Re: missing todo's in agenda after emacs/org upgrade

[Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com>]

On Aug 19, 2011, at 11:02 AM, peter.frings@agfa.com wrote:

> Good morning gents,
> 
> I think you nailed it. Thanks!
> 
> 
> * Summary
> Having the todo list in a daily view is very convenient, but not provided out-of-the-box. The enabling of it used to be relatively simply with a single variable, but in more recent version it’s now reserved for org-savvy people. Hooray for http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/org-custom-agenda-commands.html
> 
> 
> * What the problem was
> In Emacs 7.7, the variable org-agenda-include-all-todo no longer affects the daily/weekly view as documented. 
> 
> ** org-agenda-include-all-todo no longer works
> The docstrings states:
> 
> ======================== docstring ========================
> Set  means weekly/daily agenda will always contain all TODO entries.
> The TODO entries will be listed at the top of the agenda, before
> the entries for specific days.
> This option is deprecated, it is better to define a block agenda instead.
> ================================================
> 
> Note that it says it’s deprecated, but it’s still present and describes the behavior I was used to. But it doesn’t. Which is in-line what what Puneeth mentioned (commit 770c2ddfba5c173d1b33e7b247b49a8188994f76).
> 
> 
> ** Terminology
> Notice that org-agenda-include-all-todo’s docstring mentions ‘block agenda’, as does the ‘Agenda View’ chapter in the manual. But that term is nowhere to be found in Org’s customization options. You must first find ‘Agenda Custom Commands’, but there the docstring mentions “You can also define a set of commands, to create a __composite agenda__ buffer.” So there is a problem of terminology here.
> 
> 
> * Thoughts
> I do question this change a bit. I find it very convenient to have my to-do’s (scheduled or not) in my day view. Now, I must make a block agenda to get this. OK, I can handle that. However, out-of-the box behavior should suit beginners, and asking them to make a block agenda as the first thing to do is a bit heavy, no? (Have you seen the customization page for that? Frightening!)
> 
> So, to get what I used to have[1] I need to define a custom view like this:
> 
> (setq org-agenda-custom-commands
>           '(("h" "All to-do's and Agenda"
>              ((alltodo)
> 	       (agenda "")))))
> 
> [1] It’s not identical because of the block headers, but that might be something that is customizable. Haven’t checked it yet. 
> 
> Also, in the older version you could type `d’ or `w' to switch to day or week view from anywhere in the buffer; now you must make sure the cursor is on the agenda black and not in the todo black. This is a bit annoying.
> 
> 
> 
> * Example
> Using GNU Emacs 23.3.1
> 
> The example uses the todo list from Suvayu’s mail:
> ======================== ~/planning/minimal.org ========================
> * TODO Plumber to fix leak
>  <2011-08-04 Thu>
> 
> * TODO RooStats tutorial
>  SCHEDULED: <2011-01-25 Tue 09:00>
> 
> * TODO Analysis deadline
>  DEADLINE: <2011-08-19 Fri 15:00>
> 
> * TODO Read Dune
>  The above 3 entries show up in the agenda, but this one doesn’t.
> ================================================
> 
> And a minimal emacs init  file:
> ======================== ~/.emacs-minimal ========================
> (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.\\(org\\  |org_archive\\|txt\\)$" . org-mode))
> (setq org-agenda-files '("~/planning/minimal.org"))
> (require 'org-install)
> (require 'org-habit)
> 
> (global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
> ================================================
> 
> Start with
> /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs --debug-init -Q -l ~/.emacs-minimal
> 
> 
> ** Behavior with Org 6.33x
> Org-mode 6.33x as version with Emacs 23)
> 
> *** ‘out of the box’ setup
> 
> Do `C-c a a’
> 
> ========================Weekly agenda shows=============================
> Week-agenda (W33):
> Monday     15 August 2011 W33
> Tuesday    16 August 2011
> Wednesday  17 August 2011
> Thursday   18 August 2011
> Friday     19 August 2011
>               8:00...... ----------------
>              10:00...... ----------------
>              12:00...... ----------------
>              14:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    15:00...... Deadline:   TODO Analysis deadline
>              16:00...... ----------------
>              18:00...... ----------------
>              20:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    Sched.207x:  TODO RooStats tutorial
> Saturday   20 August 2011
> Sunday     21 August 2011
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ========================Daily agenda shows=============================
> Day-agenda (W33):
> Friday     19 August 2011
>               8:00...... ----------------
>              10:00...... ----------------
>              12:00...... ----------------
>              14:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    15:00...... Deadline:   TODO Analysis deadline
>              16:00...... ----------------
>              18:00...... ----------------
>              20:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    Sched.207x:  TODO RooStats tutorial
> ================================================
> 
> *** To include the TODO items
> Add this to the init file (or evaluate):
