[Howm-eng 38] Newbie...

[Howm-eng 38] Newbie...

[xma]

Hi,

So, as per request of a friend of mine, I made a package of howm.
As I wa curious, I tested it and tried howm myself. So I am
evaluating it and I really love it.

Though I have several questions:

1. how can I extract a mail and turn it into a howm note with the
note title being the mail's message ?

2. how can I simply encrypt my notes ? (not all but on a note
basis)

3. can I embed local-vars inside a note ? (as to achieve point 2)

Latest question:

how do you use howm mode in real life ? Do you take small notes
or big notes ? What strategy are you using to "organise" them ?
Are there any GTD or cyberpocket user around ? How do you
(over)use goto-link and come-from links ?

Well, enough to start :)

Thank you khi for such a cool tool.

	Xavier
-- 
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.april.org
http://www.lolica.org

[Howm-eng 39] Re: Newbie...

[khi]

Hi, welcome :-)

At Sat, 5 Apr 2008 02:00:27 +0200,
Xavier Maillard wrote:
> 1. how can I extract a mail and turn it into a howm note with the
> note title being the mail's message ?

No way at present.  A new code is required for it.  Would you give me
a concrete example?

[related features]

(1)
snap.el supports Gnus and Wanderlust.
http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/snap.el

(2)
When you create a new note, the selected string is inserted as its
default content if you set the following variable.

(setq howm-content-from-region t)
or
(setq howm-content-from-region 1)

In the latter case, the string is inserted as a title when the
selected region is one line.  You have to set transient-mark-mode to
use this feature in both cases.
(setq transient-mark-mode t)

> 2. how can I simply encrypt my notes ? (not all but on a note
> basis)

I think it is not easy.
(1) How can we achieve encryption and efficient search at once?
(2) It is not special to howm; an independent package for encryption
will be a better approach.

(past discussion in Japanese)
http://howm.sourceforge.jp/cgi-bin/hiki/hiki.cgi?Encryption

By the way, howm has a joke feature "rot13". :p

;; (1) mkdir ~/r13
;; (2) M-x yarot13-find-file RET ~/r13/xxx.howm RET
;; (3) Write anything, and C-c C-c to save it with rot13.
;; You can search and edit such notes seamlessly in howm.
;; Type C-c C-c to save them after modification.
(setq howm-search-path (list (howm-make-folder:rot13dir "~/r13")))
(howm-toggle-search-other-dir 1)

> 3. can I embed local-vars inside a note ? (as to achieve point 2)

Do you mean something like this?

Local variables:
make-backup-files: nil
transient-mark-mode: t
End:

Note that all howm's variables are marked as risky-local-variable by
default for safety.  You need to clear it explicitly as below if you
want to embed local variables:
(put 'howm-auto-narrow 'risky-local-variable nil)

> Latest question:
> 
> how do you use howm mode in real life ? Do you take small notes
> or big notes ? What strategy are you using to "organise" them ?
> Are there any GTD or cyberpocket user around ? How do you
> (over)use goto-link and come-from links ?

I'll show some random tips, though they are not direct answers for
your question.

Some users combine org-mode and howm.  It is possible because howm is
a minor mode.
;; from http://howm.sourceforge.jp/cgi-bin/hiki/hiki.cgi?OrgMode
(require 'org)
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'howm-mode)
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.howm$" . org-mode))
(setq howm-view-title-header "*") ;; *BEFORE* loading howm!
(setq howm-prefix "\C-z") ;; change howm bindings from "C-c ," to "C-z"

External grep command makes howm much faster.
(setq howm-view-use-grep t)
But too many notes and too long notes are impractical anyway.

I like "one file for one day" rather than the default "one file for
one note", with an experimental feature for search-in-result.
(setq howm-file-name-format "%Y/%Y_%m_%d.rd")  ;; I use RD format.
(setq howm-view-search-in-result-correctly t)  ;; be aware of paragraph

See here for RD format.
http://lists.sourceforge.jp/mailman/archives/howm-eng/2005/000014.html

I rarely write titles for my notes; they are not necessary.

The latest beta version of howm-mode is always available at here.
http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/howm-test.tar.gz

-- 
khi at users.sourceforge.jp

[Howm-eng 42] Re: Newbie...

[xma]

   > 1. how can I extract a mail and turn it into a howm note with the
   > note title being the mail's message ?

