[O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Hi all, [Apologies to the mods and to all if this goes through twice; I sent from the wrong gmail tab :-[ ] It wouldn't stun me were orgmode already able to do what I have in mind, but trying it and consulting the fine manual didn't suggest that it does. I very much appreciate orgmode's ability to parse the content of a yank for date and time information while entering a timestamp. I think it would be even cooler were orgmode able to parse the content of a selected region and extract the same information, replacing the region with the timestamp created on the basis of the text in the region. It certainly is true that one can select the region, kill it, invoke the datetime prompt, and then yank to achieve the same effect. However, having just done that more than 50 times in a row with a series of dates copied from a webpage, it has occurred to me that the ability to move directly from a selected region to a datetime prompt while skipping the kill and yank steps would have saved more than a hundred key-chords. Not revolutionary, and surely not a high priority, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there in case any of the developers think it worth the time to implement. If not, no biggie. Thanks and best, Brian vdB
[O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Hi all, It wouldn't stun me were orgmode already able to do what I have in mind, but trying it and consulting the fine manual didn't suggest that it does. I very much appreciate orgmode's ability to parse the content of a yank for date and time information while entering a timestamp. I think it would be even cooler were orgmode able to parse the content of a selected region and extract the same information, replacing the region with the timestamp created on the basis of the text in the region. It certainly is true that one can select the region, kill it, invoke the datetime prompt, and then yank to achieve the same effect. However, having just done that more than 50 times in a row with a series of dates copied from a webpage, it has occurred to me that the ability to move directly from a selected region to a datetime prompt while skipping the kill and yank steps would have saved more than a hundred key-chords. Not revolutionary, and surely not a high priority, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there in case any of the developers think it worth the time to implement. If not, no biggie. Thanks and best, Brian vdB
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Brian van den Broek writes: > It wouldn't stun me were orgmode already able to do what I have in > mind, but trying it and consulting the fine manual didn't suggest that > it does. [snip] I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to achieve, but it seems that you could define a keyboard macro for that? Regards, Achim. -- +<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+ Factory and User Sound Singles for Waldorf Blofeld: http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#WaldorfSounds
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
On 6 Oct 2011 21:46, "Achim Gratz" wrote: > > Brian van den Broek writes: > > It wouldn't stun me were orgmode already able to do what I have in > > mind, but trying it and consulting the fine manual didn't suggest that > > it does. > [snip] > > I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to achieve, but it seems that > you could define a keyboard macro for that?> Hi Achim, Thanks for the reply. Indeed one could and perhaps I ought to have; my data was irregular, so I didn't have the hope of quickly creating a robust macro. Since I had to select regions by hand, a macro didn't seem worth it for the kill, invocation of the datetime prompt, and yank within. It just seemed that since orgmode parse text yanked into the dt prompt, it would be in keeping with the general spirit of the mode to parse selected text, too. But, as I said, it isn't a big deal. I've weak elisp and know nothing of orgs internals. But, if there's no uptake, maybe that'd be a small enough coding task for ?e to take some steps to learning :-) Best, Brian vdB
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Hi Brian, On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 12:38 AM, Brian van den Broek wrote: > It just seemed that since orgmode parse text yanked into the dt prompt, it > would be in keeping with the general spirit of the mode to parse selected > text, too. But, as I said, it isn't a big deal. I don't quite understand this, are you saying when I yank text into an org buffer it converts any random time stamp like information into proper org format timestamps? So if I were to kill the following text from some buffer, some random time stamp 2011/10/07 and yank it into an org buffer, it will be converted to some random time stamp <2011-10-07> I have been using org for quite sometime, but I don't think there is any such feature. And if there was, I would say that's too intrusive to assume I want every time information to be stored as timestamps. Or on the other hand, do you mean that the text doesn't change but the text face does? I would think that is a fontlocking issue. If I am misunderstanding, could you please illustrate with a small example? Thanks, -- Suvayu Open source is the future. It sets us free.
