Re: FR: multiple or repeating active timestamps in agenda

[Carsten Dominik <dominik@science.uva.nl>]

Hi Austin,

On Jan 21, 2008, at 10:20 PM, Austin Frank wrote:

> Hello!
>
> I'm getting to the point of actually using org for organization (as
> opposed to using it for note taking and publishing and  
> procrastination).
> Currently, when a repeated task is marked as done, it shows up again  
> in
> the agenda on the date of the next occurrence of the task as long as  
> the
> task is scheduled or has a deadline.  I'd like to request two  
> additions
> to this behavior.
>
> First, would it be possible to add this same feature for active
> timestamps that don't occur in a SCHEDULED or DEADLINE line?  I follow
> the advice in the manual and don't use SCHEDULED for meetings, but I  
> do
> have some recurring meetings.  So, for the following entry:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> * Standing Appointments
> ** TODO Meeting with Mike
>   <2008-01-23 Wed 10:00-11:30 +1w>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> I'd like to be able to mark it as done every week, without needing  
> it to
> be SCHEDULED or have a DEADLINE.  Currently, the first time I mark  
> it as
> done, all past and future repetitions are also marked as done.

What is the purpose of marking it done?  It is not going to be on
your agenda after that day, if you have notes for the meeting you
can just add them.  So I don't really see the use of this.

> Second, for some events with only a few repetitions I create multiple
> active timestamps within one entry instead of using a repeating
> timestamp.  So, for example, I have an entry like:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> * Standing Appointments
> ** TODO Swing III
>   <2008-01-21 Mon 19:30-21:30>
>   <2008-01-28 Mon 19:30-21:30>
>   <2008-02-04 Mon 19:30-21:30>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> Given that we can't combine repetition intervals with date ranges (or
> can we?),

No, we cannot.

> would it be possible to add a new behavior to deal with this
> case?  When a TODO entry contains multiple time stamps, all of them
> would show up in the agenda as TODO items.  Marking the item as done
> would use the same logic used for dealing with repeaters, and would
> continue to include the next active timestamp in the agenda as a TODO.
>
> In the past I have dealt with this second case by adding more  
> structure
> to the task:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> * Standing Appointments
> ** Swing III
> *** TODO Week 1
>    <2008-01-21 Mon 19:30-21:30>
> *** TODO Week 2
>    <2008-01-28 Mon 19:30-21:30>
> *** TODO Week 3
>    <2008-02-04 Mon 19:30-21:30>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>

I'd say this is a pretty good way of dealing with a limited amount of  
meetings.

Yes, I am lazy to no implement this, but believe me, time stamp handling
is complex already, in part because I have been adding the new features
one at a time.  Had I know from the start what kind of features would be
goot, time ranges with repeater intervals would probably be in.  Now,  
it is
hard to do.  I'll put it into my tickler file, but no promises....

- Carsten