Habits not showing in agenda and no progress graph

Habits not showing in agenda and no progress graph

[John Hendy]

I'm attempting to implement habits for a couple of routine things I
should do at work on a regular basis. I've been following the manual
to set this up:

,-----
| 1. You have enabled the habits module by customizing the variable
org-modules. CHECK
| 2. The habit is a TODO item, with a TODO keyword representing an
open state. CHECK
| 3. The property STYLE is set to the value habit. CHECK
| 4. The TODO has a scheduled date, usually with a .+ style repeat
interval... CHECK
| 5. The TODO may also have minimum and maximum ranges specified by
using the syntax ‘.+2d/3d’... CHECK
| 6. You must also have state logging for the DONE state enabled... THINK SO
`-----

I have mid-year and yearly reviews and *always* kick myself for not
recording things I've done regularly, such that I end up scouring the
earth for details about what I did in emails, calendar items, and org
files. I'd like to do this monthly to save me 2x/year headaches. So...
enter my first attempt at implementing habits:

-----
** todo note down month's accomplishments/contributions
    SCHEDULED: <2011-08-20 Sat .+25d/35d>
   :LOGBOOK:
   - State "done"       from "todo"       [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
   - State "done"       from "todo"       [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
   :END:
   :PROPERTIES:
   :STYLE:    habit
   :LAST_REPEAT: [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
   :END:
-----

Note that above for #6, I said I thought so. I'm saying that as the
todo -> done state appears to be tracked above in my cycling.
Typically, I just get a completed inactive time stamp and it gets
marked done. The fact that it stays open I'm guessing means the habit
is working.

But... I have a couple of questions:

#1: the habits aren't showing up in agenda. I did =C-c a a=, then =v
y= and accepted that I really wanted to see the year. I get no monthly
views of the above habit, despite seeing the minibuffer mode as
"Org-agenda Year Dds Grid Habit" If I press =K=, it tells me that
habits have been turned off, so I know they were on.

#2: I just don't understand this at all (from the manual):

,-----
| What's really useful about habits is that they are displayed along
with a consistency graph,
| to show how consistent you've been at getting that task done in the
past. This graph shows
| every day that the task was done over the past three weeks, with
colors for each day.
|
| Followed by overview of what the colors mean...
`-----

Where is this graph? I don't see any colors. The worg tutorial doesn't
mention the word graph anywhere, and only shows making a table
manually to document progress. It also doesn't mention the word color.

Thanks for any suggestions. It's my first time, so it's probably that
I've missed something silly in my setup or have a typo.


Thanks!
John

Re: Habits not showing in agenda and no progress graph

[Michael Brand]

Hi John

- State logging is working ok as seen from the LOGBOOK.
- A habit task is simply not shown before the SCHEDULED date. Try this
  task state to get an impression of the graph (change TODO and DONE
  keywords to reflect your setup):
  #+begin_src org
    ,* TODO note down month's accomplishments/contributions
    ,  SCHEDULED: <2011-07-25 Mon .+5d/10d>
    ,  :LOGBOOK:
    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-15 Fri 12:00]
    ,  :END:
    ,  :PROPERTIES:
    ,  :STYLE:    habit
    ,  :LAST_REPEAT: [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
    ,  :END:
  #+end_src
- Side note: It seems that like when experimenting you have set the
  task twice to DONE at the same time which is not useful but does not
  hurt to get started with habits.

