Re: [Orgmode] Feature request [7.3]

[Dave Abrahams]

At Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:20:44 +0000,
Eric S Fraga wrote:
> 
> Dave Abrahams <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > When using Org for planning, I often find myself corrupting my Org
> > files.  All kinds of things can go wrong, but the basic issue is that
> 
> I do have a couple of rules I follow to avoid problems. 
> 
> 1. I usually have a blank line between the meta data (scheduled,
>    properties) and any subsequent text, whether part of that entry or
>    the following headline.  I accomplish this by ensuring that my
>    capture templates all insert such a blank line, typically followed by
>    the date of insertion.

Nice idea; I'll get right on it.

> 
> 2. I also always use the =C-c C-d=, =C-c C-s= and =C-c C-x p= sequences
>    to manage the meta data so org takes care of keeping things sane.

Understood; I do that too ... well, sometimes I add properties
manually but only because I forget the keybinding, and I always get
that right because it's trivially easy.  The problems creep in when
I'm not watching carefully and typing fast, or maybe when my
3-year-old visits my keyboard, or... life happens.  Then things can
effectively drop off my TODO list silently, which is really
problematic!  I know there are ways to mitigate the risk, but I really
want a new feature: in general I really don't want Org to *let* me
edit most of the file as plain text most of the time.

> However:
> 
> [...]
> 
> > So I'm requesting some more help from Org in maintaining proper Org
> > syntax.  Could Org have a mode that prevents things from being modified
> > incorrectly?  For example, it'd be awesome if dates were smart (TAB into
> > one, hit return, get a smart date editor).  
> 
> This would be quite nice, even something as simple as having RET, within
> a time stamp, doing the equivalent of org-time-stamp or
> org-time-stamp-inactive depending on the current state of the time
> stamp.

Right.  But Org could be smart about the whole "grammar" of items and
only allow freeform editing where it wouldn't do any serious damage.

> > It'd be great if there were a way to make the ID property
> > read-only (or really really hard to change).
> 
> This is where column mode comes in quite handy?  

Link please?

> I tend to use column mode to edit properties and so I never come
> near the ID property as it usually isn't displayed.

My properties are usually collapsed, so I usually don't see them
either.  But I don't want a special mode.  I want org to understand
and manage its own syntax.

> > I'd love it if there were a way to create a link to an org
> > item that narrows the view to just that item, so I don't inadvertently
> > mess anything else up.  
> 
> org-narrow-to-subtree does some of this...

Yes, some of it, but not all of it.  But the point is that these are
just examples.  I think Org wasn't designed with the idea that it
would end up having much of a "grammar," but it grew one.  I'm arguing
for a UI re-think for the tool Org has become.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com