Re: org-remember templates with dynamic target headline

From: Keith Swartz <gnu@oneroad.com>
To: Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com>
Cc: Keith Swartz <gnu@oneroad.com>, org-mode <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: org-remember templates with dynamic target headline
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:09:28 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <4A3C1AA8.60904@oneroad.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <4BD40C46-F53F-465B-BA92-21BDB0BE2F3A@gmail.com>

Hi Carsten,

I think that would work, yes. Can you give an example of what it would 
look like now? Are you saying we can use a function call for a single 
element, or to produce the entire list?

Thanks,
Keith

Carsten Dominik wrote:
>
> On Jun 17, 2009, at 8:20 AM, Nick Dokos wrote:
>
>> Daniel J. Sinder <djsinder@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I want a remember template that will have a target headline based on
>>> the date on which I call org-remember.
>>>
>>> For a simple example, the effect I'd like to achieve is shown by
>>> putting the following in my .emacs:
>>>
>>> (setq org-remember-templates
>>>      `(("Journal" ?j "* %u %?\n" "~/org/wjournal.org"
>>> ,(format-time-string "%G: Week %V"))))
>>>
>>> I'm an elisp noob, but I realize the problem here is that
>>> format-time-string is only evaluated once when my .emacs is read.  So,
>>> unless I restart emacs every week.  This doesn't work.
>>>
>>> How can I cause format-time-string to be re-evaluated whenever
>>> org-remember is called?
>>>
>>
>> You cannot, unless you change the code. Keith Swartz had a similar
>> question recently and although I cannot find it in the Gmane archive
>> (second time today - maybe I'm doing something wrong), here is the last
>> part of the thread:
>
>
> Hi Nick,
>
> thank you for the reminder, I had wanted to do something about this.
>
> I am indeed a bit hesitant to allow just a lisp form here, because 
> erroneous
> setup of the remember template structure might then lead
> to hard-to-trace problems.
>
> However, I am fine with allowing a *function* in this element, as
> it is in fact already allowed for the target file name.
>
> I have just pushed a fix that will accept a function in this place
> and call it to get the true headline.
>
> Daniel, Keith,
>
> Hope that solves your issue.
>
> - Carsten
>
>>
>> ,----
>> | To: Robert Goldman <rpgoldman@sift.info>
>> | cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
>> | From: Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com>
>> | Cc: nicholas.dokos@hp.com
>> | Reply-to: nicholas.dokos@hp.com
>> | Subject: Re: [Orgmode] Re: Emacs-orgmode Digest, Vol 39, Issue 122
>> | X-Mailer: MH-E 8.1; nmh 1.2; GNU Emacs 23.0.93
>> | Date: Sat, 30 May 2009 15:39:40 -0400
>> | Sender: nick@gamaville.dokosmarshall.org
>> |
>> | Robert Goldman <rpgoldman@sift.info> wrote:
>> |
>> | > > Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 23:24:58 -0700
>> | > > From: Keith Swartz <gnu@oneroad.com>
>> | > > Subject: [Orgmode] Lazy evaluation when defining 
>> org-remember-template
>> | > > To: "[orgmode]" <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
>> | > > Message-ID: <4A20D13A.2000603@oneroad.com>
>> | > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>> | > >
>> | > > ...
>> | > >
>> | > > Is there a way I can make that command evaluate at the time it is
>> | > > invoked, rather than when it is defined? I vaguely recall doing
>> | > > something like this, but that was five job roles, three houses, 
>> two
>> | > > recessions, and two kids ago. :)
>> | > >
>> | >
>> | > I can't swear that this will work, but note that the way you have
>> | > written this, it will all be evaluated at load time, as you say.  
>> the
>> | > 'list' function will evaluate its arguments to build the list.
>> | >
>> | > Now, if you don't want this to be evaluated when 
>> org-remember-templates
>> | > is set, you can quote the form:
>> | >
>> | > '(format-time-string "%A")
>> | >
>> | > [note that you quoted the argument to format-time-string.  I don't
>> | > believe that's necessary, since strings evaluate to themselves, 
>> but I
