Bonsai Outliner from USB (non-U3 devices)

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Bonsai Portable Outliner (Run from USB drive) > Bonsai Outliner from USB (non-U3 devices)

Using Bonsai with USB drives requires some initial setup on the USB drive before you can use it. While this can be done without any third party software, it is recommended that a USB application launcher application be used to simplify using your portable applications. Some such examples include Portable Apps (http://portableapps.com)  and PStart (http://www.pegtop.net/start).

 
Bonsai USB Installation Details:

1.If not already installed, run the Bonsai setup on your desktop PC. It does not matter if you install the Desktop-Only or Palm/Windows Mobile Desktop Edition version of Bonsai.
2.Copy the following files from the Bonsai installation folder (defaults to C:\Program Files\Natara\Bonsai) to a folder on your USB drive (for example, make a Bonsai folder on your USB drive for this purpose).

File

Description

Bonsai.exe

Main Bonsai application

PolarSpellChecker.dll

Bonsai SpellChecker DLL

SpellUS.lex

System dictionary - substitute appropriate dictionary for your language

Bonsai.dic

User dictionary

Bonsai.dtd

Bonsai outline data type definition file

BonsaiUserManual.chm (optional)

Bonsai help file. Since it is almost 5MB in size, you may omit it to save space. If not present, Bonsai will offer to display the online user manual (requires internet connection) when requesting help.

UserData.dll and CondMgr.dll (optional)

Might be required when using Bonsai on a host PC that has the Palm Desktop software installed.

Icon File (optional)

If you are using an icon file, copy it to your USB installation and configure the "Icons" path in the Bonsai settings dialog General tab.

Bonsai config xxx.dat (optional)

This file contains your list of Bonsai outlines and the global keyword list (list of keywords, their categories and associated icons - does not affect outline items with previously assigned keywords).

If you wish to keep the same keyword list on your Bonsai USB installation, you can either manually add the keywords using the View/Keyword List command, or you may merge the Bonsai config from your desktop to the USB installation. The merge procedure is for more advanced users; knowledge of XML document syntax will be helpful.

The configuration file for the desktop is stored in one of two places:

•         The “Bonsai config for <HotSync User>.dat” for Palm users in the Hotsync DataDir (i.e. typical paths are C:\Users\<Username>\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\<HotSyncName>\NataraBonsai for Vista users or C:\Program Files\PalmOne\<HotSyncName>\NataraBonsai for Windows XP users)

•         The “Bonsai config for Desktop Only Registration.dat” for the desktop only user in the AppData folder (i.e. default paths are “C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Natara” for Vista users or “C:\Document and Settings\<Username>\Application Data” for Windows XP users).

The keyword list should be merged with the configuration file in the same folder as the Bonsai application on the USB drive. You will likely have a “Bonsai config for Desktop Only Registration.dat” file in this directory and you want to copy the “keywords” section of the XML file into this existing configuration file.

1. Make a backup of the user config file you will be modifying.

2. Open the config file containing the keywords you wish to copy in a text editor such as notepad. You could also use a tool like the XML Notepad (a free Microsoft utility) which will be helpful if you are not knowledgeable in the XML document syntax.

3. Find and copy the Keyword element. In notepad, it should look something like:

<keywords generation="9">

<categories>

<category name="Unfiled" id="0" modified="1"/>

<category name="GTD" id="1" modified="1"/>

</categories>

<keyword name="@Home" category="GTD" icon="3153244"/>

<keyword name="@WORK" category="GTD" icon="3153244"/>

</keywords>

In XML Notepad, find the Bonsai-config/keywords element in the tree view and simply copy the keywords element.

4. Open the other config file and replace the keywords element with the version you copied in the previous step.

5. Save the file and verify Bonsai displays the keywords correctly for the user config file you modified.

While it is possible to do the same with the outline file list, it is generally best to populate the outline list using the Bonsai application and open each outline file using the File/Open menu. You can also drag and drop outline files from a Windows Explorer window to Bonsai to open the outlines. The main reason for this is the outline path may contain relative paths. For example in Bonsai Desktop, %DOCUMENTS% would be used in the outline filename to reference outlines under the "MY Documents" folder. For Bonsai for USB, %DOCUMENTS% references the Bonsai installation folder on the USB drive. Simply copying the outline entries may result in Bonsai not being able to find the outline file.
3.Existing users will need to move their outlines to the USB drive so they will be available when using the drive on other host PCs. You may wish to use the Bonsai's Outline Manager "Move" command to relocate the outline to the USB drive rather than creating a duplicate outline on the USB drive. I recommend placing outlines in the same folder as the Bonsai.exe in a subfolder called "Outlines" (i.e. in a \Bonsai\Outlines folder on the USB drive). This is the default location to save new outlines and the Outline Manager will be able to locate your outlines even if you move to another PC and the USB drive is assigned a different drive letter. The drive letter re-mapping only works for outlines saved somewhere under the installation directory. Also refer to the Synchronization Implications for Handheld Users section if you plan to continue to synchronize outlines with your handheld device.

Running the Bonsai USB application
Use the Windows desktop Start/Run command and specify the full path to the Bonsai.exe and /USBFlash as a parameter. For example, specify "E:\Bonsai\Bonsai.exe /USBFlash" as the command to run assuming your USB drive has been assigned the E drive letter and you used \Bonsai as the folder where you copied the Bonsai application files to. As you move from PC to PC, you may need to change the drive letter accordingly based on which drive letter is assigned to your USB drive.

As recommended above, you can also use a USB application launcher tool. You can configure a shortcut to run Bonsai with the /USBFlash parameter from the launcher tool to simplify starting Bonsai on the host PC.
 
For existing users, the first time you run the Bonsai USB, you will need to use the File/Open menu to open your existing outlines you copied/moved to your USB device. These outlines will be added to the outline manager and will be available the next time you open Bonsai.

NoteNote: Be sure to keep your outline files in a location under your Bonsai folder so Bonsai will be able to locate the outlines even if the drive letter of your USB drive changes when moving between host PCs. Assuming the Bonsai application is in the \Bonsai folder, it is recommended that outlines be stored in the \Bonsai\Outlines folder.