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Calendar.txt

terokarvinen.com

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Re: Calendar.txt

#51

Post by account-5 »

I like text based formats for things. But I find that you need software to help with the maintenance and presentation of such things. Todo.txt and plain text accounting are two examples of this; sure you could edit the plain text but a software system just makes it better to use, especially on mobile.

With that in mind I don't see how this is a replacement for caldav. Sure looking at the plain text of a caldav file is worse, especially one generated by a computer, but at least all expected calendar functionality is included. Though the sprawling RFC is hardly simple to follow or implement.

Re: Calendar.txt

#52

Post by Communitivity »

I like this, but need more detail in my log and have too many things in a given day to have them all on a line. Had the following idea, and will try it out at some point. Call it calendar.md

Use calendar.txt format and method with the following changes:

1) Use markdown, with a top level heading of Calendar (so inclusion is easier) and the portion

2) Use :tag: instead of +tag. Tags can be run together (:tag:tag2:). This helps with Org mode compatibility

3) Third level heading for each event in day, following same format as calendar.txt

4) text under heading is for notes about the event

5) Searching and seeing info on event in day, or summary about day is no longer easy with grep. This is the biggest drawback from not using calendar.txt. Overcome by writing a tool mgrep that is specifically designed to search markdown files in a Markdown aware way (search headings or specific level of headings, show all headings under matching heading or just one level under, show all content under matching headings, search text and show either lines or section text is in optionally along with ancestry of headings).

6) Create CalendarMDMode, minor mode designed to facilitate calendar.md use and editing within Emacs, requires OrgMode, things like shortcuts for new date, new event, in-editor use of mgrep, etc.

7) Attempt to add CalendarMD support to Helix, which is my daily notes editor, using the as-yet unlanded Scheme based plugin system (see https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/8675 )

Re: Calendar.txt

#54

Post by apricot »

bArray wrote: post #29

My format used to be as follows: * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 1800: Dinner with parents * [x] Walk the dog * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 0900: Interview new recruit * [ ] Prepare interview questions * [ ] Upload result to HR system This worked really well for me and was easily searchable. One benefit would be that it is easily trackable in Git. These days I have a little A6 lined notebook and manually list tasks there. Each page…

I use a small paper planner that I keep in my pocket at (nearly) all times. People are taken aback and ask why I don't use something more modern, but why should I? This works better, for me, than anything else I ever tried.

Re: Calendar.txt

#55

Post by tero »

Communitivity wrote: post #52

I like this, but need more detail in my log and have too many things in a given day to have them all on a line. Had the following idea, and will try it out at some point. Call it calendar.md Use calendar.txt format and method with the following changes: 1) Use markdown, with a top level heading of Calendar (so inclusion is easier) and the portion 2) Use :tag: instead of +tag. Tags can be run together (:tag:tag2:). Th…

I especially like your 'mgrep', please do write it!

I have considered similar tools that make use of MarkDown syntax, I feel that there are many tools waiting to be written here.

Re: Calendar.txt

#56

Post by slmjkdbtl »

To me the biggest block for using any plain text format for daily stuff is I need a good mobile - laptop sync method that I can easily read / write and manage files on both mobile and laptop, does anyone have any recommendation? The best choice I can think right now is SimpleNote which I've been using for notes for a long time, but is there a way I can actually use .txt file instead of text been stored somewhere in a database.

Re: Calendar.txt

#57

Post by tero »

apricot wrote: post #54
bArray wrote: post #29

My format used to be as follows: * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 1800: Dinner with parents * [x] Walk the dog * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 0900: Interview new recruit * [ ] Prepare interview questions * [ ] Upload result to HR system This worked really well for me and was easily searchable. One benefit would be that it is easily trackable in Git. These days I have a little A6 lined notebook and manually list tasks there. Each page…

I use a small paper planner that I keep in my pocket at (nearly) all times. People are taken aback and ask why I don't use something more modern, but why should I? This works better, for me, than anything else I ever tried.

It's unfair to computers how well paper planners worked. Among with todo.txt, paper calendars were an inspiration and a benchmark for writing calendar.txt.

Re: Calendar.txt

#58

Post by bArray »

einpoklum wrote: post #49
bArray wrote: post #29

My format used to be as follows: * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 1800: Dinner with parents * [x] Walk the dog * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 0900: Interview new recruit * [ ] Prepare interview questions * [ ] Upload result to HR system This worked really well for me and was easily searchable. One benefit would be that it is easily trackable in Git. These days I have a little A6 lined notebook and manually list tasks there. Each page…

This format is terrible for working with line-based tools; you need to go an unknown number of lines back to get the date or the time. Although, TBH, the OP's suggestion of one-line-per-day puts too many items on the same ling. I would have gone with one line per event. Yes, there's more repetition, but you need no out-of-line context, you have to do a lot less parsing, and you can look at a fixed number of _columns_…

I think it's somewhat passable with line-based tools, i.e. you could easily use sed to match a range [1].

I think that it's far more important that it is human readable, if it becomes too tricky to edit manually, then just go with a database.

[1] https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/236754

Re: Calendar.txt

#59

Post by antiframe »

slmjkdbtl wrote: post #56

To me the biggest block for using any plain text format for daily stuff is I need a good mobile - laptop sync method that I can easily read / write and manage files on both mobile and laptop, does anyone have any recommendation? The best choice I can think right now is SimpleNote which I've been using for notes for a long time, but is there a way I can actually use .txt file instead of text been stored somewhere in a…

I just use SyncThing.

Re: Calendar.txt

#60

Post by tero »

slmjkdbtl wrote: post #56

To me the biggest block for using any plain text format for daily stuff is I need a good mobile - laptop sync method that I can easily read / write and manage files on both mobile and laptop, does anyone have any recommendation? The best choice I can think right now is SimpleNote which I've been using for notes for a long time, but is there a way I can actually use .txt file instead of text been stored somewhere in a…

I recommend https://syncthing.net/

Works with all file formats, from photos and movies to text files. Cross platform: Linux, Windows, Android, probably also Mac and BSD.

Update: And it's end-to-end encrypted and free, open-source software.

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