1 ;;; remember --- a mode for quickly jotting down things to remember
3 ;; Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,
4 ;; 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6 ;; Author: John Wiegley <johnw@gnu.org>
7 ;; Created: 29 Mar 1999
9 ;; Keywords: data memory todo pim
10 ;; URL: http://gna.org/projects/remember-el/
12 ;; This file is part of GNU Emacs.
14 ;; GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
15 ;; it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
16 ;; the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
17 ;; (at your option) any later version.
19 ;; GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
20 ;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
21 ;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
22 ;; GNU General Public License for more details.
24 ;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
25 ;; along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
31 ;; Todo lists, schedules, phone databases... everything we use
32 ;; databases for is really just a way to extend the power of our
33 ;; memory. To be able to remember what our conscious mind may not
34 ;; currently have access to.
36 ;; There are many different databases out there -- and good ones --
37 ;; which this mode is not trying to replace. Rather, it's how that
38 ;; data gets there that's the question. Most of the time, we just
39 ;; want to say "Remember so-and-so's phone number, or that I have to
40 ;; buy dinner for the cats tonight." That's the FACT. How it's
41 ;; stored is really the computer's problem. But at this point in
42 ;; time, it's most definitely also the user's problem, and sometimes
43 ;; so laboriously so that people just let data slip, rather than
44 ;; expend the effort to record it.
46 ;; "Remember" is a mode for remembering data. It uses whatever
47 ;; back-end is appropriate to record and correlate the data, but it's
48 ;; main intention is to allow you to express as _little_ structure as
49 ;; possible up front. If you later want to express more powerful
50 ;; relationships between your data, or state assumptions that were at
51 ;; first too implicit to be recognized, you can "study" the data later
52 ;; and rearrange it. But the initial "just remember this" impulse
53 ;; should be as close to simply throwing the data at Emacs as
58 ;; Hyperbole, as a data presentation tool, always struck me as being
59 ;; very powerful, but it seemed to require a lot of "front-end" work
60 ;; before that data was really available. The problem with BBDB, or
61 ;; keeping up a Bibl-mode file, is that you have to use different
62 ;; functions to record the data, and it always takes time to stop what
63 ;; you're doing, format the data in the manner expected by that
64 ;; particular data interface, and then resume your work.
66 ;; With "remember", you just hit `M-x remember' (you'd probably want
67 ;; to bind this to an easily accessible keystroke, like C-x M-r), slam
68 ;; in your text however you like, and then hit C-c C-c. It will file
69 ;; the data away for later retrieval, and possibly indexing.
71 ;; Indexing is to data what "studying" is in the real world. What you
72 ;; do when you study (or lucubrate, for some of us) is to realize
73 ;; certain relationships implicit in the data, so that you can make
74 ;; use of those relationships. Expressing that a certain quote you
75 ;; remembered was a religious quote, and that you want the ability to
76 ;; pull up all quotes of a religious nature, is what studying does.
77 ;; This is a more labor intensive task than the original remembering
78 ;; of the data, and it's typical in real life to set aside a special
79 ;; period of time for doing this work.
81 ;; "Remember" works in the same way. When you enter data, either by
82 ;; typing it into a buffer, or using the contents of the selected
83 ;; region, it will store that data -- unindexed, uninterpreted -- in a
84 ;; data pool. It will also try to remember as much context
85 ;; information as possible (any text properties that were set, where
86 ;; you copied it from, when, how, etc). Later, you can walk through
87 ;; your accumulated set of data (both organized, and unorganized) and
88 ;; easily begin moving things around, and making annotations that will
89 ;; express the full meaning of that data, as far as you know it.
91 ;; Obviously this latter stage is more user-interface intensive, and
92 ;; it would be nice if "remember" could do it as elegantly as
93 ;; possible, rather than requiring a billion keystrokes to reorganize
94 ;; your hierarchy. Well, as the future arrives, hopefully experience
95 ;; and user feedback will help to make this as intuitive a tool as
100 ;; This tool hopes to track (and by doing it with as little new code
103 ;; - The raw data that gets entered
105 ;; - The relationships between that data (either determined
106 ;; implicitly by parsing the input, or explicitly by the user's
107 ;; studying the data).
109 ;; - Revisioning of the data
111 ;; - Where it came from, and any context information that can be
112 ;; programmatically determined.