   No way at present.  A new code is required for it.  Would you give me
   a concrete example?

I do not have one at present. Actually, I think I could write
something by myself.

   (1)
   snap.el supports Gnus and Wanderlust.
   http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/snap.el

I read something about it but I am not sure I understand how it
can help or even how I can use it effectively.

   > 2. how can I simply encrypt my notes ? (not all but on a note
   > basis)

   I think it is not easy.
   (1) How can we achieve encryption and efficient search at once?
   (2) It is not special to howm; an independent package for encryption
   will be a better approach.

Well in principle, it is pretty simple to achieve encryption. I
am used to EPG (part of GNU Emacs). I used local-vars to force
automatic encryption of a set of org-mode files.

To be efficient with searching process, we could imagine
launching gpg-agent (or similar) before running emacs and then
have it automaticall decrypt any encrypted file "on the fly"
thus, no need for the user to type its password. SO you will end
up with encryption and efficient search since it could be opened
and decrypted without a manual intervention. Though I do not know
how regular tools such as grep would behave with such a trick.

   (past discussion in Japanese)
   http://howm.sourceforge.jp/cgi-bin/hiki/hiki.cgi?Encryption

My japanese is pretty inexistent. Could you resume it in emglish
here ? :)

   By the way, howm has a joke feature "rot13". :p

   ;; (1) mkdir ~/r13
   ;; (2) M-x yarot13-find-file RET ~/r13/xxx.howm RET
   ;; (3) Write anything, and C-c C-c to save it with rot13.
   ;; You can search and edit such notes seamlessly in howm.
   ;; Type C-c C-c to save them after modification.
   (setq howm-search-path (list (howm-make-folder:rot13dir "~/r13")))
   (howm-toggle-search-other-dir 1)

   > 3. can I embed local-vars inside a note ? (as to achieve point 2)

   Do you mean something like this?

   Local variables:
   make-backup-files: nil
   transient-mark-mode: t
   End:

Yes.

   Note that all howm's variables are marked as risky-local-variable by
   default for safety.  You need to clear it explicitly as below if you
   want to embed local variables:
   (put 'howm-auto-narrow 'risky-local-variable nil)

That's ok.

   > Latest question:
   > 
   > how do you use howm mode in real life ? Do you take small notes
   > or big notes ? What strategy are you using to "organise" them ?
   > Are there any GTD or cyberpocket user around ? How do you
   > (over)use goto-link and come-from links ?

   I'll show some random tips, though they are not direct answers for
   your question.

   Some users combine org-mode and howm.  It is possible because howm is
   a minor mode.

In fact, I may end up using howm exclusively for all notes
related things. Org-mode would be used for other usages such as
writing long document (an outline document is better for this) or
some sort of log files.

   External grep command makes howm much faster.
   (setq howm-view-use-grep t)

I may try this.

   But too many notes and too long notes are impractical anyway.

So what ? Are you telling me that howm is not suited for people
wanting to take many notes ? How are you doing then ? If you are
using howm since 2005. I am pretty sure you have ended up with
gigas of note files, aren't you ?

   I like "one file for one day" rather than the default "one file for
   one note", with an experimental feature for search-in-result.

What's the advantage to have one file per day instead of the
default setting ?

   (setq howm-file-name-format "%Y/%Y_%m_%d.rd")  ;; I use RD format.
   (setq howm-view-search-in-result-correctly t)  ;; be aware of paragraph

   See here for RD format.
   http://lists.sourceforge.jp/mailman/archives/howm-eng/2005/000014.html

I will have to read this. Thanks.

   I rarely write titles for my notes; they are not necessary.

I do not buy this argument. I think that having many notes should
force people to type an "intelligent" title so as to make the
search process easier.

   The latest beta version of howm-mode is always available at here.
   http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/howm-test.tar.gz

Nice. In what does it differ with the current 1.3.5 version
though ?

Thank you very much.

	Xavier
-- 
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.april.org
http://www.lolica.org

[Howm-eng 44] GPG with EasyPG (Re: Newbie...)

[khi]

At Sun, 6 Apr 2008 02:00:26 +0200,
Xavier Maillard wrote:
> Well in principle, it is pretty simple to achieve encryption. I
> am used to EPG (part of GNU Emacs). I used local-vars to force
> automatic encryption of a set of org-mode files.

