1 ;;; remember --- a mode for quickly jotting down things to remember
3 ;; Copyright (C) 1999-2001, 2003-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5 ;; Author: John Wiegley <johnw@gnu.org>
6 ;; Created: 29 Mar 1999
8 ;; Keywords: data memory todo pim
9 ;; URL: http://gna.org/projects/remember-el/
11 ;; This file is part of GNU Emacs.
13 ;; GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
14 ;; it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
15 ;; the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
16 ;; (at your option) any later version.
18 ;; GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
19 ;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
20 ;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
21 ;; GNU General Public License for more details.
23 ;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
24 ;; along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
30 ;; Todo lists, schedules, phone databases... everything we use
31 ;; databases for is really just a way to extend the power of our
32 ;; memory. To be able to remember what our conscious mind may not
33 ;; currently have access to.
35 ;; There are many different databases out there -- and good ones --
36 ;; which this mode is not trying to replace. Rather, it's how that
37 ;; data gets there that's the question. Most of the time, we just
38 ;; want to say "Remember so-and-so's phone number, or that I have to
39 ;; buy dinner for the cats tonight." That's the FACT. How it's
40 ;; stored is really the computer's problem. But at this point in
41 ;; time, it's most definitely also the user's problem, and sometimes
42 ;; so laboriously so that people just let data slip, rather than
43 ;; expend the effort to record it.
45 ;; "Remember" is a mode for remembering data. It uses whatever
46 ;; back-end is appropriate to record and correlate the data, but it's
47 ;; main intention is to allow you to express as _little_ structure as
48 ;; possible up front. If you later want to express more powerful
49 ;; relationships between your data, or state assumptions that were at
50 ;; first too implicit to be recognized, you can "study" the data later
51 ;; and rearrange it. But the initial "just remember this" impulse
52 ;; should be as close to simply throwing the data at Emacs as
57 ;; Hyperbole, as a data presentation tool, always struck me as being
58 ;; very powerful, but it seemed to require a lot of "front-end" work
59 ;; before that data was really available. The problem with BBDB, or
60 ;; keeping up a Bibl-mode file, is that you have to use different
61 ;; functions to record the data, and it always takes time to stop what
62 ;; you're doing, format the data in the manner expected by that
63 ;; particular data interface, and then resume your work.
65 ;; With "remember", you just hit `M-x remember' (you'd probably want
66 ;; to bind this to an easily accessible keystroke, like C-x M-r), slam
67 ;; in your text however you like, and then hit C-c C-c. It will file
68 ;; the data away for later retrieval, and possibly indexing.
70 ;; Indexing is to data what "studying" is in the real world. What you
71 ;; do when you study (or lucubrate, for some of us) is to realize
72 ;; certain relationships implicit in the data, so that you can make
73 ;; use of those relationships. Expressing that a certain quote you
74 ;; remembered was a religious quote, and that you want the ability to
75 ;; pull up all quotes of a religious nature, is what studying does.
76 ;; This is a more labor intensive task than the original remembering
77 ;; of the data, and it's typical in real life to set aside a special
78 ;; period of time for doing this work.
80 ;; "Remember" works in the same way. When you enter data, either by
81 ;; typing it into a buffer, or using the contents of the selected
82 ;; region, it will store that data -- unindexed, uninterpreted -- in a
83 ;; data pool. It will also try to remember as much context
84 ;; information as possible (any text properties that were set, where
85 ;; you copied it from, when, how, etc). Later, you can walk through
86 ;; your accumulated set of data (both organized, and unorganized) and
87 ;; easily begin moving things around, and making annotations that will
88 ;; express the full meaning of that data, as far as you know it.
90 ;; Obviously this latter stage is more user-interface intensive, and
91 ;; it would be nice if "remember" could do it as elegantly as
92 ;; possible, rather than requiring a billion keystrokes to reorganize
93 ;; your hierarchy. Well, as the future arrives, hopefully experience
94 ;; and user feedback will help to make this as intuitive a tool as
99 ;; This tool hopes to track (and by doing it with as little new code
102 ;; - The raw data that gets entered
104 ;; - The relationships between that data (either determined
105 ;; implicitly by parsing the input, or explicitly by the user's
106 ;; studying the data).
