Re: org-remember templates with dynamic target headline

From: Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com>
To: nicholas.dokos@hp.com
Cc: Keith Swartz <gnu@oneroad.com>, org-mode <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: org-remember templates with dynamic target headline
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:09:53 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <4BD40C46-F53F-465B-BA92-21BDB0BE2F3A@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <5856.1245219638@gamaville.dokosmarshall.org>

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
>
>
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