Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Matthew Phillips]

Hello all,

I am trying to get a TODO tags view in my daily agenda just shows the first TODO of a “Project” (a la the “next action” in GTD). This allows me to have a TODO “tags” block in my custom agenda that doesn’t run to several pages: I just see the next action for each project, and, as each action is marked DONE, the next one pops up.

I have *almost* managed to get this working by turning on org-enforce-todo-dependencies, setting “ORDERED: t” as a property on projects, and then using (setq org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks 'invisible).

However, this hides scheduled tasks from the agenda view if they are also blocked (I want them to show up if they are scheduled regardless). It seems that org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks is not supported as a local setting on custom commands, so I can’t just make blocked tasks visible in the agenda view and invisible in the TODO tags query.

Can anyone help? I’d be happy just to write my own skip function, but can’t actually find the API to check for blocked task status.

Cheers,

Matthew.
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Carsten Dominik]

On Mar 11, 2010, at 2:34 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I am trying to get a TODO tags view in my daily agenda just shows  
> the first TODO of a “Project” (a la the “next action” in GTD). This  
> allows me to have a TODO “tags” block in my custom agenda that  
> doesn’t run to several pages: I just see the next action for each  
> project, and, as each action is marked DONE, the next one pops up.
>
> I have *almost* managed to get this working by turning on org- 
> enforce-todo-dependencies, setting “ORDERED: t” as a property on  
> projects, and then using (setq org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks  
> 'invisible).
>
> However, this hides scheduled tasks from the agenda view if they are  
> also blocked (I want them to show up if they are scheduled  
> regardless). It seems that org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks is not  
> supported as a local setting on custom commands, so I can’t just  
> make blocked tasks visible in the agenda view and invisible in the  
> TODO tags query.

Hi Matthew,

what do you mean by "is not supported as a local option"?  Does that  
mean you miss it in the customize menu for local option, or does that  
mean you have added it using the "any variable" entry and then it does  
not have the desired effect?

>
> Can anyone help? I’d be happy just to write my own skip function,  
> but can’t actually find the API to check for blocked task status.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matthew.
> IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence  
> Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the  
> CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are  
> requested to contact the sender and delete the email.

Wow, this sounds scary.  Maybe you need to find a webmail host? :-)

- Carsten

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks

[Matthew Phillips]

Hi Carsten,

reply inline below.

On 11/03/2010, at 4:40 PM, Carsten Dominik wrote:

> On Mar 11, 2010, at 2:34 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
> 
>> I am trying to get a TODO tags view in my daily agenda just shows the first TODO of a “Project” (a la the “next action” in GTD). This allows me to have a TODO “tags” block in my custom agenda that doesn’t run to several pages: I just see the next action for each project, and, as each action is marked DONE, the next one pops up.
>> 
>> I have *almost* managed to get this working by turning on org-enforce-todo-dependencies, setting “ORDERED: t” as a property on projects, and then using (setq org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks 'invisible).
>> 
>> However, this hides scheduled tasks from the agenda view if they are also blocked (I want them to show up if they are scheduled regardless). It seems that org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks is not supported as a local setting on custom commands, so I can’t just make blocked tasks visible in the agenda view and invisible in the TODO tags query.
> 
> what do you mean by "is not supported as a local option"?  Does that mean you miss it in the customize menu for local option, or does that mean you have added it using the "any variable" entry and then it does not have the desired effect?

What I mean is setting it as an option in the custom commands does not seem to work, e.g. see list line in:

(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
...
    ("d" "Daily Action List"
     ((agenda "" ((org-agenda-ndays 1)
                  (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
                   (quote ((agenda time-up priority-down tag-up) )))
                  (org-deadline-warning-days 7)))
     (tags "TODO=\"STARTED\"+SCHEDULED=\"\"+DEADLINE=\"\""
       ((org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks 'invisible)))
...

The org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks on the generated "tags" view does not get honoured. It *does* get honoured as a setting one level "higher", i.e. as a local setting to the whole org-agenda-custom-commands block, but that's not very useful here.

>> IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.
> 
> Wow, this sounds scary.  Maybe you need to find a webmail host? :-)

Heh, well it's all legally binding as soon as you open the email, just like a EULA you realise? ;)

This is an unsightly side-effect of posting from an organisation that blocks webmail, requires the ugly "[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]" for outside email, and adds that footer automatically.

Cheers,

Matthew.

