[emacs-wiki-discuss] Re: Planner data design, was Re: planner: why "move" tasks instead of copy?

[Sacha Chua]

"Patricia J. Hawkins" <address@hidden> writes:

> No, not like that at all! As long as there's only one *master*, or
> source for each task, you can make all the copies you want. This is
> a distributed data problem. You just have to keep track of which

Right now, the current file contains the master copy of each task. As
long as you save regularly, things generally work out. =) Calling
planner-edit-task-description or using planner-id works unless two
copies of a task have been modified separately, in which case things
get confused anyway.

> SC> If we make the reference read-only, invisible and intangible, and then
> SC> use the display attribute to substitute the task description, we'd
> SC> have text that isn't really "there". You won't be able to use your
> SC> cursor keys or visit links, which makes a whole bucketload of useful
> SC> Planner things useless... (This is the problem we have with the <lisp>
> SC> tag.)
> If *anything* I'm proposing interferes with a useful feature, it's
> absolutely a bad design -- shoot it down now!  *The data model should
> not dictate the UI.*

Oh, no, interfere away. See, if it's a feature _you_ don't use, then
it's not useful for you, and you can change that behavior as much as
you want. =)

It's just that I'm not entirely sure how to translate that into user
interface terms because there are so many options, and I'd like to
help figure out what would fit you best. I tend to think about how
stuff should behave from the user's point of view first, and _then_
figure out the data model I need after that. <grin>

For example, how would these tasks be displayed?

- Like normal text in a Planner buffer, can be manipulated as normal text
  (Probably the best idea)
- A dynamic read-only view that can be manipulated through special commands
  (Not really better than the current way of doing things)

How do we get to the links?

- Display all the links (list can be very long!)
- Display none of the links (hit a special key to get a list)
- Display some of the links (latest day page and non-day pages)

How will editing work?

- You edit the task in front of you. When you save the file, Planner
  scans all the tasks and opens and updates the master files for the
  changed tasks. Tasks are reloaded when pages are displayed.
  (makes loading slower, open pages possibly inconsistent)
- You edit the task in front of you. When you save the file, Planner
  scans all the tasks and opens and updates all the copies.
  (makes editing slower, but keeps everything consistent)
- When you start editing a task, Planner will take you to the master file.
  
> What reasons are there for having non-ID tasks?  Is it a feature?  Do
> ID'd tasks interfere with something people use?  Or do people just not
> turn it on because it's not required?  Or because task IDs clutter

Oh! ID tasks are basically just there so that you can edit task
descriptions without having to use a special function. I bound
planner-edit-task-description to C-c C-e in my setup, so I no longer
needed it. =)

-- 
Sacha Chua <address@hidden> - open source geekette
http://sacha.free.net.ph/ - PGP Key ID: 0xE7FDF77C
interests: emacs, gnu/linux, personal information management, juggling
sachac on irc.freenode.net#emacs . YM: sachachua83