From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: nielsgiesen@ibbu.nl Subject: usage, ideas, suggestions, actually a braindumnp Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:53:28 +0200 (CEST) Message-ID: <20060427095328.69336E8C6@schimmel.ibbu.nl> Return-path: Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FZ3Bl-0005Bt-2Z for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:53:33 -0400 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FZ3Bk-0005BO-6y for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:53:32 -0400 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FZ3Bj-0005BC-VU for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:53:32 -0400 Received: from [145.97.193.70] (helo=schimmel.ibbu.nl) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1FZ3Ec-000127-Et for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:56:30 -0400 Received: from localhost (schimmel [127.0.0.1]) by schimmel.ibbu.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id D5D67E946 for ; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:53:28 +0200 (CEST) Received: from schimmel.ibbu.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (schimmel [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 00378-04 for ; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:53:28 +0200 (CEST) Received: from grml (235pc207.sshunet.nl [145.97.207.235]) by schimmel.ibbu.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69336E8C6 for ; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:53:28 +0200 (CEST) List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org What's below is a mixture of a description of my org-usage and ideas on further elaboration of org-mode, which have partly come up during this writing. Pardon me if it's kind of an unorded brainstorm (it is evident from this that I am one of the person really in need of org-mode). * Main story Just discovered org-mode about a week ago (on #emacs). Since then I have been a proud user. Am using it for professional as well as personal use. For professional use, I am using it to make a kind of html-template which I will tweak for automatic generation of subsequent html in the future. Sure things will come up in that respect. Further, I am trying to use it as a bug/wanted feature-tracking system. As the only developer is me, and my input mostly comes from one source only, this is feasible (I just let no one else touch my list). Some things have come up because of this use. I use a table for listing the bugs and features (to export to csv), and descriptions are put in headlines below that, with possible subheadlines. One thing I needed was a way to link the fields and the headlines, based on some unique identifier, and possibly in an automatic way. The cleanest way I have come up with so far is using the radio link. That way I just put a bug number in the table automatically targeting the description . That way I can export it to csv -> xls (in oocalc), so the person I communicate with sees only the bug number itself, and not also the brackets, that are exported as-is to csv. On this, see infra. For the generation of a bug number link for in the headlines I have created the following small function, and set it to a keyboard shortcut: (defcustom org-bug-number 0 "number of current bug" :type 'number) (defun org-insert-bug-number (&optional skip-to) "Increment the org-bug-number with 1 and insert it at point as an internal link. With numerical prefix argument, insert the prefix number at point as an internal link. If this number is greater than the current value of org-bug-number, update org-bug-number to this value." (interactive "p") (insert-string "<<<" (cond ((> skip-to org-bug-number) (setq org-bug-number skip-to)) ((eq skip-to 1) (setq org-bug-number (1+ org-bug-number))) (t skip-to)) ">>>") (org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c)) ...I might revise this with the use of an alist or something, so you can have different bug numbers associated with different projects, based on which .org file you visit. I am thinking of a good way of how to integrate this, and other typical bug-track-sheet stuff (such as status: TODO/DONE...) with the headlines. Automatic generation of a headline on creation of a new bug-row is not a good option, I believe, since some things are so self-evident from the small description given in the table that giving the bug a seperate headline would just be an exercise in repetition. However, when a good and unique link between table row and headline could be established, an update of the one based on the other might be convenient. Perhaps this whole approach is flawed, because it is based on the table concept for representing bugs (my bosses just said like: ,,Kan je die bugs niet gewoon ff in een Excel-sheetje stoppen?''--trans: ``can't you just put these bugs in an Excel sheet?''), so that I just began drawing a table. Maybe some table export function to the view generated by C-c C-r would be a better idea. But then, how do you know which words will have to appear in which field? This would require setting properties to (sequences of), which calls for a different syntax. More thinking and code-studying necessary... I think using only TODO and DONE is a good approach, as too much time is easily wasted figuring out for yourself what the precise qualification should be. * Some other things that have come up during usage: ** option for clean export view of timestamps ** option to leave timestamps out in export function ** option to leave tags out in export function. ** org-export-to-LaTeX ** make follow-mode the default as customization option; for myself, I have just hacked the code to have follow-mode always on. ** strip links when unexportable as link Export description, or, when lacking, only the content of the link. When data can be retrieved back from an exported format, this would be included /as/ /option/, as one will e.g. want to communicate to and fro with csv tables. ** improvement of the outcome of C-h m would be welcome. - all the self-inserting commands are not of great interest. Better skip them, or put at least put them at the end. - things such as "Calls `(org-cycle t)'" do not give a reference; better say "Calls org-cycle with argument t".