Set timestamp duration

Set timestamp duration

[Nuutti Kotivuori]

Hi,

I'd like an easy way to set the duration of an appointment (a
timestamp) after it has been created.

Something like a keybind prompting for a duration (in hours and
minutes or some wiser parser) and then converting the timestamp at
point to have a start time and an end time.

Again, if somebody else sees this useful as well, please chime in,
otherwise I'll just hack it for myself.

Sorry, no keybinding suggestions yet - I'm not too savvy on everything
org-mode has to offer.

-- Naked

Re: Set timestamp duration

[Bastien]

Nuutti Kotivuori <naked@iki.fi> writes:

> I'd like an easy way to set the duration of an appointment (a
> timestamp) after it has been created.

For new appointments, I cannot think of an easier way to insert duration
than inserting it at the prompt.  

For example, to set a appointment for tomorrow from 20:00 to 22:00, you
would do this:

  C-c .         | org-time-stamp
  S-right       | select tomorrow date
  "20:00-22:00" | insert the duration
  return        | you're done!

For existing appointments, just put the point on the timestamp and edit
it as if you were creating it.

Does that help?  

-- 
Bastien

Re: Set timestamp duration

[Nuutti Kotivuori]

Bastien wrote:
> For new appointments, I cannot think of an easier way to insert
> duration than inserting it at the prompt.
>
> For example, to set a appointment for tomorrow from 20:00 to 22:00, you
> would do this:
>
> C-c .         | org-time-stamp
> S-right       | select tomorrow date
> "20:00-22:00" | insert the duration
> return        | you're done!

Yes, I have used this often.

> For existing appointments, just put the point on the timestamp and edit
> it as if you were creating it.

I didn't remember that you could "edit" timestamps so easily - so
that's in improvement.

The problem with that is that when I press C-c . it defaults to the
current date and time when over a timestamp, instead of the time that
is specified on the timestamp - so to modify it, I have to do as much
work as I did when creating it.

> Does that help?  

That helped some, but missed an important point.

For me, the *duration* of an appointment is the main piece of
information I usually have - not when it is going to end. So I don't
want to spend my measly brain cells to consider what's 5 and a half
hours from 11:40, but just say 5:30 as the duration (or 5h30 or 5.5 or
whatever).

But that's not such a biggie.

-- Naked

Re: Re: Set timestamp duration

[Bastien]

Nuutti Kotivuori <naked@iki.fi> writes:

> The problem with that is that when I press C-c . it defaults to the
> current date and time when over a timestamp, instead of the time that
> is specified on the timestamp - so to modify it, I have to do as much
> work as I did when creating it.

I think it should defaults to the date specified by the timestamp, as it
already does when the point is at the end of "<2007-05-16 Wed>--"

> For me, the *duration* of an appointment is the main piece of
> information I usually have - not when it is going to end. So I don't
> want to spend my measly brain cells to consider what's 5 and a half
> hours from 11:40, but just say 5:30 as the duration (or 5h30 or 5.5 or
> whatever).

Yes.  Maybe we could have something like this for duration:

* Pick up Sam at school <2007-05-16 Wed 12:30 +1w :2h>
                                                  ^^^

-- 
Bastien

Re: Re: Set timestamp duration

[Carsten Dominik]

On Sep 20, 2007, at 16:42, Bastien wrote:

> Nuutti Kotivuori <naked@iki.fi> writes:
>
>> The problem with that is that when I press C-c . it defaults to the
>> current date and time when over a timestamp, instead of the time that
>> is specified on the timestamp - so to modify it, I have to do as much
>> work as I did when creating it.
>
> I think it should defaults to the date specified by the timestamp, as 
> it
> already does when the point is at the end of "<2007-05-16 Wed>--"
>
>> For me, the *duration* of an appointment is the main piece of
>> information I usually have - not when it is going to end. So I don't
>> want to spend my measly brain cells to consider what's 5 and a half
>> hours from 11:40, but just say 5:30 as the duration (or 5h30 or 5.5 or
>> whatever).
>
> Yes.  Maybe we could have something like this for duration:
>
> * Pick up Sam at school <2007-05-16 Wed 12:30 +1w :2h>
>                                                   ^^^

Hmmm, I am not in favor of a new syntax inside the time stamp,  but
I would like to think about a special syntax understood by org-read-date
to specify time ranges by something like 10:25+2:30.  Just for those
of us having trouble to compute with the Babylonian base 60 :-)

Comments?

- Carsten