114 ;; - Allowing particular views of the initially amorphous data pool
115 ;; (ala the Xanadu concept).
117 ;; - Storage of the data in a manner most appopriate to that data,
118 ;; such as keeping address-book type information in BBDB, etc.
120 ;; * Using "remember"
122 ;; As a rough beginning, what I do is to keep my .notes file in
123 ;; outline-mode format, with a final entry called "* Raw data". Then,
124 ;; at intervals, I can move the data that gets appended there into
125 ;; other places. But certainly this should evolve into an intuitive
126 ;; mechanism for shuffling data off to its appropriate corner of the
129 ;; To map the primary remember function to the keystroke F8, do the
132 ;; (autoload 'remember "remember" nil t)
134 ;; (define-key global-map [f8] 'remember)
138 ;; If Emacs could become a more intelligent data store, where
139 ;; brainstorming would focus on the IDEAS involved -- rather than the
140 ;; structuring and format of those ideas, or having to stop your
141 ;; current flow of work in order to record them -- it would map much
142 ;; more closely to how the mind (well, at least mine) works, and hence
143 ;; would eliminate that very manual-ness which computers from the very
144 ;; beginning have been championed as being able to reduce.
146 ;; Have you ever noticed that having a laptop to write on doesn't
147 ;; _actually_ increase the amount of quality material that you turn
148 ;; out, in the long run? Perhaps its because the time we save
149 ;; electronically in one way, we're losing electronically in another;
150 ;; the tool should never dominate one's focus. As the mystic
151 ;; Faridu'd-Din `Attar wrote: "Be occupied as little as possible with
152 ;; things of the outer world but much with things of the inner world;
153 ;; then right action will overcome inaction."
155 ;; * Diary integration
157 ;; To use, add the following to your .emacs:
159 ;; ;; This should be before other entries that may return t
160 ;; (add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-diary-extract-entries)
162 ;; This module recognizes entries of the form
166 ;; and puts them in your ~/.diary (or remember-diary-file) together
167 ;; with an annotation. Dates in the form YYYY.MM.DD are converted to
168 ;; YYYY-MM-DD so that diary can understand them.
172 ;; DIARY: 2003.08.12 Sacha's birthday
176 ;; 2003.08.12 Sacha's birthday
184 (defconst remember-version
"2.0"
185 "This version of remember.")
187 (defgroup remember nil
188 "A mode to remember information."
193 (defcustom remember-mode-hook nil
194 "Functions run upon entering `remember-mode'."
196 :options
'(flyspell-mode turn-on-auto-fill org-remember-apply-template
)
199 (defcustom remember-in-new-frame nil
200 "Non-nil means use a separate frame for capturing remember data."
204 (defcustom remember-register ?R
205 "The register in which the window configuration is stored."
209 (defcustom remember-filter-functions nil
210 "Functions run to filter remember data.
211 All functions are run in the remember buffer."
215 (defcustom remember-handler-functions
'(remember-append-to-file)
216 "Functions run to process remember data.
217 Each function is called with the current buffer narrowed to what the
218 user wants remembered.
219 If any function returns non-nil, the data is assumed to have been
220 recorded somewhere by that function. "
222 :options
'(remember-store-in-mailbox
223 remember-append-to-file
224 remember-diary-extract-entries
225 org-remember-handler
)
228 (defcustom remember-all-handler-functions nil
229 "If non-nil every function in `remember-handler-functions' is called."
233 ;;; Internal Variables:
235 (defvar remember-buffer
"*Remember*"
236 "The name of the remember data entry buffer.")
238 (defcustom remember-save-after-remembering t
239 "Non-nil means automatically save after remembering."
245 (defcustom remember-annotation-functions
'(buffer-file-name)
246 "Hook that returns an annotation to be inserted into the remember buffer."
248 :options
'(org-remember-annotation buffer-file-name
)
251 (defvar remember-annotation nil
252 "Current annotation.")
253 (defvar remember-initial-contents nil
254 "Initial contents to place into *Remember* buffer.")
256 (defcustom remember-before-remember-hook nil
257 "Functions run before switching to the *Remember* buffer."
261 (defcustom remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag nil
262 "Non-nil means use all annotations returned by `remember-annotation-functions'."
267 (defun remember (&optional initial
)
268 "Remember an arbitrary piece of data.
