanted to move it to actions but because i am new to the touchpad i dropped it too soon.

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## IAmCoder

Yes. It would be better and I will change it one day so you can create your own categories. And yes, you can just delete the entry in the "objects" section and create a new one in the "actions".

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## pichulick

ok thanks

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## nrg

Great App!

Im also a programmer and I wrote some time ago an app simmilar to yours in Java, but much simpler. I wrote it cause i couldnt find at that time nothing worth using. I found that writing dreams on my laptop is far more faster than my hand writing. Plus you dont need no light ( or glases in my case : ) )
Only one thing missing in Liquid Dream in my opinion - an option to password protect account or chosen dreams. 

Good job IAmCoder!

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## IAmCoder

Thanks! I will consider adding password protection. All user data is stored in the user's Documents folder. So for now, if you create an extra Windows account they will be safe there. If you use "Switch User" instead of "Log Off", it should be faster to access it from your normal account.

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## pichulick

hey man, i have a small sugestion. I should be able to merge 2 or more characters or objects or locations, etc. for example I have in one dream "dog" and in other "doggy". it is the same animal. without this the statistics will be ruined... also, can yo make us able to upload our own pictures for the dream? we can just get them from a site...

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## IAmCoder

You can merge two category items; that is what the "Words" field is for. You can copy a picture you want to use and then right-click on the picture in the dream and select "Paste". But the sizing doesn't work very well yet for custom images - that is still on the drawing board, thanks for reminding me.

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## JussiKala

This program is amazing. However, I've got a couple of things where I've tagged something in more than one dream but (for example the character tag "brother") it only appears from one dream in the list for that kind of tag. The slice of the pie is equal to every 1 tag tag, and when I examine the the tag, it only shows the first dream I tagged it in.

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## IAmCoder

Thank you! You can click on refresh or save on a tag to update it. It should then increase in the pie and have all the entries when you examine it. I will see if I can automate that in the next version whenever you save a dream that contains the tag.

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## Dark_Merlin

If I have recommendations to make it is only this:

Ctrl + Backspace! It doesn't work inside Liquid Dream for some reason and simply creates a square character instead of erasing the previous word! I use ctrl+backspace as a habit and it makes it really annoying to type out the entry when I make a mistake  :tongue2: 
The exclusion of " as part of detected words and dream signs - for example I had water and "water in my list of words down the bottom.
And it could just be my computer, but while I'm typing the windows flashes as though it's re-drawing the entire text field - not quite sure on it but it's distracting.

As a whole the program is brilliant! I like it a lot  :smiley:

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## IAmCoder

I have added the following code to handle Ctrl + Backspace according to your expectations and will include it in the next release.



```
if (keyData == (Keys.Control | Keys.Back))
        {
            SendKeys.SendWait("^+{LEFT}{BACKSPACE}");
            return true;
        }
```


You should be able to click on the " in the dream signs and add it to the ignore list?

I am not sure what is up with the flashing - I hope it is just your machine.  :Cheeky: 
Is it the text box with the dream content? Can you try turning off the spell-check and let me know if it still persists?

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## Qwer

I have an idea but I'm not sure if it would work or not.
Would it be possible to make a liquid dream iPhone app?

I think it would be very efficient.  I have my iPhone next to me bed, and with me at all times so I can easily turn it on and write my dream.  And if I remember later on its with me to write more. 
I write them on my iPhone anyway and them transfer them into it.

I don't know about all the features but I think the best one for iPhone would be the dream journal that picks out common objects and stuff. (dream signs).
And an alarm with autosnooze would be good.

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## IAmCoder

I just commissioned an Android version - if that works out for the best I will definitely make an iPhone version.

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## Qwer

can you combine say an object and an action??
like say my friend josh always gets shot, could i combine the action shot with the character josh?

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## IAmCoder

There is currently no functionality for that. I am not sure what exactly you are looking for but I will try and think of how the interface and graphs would work.

You could just add "Josh got shot" for now.

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## Qwer

> There is currently no functionality for that. I am not sure what exactly you are looking for but I will try and think of how the interface and graphs would work.
> 
> You could just add "Josh got shot" for now.



Adding "Josh got shot" would work but how do you add multiple words to an action as one?

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## IAmCoder

I am afraid you lost me there. Perhaps category items should also act as folders, so you can recursively add sub-items? I will have to put my thinking hat on for that.

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## Qwer

> I am afraid you lost me there. Perhaps category items should also act as folders, so you can recursively add sub-items? I will have to put my thinking hat on for that.



Sorry, I meant can you add a single action using multiple words?
And if so how?

E.g. Instead of "Josh" "got" "shot" so that's 3 different things could you make a single action called "Josh got shot"

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## IAmCoder

Ah, I see now. I just tested it and it can't actually handle single actions with multiple words. This is because it uses the space key to check for words. So you would have to use "Josh_got_shot", but I will see what I can do about it.

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## Ev

> I just commissioned an Android version - if that works out for the best I will definitely make an iPhone version.



Cool, what functionality do you plan to implement in your apps? Is it a dream journal or a fully functional induction device?

I have a simple dream journal within the upcoming lucid dreaming app, but nothing quite as sophisticated as liquid dream. The cool thing is that iPhone has a really good Core Data wrapper around SQL Lite, so a developer can create a fully functional database without ever writing a line of SQL! It might be much easier to start porting efforts there, rather than Android.

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## IAmCoder

Hey bro, it will start with only the bare necessities of a journal - you can see the spec on vWorker (ex Rent A Coder).

I don't have a Macintosh, which is a pre-requisite to creating iPhone apps, so I figured it would be easier to start with Android.

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## Ev

I checked your job description, that one seems very easy. All you need is SAX (Simple API for XML) and some tables. The ++++ table might be a bit difficult. Android has a very very good support for JSON, which is a format easier to work with than XML.  :smiley:

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## IAmCoder

Thanks, I might try that. I went with XML because the Windows version saves everything in XML. And yeah, I am going with lists that open new lists instead of a tree-view.

I really wanted to invite you to the bid but didn't want to risk anything to jeopardize our friendship.  :Puppy dog eyes:

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## Ev

I can simply send you a couple of my Android XML projects. They do exactly that. One is a text adventure game, where a sequence could bring the user to another page based on it's XML tag. I also have a JSON based project, which you may also find useful. Replacing the text adventure choices with tags would be pretty simple  :smiley:  I'll email you the code this weekend

One thing that you may want to be aware of though is that typing on any mobile device is a major pain. Autocorrect is great for emails and such, but it makes entering dreams really difficult. Even with technologies like Swype, it is still tough. Just heads up.

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## IAmCoder

Thanks, I look forward to the code! But don't let this distract you from your production release.

And thanks for the heads up. I imagine that tablets on which typing is easier will become more popular.

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