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi Phil,

On Mar 11, 2010, at 9:43 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:

> Hi Carsten,
>
> reply inline below.
>
> On 11/03/2010, at 4:40 PM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>
>> On Mar 11, 2010, at 2:34 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>>
>>> I am trying to get a TODO tags view in my daily agenda just shows  
>>> the first TODO of a “Project” (a la the “next action” in GTD).  
>>> This allows me to have a TODO “tags” block in my custom agenda  
>>> that doesn’t run to several pages: I just see the next action for  
>>> each project, and, as each action is marked DONE, the next one  
>>> pops up.
>>>
>>> I have *almost* managed to get this working by turning on org- 
>>> enforce-todo-dependencies, setting “ORDERED: t” as a property on  
>>> projects, and then using (setq org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks  
>>> 'invisible).
>>>
>>> However, this hides scheduled tasks from the agenda view if they  
>>> are also blocked (I want them to show up if they are scheduled  
>>> regardless). It seems that org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks is not  
>>> supported as a local setting on custom commands, so I can’t just  
>>> make blocked tasks visible in the agenda view and invisible in the  
>>> TODO tags query.
>>
>> what do you mean by "is not supported as a local option"?  Does  
>> that mean you miss it in the customize menu for local option, or  
>> does that mean you have added it using the "any variable" entry and  
>> then it does not have the desired effect?
>
> What I mean is setting it as an option in the custom commands does  
> not seem to work, e.g. see list line in:
>
> (setq org-agenda-custom-commands
> ...
>    ("d" "Daily Action List"
>     ((agenda "" ((org-agenda-ndays 1)
>                  (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
>                   (quote ((agenda time-up priority-down tag-up) )))
>                  (org-deadline-warning-days 7)))
>     (tags "TODO=\"STARTED\"+SCHEDULED=\"\"+DEADLINE=\"\""
>       ((org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks 'invisible)))
> ...
>
> The org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks on the generated "tags" view does  
> not get honoured. It *does* get honoured as a setting one level  
> "higher", i.e. as a local setting to the whole org-agenda-custom- 
> commands block, but that's not very useful here.

OK, I see now what is happening here.  The dimming of blocked tasks is
done only once, at the very end, when the agenda has been made.  And  
that is outside the scope of the local options.

You can use a normal (custom) agenda command and do the setting there.  
Or you can use the global options for the block agenda to set this for  
the entire block agenda.  But not for a single segment in a bloc  
agenda, I am afraid.

Changing this would be significant work, and I don't want to do this  
based on a single use case.

- Carsten






>
>>> IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian  
>>> Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section  
>>> 70 of the CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in  
>>> error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.
>>
>> Wow, this sounds scary.  Maybe you need to find a webmail host? :-)
>
> Heh, well it's all legally binding as soon as you open the email,  
> just like a EULA you realise? ;)
>
> This is an unsightly side-effect of posting from an organisation  
> that blocks webmail, requires the ugly "[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]" for  
> outside email, and adds that footer automatically.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matthew.

- Carsten

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Matthew Phillips]

On 12/03/2010, at 3:29 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:

<snip>

> On Mar 11, 2010, at 9:43 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
> 
>> What I mean is setting it as an option in the custom commands does not seem to work, e.g. see list line in:
>> 
>> (setq org-agenda-custom-commands
>> ...
>>   ("d" "Daily Action List"
>>    ((agenda "" ((org-agenda-ndays 1)
>>                 (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
>>                  (quote ((agenda time-up priority-down tag-up) )))
>>                 (org-deadline-warning-days 7)))
>>    (tags "TODO=\"STARTED\"+SCHEDULED=\"\"+DEADLINE=\"\""
>>      ((org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks 'invisible)))
>> ...
>> 
>> The org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks on the generated "tags" view does not get honoured. It *does* get honoured as a setting one level "higher", i.e. as a local setting to the whole org-agenda-custom-commands block, but that's not very useful here.
> 
> OK, I see now what is happening here.  The dimming of blocked tasks is
> done only once, at the very end, when the agenda has been made.  And that is outside the scope of the local options.
> 
> You can use a normal (custom) agenda command and do the setting there. Or you can use the global options for the block agenda to set this for the entire block agenda.  But not for a single segment in a bloc agenda, I am afraid.
> 
> Changing this would be significant work, and I don't want to do this based on a single use case.

OK, I can understand that.

So, is there any way I can use a custom skip function in the TODO block to remove blocked tasks? Is there a way of getting the blocked status of a task from such a function?

