Re: Suggested Syntax for cancelled checkboxes: [-] as non-blocking dependency

[Ihor Radchenko]

Karl Voit <devnull@Karl-Voit.at> writes:

> I was using list checkboxes like that:
>
> - [ ] open task
> - [X] closed task
> - [-] cancelled task
>
> The latter one is supported via C-u C-u C-c C-c.

>From the manual (5.6 Checkboxes):

‘C-c C-x C-b’ (‘org-toggle-checkbox’)
     Toggle checkbox status or—with prefix argument—checkbox presence at
     point.  With double prefix argument, set it to ‘[-]’, which is
     considered to be an intermediate state.

[-] is not considered done by our conventions

   Here is an example of a checkbox list.

     * TODO Organize party [2/4]
       - [-] call people [1/3]
         - [ ] Peter
         - [X] Sarah
         - [ ] Sam
       - [X] order food
       - [ ] think about what music to play
       - [X] talk to the neighbors

> However, when I'm using:
>
> (setq org-enforce-todo-checkbox-dependencies t)
>
> ... any [-] checkbox will be regarded as non-finished contrary to
> the behavior of TODO/DONE/CANCELLED heading states.
>
> As a workaround, I may use:
>
> - +[ ]+ cancelled task
>
> ... but this is tedious.
>
> Therefore I'm asking if this might be a viable syntax change:
> handling [-] list items similar to CANCELLED headings as
> non-blocking when used with org-enforce-todo-checkbox-dependencies.

As you can see, we already have conflicting convention, and we cannot
change it without breaking backwards compatibility.

`org-block-todo-from-checkboxes', currently uses

(org-list-search-forward
                 (concat (org-item-beginning-re)
                         "\\(?:\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?\\([0-9]+\\|[A-Za-z]\\)\\][ 
\t]*\\)?"
                         "\\[[- ]\\]")
                 end t)

as a condition that some list items are marked incomplete.

So, you can use something like
 - [C] cancelled task

But beware that this is an internal implementation detail that might be
changed in future unless we decide to document the existing behaviour.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko,
Org mode contributor,
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