Re: Categories

[Carsten Dominik <dominik@science.uva.nl>]

On Oct 12, 2007, at 16:12, Richard G Riley wrote:

> Bastien <bzg@altern.org> writes:
>
>> Richard G Riley <rileyrgdev@googlemail.com> writes:
>>
>>>> The CATEGORY property does the same job than the old #+CATEGORY, 
>>>> except
>>>> that its scope is well defined, i.e. we don't need to bother 
>>>> anymore on
>>>> where #+CATEGORY has to be.
>>>
>>> Did you before?
>>
>> IIRC this was a recurrent issue on this list.
>>
>>>> ,----
>>>> | (setq org-remember-templates
>>>> |       '((?c "* %?\n   :PROPERTIES:\n   :CATEGORY: %^{Category}\n  
>>>>  :END:\n\n  %i\n" "~/org/todo.org" "Tasks")))
>>>> `----
>>>
>>> Almost. There is no completion or "pick" for the available 
>>> categories. I
>>> would expect something like a "tab for completion" field similar to 
>>> set
>>> tag for a task.
>>
>> Yes.  We can imagine something like %^c (prompt for a category with
>> proper completion).  But then why not %^s for the SUMMARY property?
>> And %^d for the DESCRIPTION property?  My answer try to avoid going
>> into this, since I (still) think handling properties from within a
>> remember template is a bit too much.  But I might be wrong.
>>
>>>> Inserting properties (including the CATEGORY property) interactively
>>>> from a template looks a bit too much for me.  But not using remember
>>>> very often, and only for taking quick notes -- not editing my main
>>>> Org file.
>>>
>>> I'm not sure I understand. One of the most important task properties 
>>> is
>>> the category I would have though.
>>
>> You can use property inheritance.  Ask your remember template to put 
>> the
>> entry in the right subtree, and use a category for that entry only.
>
> I do. e.g
>
> ,----
> |  '(org-remember-templates
> |
> |            (?e "* %U %^{Title}\n %i\n %a\n" "~/org/todo.org" "Emacs")
> `----
>
> I think we are talking at cross purposes.
>
> A category is the A number one most important property for task
> organization I would have thought.
>
> I can already place them in the right org file section using the
> template and others like it above.
>
> But there appears to be no way to manipulate them then e.g move to 
> other
> category other can cut and paste.
>
> Possibly my total ignorance of "properties" is the issue here as I can
> find no examples of their use or how an end user should utilise them. I
> am assuming from your words here that "category" is merely a property.
>
> ,----
> | > You can use property inheritance.  Ask your remember template to 
> put the
> | > entry in the right subtree, and use a category for that entry only.
> `----
>
> What do you mean the right subtree? I already, through the template, 
> put
> it into the right sub section delimited by the category property. What
> do you mean by "use a category for that entry only"? Do you mean only
> the sub tree has a category property? In this case that is what I have 
> -
> sections of tasks with a category section separating them. e.g
>
> ,----
> | * FaceBook
> |
> | :PROPERTIES:
> | :CATEGORY: FaceBook
> | :END:
> |
> |
> | * Emacs
> |
> | :PROPERTIES:
> | :CATEGORY: Emacs
> | :END:
> |
> | ** [2007-10-12 Fri 15:03] How to use categories in org-mode
> |
> |   [[gnus:nnmaildir%2BMyMail:DevelopmentEmail#874][Email from 
> Bastien: Re: Orgmode Categories]]
> `----
>
> My original question is how to assign the task above to another 
> category
> nice and easily and not using cut and paste? Is it possible? ideally I
> would, as with tags, have the ability to choose from all existing
> categories in use in the current file.

You can add a category property to the entry, and that will overrule the
category that might be inherited from above.  With the latest org-mode 
5.12,
press `C-c C-x p'.  This will prompt you for a property name, enter 
CATEGORY
(using completion).  The it will ask you for the category itself and you
can enter it, again using completion against existing categories (given 
as
properties *anywhere* in the file.  So this will not see the #+CATEGORY 
lines,
only the

   :PROPERTIES:
   :CATEGORY: work
   :END:

definitions.

You can also insert a line

#+PROPERTY: CATEGORY_ALL work home phone whendrunk

to define a complete list of categories.

Note that setting the property wil change the category of the item,
but it will *not* move it to a different place in the file.  If I
understand correctly, this is what you want.

- Carsten