1.0 - The MindModel Screen
The MindModel screen contains three windows: the Noun Types Window, the Noun Summary Window, and the Model Window.
These three windows are organized according to the way MindModel stores information. Understanding how MindModel stores information will help you understand how these windows work.
MindModel stores information as nouns and statements.
Nouns
Nouns are people, places, things, ideas, etc.
In order to help you organize information, nouns are categorized into noun types.
Food, language, organization and person are all examples of noun types.
Pie, English, MindModel Corporation and Kent Ortiz are all examples of nouns.
"Pie" is a noun of type "food".
"English" is a noun of type "language".
"MindModel Corporation" is a noun of type "organization".
"Kent Ortiz" is a noun of type "person".
To learn more about nouns, please refer to the section Key Concepts: Noun.
Statements
Statements are facts about nouns.
For example, let's talk about the sample model "AcmeTech.min", pictured above.
NOTE: You can find this sample model at: C:\Program Files\Sample Models\AcmeTech.min if you've installed MindModel on your computer. You can use the "File Menu: Open Model" command to open the model.
This sample model contains information about a fictional organization called "Acme Technology Corporation". The model contains information about people, organizations, software packages, skills, and a number of other topics.
The statements in the model record facts about the nouns in the model.
So, in the picture above, you see that Kent Ortiz knows how to use Microsoft Access and Adobe Photoshop, speaks Spanish, knows CPR, etc.
Each item in the Statements List at the bottom of the Model Window represents one of these facts about Kent Ortiz.
Each of these items in the Statements List are statements.
To learn more about statements, please refer to the section Key Concepts: Statement.
The Noun Types Window
You'll use the Noun Types Window when you want to work with a specific noun type.
First, you'll select a noun type category from the drop-down menu at the top of the Noun Types Window. Some examples of noun type categories are: basic types, computer-related types and contact info.
You can use any noun type category at any time. They don't affect the data stored in your models. They only determine the set of noun types displayed in the Noun Types List at a given time. There are over 160 noun types in MindModel, so it's convenient to be able to work with smaller groups of those types.
Once you've selected a noun types category from the drop-down menu, MindModel responds by filling the Noun Types List with noun types that belong to the selected category.
You can scroll through the Noun Types List to find the noun type you want to use.
When you've found the noun type you're looking for, select it in the Noun Types List. For example, in the picture above, "people" is the selected noun type.
Since "people" is selected, the buttons at the bottom of the Noun Types Window read "Add a Person" and "Find All People". If you were to select "organizations" the buttons would read "Add an Organization" and "Find All Organizations".
Click the "Add a Person" button to add a new person to your model.
Click the "Find All People" button to fill the Nouns List (in the Model Window, to the right of the Noun Types Window) with all the people in the model.
The Noun Summary Window
The Noun Summary Window has three uses:
1) Provides a Quick Summary of the Selected Noun
The Summary Window provides a quick summary of the noun that is selected in the Nouns List of the Model Window.
For organization and person nouns, the Noun Summary Window shows contact information for the noun, in a format similar to a mailing label. It also shows phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
You can customize the Nouns Summary Window to show whatever information you'd like it to display. For example, when you click on a person, you can see all the products they've bought. Or when you click on an organization, you can see a list of people who work there.
As you can see in the picture above, the user has customized the Nouns Summary Window to show contact information for the person, plus the languages, skills, and software package for that person.
2) Allows You to Edit the Selected Noun
There is one button at the bottom of the Noun Summary Window. This button contains the name of the selected noun. So if the selected noun is a person named "Kent Ortiz" this button will be labeled "Edit Kent Ortiz".
Clicking this button brings up the Add/Edit Noun Form, which allows you to edit information about the selected noun.
For organization and person nouns, this form allows you to enter or edit name, address and contact info.
For other types of nouns, this form allows you to edit the name of the noun. For example, you could change the spelling of the food noun "catsup" to "ketchup". When you change the name of a noun, MindModel updates all the statements related to that noun to show the new name.
You can also create your own forms, called "Custom Column View Templates", which allow you to enter whatever data you'd like about the selected noun. For example, you could create a form for entering people which allowed you to enter their name, birth date, and next contact date. You could create a form for books that showed the price, ISBN number and author's name.
3) Provides Clickable Links
Below the Edit button in the Noun Summary Window, MindModel will sometimes display clickable links.
If the selected noun (usually an organization or a person) has an email address, MindModel will display a clickable link showing that email address. In the picture above, there is a clickable link to the email address "kortiz@nospam.com" in the Summary Window. Clicking this link opens a new email, addressed to the email address in the link.
If the selected noun has a web page or web site, MindModel will display a clickable link to that web page or web site. Clicking this link opens a web browser and goes to the specified web page or web site.
If the selected noun has a file path, MindModel will display a clickable link to that file. Clicking this link will open the file. This feature works with pictures, text files, or files of any type. To add a file path to a noun, add a statement of the type "noun <has the file path> file path". You can use this feature to create a document-management database. Feel free to contact us if you'd like help with this or any other MindModel feature.
The Model Window
The Model Window is explained in detail in the sections following this one in this Getting Started guide, so we won't say much about it here.
The best way to learn about the Model Window is to continue reading this guide, and follow the examples given.
Click here to continue.