Re: Suggestion: Jump points

[Rick Moynihan <rick@calicojack.co.uk>]

Eddward DeVilla wrote:
> On 7/11/07, Rick Moynihan <rick@calicojack.co.uk> wrote:
>> Is this something people might find useful?  I personally find I spend a
>> lot of time trying to re-acquire my previous context within a particular
>> task, something like this might help.
>>
>> Actually, after thinking about this; I realise that Emacs has bookmarks
>> (a feature I've not yet put to use) perhaps a better idea would be to
>> integrate these with org-mode and visiting the file via the agenda?
>>
>> What do people think?
> 
> I'm not sure I understand it.  You place a token (you were using ++)
> in the body under an outline item.  Then when you select the item from
> agenda, instead of putting the cursor on that headline, it will look
> for (the first?) line with that token in it's subtree.  If the token
> does not exist in the subtree it just places the cursor on the
> heading.  Is this what you are suggesting?  (If not then the rest of
> my comment may be off.)

Apologies for my poor explanation but yes this is precisely what I'm 
talking about.

> First, I avoid losing context in a different way.  I have one emacs
> session that is always running to take care of 'administrative matter'
> and it is were I do most of my org-mode/project planning and tracking.
>  When I'm in the middle of doing something with a project, I have it's
> tree open in an indirect buffer.  I have one frame with just agenda's
> todo list in it for reporting and another frame with three windows (or
> so) so I can look at a few things at once.  Since each project is in
> it's own buffer, I can get context just be where I left the cursor.
> For my uses, what I would love is a way to have org-mode remember how
> a subtree was folded so I could hide a subtree and then reopen it
> later with all of it children exposed or hidden as they were before.
> I like to use hiding for context in a project, but I get by without
> it.

I've never knowingly used indirect buffers, and I'll certainly take a 
look at them as I can see how I might find them useful.  I frequently 
use org-narrow-to-subtree which I find useful for hiding irrelevant 
details.  Incidentally it would be nice to be able to set follow mode to 
automatically narrow to the current agenda selection.

I've personally taken to using follow mode, and having my org-mode Emacs 
session split vertically into two panes, with the agenda on the right. 
I then navigate my org file via the open agenda buffer with follow mode. 
  I'm guessing that your method doesn't (easily) allow you to jump from 
the agenda to your projects indirect buffer, which is a feature I quite 
like using.

> Getting back to your suggestion, I have an idea.  First pick a good
> token.  I don't care for ++ because it means something in C code, but
> I think you could get a way with picking your own token here.  Next, I
> wonder if there is a search subtree?  I didn't see it in on a quick
> search of the manual, but I could have missed it if it exists.  If it
> doesn't exist, I think it might be handy here and in other places.
> With a subtree search, you could search out the token after agenda
> takes you to the project tree.  You could make a custom key binding to
> search for you token.  Also, if there is a hook that runs after agenda
> takes you to a heading, you might be able to put this search there.
> 
> That all depends on a few things.  Does subtree search exist or should
> it?  Is a key binding good enough for a find-next-jump-point function?
>  Is there (or should there be) a hook that runs after agenda takes you
> to a heading?

Good suggestions, and it did occur to me that I might be able to 
implement this as a personal extension to org-mode, and I'm sure for 
someone with good Emacs fu, this would take 5 minutes.  For me?  Well it 
might be a nice motivating exercise to learn some more elisp :)

Anyway, it's always good to have a discussion about how people are using 
and extending org-mode.

R.