On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 23:22, John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm attempting to implement habits for a couple of routine things I
> should do at work on a regular basis. I've been following the manual
> to set this up:
>
> ,-----
> | 1. You have enabled the habits module by customizing the variable
> org-modules. CHECK
> | 2. The habit is a TODO item, with a TODO keyword representing an
> open state. CHECK
> | 3. The property STYLE is set to the value habit. CHECK
> | 4. The TODO has a scheduled date, usually with a .+ style repeat
> interval... CHECK
> | 5. The TODO may also have minimum and maximum ranges specified by
> using the syntax ‘.+2d/3d’... CHECK
> | 6. You must also have state logging for the DONE state enabled... THINK SO
> `-----
>
> I have mid-year and yearly reviews and *always* kick myself for not
> recording things I've done regularly, such that I end up scouring the
> earth for details about what I did in emails, calendar items, and org
> files. I'd like to do this monthly to save me 2x/year headaches. So...
> enter my first attempt at implementing habits:
>
> -----
> ** todo note down month's accomplishments/contributions
>    SCHEDULED: <2011-08-20 Sat .+25d/35d>
>   :LOGBOOK:
>   - State "done"       from "todo"       [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
>   - State "done"       from "todo"       [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
>   :END:
>   :PROPERTIES:
>   :STYLE:    habit
>   :LAST_REPEAT: [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
>   :END:
> -----
>
> Note that above for #6, I said I thought so. I'm saying that as the
> todo -> done state appears to be tracked above in my cycling.
> Typically, I just get a completed inactive time stamp and it gets
> marked done. The fact that it stays open I'm guessing means the habit
> is working.
>
> But... I have a couple of questions:
>
> #1: the habits aren't showing up in agenda. I did =C-c a a=, then =v
> y= and accepted that I really wanted to see the year. I get no monthly
> views of the above habit, despite seeing the minibuffer mode as
> "Org-agenda Year Dds Grid Habit" If I press =K=, it tells me that
> habits have been turned off, so I know they were on.
>
> #2: I just don't understand this at all (from the manual):
>
> ,-----
> | What's really useful about habits is that they are displayed along
> with a consistency graph,
> | to show how consistent you've been at getting that task done in the
> past. This graph shows
> | every day that the task was done over the past three weeks, with
> colors for each day.
> |
> | Followed by overview of what the colors mean...
> `-----
>
> Where is this graph? I don't see any colors. The worg tutorial doesn't
> mention the word graph anywhere, and only shows making a table
> manually to document progress. It also doesn't mention the word color.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions. It's my first time, so it's probably that
> I've missed something silly in my setup or have a typo.
>
>
> Thanks!
> John

Re: Habits not showing in agenda and no progress graph

[John Hendy]

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 12:32 AM, Michael Brand
<michael.ch.brand@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi John
>
> - State logging is working ok as seen from the LOGBOOK.

Good to know.

> - A habit task is simply not shown before the SCHEDULED date. Try this
>  task state to get an impression of the graph (change TODO and DONE
>  keywords to reflect your setup):

Ah. That might have done it. I was playing around a bit tonight and
noticed that if I changed the scheduled date, I got a little
multi-colored bar looking thing in agenda week view. Is that the
"graph"?

>  #+begin_src org
>    ,* TODO note down month's accomplishments/contributions
>    ,  SCHEDULED: <2011-07-25 Mon .+5d/10d>
>    ,  :LOGBOOK:
>    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
>    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-15 Fri 12:00]
>    ,  :END:
>    ,  :PROPERTIES:
>    ,  :STYLE:    habit
>    ,  :LAST_REPEAT: [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
>    ,  :END:
>  #+end_src

So... is the "graph" the above? Simply a documented history of habits?
Or is it something else (perhaps the colored thing in agenda view)?

> - Side note: It seems that like when experimenting you have set the
>  task twice to DONE at the same time which is not useful but does not
>  hurt to get started with habits.

Yeah -- it was an accident. I was just verifying that cycling to
"done" didn't really close the task but, indeed, added another state
change note and updated LAST_REPEAT. In real use, I wouldn't do this
more than per the scheduled habit timeline.

Lastly, if that graph *is* the colored bar in agenda, I notice that
it's cutting off most of my text. For example, this updated bit:

,-----
| ** todo note down month's accomplishments/contributions
|    SCHEDULED: <2011-07-22 Fri .+25d/35d>
`-----

Produces this in agenda:

,-----
| Wednesday  27 July 2011
|  eval:       todo note down month's acc                     !
   :eval::
| Thursday   28 July 2011
`-----

The space between "acc" and the "!" is filled with blue, then green,
then a yellow, and then a red square(s). Can one change this
appearance and how early the graph starts?

If that's the "graph," then I guess I just didn't understand how the
display in agenda worked and was mistaken in expecting future events
to show up as I scrolled through the year's view. I think that's fine.
Just wanted to make sure I wasn't messing something up.

The manual still gives the impression that the "graph" will show the
history of my habits, whereas this thing in agenda is only showing
whether I'm ahead, on schedule, or late for this *current* habit.