108 ;; - Revisioning of the data
110 ;; - Where it came from, and any context information that can be
111 ;; programmatically determined.
113 ;; - Allowing particular views of the initially amorphous data pool
114 ;; (ala the Xanadu concept).
116 ;; - Storage of the data in a manner most appropriate to that data,
117 ;; such as keeping address-book type information in BBDB, etc.
119 ;; * Using "remember"
121 ;; As a rough beginning, what I do is to keep my .notes file in
122 ;; outline-mode format, with a final entry called "* Raw data". Then,
123 ;; at intervals, I can move the data that gets appended there into
124 ;; other places. But certainly this should evolve into an intuitive
125 ;; mechanism for shuffling data off to its appropriate corner of the
128 ;; To map the primary remember function to the keystroke F8, do the
131 ;; (autoload 'remember "remember" nil t)
133 ;; (define-key global-map [f8] 'remember)
137 ;; If Emacs could become a more intelligent data store, where
138 ;; brainstorming would focus on the IDEAS involved -- rather than the
139 ;; structuring and format of those ideas, or having to stop your
140 ;; current flow of work in order to record them -- it would map much
141 ;; more closely to how the mind (well, at least mine) works, and hence
142 ;; would eliminate that very manual-ness which computers from the very
143 ;; beginning have been championed as being able to reduce.
145 ;; Have you ever noticed that having a laptop to write on doesn't
146 ;; _actually_ increase the amount of quality material that you turn
147 ;; out, in the long run? Perhaps its because the time we save
148 ;; electronically in one way, we're losing electronically in another;
149 ;; the tool should never dominate one's focus. As the mystic
150 ;; Faridu'd-Din `Attar wrote: "Be occupied as little as possible with
151 ;; things of the outer world but much with things of the inner world;
152 ;; then right action will overcome inaction."
154 ;; * Diary integration
156 ;; To use, add the following to your .emacs:
158 ;; ;; This should be before other entries that may return t
159 ;; (add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-diary-extract-entries)
161 ;; This module recognizes entries of the form
165 ;; and puts them in your ~/.diary (or remember-diary-file) together
166 ;; with an annotation. Dates in the form YYYY.MM.DD are converted to
167 ;; YYYY-MM-DD so that diary can understand them.
171 ;; DIARY: 2003.08.12 Sacha's birthday
175 ;; 2003.08.12 Sacha's birthday
183 (defconst remember-version
"2.0"
184 "This version of remember.")
186 (defgroup remember nil
187 "A mode to remember information."
192 (defcustom remember-mode-hook nil
193 "Functions run upon entering `remember-mode'."
195 :options
'(flyspell-mode turn-on-auto-fill org-remember-apply-template
)
198 (defcustom remember-in-new-frame nil
199 "Non-nil means use a separate frame for capturing remember data."
203 (defcustom remember-register ?R
204 "The register in which the window configuration is stored."
208 (defcustom remember-filter-functions nil
209 "Functions run to filter remember data.
210 All functions are run in the remember buffer."
214 (defcustom remember-handler-functions
'(remember-append-to-file)
215 "Functions run to process remember data.
216 Each function is called with the current buffer narrowed to what the
217 user wants remembered.
218 If any function returns non-nil, the data is assumed to have been
219 recorded somewhere by that function. "
221 :options
'(remember-store-in-mailbox
222 remember-append-to-file
223 remember-diary-extract-entries
224 org-remember-handler
)
227 (defcustom remember-all-handler-functions nil
228 "If non-nil every function in `remember-handler-functions' is called."
232 ;;; Internal Variables:
234 (defvar remember-buffer
"*Remember*"
235 "The name of the remember data entry buffer.")
237 (defcustom remember-save-after-remembering t
238 "Non-nil means automatically save after remembering."
244 (defcustom remember-annotation-functions
'(buffer-file-name)
245 "Hook that returns an annotation to be inserted into the remember buffer."
247 :options
'(org-remember-annotation buffer-file-name
)
250 (defvar remember-annotation nil
251 "Current annotation.")
252 (defvar remember-initial-contents nil
253 "Initial contents to place into *Remember* buffer.")
255 (defcustom remember-before-remember-hook nil
256 "Functions run before switching to the *Remember* buffer."