Oh! EasyPG runs well with howm!
(1) Run gpg-agent.
(2) Put *.gpg into ~/howm/.
(3) M-x epa-file-enable
Then howm can search *.gpg seamlessly.

Below is a quick hack to use external grep and EPG at the same time.
* All files in ~/howm/ are searched by the external grep command.
* All files in ~/gpg/ are searched by elisp so that EPG is applied.
This is necessary because searching all files with elisp is too slow
for me.  Test version (howm-test071107) is required for this code.

http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/howm-test.tar.gz

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

(setq howm-view-use-grep t)
(epa-file-enable)

;; clone of *:dir except for the use of fake-grep.
(defun howm-make-folder:edir (dir)
  (cons ':edir dir))
(defun howm-folder-items:edir (edir &optional recursive-p)
  (howm-folder-items:dir (cdr edir) recursive-p))
(defun howm-folder-grep-internal:edir (edir pattern &optional fixed-p)
  (let ((howm-view-use-grep nil))
    (howm-folder-grep-internal:dir (cdr edir) pattern fixed-p)))
(defun howm-folder-get-page-create:edir (edir page-name)
  (howm-folder-get-page-create:dir (cdr edir) page-name))
(defun howm-folder-territory-p:edir (edir name)
  (howm-folder-territory-p:dir (cdr edir) name))

;; check all howm-search-path.
(defun howm-list-all ()
  (interactive)
  (howm-set-command 'howm-list-all)
  ; (howm-view-directory (car (howm-search-path)) t)
  (howm-view-summary "" (mapcan (lambda (p) (howm-folder-items p t))
                                (howm-search-path)))
  (howm-list-normalize)
  ;; clean me [2004-07-11]
  (cond ((howm-list-title-p) t)  ;; already done in (howm-list-normalize)
        (howm-list-all-title (howm-list-title-internal))))

(howm-toggle-search-other-dir 1)
(setq howm-search-path (list (howm-make-folder:edir "~/gpg")))

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

[Howm-eng 48] Re: GPG with EasyPG (Re: Newbie...)

[xma]

   At Sun, 6 Apr 2008 02:00:26 +0200,
   Xavier Maillard wrote:
   > Well in principle, it is pretty simple to achieve encryption. I
   > am used to EPG (part of GNU Emacs). I used local-vars to force
   > automatic encryption of a set of org-mode files.

   Oh! EasyPG runs well with howm!
   (1) Run gpg-agent.
   (2) Put *.gpg into ~/howm/.
   (3) M-x epa-file-enable
   Then howm can search *.gpg seamlessly.

Glad to read that ! In fact, this is a requirement for me to
store passwords and things like that.

   Below is a quick hack to use external grep and EPG at the same time.
   * All files in ~/howm/ are searched by the external grep command.
   * All files in ~/gpg/ are searched by elisp so that EPG is applied.
   This is necessary because searching all files with elisp is too slow
   for me.  Test version (howm-test071107) is required for this code.

   http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/howm-test.tar.gz

Thank you, I will try your hack tomorrow.

	Xavier
-- 
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.april.org
http://www.lolica.org

[Howm-eng 45] Re: Newbie...

[khi]

Hi.

At Sun, 6 Apr 2008 02:00:26 +0200,
Xavier Maillard wrote:
>    But too many notes and too long notes are impractical anyway.
> 
> So what ? Are you telling me that howm is not suited for people
> wanting to take many notes ? How are you doing then ? If you are
> using howm since 2005. I am pretty sure you have ended up with
> gigas of note files, aren't you ?

My notes are 40MB, 360000 lines, 2700 files.  On my laptop (Pentium M
1.2GHz, 1GB memory), it takes 10 sec or more for the first search
after every hibernation.  Then the succeeding searches take 1 or 2 sec.

These will be necessary for heavy use.
  (setq howm-view-use-grep t)  ;; use external grep
  (setq howm-menu-refresh-after-save nil)
  (setq howm-menu-expiry-hours 6)  ;; cache menu N hours
  (setq howm-menu-file "0000-00-00-000000.howm")  ;; don't *search*

>    I like "one file for one day" rather than the default "one file for
>    one note", with an experimental feature for search-in-result.
> 
> What's the advantage to have one file per day instead of the
> default setting ?