Cheers,

Matthew.
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Carsten Dominik]

On Mar 15, 2010, at 1:23 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:

> On 12/03/2010, at 3:29 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> On Mar 11, 2010, at 9:43 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>>
>>> What I mean is setting it as an option in the custom commands does  
>>> not seem to work, e.g. see list line in:
>>>
>>> (setq org-agenda-custom-commands
>>> ...
>>>  ("d" "Daily Action List"
>>>   ((agenda "" ((org-agenda-ndays 1)
>>>                (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
>>>                 (quote ((agenda time-up priority-down tag-up) )))
>>>                (org-deadline-warning-days 7)))
>>>   (tags "TODO=\"STARTED\"+SCHEDULED=\"\"+DEADLINE=\"\""
>>>     ((org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks 'invisible)))
>>> ...
>>>
>>> The org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks on the generated "tags" view does  
>>> not get honoured. It *does* get honoured as a setting one level  
>>> "higher", i.e. as a local setting to the whole org-agenda-custom- 
>>> commands block, but that's not very useful here.
>>
>> OK, I see now what is happening here.  The dimming of blocked tasks  
>> is
>> done only once, at the very end, when the agenda has been made.   
>> And that is outside the scope of the local options.
>>
>> You can use a normal (custom) agenda command and do the setting  
>> there. Or you can use the global options for the block agenda to  
>> set this for the entire block agenda.  But not for a single segment  
>> in a bloc agenda, I am afraid.
>>
>> Changing this would be significant work, and I don't want to do  
>> this based on a single use case.
>
> OK, I can understand that.
>
> So, is there any way I can use a custom skip function in the TODO  
> block to remove blocked tasks? Is there a way of getting the blocked  
> status of a task from such a function?

Yes, BLOCKED is a virtual property which does this.  I think you can  
just do a tags/property/todo search like this

"-BLOCKED/+TODO"

Or you can test for the BLOCKED property in a user-written skip  
function.

- Carsten

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Matthew Phillips]

On 16/03/2010, at 12:24 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:

> On Mar 15, 2010, at 1:23 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:

<snip>

>> So, is there any way I can use a custom skip function in the TODO block to remove blocked tasks? Is there a way of getting the blocked status of a task from such a function?
> 
> Yes, BLOCKED is a virtual property which does this.  I think you can just do a tags/property/todo search like this
> 
> "-BLOCKED/+TODO”

That query still shows the blocked tasks, unfortunately.

> Or you can test for the BLOCKED property in a user-written skip function.

I’ll follow this route next...

Thanks very much for your help, Carsten.

Cheers,

Matthew.
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Carsten Dominik]

On Mar 16, 2010, at 1:36 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:

> On 16/03/2010, at 12:24 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>
>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 1:23 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>> So, is there any way I can use a custom skip function in the TODO  
>>> block to remove blocked tasks? Is there a way of getting the  
>>> blocked status of a task from such a function?
>>
>> Yes, BLOCKED is a virtual property which does this.  I think you  
>> can just do a tags/property/todo search like this
>>
>> "-BLOCKED/+TODO”
>
> That query still shows the blocked tasks, unfortunately.

My mistake:

+BLOCKED<>"t"/+TODO

This means that the BLOCKED property should not be equal to "t".

- Carsten

>
>> Or you can test for the BLOCKED property in a user-written skip  
>> function.
>
> I’ll follow this route next...
>
> Thanks very much for your help, Carsten.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matthew.
> IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence  
> Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the  
> CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are  
> requested to contact the sender and delete the email.
>
>

- Carsten

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Matthew Phillips]

On 16/03/2010, at 6:21 PM, Carsten Dominik wrote:

> On Mar 16, 2010, at 1:36 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
> 
>> On 16/03/2010, at 12:24 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>> 
>>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 1:23 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>> 
>> <snip>
>> 
>>>> So, is there any way I can use a custom skip function in the TODO block to remove blocked tasks? Is there a way of getting the blocked status of a task from such a function?
>>> 
>>> Yes, BLOCKED is a virtual property which does this.  I think you can just do a tags/property/todo search like this
>>> 
>>> "-BLOCKED/+TODO”
>> 
>> That query still shows the blocked tasks, unfortunately.
> 
> My mistake:
> 
> +BLOCKED<>"t"/+TODO
> 
> This means that the BLOCKED property should not be equal to “t”.

Hmm, the following query still does not work (still shows greyed blocked tasks)

  (tags "+BLOCKED<>\"t\"/+TODO")

And using "+BLOCKED=\"t\"/TODO" selects nothing.

Matthew.


IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Carsten Dominik]

On Mar 17, 2010, at 1:53 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:

> On 16/03/2010, at 6:21 PM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>
>> On Mar 16, 2010, at 1:36 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>>
>>> On 16/03/2010, at 12:24 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 1:23 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>>>> So, is there any way I can use a custom skip function in the  
>>>>> TODO block to remove blocked tasks? Is there a way of getting  
>>>>> the blocked status of a task from such a function?
>>>>
>>>> Yes, BLOCKED is a virtual property which does this.  I think you  
>>>> can just do a tags/property/todo search like this
>>>>
>>>> "-BLOCKED/+TODO”
>>>
>>> That query still shows the blocked tasks, unfortunately.
>>
>> My mistake:
>>
>> +BLOCKED<>"t"/+TODO
>>
>> This means that the BLOCKED property should not be equal to “t”.
>
> Hmm, the following query still does not work (still shows greyed  
> blocked tasks)
>
>  (tags "+BLOCKED<>\"t\"/+TODO")
>
> And using "+BLOCKED=\"t\"/TODO" selects nothing.

I just tested it, and this is working properly for me.  Are you
running a recent version of Org-mode?  The BLOCKED property was
only added in 6.34.

- Carsten

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Matthew Phillips]

On 18/03/2010, at 4:29 PM, Carsten Dominik wrote:

> On Mar 17, 2010, at 1:53 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
> 
>> On 16/03/2010, at 6:21 PM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>> 
>>> On Mar 16, 2010, at 1:36 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>>> 
>>>> On 16/03/2010, at 12:24 AM, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 1:23 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> <snip>
>>>> 
>>>>>> So, is there any way I can use a custom skip function in the TODO block to remove blocked tasks? Is there a way of getting the blocked status of a task from such a function?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Yes, BLOCKED is a virtual property which does this.  I think you can just do a tags/property/todo search like this
>>>>> 
>>>>> "-BLOCKED/+TODO”
>>>> 
>>>> That query still shows the blocked tasks, unfortunately.
>>> 
>>> My mistake:
>>> 
>>> +BLOCKED<>"t"/+TODO
>>> 
>>> This means that the BLOCKED property should not be equal to “t”.
>> 
>> Hmm, the following query still does not work (still shows greyed blocked tasks)
>> 
>> (tags "+BLOCKED<>\"t\"/+TODO")
>> 
>> And using "+BLOCKED=\"t\"/TODO" selects nothing.
> 
> I just tested it, and this is working properly for me.  Are you
> running a recent version of Org-mode?  The BLOCKED property was
> only added in 6.34.

Ah, I was running “6.33x” that came bundled with Emacs 23.1.94.1. Upgrading to a local install of 6.34c fixed it — sorry not to have tried that earlier.

Thanks again for your assistance, much appreciated.

Matthew.


IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the CRIMES ACT 1914.  If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Manish]

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 7:04 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I am trying to get a TODO tags view in my daily agenda just shows
> the first TODO of a “Project” (a la the “next action” in GTD).
> This allows me to have a TODO “tags” block in my custom agenda
> that doesn’t run to several pages: I just see the next action for
> each project, and, as each action is marked DONE, the next one
> pops up.

have you considered using org-depend? this is what i use for almost
exactly what you described:

1. a project has several TODOs
2. the first TODO (manually) is assigned a TRIGGER property with
   "chain-siblings(NEXT)" as value
3. as this task is marked DONE, the one below is switched to NEXT
   state and also gets the property
4. switching to NEXT causes org-todo-state-tags-triggers to tag the
   task with NEXT tag
5. a custom agenda view adds a block of these NEXT tasks

hth
-- 
manish

Re: Showing scheduled blocked tasks [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Matthew Phillips]

On 16/03/2010, at 2:56 AM, Manish wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 7:04 AM, Matthew Phillips wrote:
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> I am trying to get a TODO tags view in my daily agenda just shows
>> the first TODO of a “Project” (a la the “next action” in GTD).
>> This allows me to have a TODO “tags” block in my custom agenda
>> that doesn’t run to several pages: I just see the next action for
>> each project, and, as each action is marked DONE, the next one
>> pops up.
> 
> have you considered using org-depend? this is what i use for almost
> exactly what you described:
> 
> 1. a project has several TODOs
> 2. the first TODO (manually) is assigned a TRIGGER property with
>   "chain-siblings(NEXT)" as value
> 3. as this task is marked DONE, the one below is switched to NEXT
>   state and also gets the property
> 4. switching to NEXT causes org-todo-state-tags-triggers to tag the
>   task with NEXT tag
> 5. a custom agenda view adds a block of these NEXT tasks

Thanks for the suggestion Manish. I did look at org-depend, but it requires a little too much manual intervention for what I'm trying to do: i.e. reduce what I need to to do to have next tasks appear on my radar.

Cheers,

Matthew.