269 INITIAL is the text to initially place in the *Remember* buffer,
270 or nil to bring up a blank *Remember* buffer.
272 With a prefix or a visible region, use the region as INITIAL."
274 (list (when (or current-prefix-arg
276 transient-mark-mode
))
277 (buffer-substring (region-beginning) (region-end)))))
278 (funcall (if remember-in-new-frame
279 #'frame-configuration-to-register
280 #'window-configuration-to-register
) remember-register
)
282 (if remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag
285 (mapcar 'funcall remember-annotation-functions
))
287 (run-hook-with-args-until-success
288 'remember-annotation-functions
)))
289 (buf (get-buffer-create remember-buffer
)))
290 (run-hooks 'remember-before-remember-hook
)
291 (funcall (if remember-in-new-frame
292 #'switch-to-buffer-other-frame
293 #'switch-to-buffer-other-window
) buf
)
294 (if remember-in-new-frame
295 (set-window-dedicated-p
296 (get-buffer-window (current-buffer) (selected-frame)) t
))
298 (when (= (point-max) (point-min))
299 (when initial
(insert initial
))
300 (setq remember-annotation annotation
)
301 (when remember-initial-contents
(insert remember-initial-contents
))
302 (when (and (stringp annotation
)
303 (not (equal annotation
"")))
304 (insert "\n\n" annotation
))
305 (setq remember-initial-contents nil
)
306 (goto-char (point-min)))
307 (message "Use C-c C-c to remember the data.")))
310 (defun remember-other-frame (&optional initial
)
311 "Call `remember' in another frame."
313 (list (when current-prefix-arg
314 (buffer-substring (point) (mark)))))
315 (let ((remember-in-new-frame t
))
318 (defsubst remember-time-to-seconds
(time)
319 "Convert TIME to a floating point number."
320 (+ (* (car time
) 65536.0)
322 (/ (or (car (cdr (cdr time
))) 0) 1000000.0)))
324 (defsubst remember-mail-date
(&optional rfc822-p
)
325 "Return a simple date. Nothing fancy."
327 (format-time-string "%a, %e %b %Y %T %z" (current-time))
328 (format-time-string "%a %b %e %T %Y" (current-time))))
330 (defun remember-buffer-desc ()
331 "Using the first line of the current buffer, create a short description."
332 (buffer-substring (point-min)
334 (goto-char (point-min))
336 (if (> (- (point) (point-min)) 60)
337 (goto-char (+ (point-min) 60)))
340 ;; Remembering to UNIX mailboxes
342 (defcustom remember-mailbox
"~/Mail/remember"
343 "The file in which to store remember data as mail."
347 (defcustom remember-default-priority
"medium"
348 "The default priority for remembered mail messages."
352 (defun remember-store-in-mailbox ()
353 "Store remember data as if it were incoming mail.
354 In which case `remember-mailbox' should be the name of the mailbox.
355 Each piece of pseudo-mail created will have an `X-Todo-Priority'
356 field, for the purpose of appropriate splitting."
357 (let ((who (read-string "Who is this item related to? "))
359 (format "%.0f" (remember-time-to-seconds (current-time))))
360 (desc (remember-buffer-desc))
361 (text (buffer-string)))
363 (insert (format "From %s %s
366 Message-Id: <remember-%s@%s>
372 (remember-mail-date t
)
375 remember-default-priority
376 (user-full-name) user-mail-address
378 (let ((here (point)))
384 (while (re-search-forward "^\\(From[: ]\\)" nil t
)
385 (replace-match ">\\1")))
386 (append-to-file (point-min) (point-max) remember-mailbox
)
389 ;; Remembering to plain files
391 (defcustom remember-data-file
(convert-standard-filename "~/.notes")
392 "The file in which to store unprocessed data."
396 (defcustom remember-leader-text
"** "
397 "The text used to begin each remember item."
401 (defun remember-append-to-file ()
402 "Remember, with description DESC, the given TEXT."
403 (let ((text (buffer-string))
404 (desc (remember-buffer-desc)))
406 (insert "\n" remember-leader-text
(current-time-string)
407 " (" desc
")\n\n" text
)
410 (if (find-buffer-visiting remember-data-file
)
411 (let ((remember-text (buffer-string)))
412 (set-buffer (get-file-buffer remember-data-file
))
414 (goto-char (point-max))
415 (insert remember-text
)
416 (when remember-save-after-remembering
(save-buffer))))
417 (append-to-file (point-min) (point-max) remember-data-file
)))))
419 (defun remember-region (&optional beg end
)
420 "Remember the data from BEG to END.
