Statistic cookies for headings and list items

Statistic cookies for headings and list items

[Michael Brand]

Is this all intended behaviour?

When I start with ~C-c C-c~ on [ of line A, Org seems to count list items:

* [0/2] A
- [ ] B
- [ ] C
** DONE D

Then ~S-<left>~ on line D seems to count subheadings:

* [0/1] A
- [ ] B
- [ ] C
** TODO D

Then ~C-c C-c~ on [ of line A seems to count list items again:

* [0/2] A
- [ ] B
- [ ] C
** TODO D

Then ~C-c -~ on line D makes D a subitem which makes no sense to me:

* [0/2] A
- [ ] B
- [ ] C
  - [ ] D

But when I start with this:

#+STARTUP: indent
* [0/2] A
- [ ] B
- [ ] C
** TODO D

Then ~C-c -~ on line D makes D a sibling which I prefer to the above:

#+STARTUP: indent
* [0/2] A
- [ ] B
- [ ] C
- [ ] D

Except that the automatic update like ~C-c C-c~ on [ of line A is missing:

#+STARTUP: indent
* [0/3] A
- [ ] B
- [ ] C
- [ ] D

(This is Org on today's master.)

Michael

Re: Statistic cookies for headings and list items

[Bastien]

Hi Michael,

thanks for reporting this.

Michael Brand <michael.ch.brand@gmail.com> writes:

> Is this all intended behaviour?

Well, no, I think the current behavior is confusing.

> When I start with ~C-c C-c~ on [ of line A, Org seems to count list items:
> Then ~S-<left>~ on line D seems to count subheadings:
> Then ~C-c C-c~ on [ of line A seems to count list items again:
> Then ~C-c -~ on line D makes D a subitem which makes no sense to me:
> But when I start with this:
> Then ~C-c -~ on line D makes D a sibling which I prefer to the above:
> Except that the automatic update like ~C-c C-c~ on [ of line A is missing:

I believe we cannot fix this without a discussion on the design first.

Here are a few solutions I can imagine:

1. when an entry contains both a list (as its direct contents) and
   subheadings, only consider subheadings in the stats calculation.

2. when an entry contains both a list (as its direct contents) and
   subheadings, only consider the list in the calculation.

3. if one of the two options above, allow the user to use a custom
   property to change the default (e.g. CUSTOM_STATS: list/headings)
   and consider the list of the subheadings.

4. add a new syntax rule to consider that stats at the beginning of 
   a headline are always for subheadings, while stats at the end of 
   a headline are always for the first list in direct contents.

I'd be in favor of (1) (without (3)) to keep things simple, but 
maybe that's a good opportunity to consider (4).  I think (3) is
only relevant if we go for (2), which I don't really like.

What do you think?

-- 
 Bastien

Re: Statistic cookies for headings and list items

[Eric S Fraga]

On Monday,  1 Jun 2020 at 15:29, Bastien wrote:
> I believe we cannot fix this without a discussion on the design first.

Good to be able to discuss this.  I won't repeat the options but will
give my own views as I do use statistic cookies quite a bit.

I would accept either 1 and/or 2 with or without 3.  However, I do not
like option 4 at all as this would simply lead to confusion.  There is
no obvious way to understand the implication of the placement of the
cookie by looking at it.

However, what I would really like to have is the option to include both
lists and subheadings (recursively) in the statistics, i.e. count all
below a given point whether the entries appear as a direct contents list
or lists within subheadings.  I usually end up with lists of lists,
which is fine (and very lispy... ;-)), but when these get long, they are
harder to navigate and hide/open than headings are.

(note: it could be that what I want is ready possible as I'm often
caught out on this list for missing existing functionality.  If so, I
again apologise!)

Thank you!
-- 
: Eric S Fraga via Emacs 28.0.50, Org release_9.3.6-640-g9bc0cc

Re: Statistic cookies for headings and list items

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

Bastien <bzg@gnu.org> writes:

> Here are a few solutions I can imagine:
>
> 1. when an entry contains both a list (as its direct contents) and
>    subheadings, only consider subheadings in the stats calculation.
>
> 2. when an entry contains both a list (as its direct contents) and
>    subheadings, only consider the list in the calculation.
>
> 3. if one of the two options above, allow the user to use a custom
>    property to change the default (e.g. CUSTOM_STATS: list/headings)
>    and consider the list of the subheadings.
>
> 4. add a new syntax rule to consider that stats at the beginning of 
>    a headline are always for subheadings, while stats at the end of 
>    a headline are always for the first list in direct contents.
>
> I'd be in favor of (1) (without (3)) to keep things simple, but 
> maybe that's a good opportunity to consider (4).  I think (3) is
> only relevant if we go for (2), which I don't really like.
>
> What do you think?

Isn't COOKIE_DATA property there to disambiguate this situation?

Regards,
-- 
Nicolas Goaziou

Re: Statistic cookies for headings and list items

[Bastien]

Hi,

Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr> writes:

> Isn't COOKIE_DATA property there to disambiguate this situation?

Indeed!  

FWIW, I fixed a remaining glitch in this area: with COOKIE_DATA set to
"todo", hitting C-c C-c on a checkbox list in a heading still resulted
in the statistics cookie being updated.

I'm closing this now.

Thanks,

-- 
 Bastien