Agenda export to ics file

Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

Aloha.

I'm a long-time user of emacs, org-mode for about 10 years but cannot 
figure out how to export DEADLINE events from org-agenda to 
org-icalendar-export-to-ics.

I've found references to setting the

org-icalendar-use-deadline

variable but haven't yet found the successful incantation to do that.

Can someone please point me in the right direction?  Everything seems to 
lead a dead-end or some other complication.

Mahalo.
J.
-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[Ihor Radchenko]

John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:

> I'm a long-time user of emacs, org-mode for about 10 years but cannot 
> figure out how to export DEADLINE events from org-agenda to 
> org-icalendar-export-to-ics.
>
> I've found references to setting the
>
> org-icalendar-use-deadline
>
> variable but haven't yet found the successful incantation to do that.

May you showcase what exactly you tried?

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

Sure.  Thanks for the reply.

1) I put this line at the top of the org file

-*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: t;  -*-

and then run the command

M-x icalendar-export-to-ics

This produces an *.ics file but it has only past events (mostly TODOs).  
I don't see any sign of upcoming events that I typically have long lead 
times on (e.g., -180d).  So I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.

2) When I do the same thing on a different machine, I get a message that

'Symbol’s value as variable is void: 
org-agenda-default-appointment-duration'

and no *.ics file is written.

Any help appreciated.
J.



On 6/7/24 05:06, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:
>
>> I'm a long-time user of emacs, org-mode for about 10 years but cannot
>> figure out how to export DEADLINE events from org-agenda to
>> org-icalendar-export-to-ics.
>>
>> I've found references to setting the
>>
>> org-icalendar-use-deadline
>>
>> variable but haven't yet found the successful incantation to do that.
> May you showcase what exactly you tried?
>

-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[Ihor Radchenko]

John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:

> Sure.  Thanks for the reply.
>
> 1) I put this line at the top of the org file
>
> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: t;  -*-

This is not right. According to the docstring:

    org-icalendar-use-deadline is a customizable variable defined in
    ox-icalendar.el.

    Value
    (event-if-not-todo todo-due)

    Documentation
    Contexts where iCalendar export should use a deadline time stamp.
    This is a list with possibly several symbols in it.  Valid symbols are:
    event-if-todo
      Deadlines in TODO entries become calendar events.
    event-if-todo-not-done
      Deadlines in TODO entries with not-DONE state become events.
    event-if-not-todo
      Deadlines in non-TODO entries become calendar events.
    todo-due
      Use deadlines in TODO entries as due-dates.

t is simply not a valid value.

> 2) When I do the same thing on a different machine, I get a message that
>
> 'Symbol’s value as variable is void: 
> org-agenda-default-appointment-duration'

This looks like installation problem.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

Aloha.

I modified the variable specification to be:

-*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: event-if-not-todo;  -*-

and get the following error:

'Wrong type argument: listp, event-if-not-todo'

So it's reading the specification but seems that the syntax is 
incorrect.  I don't seem to be able to find anything that tells me what 
the correct syntax should be.

Any further advice is welcome.

J.




On 6/8/24 09:20, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:
>
>> Sure.  Thanks for the reply.
>>
>> 1) I put this line at the top of the org file
>>
>> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: t;  -*-
> This is not right. According to the docstring:
>
>      org-icalendar-use-deadline is a customizable variable defined in
>      ox-icalendar.el.
>
>      Value
>      (event-if-not-todo todo-due)
>
>      Documentation
>      Contexts where iCalendar export should use a deadline time stamp.
>      This is a list with possibly several symbols in it.  Valid symbols are:
>      event-if-todo
>        Deadlines in TODO entries become calendar events.
>      event-if-todo-not-done
>        Deadlines in TODO entries with not-DONE state become events.
>      event-if-not-todo
>        Deadlines in non-TODO entries become calendar events.
>      todo-due
>        Use deadlines in TODO entries as due-dates.
>
> t is simply not a valid value.
>
>> 2) When I do the same thing on a different machine, I get a message that
>>
>> 'Symbol’s value as variable is void:
>> org-agenda-default-appointment-duration'
> This looks like installation problem.
>

-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[Ihor Radchenko]

John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:

> I modified the variable specification to be:
>
> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: event-if-not-todo;  -*-

> and get the following error:
>
> 'Wrong type argument: listp, event-if-not-todo'

That's because the value should be a list.

-*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (event-if-not-todo);  -*-

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

Mahalo.

That allowed the command (org-icalendar-export-to-ics) to succeed but it 
didn't produce the desired results.  I'll try adding other values and 
see if the situation improves.

J.

On 6/8/24 10:38, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:
>
>> I modified the variable specification to be:
>>
>> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: event-if-not-todo;  -*-
>> and get the following error:
>>
>> 'Wrong type argument: listp, event-if-not-todo'
> That's because the value should be a list.
>
> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (event-if-not-todo);  -*-
>

-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

Well, it doesn't seem to work as expected.  I'll create a test setup and 
see if I can isolate what is not working with just a few TODOs.

