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From: "Tamulis, Andrius" <andriust@att.net>
To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
Subject: Bug: malformed property drawers [8.3.6 (8.3.6-3-gf46b92-elpa @ c:/Users/atamulis/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20160919/)]
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 16:14:12 -0500	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <e6d2b849-3510-9691-c9af-3733e532f3c7@att.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <dff14d39-03e3-3bf7-3285-637b9047b2e1@att.net>

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I have a problem with orgmode related to the fixing of "malformed 
property drawers".

I use orgmode a lot; I have been using it for over a decade (if memory 
serves.) I use it to organize my life, my job, by volunteer work . My 
.org files are rather large - one is over 500 KB (that's for my job). I 
am having a problem with the (comparatively recent) change in the code 
that causes org-agenda-set-property (C-c C-x p) to search through the 
entire file looking for "malformed property drawers".

Over the years, my files have accumulated many, many property drawers 
that are not, strictly, in the correct place (which is supposed to be 
just below the SCHEDULED and DEADLINE line, right?). This used to not be 
a problem, then someone "fixed" the code, and now 
org-agenda-set-property tries to fix the drawers. And, unfortunatly, it 
"fixes" them by ignoring the drawer in the incorrect location and 
creating a new, empty one, not having carried over any properties.

There is a problem even if I want to "fix" these drawers by hand. There 
are many, many drawers, and the fix is long and tedious:

        C-c C-x p
        get the error message
        remember the character location
        C-g, M-x goto-char
        type character location
        hope that section has been unfolded (The fix searches inside
        ARCHIVEd locations!)
        check that the PROPERTY drawer does not have any important
        properties (except those left there by mobileorg)
        delete property drawer.

    Until {I get sick of it}

    C-c C-x P and type "CATEGORY:" myself, without the typing completion
    of C-c C-x p.


I think that you should possible go back to the way it was before the 
"fix the properties" patch. If it is terribly important to fix the 
drawers, create a new function that fixes them as intelligently as 
possible (copying existing drawers into the correct place).

But the better idea is to forget "fixing" these drawers. Is it truly 
that important to have the SCHEDULED and DEADLINE in the line below the 
heading, and the PROPERTIES drawer directly beneath? I see no 
programming advantage, since you need to search for these strings 
anyway. And I don't like the way it looks: I use org-mode to keep todo 
lists and notes, I need to read the notes and instructions I wrote to 
myself. These notes and instructions often are longer than the headline, 
so I naturally keep reading from the headline to the line below - and 
then I have to skip lines with code in them. And I'm not the only one 
who does not like this setup: there's code out there to completly hide 
the PROPERTIES drawer so that it does not interrupt your reading. 
(http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17478260/completely-hide-the-properties-drawer-in-org-mode). 


So: put SCHEDULED, DEADLINE, and drawers anywhere in the item! And stop 
fixing the drawers!

Thanks,

Andrius

Emacs  : GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-mingw32)
  of 2015-04-11 on LEG570
Package: Org-mode version 8.3.6 (8.3.6-3-gf46b92-elpa @ 
c:/Users/atamulis/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20160919/)


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next      parent reply	other threads:[~2016-09-28 21:14 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
     [not found] <dff14d39-03e3-3bf7-3285-637b9047b2e1@att.net>
2016-09-28 21:14 ` Tamulis, Andrius [this message]
2016-10-02  7:14   ` Bug: malformed property drawers [8.3.6 (8.3.6-3-gf46b92-elpa @ c:/Users/atamulis/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20160919/)] Colin Baxter
2016-10-02  7:32   ` Nicolas Goaziou
2016-10-03  4:52     ` Tamulis, Andrius
2016-10-03  5:43       ` Colin Baxter
2016-10-03 16:31       ` Nicolas Goaziou

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