From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Russell Adams Subject: Re: Using org-mode for laboratory notes. Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:08:21 -0500 Message-ID: <20120919170820.GC31853@cardamom.adamsinfoserv.com> References: <3EBF4F09D06D482C9F7BD50A74669FA8@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:46247) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TENlI-0007ty-VS for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:08:34 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TENlD-0004Vd-8O for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:08:32 -0400 Received: from tropicana.asmallorange.com ([199.188.117.12]:56212) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1TENlD-0004V6-3k for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:08:27 -0400 Received: from mc00536d0.tmodns.net ([208.54.5.192]:14527 helo=localhost) by tropicana.asmallorange.com with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES128-SHA:128) (Exim 4.77) (envelope-from ) id 1TENhm-0000LR-6L for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:04:54 -0400 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3EBF4F09D06D482C9F7BD50A74669FA8@gmail.com> List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 09:15:35AM -0700, Eric Lubeck wrote: > Hello Everybody, > > I had a look around the web for awhile, but couldn't find any > information pertaining to my particular needs. I hope somebody here > will be able to help me out. > > Anyway, I've been looking around for quite a while for the proper > system to set-up an electronic laboratory notebook in. I will be > using org-mode to document wet-lab experiments in addition to > computational work. > > One of my particular concerns is this: I'm accustomed to using a > chronological laboratory notebook for recording all of my data. The > agenda views in org-mode seem to provide a means to retrieve > chronological information out of my outlines, but I would than need > to timestamp every single entry in my outline. Is there a means for > doing this? Currently I am manually typing C-u C-c ! , but it would > be helpful to have something automatically configured to timestamp > and place the time in a drawer for any entry in a particular file. There's an emacs customization I use which binds F9 to insert NOW as an inactive date & time stamp. ;; Insert immediate timestamp (define-key global-map (kbd "") '(lambda () (interactive) (when (eq major-mode 'org-mode) (org-insert-time-stamp nil t t) (insert "\n")))) I use this in my org files. I outline my projects by major task or product. Every time I change tasks or return to taking notes I just hit F9 before I start typing. Then at any time I can use the agenda in log mode and enable inactive time stamps to show me a hyperlinked timeline. > My other question pertains to efficiently representing linked or > nested data. I'd like to record my detailed laboratory protocols in > another outline. As most of my day-to-day work is using these > protocols with minimal modifications, I'd like to record in my > primary outline a property or hyperlink that points to the primary > protocol and suggests that this days experiment "inherits" from the > main protocol with given modifications. It would be really awesome > if the protocol tree could than pick up on these distant inheriting > protocols and transclude in the dates I have performed this protocol > and subsequent modifications from the "lab notebook" section. Is > such a task possible with org-mode, or must I look towards a more > traditional database? The only word I got here was "database". There is some support for using property drawers for storing data and summarizing. If you had a headline which you kept notes under and stored values in a property drawer you may be able to manipulate it. Good luck! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Russell Adams RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.com PGP Key ID: 0x1160DCB3 http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/ Fingerprint: 1723 D8CA 4280 1EC9 557F 66E8 1154 E018 1160 DCB3