Re: [PATCH] Separate clocksum format for durations >= 1 day

[Nicolas Goaziou <n.goaziou@gmail.com>]

Hello,

Toby Cubitt <tsc25@cantab.net> writes:

> Personally, I find the time duration "123:15" much harder to parse
> mentally than "5d 3:15".
>
> The attached patch adds a new customization option
> `org-time-clocksum-days-format'. When non-nil, this is used instead of
> `org-time-clocksum-format' for clocksum durations longer than 1 day. It
> gets passed three values: # days, # hours, # mins. (Note that you don't
> have to use all three in the format if, say, you don't feel the need to
> display the minutes for such long durations.)
>
> In the patch, I've set the default value for this new customization
> option to a non-nil value. If you prefer to keep the current behaviour as
> the default, just make the default value nil.
>
> Toby
>
>
> PS: I guess the logical extrapolation of this is to add even more
> `org-time-clocksum-[months|years|decades]-format' options. (Or, probably
> better, abandon printf formats for long durations and just add an
> `org-time-clocksum-format-function' option, leaving it up users to define
> a function to format the time as they wish.)
>
> I haven't done this in the patch, because I think "64d 3:15" is no harder
> to parse than "2m 4d 3:15" (plus there's the thorny issue of how many
> days should be in a month). And by the time you get to "535d 3:15"
> vs. "2y 5d 3:15", the duration is so long that you probably don't care
> much about the exact value, except that it's a very long-running task
> indeed!

Thanks for your patch.

I like the idea, but it would be better to avoid introducing yet another
defcustom for this. There is already:

  - org-time-clocksum-format
  - org-time-clocksum-use-fractional
  - org-time-clocksum-fractional-format

As you suggest, I think a better plan is to replace all of them with
a single `org-time-clocksum-display-function'. Its expected value would
be a function accepting 2 arguments: hours and minutes, as numbers and
it should return a string.

We can also provide default functions for current behaviour (i.e.
fractional time and Hs:MM) and for the one you suggest.

It's more work, but it simplifies the whole thing in the end.

What do you think? Do you want to give it a try?


Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou