Extended-period events in agenda views

Extended-period events in agenda views

[Konrad Hinsen]

Hello all,

I have been a happy org-mode user for a while, using more and more of  
org-mode for more and more things. By now I have completely replaced  
my use of iCal (on the Mac) by the org-mode agenda, with no regrets.  
However, there is one feature that I am still trying to get into my  
agenda view, but I didn't find a way to do it yet.

There are a couple of long-lasting "events" that I would like to show  
in my agenda view. A typical example would be school vacation periods,  
but there are others: absences of a colleague, availability of some  
instrument, etc, Their common feature is that they can last very long  
(several weeks) and that they don't really occupy my agenda. I just  
want to know when planning something if a given day is in period X or  
not. So I'd like to see at a glance (using a specific font, color, one- 
letter prefix etc.) if a day falls into a certain predefined period.  
Simply adding a corresponding event to my agenda leads to visual  
clutter: it gets marked on every single day of the period.

Is there any way to get what I am looking for?

Thanks in advance,
   Konrad.

Re: Extended-period events in agenda views

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi Konrad,

On Nov 1, 2010, at 12:32 PM, Konrad Hinsen wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I have been a happy org-mode user for a while, using more and more  
> of org-mode for more and more things. By now I have completely  
> replaced my use of iCal (on the Mac) by the org-mode agenda, with no  
> regrets. However, there is one feature that I am still trying to get  
> into my agenda view, but I didn't find a way to do it yet.
>
> There are a couple of long-lasting "events" that I would like to  
> show in my agenda view. A typical example would be school vacation  
> periods, but there are others: absences of a colleague, availability  
> of some instrument, etc, Their common feature is that they can last  
> very long (several weeks) and that they don't really occupy my  
> agenda. I just want to know when planning something if a given day  
> is in period X or not. So I'd like to see at a glance (using a  
> specific font, color, one-letter prefix etc.) if a day falls into a  
> certain predefined period. Simply adding a corresponding event to my  
> agenda leads to visual clutter: it gets marked on every single day  
> of the period.
>
> Is there any way to get what I am looking for?

I don't think so.  But what I am also missing is a clear idea on *how*  
this event should be generated and *how* it should be displayed.   
Apparently you do not want the event listed in the agenda, but you say  
"maybe a special font".  If the event is not listed, what else should  
be in a general font?

Maybe try to work out a more detailed proposal?

Cheers

- Carsten

Re: Extended-period events in agenda views

[Konrad Hinsen]

Hi Carsten,

On 1 Nov 2010, at 20:55, Carsten Dominik wrote:

> I don't think so.  But what I am also missing is a clear idea on  
> *how* this event should be generated and *how* it should be  
> displayed.  Apparently you do not want the event listed in the  
> agenda, but you say "maybe a special font".  If the event is not  
> listed, what else should be in a general font?

I can think of several ways to do this:

1) a small marker (such as a star) in front of every day in the  
specific period, with a link to the event that caused it. I'd see at a  
glance that the days is special and if I need to know the details,  
they are just a click away. Problem:  if several periods cover the  
same day, what does the link point to? There could be one star per  
special event, as long as their number remains reasonable.

2) Another visual marker for the days concerned, such as a special  
typeface (difficult, since bold and italic are already taken), or a  
different color. Problem: how to get at more detailed information? It  
could be shown in the minibuffer when the cursor is at that day, for  
example.

As for generating the event, a list of day ranges would be just fine.  
They could have some property attached to them to distinguish them  
from ordinary events.

Konrad.

Re: Extended-period events in agenda views

[Chris Thompson]

Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen <at> fastmail.net> writes:

> There are a couple of long-lasting "events" that I would like to show  
> in my agenda view. A typical example would be school vacation periods,  
> but there are others: absences of a colleague, availability of some  
> instrument, etc, Their common feature is that they can last very long  
> (several weeks) and that they don't really occupy my agenda. I just  
> want to know when planning something if a given day is in period X or  
> not. So I'd like to see at a glance (using a specific font, color, one- 
> letter prefix etc.) if a day falls into a certain predefined period.  
> Simply adding a corresponding event to my agenda leads to visual  
> clutter: it gets marked on every single day of the period.
> 
> Is there any way to get what I am looking for?

Just a suggestion... Would Julien Danjou's patch from three days ago adding
support for category icons in the agenda be helpful to you?

-- Chris