Thanks for any input,
John


>
> On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 23:22, John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm attempting to implement habits for a couple of routine things I
>> should do at work on a regular basis. I've been following the manual
>> to set this up:
>>
>> ,-----
>> | 1. You have enabled the habits module by customizing the variable
>> org-modules. CHECK
>> | 2. The habit is a TODO item, with a TODO keyword representing an
>> open state. CHECK
>> | 3. The property STYLE is set to the value habit. CHECK
>> | 4. The TODO has a scheduled date, usually with a .+ style repeat
>> interval... CHECK
>> | 5. The TODO may also have minimum and maximum ranges specified by
>> using the syntax ‘.+2d/3d’... CHECK
>> | 6. You must also have state logging for the DONE state enabled... THINK SO
>> `-----
>>
>> I have mid-year and yearly reviews and *always* kick myself for not
>> recording things I've done regularly, such that I end up scouring the
>> earth for details about what I did in emails, calendar items, and org
>> files. I'd like to do this monthly to save me 2x/year headaches. So...
>> enter my first attempt at implementing habits:
>>
>> -----
>> ** todo note down month's accomplishments/contributions
>>    SCHEDULED: <2011-08-20 Sat .+25d/35d>
>>   :LOGBOOK:
>>   - State "done"       from "todo"       [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
>>   - State "done"       from "todo"       [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
>>   :END:
>>   :PROPERTIES:
>>   :STYLE:    habit
>>   :LAST_REPEAT: [2011-07-26 Tue 16:02]
>>   :END:
>> -----
>>
>> Note that above for #6, I said I thought so. I'm saying that as the
>> todo -> done state appears to be tracked above in my cycling.
>> Typically, I just get a completed inactive time stamp and it gets
>> marked done. The fact that it stays open I'm guessing means the habit
>> is working.
>>
>> But... I have a couple of questions:
>>
>> #1: the habits aren't showing up in agenda. I did =C-c a a=, then =v
>> y= and accepted that I really wanted to see the year. I get no monthly
>> views of the above habit, despite seeing the minibuffer mode as
>> "Org-agenda Year Dds Grid Habit" If I press =K=, it tells me that
>> habits have been turned off, so I know they were on.
>>
>> #2: I just don't understand this at all (from the manual):
>>
>> ,-----
>> | What's really useful about habits is that they are displayed along
>> with a consistency graph,
>> | to show how consistent you've been at getting that task done in the
>> past. This graph shows
>> | every day that the task was done over the past three weeks, with
>> colors for each day.
>> |
>> | Followed by overview of what the colors mean...
>> `-----
>>
>> Where is this graph? I don't see any colors. The worg tutorial doesn't
>> mention the word graph anywhere, and only shows making a table
>> manually to document progress. It also doesn't mention the word color.
>>
>> Thanks for any suggestions. It's my first time, so it's probably that
>> I've missed something silly in my setup or have a typo.
>>
>>
>> Thanks!
>> John
>

Re: Habits not showing in agenda and no progress graph

[Michael Brand]

Hi John

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 08:16, John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was playing around a bit tonight and
> noticed that if I changed the scheduled date, I got a little
> multi-colored bar looking thing in agenda week view. Is that the
> "graph"?

yes, see also the PNG link in the first post of John Wiegley, the
author of org-habit.el, in this thread
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/43492

>>  #+begin_src org
>>    ,* TODO note down month's accomplishments/contributions
>>    ,  SCHEDULED: <2011-07-25 Mon .+5d/10d>
>>    ,  :LOGBOOK:
>>    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
>>    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-15 Fri 12:00]
>>    ,  :END:
>>    ,  :PROPERTIES:
>>    ,  :STYLE:    habit
>>    ,  :LAST_REPEAT: [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
>>    ,  :END:
>>  #+end_src
>
> So... is the "graph" the above? Simply a documented history of habits?

no

> Or is it something else (perhaps the colored thing in agenda view)?

yes, the the colored thing in agenda view

> Lastly, if that graph *is* the colored bar in agenda, I notice that
> it's cutting off most of my text. For example, this updated bit:
> [...]
> The space between "acc" and the "!" is filled with blue, then green,
> then a yellow, and then a red square(s). Can one change this
> appearance and how early the graph starts?

I would look in "C-h org-habit TAB" done in an agenda view and maybe
also org-habit.el. (I did not change habit the config yet but
someday/maybe I would like to add somehow in org-habit.el a sort order
within habits of alternatively "remaining days"; now it's "some ratio
of last and remaining days".)

> If that's the "graph," then I guess I just didn't understand how the
> display in agenda worked and was mistaken in expecting future events
> to show up as I scrolled through the year's view. I think that's fine.
> Just wanted to make sure I wasn't messing something up.
>
> The manual still gives the impression that the "graph" will show the
> history of my habits, whereas this thing in agenda is only showing
> whether I'm ahead, on schedule, or late for this *current* habit.

maybe "C-h org-habit-show-habits-only-for-today" works for you?

> Thanks for any input

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/35628
http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/tracking-habits.html

Michael

Re: Habits not showing in agenda and no progress graph

[Memnon Anon]

John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> writes:

> Ah. That might have done it. I was playing around a bit tonight and
> noticed that if I changed the scheduled date, I got a little
> multi-colored bar looking thing in agenda week view. Is that the
> "graph"?