260 (defcustom remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag nil
261 "Non-nil means use all annotations returned by `remember-annotation-functions'."
266 (defun remember (&optional initial
)
267 "Remember an arbitrary piece of data.
268 INITIAL is the text to initially place in the *Remember* buffer,
269 or nil to bring up a blank *Remember* buffer.
271 With a prefix or a visible region, use the region as INITIAL."
273 (list (when (or current-prefix-arg
275 transient-mark-mode
))
276 (buffer-substring (region-beginning) (region-end)))))
277 (funcall (if remember-in-new-frame
278 #'frame-configuration-to-register
279 #'window-configuration-to-register
) remember-register
)
281 (if remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag
284 (mapcar 'funcall remember-annotation-functions
))
286 (run-hook-with-args-until-success
287 'remember-annotation-functions
)))
288 (buf (get-buffer-create remember-buffer
)))
289 (run-hooks 'remember-before-remember-hook
)
290 (funcall (if remember-in-new-frame
291 #'switch-to-buffer-other-frame
292 #'switch-to-buffer-other-window
) buf
)
293 (if remember-in-new-frame
294 (set-window-dedicated-p
295 (get-buffer-window (current-buffer) (selected-frame)) t
))
297 (when (= (point-max) (point-min))
298 (when initial
(insert initial
))
299 (setq remember-annotation annotation
)
300 (when remember-initial-contents
(insert remember-initial-contents
))
301 (when (and (stringp annotation
)
302 (not (equal annotation
"")))
303 (insert "\n\n" annotation
))
304 (setq remember-initial-contents nil
)
305 (goto-char (point-min)))
306 (message "Use C-c C-c to remember the data.")))
309 (defun remember-other-frame (&optional initial
)
310 "Call `remember' in another frame."
312 (list (when current-prefix-arg
313 (buffer-substring (point) (mark)))))
314 (let ((remember-in-new-frame t
))
317 (defsubst remember-mail-date
(&optional rfc822-p
)
318 "Return a simple date. Nothing fancy."
320 (format-time-string "%a, %e %b %Y %T %z" (current-time))
321 (format-time-string "%a %b %e %T %Y" (current-time))))
323 (defun remember-buffer-desc ()
324 "Using the first line of the current buffer, create a short description."
325 (buffer-substring (point-min)
327 (goto-char (point-min))
329 (if (> (- (point) (point-min)) 60)
330 (goto-char (+ (point-min) 60)))
333 ;; Remembering to UNIX mailboxes
335 (defcustom remember-mailbox
"~/Mail/remember"
336 "The file in which to store remember data as mail."
340 (defcustom remember-default-priority
"medium"
341 "The default priority for remembered mail messages."
345 (defun remember-store-in-mailbox ()
346 "Store remember data as if it were incoming mail.
347 In which case `remember-mailbox' should be the name of the mailbox.
348 Each piece of pseudo-mail created will have an `X-Todo-Priority'
349 field, for the purpose of appropriate splitting."
350 (let ((who (read-string "Who is this item related to? "))
351 (moment (format "%.0f" (float-time)))
352 (desc (remember-buffer-desc))
353 (text (buffer-string)))
355 (insert (format "From %s %s
358 Message-Id: <remember-%s@%s>
364 (remember-mail-date t
)
367 remember-default-priority
368 (user-full-name) user-mail-address
370 (let ((here (point)))
376 (while (re-search-forward "^\\(From[: ]\\)" nil t
)
377 (replace-match ">\\1")))
378 (append-to-file (point-min) (point-max) remember-mailbox
)
381 ;; Remembering to plain files
383 (defcustom remember-data-file
(convert-standard-filename "~/.notes")
384 "The file in which to store unprocessed data."
388 (defcustom remember-leader-text
"** "
389 "The text used to begin each remember item."
393 (defun remember-append-to-file ()
394 "Remember, with description DESC, the given TEXT."
395 (let ((text (buffer-string))
396 (desc (remember-buffer-desc)))
398 (insert "\n" remember-leader-text
(current-time-string)
399 " (" desc
")\n\n" text
)
402 (if (find-buffer-visiting remember-data-file
)
403 (let ((remember-text (buffer-string)))
404 (set-buffer (get-file-buffer remember-data-file
))
406 (goto-char (point-max))
407 (insert remember-text
)
408 (when remember-save-after-remembering
(save-buffer))))
409 (append-to-file (point-min) (point-max) remember-data-file
)))))
411 (defun remember-region (&optional beg end
)
412 "Remember the data from BEG to END.
