Re: [O] org-agenda-log-mode omits some items from LOGBOOK drawers

[Samuel Wales]

hi,

On 1/16/19, N. Jackson <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> In Org Agenda, `C-u l', which IIUC is supposed to "show all possible
> log items, not only the ones configured in
> `org-agenda-log-mode-items'" shows clocking of work, closing of
> entries, and other state changes of entries (tagged in the agenda
> with "Clocked", "Closed", and "State" respectively).
>
> That is very useful. However, note entries in the LOGBOOK drawer
> (created with org-add-note) are unfortunately omitted.

notes don't have special status afaik.  therefore, they will not show
unless inactive ts show.  they include inactive ts.

so to show them you show inactive.  more below.

btw inactive ts has a special definition in org:

the closed planning line tagged ts includes an inactive ts, but it is
a planning line ts, so it is not considered an inactive ts in some
contexts.  it is considered a closed ts in those contexts.  for
example, when getting an inactive ts property.  you will not get the
inactive ts in closed ts.

in those contexts, and in most of org, inactive means bare inactive.
which i think is reasonable.

in contrast, state, as pointed out recently on the list, is not really
recognized by org.  except as a log mode item.  which is only partly
recognized.

any inactive ts in it are considered inactive ts, unlike with closed.

thus, if you turn on inactive ts, you will have to remove state from
the log mode items to avoid duplication.  this will look slightly
different in the agenda [you don't get the state indication].  but to
me that's no big deal.

you can keep closed, because that will not duplicate.

>
> Also, all my LOGBOOK drawers contain a CREATED inactive time stamp
> (placed there by my capture templates), but these CREATED entries
> are also omitted.

because they are inactive and inactive do not show [until you do what
i suggest below].

so all possible doesn't really mean all possible.  you have to catch
the tone of voice :].

this possibly dates back to when org didn't really have a concept of
inactive ts.

>
> Am I doing something wrong? Are these other entries from the LOGBOOK
> drawer expected to be included in the Agenda with `C-u l' -- I
> realise that "all possible log items" is not the same as "all log
> items", but it isn't clear why it wouldn't be possible!

inconsistencies in log mode.

you need to turn on inactive.

we sort of have at least 3 levels of log mode: regular/custom, all,
and "no i really mean all so let's include inactive and fix the
inconsistencies caused by doing so".

also there is a quasi-level implied by skip variables [see below].  so
4 levels of log mode.

the ones i find useful are nothing logged at all, or "everything no i
mean really everything" logged.  so for me i only need 2 levels of log
mode.

the command to toggle showing inactive is overloaded with query items.
so i don't really recommend it unless it works for you.

it is not persistent.

i recommend making a command that toggles
org-agenda-include-inactive-timestamps.  this is a defvar.  it works.
it is used by the overloaded command also.

i also have that variable toggled at the same time that log mode gets
toggled, using defadvice.  for health reasons i can't do more than
very very very trivial debugging and coding, so i cannot check if i've
figured it out completely enough.  i think i have, when i wrote it
long ago, modulo the skip if variables issue mentioned above.

in principle it might be better to have inactive timestamps turned on
or off at agenda creation time depending on the value of whatever
variable indicates that log mode is on.  then it will still work with
both values of start with log mode.

[unless somebody wants to fix it so that org does tihs automatically.]

>
>
>
>
>

the skip variables [like sckip-whatever-if-done] will either show
entries both as logged and as done, or as neither.  this means that if
you set them to non-nil so that they do not annoy you in your regular
agenda, they will silently be omitted in log mode.  you might not
notice this omission if they are not a common type of ts for you.

nicolas has indicated that he will not fix this one, but that others
are welcome to.  fixing it will bring us toward a more consistent log
mode.

tldr: toggle that defvar to get what you want, then remove state from
your log mode items list.  and make sure you do not set any of the
skip if variables to non-nil.

there's probably a more involved workaround where there is some
intermediate list of tasks for the agenda that you can winnow
duplicates from, but i am not able to do it.  and i think the above
might owrk for you.  and somebody might fix the inconsistencies
anyway.

hope that helps at least a bit.

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