Thanks for the response. Very helpful.
I figured out since writing it rom light research on column view and the helpful column view video on the emacs site):
1. Parse the daily files to AST (can do this now via a function)
2. Convert the "yaml-ed" fields to :PROPERTY: "drawer" fields (after looking at the Column video on the emacs website)
3. Dump to a temp buffer with the column definition somewhat like what you outlined ahead of it to render (though was not sure how to pass the fields dynamically, but figured could start with fixed)
However, I figured this has to be a common enough(ish) thing that people need to do that it might already been a code snippet function (or even a package) floating around. So, this was more a "does this look like a problem someone has already solved" and where is that package/code kinda question. =] #lazyweb
Otherwise, I'll just wander off and attempt coding it myself over le weekend. =]
thanks!
Daryl.