Re: Item ranking system?

[ross@rosslaird.info (Ross A. Laird)]

Matthew Lundin <mdl@imapmail.org> writes:

> Ian Barton <lists@manor-farm.org> writes:
>
>> Ross A. Laird wrote:
>>> I'm sure there are many ways in org to accomplish my goal with this
>>> particular project, which is to create a ranking system for items.
>>> Here's the situation: I have about 200 items that I am evaluating. I
>>> need each item to have a title, a tag, a note, and a ranking from 0 to
>>> 5. Then, I need to be able to sort the items by rank, with items ranked
>>> 5 at the top. I know that I can do this using tables in org, but I
>>> prefer the flexibility of headings (some of the items might have long
>>> notes attached to them, or links, or whatever). Also, I don't think I
>>> can tag individual cells in a table, or operate on cells the way I can
>>> with headings in org (move, refile, show and hide, etc.). So, I'm
>>> looking for something that will allow me to have the best of worlds:
>>> flexibility as with headings, and numerical sorting as with table cells.
>>
>> What about making them all TODO items and using the priority filed for
>> sorting. I don't use priorities myself, so I am not sure if you can
>> change A, B, C, etc to 1, 2, 3.
>
> The easiest way to set custom priorities is to do so in the buffer. You
> could simply add the following line to the top of the relevant file:
>
> #+PRIORITIES: 1 5 3
>
> This line sets 1 as the highest priority, 5 as the lowest priority, and
> 3 as the default priority.
>
> Then, once you have added priorities such as the following...
>
> * A list
> ** [#5] Some item
> ** [#4] Another item
> ** [#2] Yet another item
>
> ...you can sort them by calling org-sort (C-c ^ p) on the heading. (C-c ^
> P will sort them in reverse order.)
>
> The other option here would be to create a "ranking" property for each
> item with predefined entry options. You would still be able to sort the
> list, but you could also view it as columns and capture it in a table
> using dynamic blocks. (Of course, you could also display the priorities
> above in column view.)
>
> #+PROPERTY: RANKING_ALL 1 2 3 4 5
> #+COLUMNS: %40ITEM %10RANKING
>
> * Some item
>   :PROPERTIES:
>   :RANKING:  3
>   :END:
> * Another item
>   :PROPERTIES:
>   :RANKING:  1
>   :END:
> * Yet another item
>   :PROPERTIES:
>   :RANKING:  5
>   :END:
>
> Best,
> Matt
>

Thanks for all the helpful responses. This list is great.

Cheers.

Ross

-- 
Ross A. Laird, PhD
Chair, Department of Creative Writing
Faculty, Interdisciplinary Expressive Arts
Kwantlen Polytechnic University