Re: [Orgmode] Record extra info for each time block

[Francesco Pizzolante]

Hi Matthew,

First of all, thanks for your quick answer.

>> But sometimes, you also need to record some other information related
>> to that time block, for example, the distance you had to drive to go
>> to the meeting or some costs (like parking costs) that you had to pay
>> for it.
>>
>> Example:
>>
>> * Project1
>>   ** Meetings
>>      :LOGBOOK:
>>      CLOCK: [2009-03-02 mon. 10:00]--[2009-03-02 mon. 12:30] =>  2:30
>>             ----> 15 kilometers
>>      CLOCK: [2009-03-03 tue. 09:30]--[2009-03-03 tue. 12:30] =>  3:00
>>             ----> 15 kilometers + 12,00 EUR
>>      :END:
>>
>> Is there a way to record this information? If not, what is your
>> advice?
>>
>
> You could also record this information as properties. E.g.,
>
> ,----
> | * Meetings
> |   :PROPERTIES:
> |   :COLUMNS:  %30ITEM %CLOCKSUM %10distance{+} %10expenses{$}
> |   :END:
> | ** Meeting One
> |    :LOGBOOK:
> |    CLOCK: [2009-04-06 Mon 13:25]--[2009-04-06 Mon 14:37] =>  1:12
> |    :END:
> |    :PROPERTIES:
> |    :distance: 15
> |    :expenses: 13.45
> |    :END:
> | 
> | ** Meeting Two
> |    :LOGBOOK:
> |    CLOCK: [2009-04-06 Mon 16:41]--[2009-04-06 Mon 18:41] =>  2:00
> |    :END:
> |    :PROPERTIES:
> |    :distance: 28
> |    :expenses: 22.31
> |    :END:
> | 
> `----
>
>> Of course, it would be nice to get a final table with everything
>> summed up: total work, total kilometers, total fees.
>
> If you add a column line (as in the example above) you can use column
> view (C-c C-x C-c) to get a nice overview with everything summed up in the top
> heading. Or you could capture the data in a table (C-x C-c i). E.g.,
>
> ,----
> | ** Summary 
> | #+BEGIN: columnview :hlines 1 :id local
> | | ITEM           | CLOCKSUM | distance | expenses |
> | |----------------+----------+----------+----------|
> | | * Meetings     |     3:12 |       43 |    35.76 |
> | | ** Meeting One |     1:12 |       15 |    13.45 |
> | | ** Meeting Two |     2:00 |       28 |    22.31 |
> | #+END:
> `----

Your solution is nice and works but it doesn't fit all my needs:
the distance and expense information are recorded for a headline
but it is not related to a specific "time block".

When I think a little further, I realize that it would be great
to attach information to "time blocks".

Here's, in more details, what I'd like to have. The idea is to
generate 2 views from the same set of information: the first
view would be a "per project" view and a second one, a "per day"
view.

Let's take an example.

Let's assume that we have the following headline view (with new
attributes associated to each time block, in an imaginary syntax):

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---

* Work for April 2009
*** Project 1
    This is project 1.
***** Task 11
      This is task 11.
      :LOGBOOK:
      CLOCK: [2009-04-06 mon. 10:00]--[2009-04-06 mon. 12:30] =>  2:30 + 
expense 10.00
      CLOCK: [2009-04-06 mon. 13:00]--[2009-04-06 mon. 14:00] =>  1:00 + 
distance 15
      :END:
***** Task 12
      This is task 12.
      :LOGBOOK:
      CLOCK: [2009-04-06 mon. 08:00]--[2009-04-06 mon. 10:00] =>  2:00 + 
distance 5
      :END:

*** Project 2
    This is project 2.
***** Task 21
      This is task 21.
      :LOGBOOK:
      CLOCK: [2009-04-06 mon. 15:00]--[2009-04-06 mon. 17:00] =>  2:00
      :END:
***** Task 22
      This is task 22.
      :LOGBOOK:
      CLOCK: [2009-04-06 mon. 14:00]--[2009-04-06 mon. 15:00] =>  1:00
      :END:

*** Project3
    This is project 3.
***** Task 31
      This is task 31.
      :LOGBOOK:
      CLOCK: [2009-04-07 tue. 08:00]--[2009-04-07 tue. 11:30] =>  3:30 + 
expense 10.00 + distance 5
      :END:

--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

This project view is very important as it is the main view for
time clocking on a per project basis.

>From this single view, I would like to be able to generate 2
kinds of exportable tables (in LaTex or other documents -- not
an overlay solution like column view).

The first one would be a summary per project for April 2009 and
would be mainly used by project managers.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---

|-----------------------+-------+----------+----------|
| Description           |  Work | Distance | Expenses |
|-----------------------+-------+----------+----------|
| * Work for April 2009 | 12:00 |       25 |    20.00 |
|-----------------------+-------+----------+----------|
| *** Project 1         |  5:30 |       20 |    10.00 |
| ***** Task 11         |  3:30 |       15 |    10.00 |
| ***** Task 12         |  2:00 |        5 |          |
| *** Project 2         |  3:00 |          |          |
| ***** Task 21         |  2:00 |          |          |
| ***** Task 22         |  1:00 |          |          |
| *** Project 3         |  3:30 |        5 |    10.00 |
| ***** Task 31         |  3:30 |        5 |    10.00 |
|                       |       |          |          |
|-----------------------+-------+----------+----------|

--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

The second one would be a summary per day for the same month and
would be mainly used by a HR manager:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---

|------------+-------+-------+----------+----------|
|       Date |  Work | Extra | Distance | Expenses |
|------------+-------+-------+----------+----------|
|      Total | 12:00 | -4:00 |       25 |    20.00 |
|------------+-------+-------+----------+----------|
| 2009-04-06 |  8:30 |  0:30 |       20 |    10.00 |
| 2009-04-07 |  3:30 | -4:30 |        5 |    10.00 |
|------------+-------+-------+----------+----------|

--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Note, in this view, the "Extra" column where we would record the
extra (or work per day.

For the moment, I'm able to generate the first kind of table
thanks to a dynamic block which captures a column view. But I'm
not able to generate the second one.

Do you have any suggestions on how to achieve that?

Thanks,
Francesco