Using '?' as a todo keyword?

Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[Filippo A. Salustri]

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Hi,

I would like to use "?" as a todo keyword, but org-todo-keywords doesn't
seem to recognize something like "?(?)"
Is punctuation verboten in org-todo-keywords?  Or do I have to escape the
'?' in some way?
Sorry; I checked the doc and couldn't find anything.

I'm running org v 7.5.

Cheers.
Fil

-- 
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: salustri@ryerson.ca
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/

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Re: Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[Nick Dokos]

Filippo A. Salustri <salustri@ryerson.ca> wrote:

> I would like to use "?" as a todo keyword, but org-todo-keywords
> doesn't seem to recognize something like "?(?)"  Is punctuation
> verboten in org-todo-keywords? Or do I have to escape the '?' in some
> way?  Sorry; I checked the doc and couldn't find anything.

> I'm running org v 7.5.
> 

Not sure if things have changed in this area since 7.5, but with latest
I can customize org-todo-keywords and insert "?(?)" as a TODO keyword
with no problems (in *very* light testing). However, IMO it's a bad idea
to use punctuation chars as TODO keywords: if you look at the doc
string, there are plenty of them that have special meaning - personally,
I don't want to bother figuring out which ones are allowed and which
ones are not - so they are all out of bounds AFAIAC. It might be OK to
have something like "QUESTION(?)" or even "WTH?(?)" as TODO states and
that's probably better than a single punctuation chars.

Personally, I've never understood the impetus behind such requests: what
does "?(?)" buy you that "QUESTION(?)" does not?  And I don't mean this
as a rhetorical question: I would like to get an idea of what I'm missing.

Thanks,
Nick

Re: Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[Filippo A. Salustri]

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Maybe I'm just being a little compulsive, but all my states are 1 character
long cuz that's all I really need to distinguish states (plus a little
colour), and it frees up more of a line for the actual task.

Thanks for the info.  I will be upgrading my org as soon as I'm done
grading exams, but in the meantime I'll try the "string(?)" form and see if
that helps.

/fas

On 13 April 2012 13:47, Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com> wrote:

> Filippo A. Salustri <salustri@ryerson.ca> wrote:
>
> > I would like to use "?" as a todo keyword, but org-todo-keywords
> > doesn't seem to recognize something like "?(?)"  Is punctuation
> > verboten in org-todo-keywords? Or do I have to escape the '?' in some
> > way?  Sorry; I checked the doc and couldn't find anything.
>
> > I'm running org v 7.5.
> >
>
> Not sure if things have changed in this area since 7.5, but with latest
> I can customize org-todo-keywords and insert "?(?)" as a TODO keyword
> with no problems (in *very* light testing). However, IMO it's a bad idea
> to use punctuation chars as TODO keywords: if you look at the doc
> string, there are plenty of them that have special meaning - personally,
> I don't want to bother figuring out which ones are allowed and which
> ones are not - so they are all out of bounds AFAIAC. It might be OK to
> have something like "QUESTION(?)" or even "WTH?(?)" as TODO states and
> that's probably better than a single punctuation chars.
>
> Personally, I've never understood the impetus behind such requests: what
> does "?(?)" buy you that "QUESTION(?)" does not?  And I don't mean this
> as a rhetorical question: I would like to get an idea of what I'm missing.
>
> Thanks,
> Nick
>
>
>


-- 
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: salustri@ryerson.ca
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/

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Re: Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[Nick Dokos]

Filippo A. Salustri <salustri@ryerson.ca> wrote:

> Maybe I'm just being a little compulsive, but all my states are 1
> character long cuz that's all I really need to distinguish states
> (plus a little colour), and it frees up more of a line for the actual
> task.

OK - thanks. To each his/her own, I guess. I use long, mnemonic keywords
because I hate going back after six months and having to dig out the
meaning of some obscure reference out of the rubble of my
memory[fn:1]. org is one way to extend my memory so that by spending a
few seconds now, I don't have to waste frustrating minutes or hours in
the future. I also use big screens (256 columns or even bigger
sometimes), so screen real estate is not a consideration for me.

Nick

PS. One habit that I cannot break is writing down a telephone number
(particularly when listening to voice mail) without a name. Finding the
scrap of paper again after a few days is frustrating and yet I seem to
be unable to wean myself from the habit - calling the number to find out
who's on the other end has always seemed crass so I avoid it :-)

Footnotes:

[fn:1] Nowadays, the "six months" are more like "six weeks" or "six
days" and the older I get, the worse it gets...

