Re: [O] Handling errors in command line exporting of agenda?

[John Hendy]

On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 4:09 PM, Nick Dokos <address@hidden> wrote:
> John Hendy <address@hidden> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 3:37 PM, Nick Dokos <address@hidden> wrote:
>> > John Hendy <address@hidden> wrote:
>> >
>> >> On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 1:59 PM, suvayu ali <address@hidden> wrote:
>> >> > Hi John,
>> >> >
>> >> > On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 8:53 PM, John Hendy <address@hidden> wrote:
>> >> >>> If you can use wildcards to specify your files, it might be possible 
>> >> >>> by
>> >> >>> just one extra call to --eval. Something like this might work:
>> >> >>>
>> >> >>> emacs --batch -l ~/.emacs --eval '(find-file-read-only "<wildcard>" 
>> >> >>> t)' \
>> >> >>>      --eval '(org-batch-agenda "w")' > ~/org/aux/agenda-export.txt
>> >> >>>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Hmm. That might work. Everything I pull from is in ~/org... could the
>> >> >> wildcard simply be "~/*.org"? Forgive my emacs wildcard ignorance.
>> >> >
>> >> > As far as I know, emacs accepts any wildcard that is valid in the shell.
>> >> > Since all your files are in ~/org, I would say try "~/org/*.org". The
>> >> > '~/org/' limits it to files within your org directory and the '*.org'[1]
>> >> > limits it to all files with a .org extension.
>> >
>> > Not true - if you want wildcards expanded, you have to do it yourself.
>> > E.g. C-h f file-expand-wildcards
>> >
>> > ,----
>> > | file-expand-wildcards is a compiled Lisp function in `files.el'.
>> > |
>> > | (file-expand-wildcards PATTERN &optional FULL)
>> > |
>> > | Expand wildcard pattern PATTERN.
>> > | This returns a list of file names which match the pattern.
>> > |
>> > | If PATTERN is written as an absolute file name,
>> > | the values are absolute also.
>> > |
>> > | If PATTERN is written as a relative file name, it is interpreted
>> > | relative to the current default directory, `default-directory'.
>> > | The file names returned are normally also relative to the current
>> > | default directory.  However, if FULL is non-nil, they are absolute.
>> > `----
>> >
>>
>> Thanks. I tried with this based on this new information:
>>
>> ,---
>> |  emacs --batch -l ~/.emacs --eval '(find-file-read-only \
>> | (file-expand-wildcards "~/org/*.org") t)' \
>> | --eval '(org-batch-agenda "e")' > ~/org/aux/agenda-export.txt
>> `---
>>
>> But I get this error:
>> ,---
>> | Wrong type argument: stringp, ("~/org/file1.org" "~/org/file2.org"... etc.)
>> `---
>>
>> I'm assuming something about how I used this is returning the wrong data 
>> type?
>
> Yes:
>
> | This returns a list of file names which match the pattern.
>
> so you have to loop over the list.

Ah. Got it. I have no elisp-fu to figure that out.

>
> Nick
>
> PS. BTW, don't take this as an endorsement of the course you are
> following.  I don't have the time to think much about it, and I don't
> have a better solution, but personally, I would try to find another
> method: my knee-jerk reaction was to use emacsclient if emacs is running
> (if not, fall back to emacs --batch: since no other instance is running,
> you wouldn't have to deal with locking in that case).  But that may or
> may not work - I just don't know.
>

Understood. I though the batch method would be great until all of this
happened. All I want is some kind of agenda "snapshot generator" so I
can have a visible reminder of that's going on always present, whether
emacs is running or not. I'm running equipment and out of my office
all the time. I don't live in emacs and don't even have it open unless
I'm taking notes actively. Thus, having it on my wallpaper would be my
ideal solution as a reminder of what I need to do.


John

>>
>> As another option, if I run this and just respond with "p" when I'm
>> asked about the lock (proceed), it works. I'm assuming that running
>> agenda won't mess up an unsaved file, but that it just accesses it for
>> todos and other information. If this is the case and an automatic
>> "proceed" is safe... is there a way to pass some sort of "--force"
>> option to emacs from the command line to override the lock when it's
>> encountered?
>>
>> I'm running through cron and thus am not able to manually respond to the 
>> prompt.
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> John
>>
>> > Nick
>> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> Bummer, this is not working:
>> >>
>> >> ,---
>> >> | emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -eval '(find-file-read-only "~/org/*.org" t)' \
>> >> | -eval '(org-batch-agenda "e")' > ~/org/aux/agenda-export.txt
>> >> `---
>> >>
>> >> Do you see anything wrong with that? I guess I wonder what that first
>> >> part will do as perhaps the org-batch-agenda command is not
>> >> necessarily going to follow suit with the read-only command. As in,
>> >> does the first eval command affect anything that the org-batch-agenda
>> >> command is going to do? Is it trying to do the equivalent of opening
>> >> up all *.org files in read-only buffers and then run the agenda
>> >> export?
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >> John
>> >> > I hope this helps. :)
>> >> >
>> >> > Footnotes:
>> >> >
>> >> > [1] The asterisk (*) stands for zero or more characters. You can find
>> >> >    more details in `man bash` under the heading "Pattern Matching".
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > Suvayu
>> >> >
>> >> > Open source is the future. It sets us free.
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >
>>
>