Re: Occurance property, or some similar name?

[Matt Lundin <mdl@imapmail.org>]

Christopher Allan Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> writes:

> Matt Lundin <mdl@imapmail.org> writes:
>
>> There is a special property name for active timestamps: TIMESTAMP. You
>> can access the first active timestamp in an entry (either with column
>> view or org-entry-get) via the special property TIMESTAMP. Inactive
>> timestamps = TIMESTAMP_IA.
>>
>
> Hm, that's interesting.  But I'm not talking about a way to access it
> via elisp, I'm talking about a place to actually put it in say, the
> property drawer.  Say:
>
> ** Pick up bike from the shop
>    :PROPERTIES:
>    :OCCURANCE: <2011-04-12 Tue 19:00>
>    :END:
>
> etc.
>
> It's nice to know there's a meta-property for TIMESTAMP, but I'm
> specifically looking for a nice place to put that timestamp away.  This
> is for cleanliness / easy get-set purposes.

O.K. I wasn't clear what you meant by property in the original post.
What about :APPOINTMENT:? 

>> AFAIK, there is no similar built-in function to call on headlines in org
>> files. One can, however, navigate to the timestamp and use the
>> Shift-arrow keys or C-c . to change the appointment.
>
> That's useful, and would change this property even if I put it in such a
> drawer... provided that property already existed.  But what if I want to
> insert something on a currently un-OCCURANCE'd (or whatever) thing?  I
> don't want it to go on the headline, that looks gross.

Here's a simple proof of concept:

(defun my-org-add-occurrence ()
  (interactive)
  (org-set-property "OCCURRENCE" 
		    (concat "<" (org-read-date t) ">")))

It turns...

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* A headline
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

...into...

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* A headline
  :PROPERTIES:
  :OCCURRENCE: <2011-04-12 20:00>
  :END:
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

> I'm partly trying to see if other people want this as much as I do.
> Surely I'm not the only one who finds putting active timestamps on the
> headline or scattered just anywhere in the entry kind of gross?

I keep them right beneath the headline, which I find to be just the
right mix of tidiness and visibility.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* A headline
  <2011-04-12 20:00>
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Best,
Matt