421 It is called from within the *Remember* buffer to save the text
424 If BEG and END are nil, the entire buffer will be remembered.
426 If you want to remember a region, supply a universal prefix to
427 `remember' instead. For example: \\[universal-argument] \\[remember] RET."
428 ;; Sacha: I have no idea where remember.el gets this context information, but
429 ;; you can just use remember-annotation-functions.
431 (let ((b (or beg
(min (point) (or (mark) (point-min)))))
432 (e (or end
(max (point) (or (mark) (point-max))))))
434 (narrow-to-region b e
)
435 (if remember-all-handler-functions
436 (run-hooks 'remember-handler-functions
)
437 (run-hook-with-args-until-success 'remember-handler-functions
))
438 (remember-destroy))))
441 (defun remember-clipboard ()
442 "Remember the contents of the current clipboard.
443 Most useful for remembering things from Netscape or other X Windows
446 (remember (current-kill 0)))
448 (defun remember-finalize ()
449 "Remember the contents of the current buffer."
451 (remember-region (point-min) (point-max)))
454 (define-obsolete-function-alias 'remember-buffer
'remember-finalize
)
456 (defun remember-destroy ()
457 "Destroy the current *Remember* buffer."
459 (when (equal remember-buffer
(buffer-name))
460 (kill-buffer (current-buffer))
461 (jump-to-register remember-register
)))
463 ;;; Diary integration
465 (defcustom remember-diary-file nil
466 "File for extracted diary entries.
467 If this is nil, then `diary-file' will be used instead."
471 (defun remember-diary-convert-entry (entry)
472 "Translate MSG to an entry readable by diary."
474 (when remember-annotation
475 (setq entry
(concat entry
" " remember-annotation
)))
476 (if (string-match "\\([0-9]+\\)\\.\\([0-9]+\\)\\.\\([0-9]+\\)" entry
)
478 ;; For calendar-date-style. This costs us nothing because
479 ;; the call to diary-make-entry below loads diary-lib
480 ;; which requires calendar.
483 (let ((style (if (boundp 'calendar-date-style
)
485 ;; Don't complain about obsoleteness.
486 (if (with-no-warnings european-calendar-style
)
489 (cond ((eq style
'european
)
490 (concat (match-string 3 entry
) "/"
491 (match-string 2 entry
) "/"
492 (match-string 1 entry
)))
494 (concat (match-string 1 entry
) "-"
495 (match-string 2 entry
) "-"
496 (match-string 3 entry
)))
497 (t (concat (match-string 2 entry
) "/"
498 (match-string 3 entry
) "/"
499 (match-string 1 entry
)))))
503 (autoload 'diary-make-entry
"diary-lib")
506 (defun remember-diary-extract-entries ()
507 "Extract diary entries from the region."
509 (goto-char (point-min))
511 (while (re-search-forward "^DIARY:\\s-*\\(.+\\)" nil t
)
512 (add-to-list 'list
(remember-diary-convert-entry (match-string 1))))
514 (diary-make-entry (mapconcat 'identity list
"\n")
515 nil remember-diary-file
))
516 nil
))) ;; Continue processing
518 ;;; Internal Functions:
520 (defvar remember-mode-map
521 (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
522 (define-key map
"\C-x\C-s" 'remember-finalize
)
523 (define-key map
"\C-c\C-c" 'remember-finalize
)
524 (define-key map
"\C-c\C-k" 'remember-destroy
)
526 "Keymap used in Remember mode.")
528 (define-derived-mode remember-mode indented-text-mode
"Remember"
529 "Major mode for output from \\[remember].
530 This buffer is used to collect data that you want to remember.
531 \\<remember-mode-map>
532 Just hit \\[remember-finalize] when you're done entering, and it will file
533 the data away for latter retrieval, and possible indexing.
535 \\{remember-mode-map}"
536 (set-keymap-parent remember-mode-map nil
))
538 ;; arch-tag: 59312a05-06c7-4da1-b6f7-5ea41c9d5577
539 ;;; remember.el ends here