Hi John and Nick,

Thank a lot for your suggestions. I finally got it working. It took a while
to figure out that the back-tick is different from the quote.
I am an elisp newbie. Is there an easy explanation of why we need a
back-tick vs. quote?

Also, I found that while the template works, it creates a new tree every
time I capture an entry as follows

* 09
** 05
*** 2012 - Wednesday
**** [2012-09-05 Wed 22:31] My first working month tree note

* 09
** 05
*** 2012 - Wednesday
**** [2012-09-05 Wed 22:31] My second month tree note

#1. Is there any way to consolidate this like the following?

* 09
** 05
*** 2012 - Wednesday
**** [2012-09-05 Wed 22:31] My first working month tree note
**** [2012-09-05 Wed 22:3*5*] My first working month tree note

#2 The time always is reported as 22:31 (I guess that's the time I launched
emacs). Is there a way for the time stamp to be corrected based on the
current time? I generally leave emacs running for days together, so the
time it's launched doesn't really work for me.

Once again, thanks a lot for your help!

-c. b.

On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 11:08 PM, John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 11:04 PM, Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com>
> wrote:
> > John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 3:11 PM, c b <24x7x366@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > Hi,
> >> >
> >> > I have been using org-mode for about 18 months now and love it. I
> recently
> >> > came across the org-capture file+datetree format and it is just what
> I am
> >> > looking for, except that I need a slightly different format described
> as
> >> > below
> >> >
> >> > Currently format is
> >> >
> >> > * 2012
> >> > ** 2012-08
> >> > *** 2012-08-26 Sunday
> >> > **** [2012-08-26 Sun 13:00] My note for this Sunday afternoon
> >> >
> >> > Needed format is
> >> >
> >> > * 08
> >> > ** 26
> >> > *** 2012 Sunday
> >> > **** [2012-08-26 Sun 13:00] My note for this Sunday afternoon
> >> >
> >> > Basically, I need to have the "root" of the date tree on the month,
> followed
> >> > by date and then Year, so that for a particular date, I can see all
> yearly
> >> > activity.
> >> >
> >> > Is there currently a way to alter this?
> >> >
> >> > If not, how would I go about adding a file+monthtree format for
> org-capture?
> >> >
> >> > Any suggestions would be appreciated
> >>
> >> I was looking for something similar and someone provided a custom
> >> capture template that allowed for using inactive timestamps vs. the
> >> default datetree format.
> >>
> >> See the example provided here:
> >> - http://osdir.com/ml/emacs-orgmode-gnu/2012-08/msg00396.html
> >>
> >> I fiddled with this a bit, not really being familiar and learned a
> >> good bit in the process to achieve your desired format. Give this a
> >> try:
> >>
> >> #+begin_src .emacs
> >> (setq org-capture-templates
> >> `(("t" "test" entry
> >> (file+headline "~/file.org"
> >> ,(format "%s"
> >> (format-time-string "%m")))
> >> ,(format "** %s \n*** %s-%s \n**** [%s-%s-%s %s %s:%s] "
> >> (format-time-string "%d")
> >> (format-time-string "%Y")
> >> (format-time-string "%A")
> >> (format-time-string "%Y")
> >> (format-time-string "%m")
> >> (format-time-string "%d")
> >> (format-time-string "%a")
> >> (format-time-string "%H")
> >> (format-time-string "%M"))
> >> )))
> >> #+end_src
> >>
> >> One thing I couldn't figure out was how to insert a %? after that
> >> second long format option. If I just put in %?, loading .emacs caused
> >> the error "Not enough arguments to format" or something like that. I'm
> >> sure there's some secret elisp escape syntax I just don't know. I
> >> tried various combinations of \ and '("") with no success.
> >>
> >
> > Try
> >
> > --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> > ,(format "** %s \n*** %s-%s \n**** [%s-%s-%s %s %s:%s] %%?"
> > --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> >
> > You basically need to escape the % from being interpreted by format.
> > C-h f format RET says
> >
> > ,----
> > | ...
> > | Use %% to put a single % into the output.
> > | ...
> > `----
>
> Perfect -- thanks!
> John
>
> >
> > Nick
> >
> >> That'd put the finishing touch on things so your cursor was where you
> wanted it.
> >>
> >> Also, for those seeing this... is this how you would accomplish c.b's
> >> goal? I just used the sample provided to me in the earlier mailing
> >> list email to see if I was up for the challenge, but I have no basis
> >> for knowing whether it's a good solution.
> >>
> >>
> >> Hope that helps!
> >> John
> >>
> >> >
> >> > Kindly copy me on the response as I am not subscribed to this mailing
> list.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > c.b.
> >>
>