Column view bugs

["Scott Jaderholm" <jaderholm@gmail.com>]

Carsten,

I took a closer look at column view today and really liked what I saw.
It seems to have gotten a lot better since I tried it on 5.01, but it
may just be that I understood the implementation this time around.

I think it works very well and I am very surprised it hasn't gotten
more use. I did find a few bugs however, and I think this may be what
has deterred people from using it more.

Bug #1
You cannot set the property with C-c C-x p in column view unless the
properties drawer is already created. It will say text is read-only
after prompting you for property and value.

Since you can edit properties fine if there is a property drawer, it
seems like we should be able to just create a property drawer if it
doesn't already exist.

Feature Request #1
Is it hard to allow setting TODO and tag setting with normal commands
while on the heading in column view?

Bug #2
M-f M-b jump around in a confusing way in column view. Maybe just make
them like C-f and C-b?

Feature Request #2
Is it hard to allow editing of headings with e in column view?

Bug #3
C-c C-x p fails if there isn't a newline after the current heading.
Put * Heading at bottom of file and try adding a property. I get Wrong
type argument: number-or-marker-p, nil

Feature Request #3
I think a currency sum type would be a nice addition.

Bug #4
I don't think column summaries work without a column width. I get
"Format specifier doesn't match argument type" with the following

* Equipment
  :PROPERTIES:
  :COLUMNS:  %32ITEM %Cost{+}
  :END:
** Item 1
   :PROPERTIES:
   :Cost:     10
   :END:

Bug #5
If * Heading is the first thing in a file, pressing e in column view
on that will give Args out of range errors.

Bug #6
If you have a blank line in buffer and then this
* Heading
** Subheading

If there is no newline after Subheading and you try to use e on any of
it's columns you will get an End of buffer message

Bug #7
With the example above, if there is a newline after Subheading, you
can edit priority and tags fine but editing TODO on Subheading or
Heading butcher the "* Heading" line. Setting TODO on Heading will
replace "* Heading" with " TODO ng" and give a message "before first
heading." Setting TODO on Subheading will give similar results.

Thought #1
I'm not sure having the column headings at the top of the buffer is
the best place if you have multiple level 1 headings in one file and
the level 1 heading you're editing in column view is not the first. In
tall windows with long files you the column headings can turn up
really far from the actual columns. I don't know, maybe it is easiest
to put it at the top, but you might think about putting it above the
level 1 heading of the list in column view or even right above the
first list in column view.

Feature Request #4
Is having the column view print practical? What about export?

Bug #8
M-S-right is really nice, but it doesn't work if you haven't already
defined your COLUMNS. Either it shouldn't prompt for info or it should
create a COLUMNS for you (my preference).

Bug #9
M-S-left asks if you want to remove column, such as PRIORITY, but it
doesn't actually do it when you're not using your own COLUMNS

Bug #10
M-right and M-left behave differently depending on whether COLUMNS is
defined or not.

Thanks!
--Scott