Re: org-remember templates with dynamic target headline

From: Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com>
To: Keith Swartz <gnu@oneroad.com>
Cc: org-mode <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: org-remember templates with dynamic target headline
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:03:54 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <A1F2100E-3583-4DB1-8ECE-14F9783D484B@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <4A3C1AA8.60904@oneroad.com>

On Jun 20, 2009, at 1:09 AM, Keith Swartz wrote:

> 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?

Please see Jere's answer in the "Use environment variable...." thread.

- Carsten

>
> 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
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>