Rdex for Windows

Programs similar to Rdex were readily available a while back but seem to have gone out of fashion recently. I have found this to be a very useful way of keeping info over the years. So when my old 16-bit cardfile finally bit the dust, and I couldn't find a replacement, I wrote one—Rdex. Rdex has the same look and feel as my old cardfile app—Quickdex for Windows, by Stellar Software.

Download

Rdex is a tiny little program that runs on MS Windows XP or any more recent version of MS Windows. The installer will by default install the program file into "...\Program Files\Rdex\rdex.exe". The data file can be stored anywhere using the File/Save As function. I find it particularly useful to store the data file on a cloud storage service such as Dropbox so that I can access it from anywhere.

Download Rdex 1.5.6 for Windows Installer—released Sep 2019
rdex-1-5-6-setup.exe, 368,657 bytes
md5 hash: e30412d00933baf14f57b3b34439a3ed

Alternatively Rdex 1.5.6 for Windows in a Zipped Folder—released Sep 2019
Just unzip the folder and move it to any reasonable location (even a flash drive if you want).
rdex-1-5-6.zip, 84,668 bytes
md5 hash: eb3b4670b4eedbb758d815047c54befe

Brief Instructions

To create a new card, click on the "New" button, press <Ctrl+N>, or select "Card/New Card" from the menu. Just copy <Ctrl+C> and paste <Ctrl+V> text into the card. If you want to make the "List View" function meaningful, use the first line of the card as a title.

To find a card, type a string in the Search box and press <Enter>. Search strings are not case sensitive. Press <Enter> again to find the next occurrence or <Shift-Enter> to find the previous one. If the search string is blank, you simply jump to the next (or previous) card.

You can get a list of the first lines of cards that contain the text in the Search box by pressing <Alt-Enter> or selecting <Card/List View> from the menu. The clipboard button <Card/List All Cards> or <Ctrl+L> will simply list the first lines of all cards ignoring any text in the Search box. Clicking on an item in the list, or selecting an item with the arrow keys and pressing <Enter> displays the card.

Wildcards can be used in a search. A single "?" matches any single character, two "??"s will match any two characters and so on. A "*" matches zero or more occurrences of any character up to a limit of 50 characters. "**" will double the limit to 100 characters and so on. (To seach for a literal "?" or "*" use "\?" or "\*" and use "\\" to mach a literal "\".)

You can delete a card by pressing the "Delete" button, pressing <Ctrl+D>, or selecting "Card/Delete Card" from the menu.

Double click on a web link or an email address and Rdex will bring up the link in the default browser or bring up the address in the default email client. Ctrl + double-click will select an entire line.

To start a whole new empty cardfile select "File/New Cardfile" from the menu. (Don't confuse "Card/New Card" with "File/New Cardfile." One is a new card within the current cardfile, the other begins a whole new empty cardfile.)

For further help select <Help> from the menu or press F1.

File Formats

Two plain text file formats are available in Rdex, ASCII and UTF-8, and one AES-128 encrypted format. (Details of each file format are discussed in the file formats page.)

In ASCII format the data is stored as a simple ASCII file with cards separated by the ASCII "DEL" character "7F" (in hex). You can edit the data file with notepad or any other editor if you wish—just be careful of the card separator characters, they will probably display as an empty square.

The UTF-8 format is able to handle all symbols and characters in all writing systems. Characters will not get confused when shared across different computer systems (e.g. Windows and Android). However, Rdex UTF-8 format is not supported by versions of Rdex earlier than 1.5 for Windows or 2.4.7 for Android.

Encryption

Rdex supports an AES-128 encrypted file format as of version 1.5.5 for Windows, 2.6.2 for Java and 2.4.17 for Android. (Details of the encryption algorithm are discussed in the file formats page.)

A default passphrase option is available. This allows all encrypted files to use the same passphrase stored in the Rdex application data. It is convenient in that encrypted files can be opened without typing in the passphrase. However, it is not very secure. Use it for protecting data files stored in the cloud or backup copies of the data on a flash drive.

For the higest security do not use the default passphrase option. Use an unguessable passphrase specific to the file you are protecting. The level of security is directly related to the length of the passphrase and how easily it is guessed.

Rdex encryption is not intended for high value data such as bank account numbers and sensitive account login credentials. For these you should use a password safe. Keepass is a free and popular password safe. A password safe encrypts each entry separately and only decrypts an entry when it is displayed. Rdex must decrypt the entire file so that the file can be searched. It remains decrypted in the memory while in use.

Set or clear the default passphrase using File/Set Default Passphrase. Encrypt a file or change the passphrase using the "Save as type" dropdown box at the bottom of the "File/Save As" dialog. An option to use the default passphrase or type in a specific passphrase is given in the dialog. You can remove encryption by using the "Save as type" dropdown box to select UTF-8 plain text format.

New in Rdex 1.5.6—Sep 2019

• Improved security of password handling for encrypted files.
• Added a timestamp (date) insertion menu item.
• Added an erase button for the search box.
• Added an option to open in List View.
• Display in browser function now accepts file: urls from the local file system.
• Organized preference items into a new options menu item.
• Added ctrl double-click to select an entire line.
• Added a portable memory stick capability that stores the rdex.ini file in the same folder as the program.

New in Rdex 1.5.5—May 2018

• AES-128 encrypted file format.
• Made saving a backup copy of the file optional.

New in Rdex 1.5.4—Nov 2016

• Launch browser or mail client on double click of url or email address.

New in Rdex 1.5.3—Jly 2016

• Autosave check every five minutes.
• List all cards button
• Option to sort list all cards alphabetically
• If only a single card in list all cards just show card
• First save to a temporary file, save original file as a backup copy then rename the temp file
• Check if Rdex already running on startup

New in Rdex 1.5.2—Aug 2015

• Wildcard search: "?" matches any single character, "*" matches zero to 100 occurrences of any character.
• Import from uncompressed AZZ cardfile format.

New in Rdex 1.5.1—May 2014

• Fixed bug in import from Microsoft Cardfile that sometimes caused Rdex to crash.

New in Rdex 1.5—Dec 2013

• Option to sort cards and insert them in alphabetical order
• Persistent state saved upon system shutdown as well as during program close
• New UTF-8 file format
• Import from Microsoft Cardfile file format
• Import from Quickdex file format

Source Code

If you are interested in programming, here is the source code for Rdex 1.5.6. I used theForger's Win32 API Tutorial to learn how to write a Windows application. It is an excellent tutorial. For compiler and Windows header files I use MinGW.

Upgrading from a previous version of Rdex

Upgrading from version 1.4 or later: Rdex 1.5 should start up with the last .rdx file you were using.

Upgrading from version 1.3 or earlier: Before you run the installer, open your existing Rdex and note where the data file is stored. You can find the location of the data file from the Rdex window's title bar or from the menu "Help/About." Once you have installed Rdex 1.5 run it and use the menu "File/Open" to locate and open your data file.

Rdex 2.5 for Windows

Rdex 2.5 was written using the Qt GUI library so that a single source could be compiled for Windows, Mac and Linux. Rdex 2.5 runs on Windows but Rdex 1.5 is preferred because it has more functionality and a much smaller executable. Rdex 2.5 is no longer under active development. Rdex 2.5.2 is the last version for Windows released Nov. 2015. Rdex Java is now preferred for Mac and Linux.

License

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details: www.gnu.org/licenses.