I need a software application to aid in the management of writing a novel including characters and timelines. The character management portion must allow for the addition/deletion/editing of an unlimited number of characters. Each character will have a name, birthdate, date of death (optional) and other configurable attributes (unlimited number). For example, in some stories it may be important to track height, weight, hair color, eye color or any other physical or emotional attribute of each character. The user-defined attributes may be string, numeric, date or large string (memo) fields. It should be possible to view all of the characters and their attributes in a grid with sorting and filtering (show all characters with brown hair). It should also be possible to view a character in an easy-to-read layout -- perhaps like an index card. Similarly it should be possible to print one or all characters to any printer. Timeline management should provide a method to enter "events" by date and time (optionally an event will have a start and end time and span the period between). For example, one might enter the opening date of the story as an event. The timeline view should be similar to a Gantt chart with bars indicating the lifespan of characters or the start and end time of user-defined events. This view should also be printable. This application must be written with proven development tools (Delphi, C#, C, C++, VB), nothing bleeding edge or esoteric. It must use a data management system that is small and easy to distribute such as Advantage DB engine, XML files, etc. I will consider some third-party controls as long as they are royalty-free at distribution time. All third-party controls must be approved in advance.
## Deliverables
1) Complete and fully-functional working program(s) in executable form as well as complete source code of all work done.
2) Deliverables must be in ready-to-run condition, as follows (depending on the nature of the deliverables):
a) For web sites or other server-side deliverables intended to only ever exist in one place in the Buyer's environment--Deliverables must be installed by the Seller in ready-to-run condition in the Buyer's environment.
b) For all others including desktop software or software the buyer intends to distribute: A software installation package that will install the software in ready-to-run condition on the platform(s) specified in this bid request.
3) All deliverables will be considered "work made for hire" under U.S. Copyright law. Buyer will receive exclusive and complete copyrights to all work purchased. (No GPL, GNU, 3rd party components, etc. unless all copyright ramifications are explained AND AGREED TO by the buyer on the site per the coder's Seller Legal Agreement).
## Platform
Windows XP at a minimum. If the application does not require the .NET framework, that would be nice, but since it is nearly ubiquitous now, it is not a problem. DB engine must be small and easy to deploy.