Re: Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[Filippo A. Salustri]

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If I only used big screens, I'd probably do as you do.
But I travel with an 11" Macbook Air and I use it at least half the time.
I have very few keywords - only about a dozen.
I wanted to use '?' as a general one in a generic org capture template.
 That way I don't have to worry about setting a proper keyword during
capture and I can just get the task down and move on.  Later, during
review, the '?'s stand out against the other alpha keywords, drawing my
attention to them.

Whatever.  Maybe I'll try it again once I've upgraded to 7.8.  It's not a
showstopper.

Thanks again.
/fas

On 13 April 2012 16:22, Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com> wrote:

> Filippo A. Salustri <salustri@ryerson.ca> wrote:
>
> > Maybe I'm just being a little compulsive, but all my states are 1
> > character long cuz that's all I really need to distinguish states
> > (plus a little colour), and it frees up more of a line for the actual
> > task.
>
> OK - thanks. To each his/her own, I guess. I use long, mnemonic keywords
> because I hate going back after six months and having to dig out the
> meaning of some obscure reference out of the rubble of my
> memory[fn:1]. org is one way to extend my memory so that by spending a
> few seconds now, I don't have to waste frustrating minutes or hours in
> the future. I also use big screens (256 columns or even bigger
> sometimes), so screen real estate is not a consideration for me.
>
> Nick
>
> PS. One habit that I cannot break is writing down a telephone number
> (particularly when listening to voice mail) without a name. Finding the
> scrap of paper again after a few days is frustrating and yet I seem to
> be unable to wean myself from the habit - calling the number to find out
> who's on the other end has always seemed crass so I avoid it :-)
>
> Footnotes:
>
> [fn:1] Nowadays, the "six months" are more like "six weeks" or "six
> days" and the older I get, the worse it gets...
>



-- 
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: salustri@ryerson.ca
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/

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Re: Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[Samuel Wales]

I cannot speak for OP's ? but my impetus for non-alpha is separating
words.  I do not like underscores, so I use hyphens and spaces where
they work, for tags, todo keywords, and properties.  I think search
doesn't allow escaping - yet, but otherwise they seem to work for my
purposes.  I do not recommend this, but it's useful.

-- 
The Kafka Pandemic: http://thekafkapandemic.blogspot.com

Re: Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[suvayu ali]

Hi Filippo,

On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 22:28, Filippo A. Salustri <salustri@ryerson.ca> wrote:
> Later, during review, the '?'s stand out against the other alpha keywords,
> drawing my attention to them.

Maybe something like this will help.

(setq org-todo-keyword-faces
      '(("DBUG" . (:background "gold" :foreground "indianred3" :weight bold))
	("LEAK" . (:background "gold" :foreground "indianred3" :weight bold))
	("SEGF" . (:background "gold" :foreground "indianred3" :weight bold))
	("CNCL" . (:background "snow3" :foreground "black" :weight bold))
	))

Of course you would need to change the keywords to what ever you use.

PS: I also don't like long keywords, so I keep them 4 characters long.

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.

Re: Using '?' as a todo keyword?

[Filippo A. Salustri]

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Thanks for the idea.  Yes, I also use colour, but my brain prefers both
colour and mnemonics that work for it.  I do understand it's not for
everyone.
/fas

On 14 April 2012 19:34, suvayu ali <fatkasuvayu+linux@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Filippo,
>
> On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 22:28, Filippo A. Salustri <salustri@ryerson.ca>
> wrote:
> > Later, during review, the '?'s stand out against the other alpha
> keywords,
> > drawing my attention to them.
>
> Maybe something like this will help.
>
> (setq org-todo-keyword-faces
>      '(("DBUG" . (:background "gold" :foreground "indianred3" :weight
> bold))
>        ("LEAK" . (:background "gold" :foreground "indianred3" :weight
> bold))
>        ("SEGF" . (:background "gold" :foreground "indianred3" :weight
> bold))
>        ("CNCL" . (:background "snow3" :foreground "black" :weight bold))
>        ))
>
> Of course you would need to change the keywords to what ever you use.
>
> PS: I also don't like long keywords, so I keep them 4 characters long.
>
> --
> Suvayu
>
> Open source is the future. It sets us free.
>



-- 
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: salustri@ryerson.ca
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/

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