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
On 7 October 2011 10:12, suvayu ali wrote: > Hi Brian, > > On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 12:38 AM, Brian van den Broek > wrote: >> It just seemed that since orgmode parse text yanked into the dt prompt, it >> would be in keeping with the general spirit of the mode to parse selected >> text, too. But, as I said, it isn't a big deal. > > I don't quite understand this, are you saying when I yank text into an > org buffer it converts any random time stamp like information into > proper org format timestamps? So if I were to kill the following text > from some buffer, > > some random time stamp 2011/10/07 > > and yank it into an org buffer, it will be converted to > > some random time stamp <2011-10-07> > > I have been using org for quite sometime, but I don't think there is > any such feature. And if there was, I would say that's too intrusive > to assume I want every time information to be stored as timestamps. Or > on the other hand, do you mean that the text doesn't change but the > text face does? I would think that is a fontlocking issue. > > If I am misunderstanding, could you please illustrate with a small example? Hi Suvayu and all, It is clear that I've not been clear. I'll explain and then let it go. :-) Say I have a buffer with the following contents: <--> Some text in a buffer with orgmode enabled. Blah blah, Tuesday at 3pm blah blah September 19, 2003, 14:00-15:00 blah blah <--> As it is now, if I kill the text "Tuesday at 3pm", and with cursor where I killed hit C-u C-c . to invoke org-time-stamp with prefix argument, and then yank the just killed text into the resulting prompt, and repeat for the text "Sept. ... 15:00", I get <--> Some text in a buffer with orgmode enabled. Blah blah, <2011-10-11 Tue 15:00> blah blah <2003-09-19 Fri 14:00-15:00> blah blah <--> (the exact way the org-time-stamp command interprets the text is a function of the date that it is run and of the value of org-read-date-prefer-future, and possibly other variables, too.) What I was suggesting was it would be cool and a small time-saver if I could select the text "Tuesday at 3pm" and hit C-u C-c . and have the region replaced with the stamp <2011-10-11 Tue 15:00>, entirely bypassing the kill and yank steps. (Achim correctly suggested that what I want to do could be done with a keyboard macro. I still think it would be neat.) The reason that I suggested it is that I'd tried it, half-expecting it to work. It seems to me that orgmode is pretty good at making my life easier and this is a (very small) way in which it could, but doesn't currently. Certainly, if I am killing text to yank into the datetime prompt, there is a high likelihood that what I really want to do is to replace that text with a timestamp that org derives from it. So, why not enable that in one swell foop? I hope that has made my suggestion clear. I'm sorry I was unclear earlier and thus created a bit of noise. Best, Brian vdB
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Brian van den Broek wrote: > ... > Say I have a buffer with the following contents: > > <--> > Some text in a buffer with orgmode enabled. > > Blah blah, Tuesday at 3pm blah blah September 19, 2003, 14:00-15:00 blah blah > <--> > > As it is now, if I kill the text "Tuesday at 3pm", and with cursor > where I killed hit C-u C-c . to invoke org-time-stamp with prefix > argument, and then yank the just killed text into the resulting > prompt, and repeat for the text "Sept. ... 15:00", I get > > <--> > Some text in a buffer with orgmode enabled. > > Blah blah, <2011-10-11 Tue 15:00> blah blah <2003-09-19 Fri > 14:00-15:00> blah blah > <--> > > (the exact way the org-time-stamp command interprets the text is a > function of the date that it is run and of the value of > org-read-date-prefer-future, and possibly other variables, too.) > > What I was suggesting was it would be cool and a small time-saver if I > could select the text "Tuesday at 3pm" and hit C-u C-c . and have the > region replaced with the stamp <2011-10-11 Tue 15:00>, entirely > bypassing the kill and yank steps. (Achim correctly suggested that > what I want to do could be done with a keyboard macro. I still think > it would be neat.) So we are talking about saving two keystrokes: not worth it in my opinion for interactive use (unless you have a bunch of things to do, as you apparently did - macros or a wrapped org-time-stamp assigned to some key is probably the best solution for that). The reason why I don't think that anything more needs to be done in org, is that the major time waster here is *not* the two extra keystrokes: it's selecting the region(s) to cut/paste - I don't see any way to improve that. Nick
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 4:36 PM, Brian van den Broek wrote: > What I was suggesting was it would be cool and a small time-saver if I > could select the text "Tuesday at 3pm" and hit C-u C-c . and have the > region replaced with the stamp <2011-10-11 Tue 15:00>, entirely > bypassing the kill and yank steps. (Achim correctly suggested that > what I want to do could be done with a keyboard macro. I still think > it would be neat.) Ah I see it now, you want the org-timestamp command to work on a region. Maybe you can write your own function with lisp if you are doing this too often. Should be quite simple to try. GL -- Suvayu Open source is the future. It sets us free.
