Re: Time range between now and timestamp

[Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com>]

Alexander Wingård <alexander.wingard@gmail.com> wrote:

> Let's say I have this:
> 
> <2011-09-15 Thu>--<2011-09-16 Fri>
> 
> and I put my cursor over this and press C-c C-y my minibuffer will
> spit out 1 day.
> 
> I would like a command that does the same thing if i execute it over
> just <2011-09-16 Fri>.
> 
> Sometimes I'm interested in how much time there is left to a specific
> appointment.
> 

Here is one way to do it:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(defun aw/org-evaluate-time-range (&optional to-buffer)
  (interactive)
  (if (org-at-date-range-p t)
      (org-evaluate-time-range to-buffer)
    ;; otherwise, make a time range in a temp buffer and run o-e-t-r there
    (let ((headline (buffer-substring (point-at-bol) (point-at-eol))))
      (with-temp-buffer
	(insert headline)
	(goto-char (point-at-bol))
	(re-search-forward org-ts-regexp (point-at-eol) t)
	(if (not (org-at-timestamp-p t))
	    (error "No timestamp here"))
	(goto-char (match-beginning 0))
	(org-insert-time-stamp (current-time) nil nil)
	(insert "--")
	(org-evaluate-time-range to-buffer)))))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

There are probably better implementations; also, you might be able to advise
o-e-t-r, instead of writing a new function, which would have the advantage
of preserving the key binding.

AFAICT, the above works with dates in the past as well, but it always gives
the absolute value of the difference.

Nick

> 
> On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:37 PM, Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com> wrote:
> > Alexander Wingård <alexander.wingard@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi!
> >>
> >> I really would want to have a command that given the cursor is over a
> >> timestamp would output the time-range from the current time to that
> >> timestamp.
> >>
> >
> > Can you please provide an example? I can interpret this
> > in a couple of different ways and I'm not sure what you
> > want.
> >
> > Also, when you say "output", do you mean that the function
> > should return e.g. a string representation of whatever it is
> > you want? Or print the result in the minibuffer?
> > Or insert it in the buffer you are editing? (and, if the last,
> > where?)
> >
> > Nick
> >
>