tabular logging of values in habits and other repeating tasks

tabular logging of values in habits and other repeating tasks

[Michael Gilbert]

Hi —

So, I think there must be a way to do this, but I'm stumped. 

Here's what I am trying to set up: I want to be able to log a series of values (rather than just DONE or note) for my habits. For example: "Did I run today?" can be tracked with regular logging. But "OK, you ran. How many miles?" can't, as far as I can tell. I know I can set those tasks to offer up an interface for notes, but each of those notes is a distinct item, right? I want to find a way to leverage the power of orgmode tables/columns by logging a value (or possibly more than one) in a single table with a line for each repetition of the task. So, for one habit the value might be "miles run". I'm a tango dancer, so for another the value might be "minutes of drills done". I can imagine circumstances with more than one column as well. For example, if I were tracking exercise in general, I might want one column for the type of exercise and another for the number of minutes performed.

In general, I am trying to break my ties to a number of simpler data-logging tools (web apps, text files) and just centralize this into Org-Mode where it belongs.

Any advice?

— Michael

Re: tabular logging of values in habits and other repeating tasks

[Darlan Cavalcante Moreira]

You can create a table in the task and possibly a template (with org
capture) to easily add a new line to this table. Whenever you complete the
task you add the information to the table and mark the task as DONE. An
advantage of this is that you can use the org-babel powers to make whatever
you want with the information.

--
Darlan

At Mon, 5 Jul 2010 00:46:38 -0700,
Michael Gilbert <mcg@gilbert.org> wrote:
> 
> performed.
> 
> In general, I am trying to break my ties to a number of simpler
> data-logging tools (web apps, text files) and just centralize this into
> Org-Mode where it belongs.
> 
> Any advice?
> 
> — Michael
> 
> 
> 
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> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
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Re: tabular logging of values in habits and other repeating tasks

[Michael Gilbert]

On Jul 5,2010, at 2:01 AM, Darlan Cavalcante Moreira wrote:

> You can create a table in the task and possibly a template (with org
> capture) to easily add a new line to this table. Whenever you complete the
> task you add the information to the table and mark the task as DONE. An
> advantage of this is that you can use the org-babel powers to make whatever
> you want with the information.

Thank you, Darlan — that is more or less what I thought. But here's the thing (which betrays by rather shallow understanding of org-mode at this point):  I know how to create such a table. But what I don't know is how to get the prompt to enter a new row. The notes function for tasks that are marked done don't navigate you to a previously defined block of text, if I'm not mistaken. So, there would be a lot of hand-navigation to make each entry. Perhaps Im misunderstanding something, but I am seeking the ease of use of the notes prompt, but with each new entry being not a separate note, but a row in that table. Thoughts?

— Michael



> At Mon, 5 Jul 2010 00:46:38 -0700,
> Michael Gilbert <mcg@gilbert.org> wrote:
>> 
>> performed.
>> 
>> In general, I am trying to break my ties to a number of simpler
>> data-logging tools (web apps, text files) and just centralize this into
>> Org-Mode where it belongs.
>> 
>> Any advice?

Re: tabular logging of values in habits and other repeating tasks

[Darlan Cavalcante Moreira]

What I though is something like the task below
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* TODO Running
  :PROPERTIES:
  :STYLE:    habit
  :END:

  | Date             | Place            | Distance |
  |------------------+------------------+----------|
  | [2010-07-03 Sáb] | Park Something   | 6km      |
  | [2010-07-05 Seg] | Some other place | 5km      |
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

You then create a template that adds a line after the hline in the
table. That way the most recent completed task would be in the top.

Whenever you do the task you call org-capture with the template to add a
new line to the table and then mark the task as done. It is true that
adding the line and marking the task as done are not a "single thing", but
with org-capture you can add a line to the table from any buffer without
needing to go until the task heading and the table keeps everything more
organized.

Also, you can give this table a name and do whatever you want with it using
org babel super powers. You could easily calculate the mean distance that
you run, the variance, maybe even plot the distances that you run in each
day (there is probably a way to use the inactive timestamps as values for
the x axis). This would not be possible if you store the information as
notes in the task.

--
Darlan


At Mon, 5 Jul 2010 11:31:59 -0700,
Michael Gilbert <mcg@gilbert.org> wrote:
> 
> On Jul 5,2010, at 2:01 AM, Darlan Cavalcante Moreira wrote:
> 
> > You can create a table in the task and possibly a template (with org
> > capture) to easily add a new line to this table. Whenever you complete the
> > task you add the information to the table and mark the task as DONE. An
> > advantage of this is that you can use the org-babel powers to make whatever
> > you want with the information.
> 
> Thank you, Darlan — that is more or less what I thought. But here's the thing (which betrays by rather shallow understanding of org-mode at this point):  I know how to create such a table. But what I don't know is how to get the prompt to enter a new row. The notes function for tasks that are marked done don't navigate you to a previously defined block of text, if I'm not mistaken. So, there would be a lot of hand-navigation to make each entry. Perhaps Im misunderstanding something, but I am seeking the ease of use of the notes prompt, but with each new entry being not a separate note, but a row in that table. Thoughts?
> 
> — Michael
> 
> 
> 
> > At Mon, 5 Jul 2010 00:46:38 -0700,
> > Michael Gilbert <mcg@gilbert.org> wrote:
> >> 
> >> performed.
> >> 
> >> In general, I am trying to break my ties to a number of simpler
> >> data-logging tools (web apps, text files) and just centralize this into
> >> Org-Mode where it belongs.
> >> 
> >> Any advice?
> 
> 

Re: tabular logging of values in habits and other repeating tasks

[Michael Gilbert]

Darlan —

Thank you for the additional hand-holding. This will be very useful to me. Much obliged!

— Michael


On Jul 5,2010, at 2:06 PM, Darlan Cavalcante Moreira wrote:

> What I though is something like the task below
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> * TODO Running
>  :PROPERTIES:
>  :STYLE:    habit
>  :END:
> 
>  | Date             | Place            | Distance |
>  |------------------+------------------+----------|
>  | [2010-07-03 Sáb] | Park Something   | 6km      |
>  | [2010-07-05 Seg] | Some other place | 5km      |
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> 
> You then create a template that adds a line after the hline in the
> table. That way the most recent completed task would be in the top.
> 
> Whenever you do the task you call org-capture with the template to add a
> new line to the table and then mark the task as done. It is true that
> adding the line and marking the task as done are not a "single thing", but
> with org-capture you can add a line to the table from any buffer without
> needing to go until the task heading and the table keeps everything more
> organized.
> 
> Also, you can give this table a name and do whatever you want with it using
> org babel super powers. You could easily calculate the mean distance that
> you run, the variance, maybe even plot the distances that you run in each
> day (there is probably a way to use the inactive timestamps as values for
> the x axis). This would not be possible if you store the information as
> notes in the task.