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Hi Brian, suvayu ali writes: > Ah I see it now, you want the org-timestamp command to work on a > region. Maybe you can write your own function with lisp if you are > doing this too often. Should be quite simple to try. Please check `org-loop-over-headlines-in-active-region' from latest git repo and see if using `org-schedule' in the region does what you want. We can actually implement this for `org-timestamp' as well, if relevant. Thanks, -- Bastien
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
On 24 October 2011 08:00, Bastien wrote:
> Hi Brian,
>
> suvayu ali writes:
>
>> Ah I see it now, you want the org-timestamp command to work on a
>> region. Maybe you can write your own function with lisp if you are
>> doing this too often. Should be quite simple to try.
>
> Please check `org-loop-over-headlines-in-active-region' from latest
> git repo and see if using `org-schedule' in the region does what you
> want. We can actually implement this for `org-timestamp' as well,
> if relevant.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Bastien
Hi Bastien,
Thanks for replying and giving this your attention.
Various people upthread convinced me that my feature request wasn't
really worth it. (I do hope it didn't cost you too much time!) So, I
am content to drop it here :-)
That said, it seems only right to respond and let you know how things
sit. Feel free to let it die.
Unless I misunderstood, that does not do what I had in mind.
With a fresh git pull I invoked emacs with
emacs --no-site-file -l minimalorgtestdotemacs test.org
where minimalorgtestdotemacs reads:
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.org\\'" . org-mode))
(global-set-key "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
(global-set-key "\C-cc" 'org-capture)
(global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
(global-set-key "\C-cb" 'org-iswitchb)
(transient-mark-mode 1)
(setq org-loop-over-headlines-in-active-region t)
and test.org reads:
* test
2003-01-26
Versions:
Org-mode version 7.7 (release_7.7.464.g679a0)
GNU Emacs 23.2.1 (i486-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.20.0) of
2010-12-11 on raven, modified by Debian
If I have point and mark on either end of 2003-01-26 and invoke M-x
org-schedule, nothing occurs. By analogy with my original request,
what was desired was for the region to automatically get fed to the
datetime prompt and thus for the test subtree to acquire the scheduled
date of 2003-01-26 without further intervention.
So, thanks again for the attention to the suggestion. I'm more than
happy to let it rest here.
Best,
Brian vdB
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Brian van den Broek writes: [...] > Various people upthread convinced me that my feature request wasn't > really worth it. (I do hope it didn't cost you too much time!) So, I > am content to drop it here :-) but did you try a simple keyboard macro in the end as suggested by the first response? this requires no elisp programming. if your actions consist of selecting region and then applying org-time-stamp on it, the following keystrokes should record the steps necessary to do what you want *after* you have selected the desired region: C-x ( C-w C-c . C-y RET C-x ) (untested sequence of keystrokes) Your macro is now recorded and can be executed by "C-x e" once you have selected a region. You can even save that macro (check the info pages for emacs) and bind it to a key. HTH, eric -- : Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.90.1 : using Org-mode version 7.7 (release_7.7.381.g05ea.dirty)
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
On 26 Oct 2011 09:56, "Eric S Fraga" wrote: > > Brian van den Broek writes: > > [...] > > > Various people upthread convinced me that my feature request wasn't > > really worth it. (I do hope it didn't cost you too much time!) So, I > > am content to drop it here :-) > > but did you try a simple keyboard macro in the end as suggested by the > first response? Hi Eric, I did. That that solution was pointed out helped me see that my suggestion had little value. :--) Thanks, though, for making the effort to give explicit details! Best, Brian vdB
Re: [O] feature suggestion: apply datetime prompt magic to selected region
Hi Brian, Brian van den Broek writes: > I very much appreciate orgmode's ability to parse the content of a > yank for date and time information while entering a timestamp. I think > it would be even cooler were orgmode able to parse the content of a > selected region and extract the same information, replacing the region > with the timestamp created on the basis of the text in the region. I'm not sure I understand: right now, when you select a timestamp and run `C-c .' on it, the selected timestamp is the default prompt. Is this what you have in mind? If not, can you give a clearer example? Thanks! -- Bastien
