First of all, lets start with a definition of HCFO: The Highly Customizable Framework for Organization (HCFO) is a software framework used for building software applications that organize information on your computer quickly and easily without having to do any computer programming.

To make this concept less abstract, we will deal with HCFO in one dimension: calendar supported software. HCFO and building practical software applications are discussed in greater detail in my Computing Success Secrets newsletter. See my website at the end of this article to find out how to become a member.

Calendar supported software includes such software types as appointment calendars, day planners, and any other software package that needs calendar functions as its underlying support system.

Simply, HCFO provides a canvas with a calendar frame in which to paint your software program. Let me illustrate this concept to you with a story about Data Calendar -- a product that implements the HCFO.

Paul wants an appointment calendar program. He thinks to himself, I need an appointment calendar that allows me to enter appointments on a calendar just like I do with my paper appointment calendar. I would also like to be able to set reminders of my appointments.

Then Paul sits down with Data Calendar and creates a category called Appointments. When the appointment category is created, Data Calendar automatically creates a yearly calendar equipped with monthly calendar views. Data Calendar also adds the ability to enter appointment data directly on the date box just like a paper appointment calendar. Data Calendar also allows him to set appointments reminders based on date and time.

Lets recap what HCFO and the Data Calendar software did to make Pauls appointment calendar software needs easily accomplished:

• Paul simply created a category called Appointments and Data Calendar created a yearly calendar with monthly views for his appointments.

• Data Calendar provided the ability to enter his appointments into a date box just like his paper calendar.

• Data Calendar provided the ability for Paul to set appointment reminders based on date and time.

Obviously, due to the limitations of an article, the above example is a very simplistic application of HCFO using Data Calendar. However, you should be able to see that HCFO opens the door to creating valuable software with little effort in minimum time.

(c) Copyright 2005 Olan Butler All Rights Reserved