Yes.

>>  #+begin_src org
>>    ,* TODO note down month's accomplishments/contributions
>>    ,  SCHEDULED: <2011-07-25 Mon .+5d/10d>
>>    ,  :LOGBOOK:
>>    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
>>    ,  - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2011-07-15 Fri 12:00]
>>    ,  :END:
>>    ,  :PROPERTIES:
>>    ,  :STYLE:    habit
>>    ,  :LAST_REPEAT: [2011-07-20 Wed 12:00]
>>    ,  :END:
>>  #+end_src
>
> So... is the "graph" the above? Simply a documented history of habits?
> Or is it something else (perhaps the colored thing in agenda view)?

The colored graph in your agenda view.
A setting of 
 org-habit-following-days 7
 org-habit-preceding-days 21
 org-habit-show-habits-only-for-today t
will show that graph, representing the past 3 weeks and the next week
ahead in your *daily* Agenda for today.
If you have a task like "Water plants" that should be done
.+2d/4d, you will see how well you have been keeping up with it:
"*" marks DONE, "!" marks today.
The background color reminds you of the "range" you set up:
Green is great, yellow is okay, red is ... bad ;).

> Lastly, if that graph *is* the colored bar in agenda, I notice that
> it's cutting off most of my text. For example, this updated bit:

Yes, better to keep the headlines short for habits or the graph will cut
it off.

> The space between "acc" and the "!" is filled with blue, then green,
> then a yellow, and then a red square(s). Can one change this
> appearance and how early the graph starts?

See above.

> If that's the "graph," then I guess I just didn't understand how the
> display in agenda worked and was mistaken in expecting future events
> to show up as I scrolled through the year's view. I think that's fine.
> Just wanted to make sure I wasn't messing something up.

From what I read, I don't think org-habit is the tool you want.
I found they work best for fairly regular tasks; I use them for cleaning
tasks like "Do vacuum cleaning .+3d/5d".

> The manual still gives the impression that the "graph" will show the
> history of my habits, whereas this thing in agenda is only showing
> whether I'm ahead, on schedule, or late for this *current* habit.

If you are ahead, on schedule, late for this *current* habit now (!)
and for the past e.g. three weeks (asterisk).

Memnon

Re: Habits not showing in agenda and no progress graph

[John Hendy]

Thanks to both you and Michael for persisting with me!

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 9:26 AM, Memnon Anon
<gegendosenfleisch@googlemail.com> wrote:
> John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Ah. That might have done it. I was playing around a bit tonight and
>> noticed that if I changed the scheduled date, I got a little
>> multi-colored bar looking thing in agenda week view. Is that the
>> "graph"?
>
> Yes.

Got it.

<snip>

> A setting of
>  org-habit-following-days 7
>  org-habit-preceding-days 21
>  org-habit-show-habits-only-for-today t
> will show that graph, representing the past 3 weeks and the next week
> ahead in your *daily* Agenda for today.

I see the bar, but it's just not intuitive to me. Maybe I don't have
enough history, but I see now way that this bar is connected to
anything but the current task. That much I get, seeing the history of
my habits is not making sense.

<snip>

>> If that's the "graph," then I guess I just didn't understand how the
>> display in agenda worked and was mistaken in expecting future events
>> to show up as I scrolled through the year's view. I think that's fine.
>> Just wanted to make sure I wasn't messing something up.
>
> From what I read, I don't think org-habit is the tool you want.
> I found they work best for fairly regular tasks; I use them for cleaning
> tasks like "Do vacuum cleaning .+3d/5d".

Yeah; I don't know that I need the bar. I removed the "style: habit"
property and the functionality seems to be identical except that I get
no colored bar, and all the future events show up rather than only
when they are in the range. That's fine with me. I think I could get
the same with org-habit if I want to keep them out of the agenda
(thought I bet there's a way to fiddle with displayed recurring events
given what org-mode allows anyway).

>
>> The manual still gives the impression that the "graph" will show the
>> history of my habits, whereas this thing in agenda is only showing
>> whether I'm ahead, on schedule, or late for this *current* habit.
>
> If you are ahead, on schedule, late for this *current* habit now (!)
> and for the past e.g. three weeks (asterisk).
>

I think I just must not have history -- I have no asterisk, just
green, blue, yellow, red, and !.


Thanks again to both of you (just responded to this one as the info
was pretty much the same and this one was more recent)
John


> Memnon
>
>
>