Re: Extending timeclock.el

[John Task <q01@disroot.org>]

John Wiegley <johnw@gnu.org> writes:

> Hi fellow John

Hello.  Thanks for the quick reply.

> If you do extend the _format_, it's likely you may break some of the other
> tools that process timelog data. So if you choose to make an enriched format,
> it would be useful if you provided a way to export this data back to flat
> timelog form (such as by stripping comments). Then I could go from
> timeclock-modern format -> timeclock format -> ledger, for example.

I have thought about this issue, too.  In principle, the format should
remain unchanged _unless_ the user opts into the new workflow I'll
add, which indeed is not backward compatible.  If the user doesn't do
so, the only new thing will be statistic reports and a parser they can
use with their existent timelog files, again without any changes.

Regarding the export option, I haven't thought about that, but it
should be feasible.  So, if you think users who opt into the new
behaviour would also like to retain a way to use that data with
existent tools, I'll work in that.  But keep in mind that such data
could be pretty different to that of other timeclock users, because
they won't track, say, 8 hours per day, but rather pretty much
everything they do.

Best regards.