J.

On 6/8/24 10:44, John Helly wrote:
> Mahalo.
>
> That allowed the command (org-icalendar-export-to-ics) to succeed but 
> it didn't produce the desired results.  I'll try adding other values 
> and see if the situation improves.
>
> J.
>
> On 6/8/24 10:38, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
>> John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:
>>
>>> I modified the variable specification to be:
>>>
>>> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: event-if-not-todo;  -*-
>>> and get the following error:
>>>
>>> 'Wrong type argument: listp, event-if-not-todo'
>> That's because the value should be a list.
>>
>> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (event-if-not-todo);  -*-
>>
>

-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

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Aloha.

So, even this MWE, the export to *.ics does not work as expected. The 
test.ics file has no events when

M-x org-icalendar-export-to-ics

is invoked.
=========================  Contents of test.org listed below 
=================
-*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (todo-due);  -*-
MY PROJECT -*- mode: org -*-
#-*- mode: org -*-
#+STARTUP: showall

* Welcome to Org mode

   Welcome, and thanks for trying out Org mode. Making outlines in
   Org is very simple. It is just text! Just start typing.
* This is a headline, it starts with one or more stars
   A heading has one star, a sub-heading two, etc.
* Working with lists
** Moving around in our outline
** TODO Moving around headline
** TODO This is an event with a Deadline
DEADLINE: <2024-06-20 Thu -30d>
=========================  Contents of test.org listed above 
=================

Any advice would be appreciated.
J.


On 6/8/24 10:38, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> John Helly<hellyj@ucsd.edu>  writes:
>
>> I modified the variable specification to be:
>>
>> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: event-if-not-todo;  -*-
>> and get the following error:
>>
>> 'Wrong type argument: listp, event-if-not-todo'
> That's because the value should be a list.
>
> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (event-if-not-todo);  -*-
>

-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj  / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660

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Re: Agenda export to ics file

[Ihor Radchenko]

John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:

> So, even this MWE, the export to *.ics does not work as expected. The 
> test.ics file has no events when
>
> M-x org-icalendar-export-to-ics
>
> is invoked.
> =========================  Contents of test.org listed below 
> =================
> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (todo-due);  -*-
> ...
> ** TODO This is an event with a Deadline
> DEADLINE: <2024-06-20 Thu -30d>

Todo headings are not exported to icalendar by default.
See `org-icalendar-include-todo'.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

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Aloha.

I modified the MWE as best I understand.  I seem to be missing some 
major part of the documentation.  For example, I don't know how to find 
the 'doclist' and the valid values for variables.  I seem to only find 
them from other peoples' problems.

Here is the modified MWE and it still produces no *.ics entries other 
than boilerplate.

-*- org-icalendar-include-todo: ("TODO" "DONE" "CANCELLED"); -*-
-*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (todo-due); -*-
MY PROJECT -*- mode: org -*-
#-*- mode: org -*-
#+STARTUP: showall

* Welcome to Org mode

   Welcome, and thanks for trying out Org mode. Making outlines in
   Org is very simple. It is just text! Just start typing.
* This is a headline, it starts with one or more stars
   A heading has one star, a sub-heading two, etc.
* Working with lists
** Moving around in our outline
** TODO Moving around headline
** TODO This is a event with a Deadline
DEADLINE: <2024-06-20 Thu -30d>


On 6/9/24 01:52, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> John Helly<hellyj@ucsd.edu>  writes:
>
>> So, even this MWE, the export to *.ics does not work as expected. The
>> test.ics file has no events when
>>
>> M-x org-icalendar-export-to-ics
>>
>> is invoked.
>> =========================  Contents of test.org listed below
>> =================
>> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (todo-due);  -*-
>> ...
>> ** TODO This is an event with a Deadline
>> DEADLINE: <2024-06-20 Thu -30d>
> Todo headings are not exported to icalendar by default.
> See `org-icalendar-include-todo'.
>

-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj  / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660

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Re: Agenda export to ics file

[John Helly]

Aha.  I stumbled on the C-hi command and was able to see the current 
setting for the variable and its valid values.

I set the value to 't' and now it seems to do what I want.

Mahalo nui for your excellent help and patience.  I never would have 
discovered this in any reasonable amount of time.

J.

On 6/9/24 01:52, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> John Helly <hellyj@ucsd.edu> writes:
>
>> So, even this MWE, the export to *.ics does not work as expected. The
>> test.ics file has no events when
>>
>> M-x org-icalendar-export-to-ics
>>
>> is invoked.
>> =========================  Contents of test.org listed below
>> =================
>> -*- org-icalendar-use-deadline: (todo-due);  -*-
>> ...
>> ** TODO This is an event with a Deadline
>> DEADLINE: <2024-06-20 Thu -30d>
> Todo headings are not exported to icalendar by default.
> See `org-icalendar-include-todo'.
>

-- 
John Helly / San Diego Supercomputer Center / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.sdsc.edu/~hellyj / 808 205 9882 / 760 8408660