> 
> (setq org-agenda-include-all-todo t)
> 
> Then, `C-a a a’
> 
> ========================Weekly agenda shows=============================
> All currently open TODO items:
>  minimal:    TODO Plumber to fix leak
>  minimal:    TODO RooStats tutorial
>  minimal:    TODO Analysis deadline
>  minimal:    TODO Read Dune
> Week-agenda (W33):
> Monday     15 August 2011 W33
> Tuesday    16 August 2011
> Wednesday  17 August 2011
> Thursday   18 August 2011
> Friday     19 August 2011
>               8:00...... ----------------
>              10:00...... ----------------
>              12:00...... ----------------
>              14:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    15:00...... Deadline:   TODO Analysis deadline
>              16:00...... ----------------
>              18:00...... ----------------
>              20:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    Sched.207x:  TODO RooStats tutorial
> Saturday   20 August 2011
> Sunday     21 August 2011
> 
> ================================================
> 
> ========================Weekly agenda shows=============================
> All currently open TODO items:
>  minimal:    TODO Plumber to fix leak
>  minimal:    TODO RooStats tutorial
>  minimal:    TODO Analysis deadline
>  minimal:    TODO Read Dune
> Day-agenda (W33):
> Friday     19 August 2011
>               8:00...... ----------------
>              10:00...... ----------------
>              12:00...... ----------------
>              14:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    15:00...... Deadline:   TODO Analysis deadline
>              16:00...... ----------------
>              18:00...... ----------------
>              20:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    Sched.207x:  TODO RooStats tutorial
> ================================================
> 
> 
> 
> ** Now with org 7.7, same emacs.
> emacs init file now loads a more recent version of org and sets org-agenda-include-all-todo:
> ======================== ~/.emacs-minimal ========================
> ;; use more recent org
> (add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "~/.emacs.d/src/org/lisp"))
> (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.\\(org\\  |org_archive\\|txt\\)$" . org-mode))
> (setq org-agenda-files '("~/planning/minimal.org"))
> (require 'org-install)
> (require 'org-habit)
> 
> ;;; expecting to get the TODO items in the daily agenda view!
> ;;;
> (setq org-agenda-include-all-todo t)
> 
> (global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
> ================================================
> 
> Now, the same `C-c a a’ yields
> 
> ======================== Week view ========================
> Week-agenda (W33):
> Monday     15 August 2011 W33
> Tuesday    16 August 2011
> Wednesday  17 August 2011
> Thursday   18 August 2011
> Friday     19 August 2011
>               8:00...... ----------------
>               9:26...... now - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>              10:00...... ----------------
>              12:00...... ----------------
>              14:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    15:00...... Deadline:   TODO Analysis deadline
>              16:00...... ----------------
>              18:00...... ----------------
>              20:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    Sched.207x:  TODO RooStats tutorial
> Saturday   20 August 2011
> Sunday     21 August 2011
> ================================================
> 
> ======================== Day view ========================
> Day-agenda (W33):
> Friday     19 August 2011
>               8:00...... ----------------
>              10:00...... ----------------
>              12:00...... ----------------
>              14:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    15:00...... Deadline:   TODO Analysis deadline
>              16:00...... ----------------
>              18:00...... ----------------
>              20:00...... ----------------
>  minimal:    Sched.207x:  TODO RooStats tutorial
> ================================================
> 
> No more TODO overview, even with org-agenda-include-all-todo set. Clearly, it’s not only deprecated, but completely ignored. Hence, it should be removed.
> 
> 
> I hope I’ve managed to better describe the problems I had :-)


Great summary, thanks Peter.

The ability to automatically include the TODO list in the agenda
was a very old one, left over from times when there was no separate
view to look onto the TODO list.  And I do not think it should be added back in, in fact,
some updating of the docs and cleaning up of variable names would be useful.

The two main issues you are having are these:

1. There is no simple way for beginners to get both TODO and agenda in one view
2. Moving through time does not work in a block view when the cursor is in the TODO list.

Maybe we can find ways to address these two issues?  For example, including a built-in command
for this double view, or seeding org-agenda-custom-commands with this particular block?

The 2. issue comes about because in a bock agenda, org only update the local block to save time,
and in a TODO list it does not make sense to move through time.  This could be fixed by checking
for an agenda block and updating that one instead.  I will take a look at this and make a proposal.

- Carsten

> 
> Cheers and thanks for the help!
> Peter.

- Carsten