Re: [Emacs-orgmode] A remember/notepad add on to org-mode

[Carsten Dominik]

On Mar 13, 2006, at 22:33, Philip Rooke wrote:
> I am not quite sure that it is, primarily because I do not think there
> is a way to customise the format of the headline that is inserted to
> give the style of entry that Charles wants.

Yes, this is true.  Right now I am imposing a certain style and don't 
allow a customization of that.  I guess that could be done, but would 
be hard to get general enough to make it work for everyone.

> For a while I did use the org-remember way of jotting notes but in the
> end gave up as it didn't seem to save me much time.  For example:

[...]

Yes, this is correct.  Currently no way to do this.

> I don't suppose though that it is easy to generalise what people
> might want the remember function to do.  Personally I think I would
> find something like the following useful.
>
> 1. Enter plain text like
>
>    ------
>    Something interesting I have just thought of...
>
>    Blah, blah
>    ------
>
>    in the remember buffer and get an entry like
>
>    ------
>    ** [2006-02-24 Fri 11:14] Something interesting I have just thought 
> of...
>
>       Blah, blah
>
>       <file:~/docs/.notes>

I guess this would be easy to generalize, with some kind of format 
variable.

> 2. Enter text with some keyword in the remember buffer e.g.
>
>    ------
>    TODO Something I really must do
>    ------
>
>    and get an entry like
>
>    ------
>    ** TODO Something I really must do
>       DEADLINE: <2006-03-13 Mon 10:27>

This would be harder.  How should we guess the date/time for the 
deadline?

I  also just realize that it might be handy to have org-mode active 
when editing the entry, to be able to do the timestamps and other 
things while editing the entry.

Hmm, I can see two way to modify this:

1. modify the remember mechanism, basically giving the user more rope, 
for example along these lines:
   - by setting a default template that could contain current time 
stamps etc.
   - calling a hook before and after you edid the remember entry, booth 
hooks could be
     used to modify the entry
   - Invoke org-mode for that buffer and install a special key (C-c 
C-c) to get out and file the   entry.  In particular without inserting 
a timestamp after editing, so that TODO entries would remain active.

2. Doing it the way Charles proposed, but just going to the journal 
file and making that entry by hand.  This would give you full control 
about where and how to place the entry.  Disadvantages with this 
approach are that it maybe a little bit less fast to find a certain 
location in the tree.  Also, you would use your window setup.  This is 
one of the nice things in Remember, that you really get back to where 
you started before making the note, without additional actions.

Comments?

- Carsten
--
Carsten Dominik
Sterrenkundig Instituut "Anton Pannekoek"
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Kruislaan 403
NL-1098SJ Amsterdam
phone: +31 20 525 7477