First steps in customizing org-mode

First steps in customizing org-mode

[Giulio Petrucci]

Hello there,

this is my first post here so let me introduce myself: my name is
Giulio, or "petrux" for friends. I am italian. I am a PhD candidate at
University of Trento and I've been working for many years as a
developer before "going back to school".
I use Emacs for almost everything. I love org-mode and I would like to
start using it at an higher level.
So, I would like to heavily customize it.
I am experiencing some problems that come from MOSTLY my un-expertise
in Lisp/EmacsLisp -- which I am actually trying to recover.

Another problem that I am eperiencing is that it is very hard for me
to find documentation about the org-mode function and variables.
For this specific issue, is there any resource that shows you *what*
you can do *and how* to do it?

Thanks,
Giulio

P.S. here is an example of what I mean. I have learned from some
examples that I can customize my agenda views acting on the
org-agenda-custom-commands variable. If I google for that variable's
name, I end up in some pages not telling me that much about that
variable, how to customize it  and so on. So what I need is an
exaustive list of "In org-mode, you can do this and this and this..."
for beginner.

--

Re: First steps in customizing org-mode

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Giulio Petrucci <giulio.petrucci@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello there,
>
> this is my first post here so let me introduce myself: my name is
> Giulio, or "petrux" for friends. I am italian. I am a PhD candidate at
> University of Trento and I've been working for many years as a
> developer before "going back to school".
> I use Emacs for almost everything. I love org-mode and I would like to
> start using it at an higher level.
> So, I would like to heavily customize it.
> I am experiencing some problems that come from MOSTLY my un-expertise
> in Lisp/EmacsLisp -- which I am actually trying to recover.
>
> Another problem that I am eperiencing is that it is very hard for me
> to find documentation about the org-mode function and variables.
> For this specific issue, is there any resource that shows you *what*
> you can do *and how* to do it?
>
> Thanks,
> Giulio
>
> P.S. here is an example of what I mean. I have learned from some
> examples that I can customize my agenda views acting on the
> org-agenda-custom-commands variable. If I google for that variable's
> name, I end up in some pages not telling me that much about that
> variable, how to customize it  and so on. So what I need is an
> exaustive list of "In org-mode, you can do this and this and this..."
> for beginner.

Google's not the place to look! For once. One of the main principles of
Emacs, and thus of Org mode, is that it is self-documenting. You'll get
a better sense of what `org-agenda-custom-commands' does, and how to use
it, by hitting "C-h v org-agenda-custom-commands" than you will from any
other source. There's even a clickable link to customize it.

If that's not enough, read the manual: "C-h i m Org Mode <RET> g Custom
Agenda Views <RET>".

Do that first, then ask here!

Eric

Re: First steps in customizing org-mode

[James Richardson]

Giulio Petrucci writes:

[snip]
>
> Another problem that I am eperiencing is that it is very hard for me
> to find documentation about the org-mode function and variables.
> For this specific issue, is there any resource that shows you *what*
> you can do *and how* to do it?
>

Outside of http://orgmode.org/worg/, I found
http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html to very useful.

[snip]

-- 
Sent with my mu4e

Re: First steps in customizing org-mode

[Giulio Petrucci]

Hi Eric,

thanks for your reply.

On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 6:02 PM, Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> wrote:
> Google's not the place to look! For once. One of the main principles of
> Emacs, and thus of Org mode, is that it is self-documenting. You'll get
> a better sense of what `org-agenda-custom-commands' does, and how to use
> it, by hitting "C-h v org-agenda-custom-commands" than you will from any
> other source. There's even a clickable link to customize it.

In some sense I strongly disagree with this idea.
Let me explain: it is true that reading the docs for
'org-agenda-custom-commands' helps me more than googling here and
there.
But *first* I have to know that such a variable exists.
So my actual problem is the following: which is the easiest entry
point for the org universe?

Thanks,
Giulio

--

Re: First steps in customizing org-mode

[Thomas S. Dye]

Giulio Petrucci <giulio.petrucci@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Eric,
>
> thanks for your reply.
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 6:02 PM, Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> wrote:
>> Google's not the place to look! For once. One of the main principles of
>> Emacs, and thus of Org mode, is that it is self-documenting. You'll get
>> a better sense of what `org-agenda-custom-commands' does, and how to use
>> it, by hitting "C-h v org-agenda-custom-commands" than you will from any
>> other source. There's even a clickable link to customize it.
>
> In some sense I strongly disagree with this idea.
> Let me explain: it is true that reading the docs for
> 'org-agenda-custom-commands' helps me more than googling here and
> there.
> But *first* I have to know that such a variable exists.
> So my actual problem is the following: which is the easiest entry
> point for the org universe?

There are likely many answers to this question, depending on your goals
and computer skill level.

Worg says the Tutorials page is your best starting point:

http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/index.html

Carsten Dominick put together the Org guide (later translated into
Spanish) for this purpose:

http://orgmode.org/guide/index.html

I find the helm interface super useful for finding Org mode variables
and functions.  Type in a couple of key words and the list of candidates
is usually short enough to browse helpfully.  In a way, it is like
Google for the emacs universe.

hth,
Tom

-- 
Thomas S. Dye
http://www.tsdye.com

Re: First steps in customizing org-mode

[Eric S Fraga]

On Saturday, 10 Oct 2015 at 10:08, Giulio Petrucci wrote:

[...]

> In some sense I strongly disagree with this idea.
> Let me explain: it is true that reading the docs for
> 'org-agenda-custom-commands' helps me more than googling here and
> there.
> But *first* I have to know that such a variable exists.
> So my actual problem is the following: which is the easiest entry
> point for the org universe?

Tom has already pointed you to the tutorial and the online guide.

Another route is the Emacs built-in help system.  You can find commands
containing any word using C-h a, e.g. for agenda commands: C-h a agenda
RET.

You can see the description of any variable using C-h v variable
RET.  If you don't know the name of the variable, you can search for
variables that contain the word using the TAB key but noting that TAB
completion has some interesting options for variable searches:

C-h v word TAB :: show list of variables starting with word.
C-h v -word TAB :: show list of variables containing word

and combinations such as

C-h v org-agenda TAB
C-h v org--agenda TAB

Play and see.
-- 
: Eric S Fraga (0xFFFCF67D), Emacs 25.0.50.2, Org release_8.3.2-161-gd2ac25