413 It is called from within the *Remember* buffer to save the text
416 If BEG and END are nil, the entire buffer will be remembered.
418 If you want to remember a region, supply a universal prefix to
419 `remember' instead. For example: \\[universal-argument] \\[remember] RET."
420 ;; Sacha: I have no idea where remember.el gets this context information, but
421 ;; you can just use remember-annotation-functions.
423 (let ((b (or beg
(min (point) (or (mark) (point-min)))))
424 (e (or end
(max (point) (or (mark) (point-max))))))
426 (narrow-to-region b e
)
427 (if remember-all-handler-functions
428 (run-hooks 'remember-handler-functions
)
429 (run-hook-with-args-until-success 'remember-handler-functions
))
430 (remember-destroy))))
433 (defun remember-clipboard ()
434 "Remember the contents of the current clipboard.
435 Most useful for remembering things from Netscape or other X Windows
438 (remember (current-kill 0)))
440 (defun remember-finalize ()
441 "Remember the contents of the current buffer."
443 (remember-region (point-min) (point-max)))
446 (define-obsolete-function-alias 'remember-buffer
'remember-finalize
"23.1")
448 (defun remember-destroy ()
449 "Destroy the current *Remember* buffer."
451 (when (equal remember-buffer
(buffer-name))
452 (kill-buffer (current-buffer))
453 (jump-to-register remember-register
)))
455 ;;; Diary integration
457 (defcustom remember-diary-file nil
458 "File for extracted diary entries.
459 If this is nil, then `diary-file' will be used instead."
463 (defun remember-diary-convert-entry (entry)
464 "Translate MSG to an entry readable by diary."
466 (when remember-annotation
467 (setq entry
(concat entry
" " remember-annotation
)))
468 (if (string-match "\\([0-9]+\\)\\.\\([0-9]+\\)\\.\\([0-9]+\\)" entry
)
470 ;; For calendar-date-style. This costs us nothing because
471 ;; the call to diary-make-entry below loads diary-lib
472 ;; which requires calendar.
475 (let ((style (if (boundp 'calendar-date-style
)
477 ;; Don't complain about obsolescence.
478 (if (with-no-warnings european-calendar-style
)
481 (cond ((eq style
'european
)
482 (concat (match-string 3 entry
) "/"
483 (match-string 2 entry
) "/"
484 (match-string 1 entry
)))
486 (concat (match-string 1 entry
) "-"
487 (match-string 2 entry
) "-"
488 (match-string 3 entry
)))
489 (t (concat (match-string 2 entry
) "/"
490 (match-string 3 entry
) "/"
491 (match-string 1 entry
)))))
495 (autoload 'diary-make-entry
"diary-lib")
498 (defun remember-diary-extract-entries ()
499 "Extract diary entries from the region."
501 (goto-char (point-min))
503 (while (re-search-forward "^DIARY:\\s-*\\(.+\\)" nil t
)
504 (add-to-list 'list
(remember-diary-convert-entry (match-string 1))))
506 (diary-make-entry (mapconcat 'identity list
"\n")
507 nil remember-diary-file
))
508 nil
))) ;; Continue processing
510 ;;; Internal Functions:
512 (defvar remember-mode-map
513 (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
514 (define-key map
"\C-x\C-s" 'remember-finalize
)
515 (define-key map
"\C-c\C-c" 'remember-finalize
)
516 (define-key map
"\C-c\C-k" 'remember-destroy
)
518 "Keymap used in Remember mode.")
520 (define-derived-mode remember-mode indented-text-mode
"Remember"
521 "Major mode for output from \\[remember].
522 This buffer is used to collect data that you want to remember.
523 \\<remember-mode-map>
524 Just hit \\[remember-finalize] when you're done entering, and it will file
525 the data away for latter retrieval, and possible indexing.
527 \\{remember-mode-map}"
528 (set-keymap-parent remember-mode-map nil
))
530 ;;; remember.el ends here