list of agenda files in a file

list of agenda files in a file

[hymie!]

Greetings.

I'd like to add my _archive files to my agenda.  I don't need the entries
clogging up my day-to-day .org files, but I want the items to still
appear in my agenda.

I found this in the org manual:

>The information to be shown is normally collected from all agenda files,
>the files listed in the variable org-agenda-files[98].
>
>[98] If the value of that variable is not a list, but a single file name,
>then the list of agenda files will be maintained in that external file.

So based on that, I put this in my .emacs file:
  (setq org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/agenda.file.list")))
but I cannot seem to get this to work.

When that file has a plain old list of filenames in it, I get an error
Agenda file ~/org/agenda.file.list is not in `org-mode'

When that file is empty, then there is nothing in my agenda.  I then
tried using C-c [ to add a file to the list, and I end up with
 '(org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/file.org" "~/org/agenda.file.list")))
in my .emacs file.

Am I misunderstanding?  The manual sounds like I can maintain a file
that contains a list of files that the agenda should use.  But I can't
seem to make that happen, either automatically or manually.

What am I doing wrong?

--hymie!    http://lactose.homelinux.net/~hymie    hymie@lactose.homelinux.net

Re: list of agenda files in a file

[Thorsten Jolitz]

hymie@lactose.homelinux.net (hymie!) writes:

> Greetings.
>
> I'd like to add my _archive files to my agenda.  I don't need the entries
> clogging up my day-to-day .org files, but I want the items to still
> appear in my agenda.
>
> I found this in the org manual:
>
>>The information to be shown is normally collected from all agenda files,
>>the files listed in the variable org-agenda-files[98].
>>
>>[98] If the value of that variable is not a list, but a single file name,
>>then the list of agenda files will be maintained in that external file.
>
> So based on that, I put this in my .emacs file:
>   (setq org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/agenda.file.list")))
> but I cannot seem to get this to work.
>
> When that file has a plain old list of filenames in it, I get an error
> Agenda file ~/org/agenda.file.list is not in `org-mode'
>
> When that file is empty, then there is nothing in my agenda.  I then
> tried using C-c [ to add a file to the list, and I end up with
>  '(org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/file.org" "~/org/agenda.file.list")))
> in my .emacs file.
>
> Am I misunderstanding?  The manual sounds like I can maintain a file
> that contains a list of files that the agenda should use.  But I can't
> seem to make that happen, either automatically or manually.
>
> What am I doing wrong?

Read again! =>

,----[ C-h v org-agenda-files RET ]
| org-agenda-files is a variable defined in `org.el'.
| Its value is ("~/git/org/agenda")
| Original value was nil
| 
| Documentation: The files to be used for agenda display.  Entries may
| be added to this list with M-x org-agenda-file-to-front and removed
| with M-x org-remove-file.  You can also use customize to edit the
| list.
| 
| If an entry is a directory, all files in that directory that are
| matched by `org-agenda-file-regexp' will be part of the file list.
| 
| If the value of the variable is not a list but a single file name,
| then                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
| the list of agenda files is actually stored and maintained in that
| file, one agenda file per line.  In this file paths can be given
| relative to `org-directory'.  Tilde expansion and environment variable
| substitution are also made.
| 
| You can customize this variable.
`----

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten

Re: list of agenda files in a file

[hymie!]

In our last episode, the evil Dr. Lacto had captured our hero,
  Thorsten Jolitz <tjolitz@gmail.com>, who said:
>
>Read again! =>

>| If the value of the variable is not a list but a single file name,
>| then                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That's what I did.

   (setq org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/agenda.file.list")))

A single file name.

--hymie!    http://lactose.homelinux.net/~hymie    hymie@lactose.homelinux.net

Re: list of agenda files in a file

[Eric S Fraga]

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On Friday, 19 Sep 2014 at 10:41, hymie! wrote:
> In our last episode, the evil Dr. Lacto had captured our hero,
>   Thorsten Jolitz <tjolitz@gmail.com>, who said:
>>
>>Read again! =>
>
>
>>| If the value of the variable is not a list but a single file name,
>>| then                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> That's what I did.
>
>    (setq org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/agenda.file.list")))

which sets the variable to a list of one string, which is *not* what you
want.  Try

(setq org-agenda-files "~/org/agenda.file.list")

instead.  A single file name versus a list with a single file name are
very different constructs!
-- 
: Eric S Fraga (0xFFFCF67D), Emacs 24.4.50.1, Org release_8.3beta-360-ge17ee8

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Re: list of agenda files in a file

[hymie]

Eric S Fraga writes:
>
>>    (setq org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/agenda.file.list")))
>
>which sets the variable to a list of one string, which is *not* what you
>want.  Try
>(setq org-agenda-files "~/org/agenda.file.list")

Ohhhhh.  Thank you very much.

I have and/or see things like this:
     (setq org-tags-exclude-from-inheritance (quote ("crypt")))
     org-agenda-span (quote month)
     org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/project.org"))

and I know that "cons" makes a list.  I didn't realize that "quote"
also makes a list.

TIL.

--hymie!    http://lactose.homelinux.net/~hymie    hymie@lactose.homelinux.net

Re: list of agenda files in a file

[Nick Dokos]

hymie@lactose.homelinux.net writes:

> Eric S Fraga writes:
>>
>>>    (setq org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/agenda.file.list")))
>>
>>which sets the variable to a list of one string, which is *not* what you
>>want.  Try
>>(setq org-agenda-files "~/org/agenda.file.list")
>
> Ohhhhh.  Thank you very much.
>
> I have and/or see things like this:
>      (setq org-tags-exclude-from-inheritance (quote ("crypt")))
>      org-agenda-span (quote month)
>      org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/project.org"))
>
> and I know that "cons" makes a list.  I didn't realize that "quote"
> also makes a list.
>

`quote' does not make a list - it just prevents evaluation. It's the
inner parentheses you used that made it into a list.

(setq org-agenda-files (quote "~/org/agenda.file.list"))

would work fine, but since strings evaluate to themselves, the quote
is unnecessary in this case.

The point is that lisp generally evaluates arguments to function calls
*before* calling the function (there are things called "special forms"
that do not follow this general rule: e.g setq is a special form that
does not evaluate its first argument). So if you want to call a function
but not evaluate its argument, you have to quote the argument.

-- 
Nick