It makes grep slightly faster.  It also decreases my mental barrier
for casual note taking; I might feel MOTTAINAI for creating too many
files otherwise.

>    The latest beta version of howm-mode is always available at here.
>    http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/howm-test.tar.gz
> 
> Nice. In what does it differ with the current 1.3.5 version
> though ?

Major changes are internal.  There are also some minor bug fixes
and minor experimental features.

[Howm-eng 47] Re: Newbie...

[xma]

   >    I like "one file for one day" rather than the default "one file for
   >    one note", with an experimental feature for search-in-result.
   > 
   > What's the advantage to have one file per day instead of the
   > default setting ?

   It makes grep slightly faster.  It also decreases my mental barrier
   for casual note taking; I might feel MOTTAINAI for creating too many
   files otherwise.

What does "MOTTAINAI" mean ? Two other questions:

1. do you know what are your users habits ? Maybe it would be
preferable to set the "one file per day" model as the default one
?

2. in the "one file per day" style, how does howm know there are
several notes per file ? Maybe I should also try to follow your
way to do since I am creating almost 10 files a day currently.

Regards,

	Xavier
-- 
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.april.org
http://www.lolica.org

[Howm-eng 55] Re: Newbie...

[khi]

Hi.

At Tue, 8 Apr 2008 02:00:13 +0200,
Xavier Maillard wrote:
> What does "MOTTAINAI" mean ? Two other questions:

It means "wasteful".

> 1. do you know what are your users habits ? Maybe it would be
> preferable to set the "one file per day" model as the default one
> ?

I'm afraid that it may confuse beginners.
It also breaks backward compatibility.

> 2. in the "one file per day" style, how does howm know there are
> several notes per file ? Maybe I should also try to follow your
> way to do since I am creating almost 10 files a day currently.

If you set the below variable, "= " at the beginning of a line is
regarded as a separator. (This is an experimental feature.)
  (setq howm-view-search-in-result-correctly t)  ;; be aware of paragraph
Otherwise, each file is simply treated as a long single note.

-- 
khi at users.sourceforge.jp

[Howm-eng 49] Re: Newbie...

[xma]

   I like "one file for one day" rather than the default "one file for
   one note", with an experimental feature for search-in-result.
   (setq howm-file-name-format "%Y/%Y_%m_%d.rd")  ;; I use RD format.
   (setq howm-view-search-in-result-correctly t)  ;; be aware of paragraph

Ok, I have played with that setup and I find it more convenient
than the default "one note per file" schema. Thank you for the tip.

   See here for RD format.

I read that but I do not see the benefits of RD over org-mode.

More generally, do you publish all your howm + rd setup onto a
public place so I can read it and maybe take inspiration from it
?

Regards,

	Xavier
-- 
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.april.org
http://www.lolica.org

[Howm-eng 56] Re: Newbie...

[khi]

At Tue, 8 Apr 2008 08:29:35 +0200,
Xavier Maillard wrote:
> More generally, do you publish all your howm + rd setup onto a
> public place so I can read it and maybe take inspiration from it
> ?

I copy my setup here.

(setq howm-file-name-format "%Y/%Y_%m_%d.rd")  ;; I use RD format.
(setq howm-view-search-in-result-correctly t)  ;; be aware of paragraph

(autoload 'rd-mode "rd-mode" "major mode for ruby document formatter RD" t)
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.rd$" . rd-mode))
(defvar rd-mode-hook nil)
(add-hook 'rd-mode-hook 'rd-show-other-block-all)

;; http://howm.sourceforge.jp/a/rd-mode-plus.el
(load-library "rd-mode-plus")
(setq rd-yank-ignore-empty-line t)

-- 
khi at users.sourceforge.jp

[Howm-eng 68] Re: Newbie...

[xma]

   > More generally, do you publish all your howm + rd setup onto a
   > public place so I can read it and maybe take inspiration from it
   > ?

   I copy my setup here.

That's very short :) but thank you :)

I am currently trying to figure out the best way to use
schedule/todo feature of howm. What strategy I should adopt,
etc..

What I can say after a few days in howm is that it really is what
I was looking for. It perfectly feets my needs.

I am still struggling with the best approach to have with my
notes (should old notes continue to evolve, etc).

Thank you very much for such a mode.

	Xavier
-- 
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.april.org
http://www.lolica.org