>> | > have not tested this.]
>> | >
>> | > Actually, I think you would get something easier to read if you 
>> quoted
>> | > the whole list, instead of quoting each element.  Something like:
>> | >
>> | > (list '("Todo" ?t "* TODO %?%^{To do} %^g\n  :LOGBOOK:\n  -
>> | > Added: %U\n  :END:" "d:/tmp/_my.todo" (format-time-string "%A"))))
>> | >
>> |
>> | That's correct.
>> |
>> | > The question then is, "what happens when org-remember-templates is
>> | > retrieved?"  What you want is for this function to be evaluated 
>> when the
>> | > templates are found and used.  That will be done by
>> | > org-remember-apply-template, which we can examine....
>> | >
>> | > Unfortunately, I don't see in there anything which retrieves (nth 4
>> | > entry), which is the place where your format-time-string goes, so 
>> I'm
>> | > not sure what is handling this.  It's a little confusing reading 
>> that
>> | > function's code, since "headline" is ambiguous between whether it 
>> means
>> | > the headline of the remember note to be inserted or the headline 
>> under
>> | > which to insert the note...  I believe it's the former.
>> | >
>> |
>> | It's the latter.
>> |
>> | You can figure out things like this fairly quickly by inserting a
>> | (debug) at the appropriate place, and re-evaluating the defun. When 
>> the
>> | function gets called, it will jump into the debugger when it evals the
>> | (debug) form, and you can use the full power of lisp to examine
>> | state. For example, here I defined the template the way you suggested,
>> | placed a (debug) in org-remember-apply-template, just after the
>> | insertion of the template in the remember buffer, re-evaluated the 
>> defun
>> | (there is an eval-defun, but I prefer to do that by going to the 
>> end of
>> | the defun - which I can do quickly: repeat M-C-u until I'm at the
>> | beginning of the defun and M-C-f to move over the whole defun - and 
>> then
>> | C-x C-e to eval the last sexpression.)
>> |
>> | I then call org-remember and in the resulting debug buffer, say
>> |
>> |   e headline<RET>
>> |
>> | which says
>> |
>> | (format-time-string "%A")
>> |
>> |   e entry<RET>
>> |
>> | which says
>> |
>> | ("* TODO %?%^{To do} %^g
>> |   :LOGBOOK:
>> |   -
>> | Added: %U
>> |   :END:" (quote "d:/tmp/_my.todo") (format-time-string "%A"))
>> |
>> | Now you can see that the headline is the third element of this list
>> | (i.e. (nth 2 entry) - the numbering starts from 0).
>> |
>> | > Perhaps someone else can figure this out, or perhaps you could 
>> just try
>> | > quoting the list and seeing if it works to evaluate the
>> | > format-time-string when you want it to.  Org usually does The 
>> Right Thing.
>> | >
>> | But even org cannot perform miracles !-) Somebody has to "force the 
>> thunk"
>> | in order for delayed evaluation to work. You'd need something like 
>> this
>> | patch:
>> |
>> | --- a/lisp/org-remember.el
>> | +++ b/lisp/org-remember.el
>> | @@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ to be run from that hook to function properly."
>> |                  (functionp (nth 1 entry))))
>> |                 (nth 1 entry)
>> |               org-default-notes-file))
>> | -         (headline (nth 2 entry))
>> | +         (headline (eval (nth 2 entry)))
>> |           (v-c (and (> (length kill-ring) 0) (current-kill 0)))
>> |           (v-x (or (org-get-x-clipboard 'PRIMARY)
>> |                (org-get-x-clipboard 'CLIPBOARD)
>> |
>> | This should work in simple cases (in particular, because the 
>> headline is
>> | a string and strings evaluate to themselves, so it should not 
>> adversely affect
>> | any existing template), but I certainly have not thought about 
>> repercussions
>> | (including the possibility of *very* obscure bugs because somebody 
>> mistyped
>> | something in the template - that would be a maintenance nightmare 
>> that Carsten
>> | might not be willing to take on).
>> |
>> | Thanks,
>> | Nick
>> `----
>>
>> HTH,
>> Nick
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
>> Remember: use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
>> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
>> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode
>
>