********************************************************************************************************* * NOTE TO USER OF VERSION 1.1.0 OR BEFORE: The original file c:\create_actions_list.ini is not * supported anymore. Instead, the plugin will search for the configuration information in a * NoteStudio page named "GTD Plugin Config" that you must create manually and paste there * the content of your original configuration file. ******************************************************************************************************** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Create Action Lists python script for Notestudio 3.x - Version 1.4.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Notestudio plugin 'create_actions_list.py' finds the lines in every Notestudio book/pages which contain specific tags such as GTD style links [@Calls], [@Errands] etc. and creates a notestudio page in a book you nominate in the control file which shows all the results and allows you to see ALL of your actions for your whole collection one place. Please note that this script also requires a control page called 'GTD Plugin Config' which contains the tags to search for and also the target book to create the final summary page. You can update the control page and customise which tags to search for and the target book the summary page will be stored in. WARNING. The control page "GTD Plugin Config" must be created manually prior of using the plugin. The content of the file 'GTD Plugin Config.ini' must be manually extracted and pasted inside of the NoteStudio page "GTD Plugin Config". There is one line that is mandatory to be altered before using the plugin: book=ADGTD you will need to change ADGTD to your own book that will contain the summary page of all the todo's. (ADGTD is my own standard book for Getting Things Done!) To copy the content of the 'GTD Plugin Config.ini' file simply copy it into notepad, select everything and do a copy and paste into your NoteStudio page. Note: Only one page named 'GTD Plugin Config' should exist in all your books. The utility will find in which book it resides. I hope you find this plug-in useful. Allan Davies agdavies18@optusnet.com.au ================================================================================================== Thanks to the core technology provided by Allan in the version 1.0, several options have been added to the plugin since its first release. A brief history of the releases can be found at the bottom of this readme file. Overtime, several new options have been added to the configuration page named "GTD Plugin Config", which are documented inside of the configuration file and summarized here (please make sure to first set the "book" entry as described above): skip_book = : This option allow the possibility to tell the plugin to not look at the content of some specific book. Multiple book could be made skipped simply by adding one "skip_book" line for each. Default: Disabled skip_page = or | Can be used to tell the plugin to skip a page based on either its name (all pages with same name from all books will be skipped) or by specifying the bookname|pagename to skip a particular page from a particular book. Default: Disabled report_type = 1 or 2 : The plugin can generate a report where the information is regrouped by book/tag (report 1), which is like having a separate report for each book, or simply by tag only (report 2) where the tag from all books will appear in the same report. Default: 1 reports_per_book=0 or 1 For report_type=1 type of reports only, when generating the report page, this option will allow the possibility to have such page created in each individual book (if set to 1), or only in the book identified by the entry "book". For instance, if you have a book named HOME and one OFFICE, you might prefer to have a report for your HOME task in the HOME book, and a report about your OFFICE task in your OFFICE book. Default: Disabled (or reports_per_book=0) dated_report_pagename= : Since version 1.1.0 (see below) a special handling for the [@Date] tag has been added. If the dated_report_pagename is commented out (default) or set to value "Actions List", the report on [@Date] will appear inside of the same page as for the other tag. If set to a different value, the report will be created in a separate page, inside of the same book. Default: Disabled use_tab_table=1 --> Not supported anymore since version 1.3.0 --> Replaced by task_page_separator Since version 3.1, NoteStudio has standardized on the utilisation of the "|" character to generate a table layout and this plugin has followed this new standard. For anyone prefering to have the report table layout generated using the original "TAB" character, enable the use_table_table=1 in the config file. Default: Disabled (or use_tab_table=0) task_page_separator= Allow the possibility to specify what separate the task info and the page info in the report output. As each lines contains at the left the task info followed by the page info, the specified string or character will be used between the two info. By default, the pipe character "|" is being used as this generate a table layout. Default: Disables (or task_page_separator=|) sorted_report =1 Allow the possibility to generated a sorted report by tag name. This allow the possibility to put at the start of a tagged line a priority value. Default: Disabled (or sorted_report=0) debug This option, if set, will create an execution debug file in c:\ActionsList.dbg that could be usefull de trace a problem with the execution. check_edit_mode=1 : -->> DISABLED IN 1.3.1. Default behavior as if set to 1. If set to "1", the plugin will not run if the user is in edit mode in a page. Default: set to 1 show_popup_before_starting=1 Original version used to display a pop up saying "About to create action list". This popup window is preserved but could be removed by setting the show_popup_before_starting to something else that value 1. Default : set to 1. nb_top_lines_to_skip=0 Number of lines to skip at the top of each NS page when searching for TAG. This feature is usefull for people who add some kind of navigation bar to each single NS pages and don't want the tags that might be present in it to be part of the report. Default: set to 0 nb_bottom_lines_to_skip=0 Number of lines to skip from the bottom of each NS page when searching for TAG. This feature is usefull for people who add some kind of navigation bar to each single NS pages and don't want the tags that might be present in it to be part of the report. Default: set to 0 [@Date] Support feature ======================= Since version 1.1.0, a special handling has been added for the [@Date] tag to allow the possibility to create a sorted report on dated task. The intend of this is not to replace time management tools such as outlook which will send you an alarm at a specific time/date, but to register actions that you want to be reminded a specific period of the year. Since the whole string will be sorted, it is important to have something in comon in each line that will allow the possibility to sort them, like a date value in a format such as "yy/mm/dd". Here is an example: Plant the tomatoes for May Do the income tax report in february Call the snow removal guy in Novembre would be registered inside some NoteStudio pages as this: [@Date] 06-05-00 Plant the tomatoes [@Date] 06-02-15 Do the income tax report [@Date] 05-11-00 Call the snow removal guy The plugin will create a sorted report like this: [@Date] 05-11-00 Call the snow removal guy [@Date] 06-02-15 Do the income tax report [@Date] 06-05-00 Plant the tomatoes Eventually, once the snow removal guy has been called, the idea is to change the "05" year to "06" so this entry will appear last next time the report will be executed. Another way to use the feature is for actions we know that must be done at a specific week number every year (format here yy/weeknumber). [@Date] 06-01 Buy a new calendar [@Date] 06-12 Check for next summer vacation [@Date] 06-43 Do this. Once again, when an action completed, change the year value by increasing it by one. This special dated report can be created to appears inside of the same page as for the other tag ("Actions List"), or into another one. The dated report name can be configured using the dated_report_pagename entry in the create_actions_list.ini file. Also, the report format differs from the standard one as the date/action line appears on the left side and the reference to the original page will appear on the right side of the report, which is the opposite from the normal report. As for any other Tag, the [@Date] tag must be registered inside of your create_action_list.ini file in order to be effective. I Hope those new additions will benefit you. Pierre Lemay ================================================================================================== Some NoteStudio message thread about this plugin: http://dogmelon.com.au/nsforum/viewtopic.php?t=878 http://dogmelon.com.au/nsforum/viewtopic.php?t=916 Sources are now available at sourceForge.net : https://sourceforge.net/projects/nsplugin/ ================================================================================================== History change since version 1.0 ================================ 1.0.1 Use the "|" symbol instead of "/t" when generating a report (requires Note Studio 3.1.1) Add the possibility to mention 1 page to be skipped while generating a report (see c:\create_action_list.ini) Make search case unsensible. Simply how page name are displayed by removing the book name from the display. 1.0.2 Fix a problem occuring when the last character of a tagged line is not "\n". This was causing the next entry to appear as a 3rd column rather than a new line. Add the possibility to configure the plugin to skip several books (see c:\create_action_list.ini) 1.0.3 The report type could now be configured from the create_action_list.ini file. 1.0.4 Remove any leading characters preceding the "tag" name while printing the line. Remove anything in the line to print that follow/contains a "|" or tab character as they represent a table separator. 1.0.5 Make sure to not cut a string containing a "|" if that symbol is part of a link name. We have standardized on the utilisation of the "|" when generating a table layout (see version 1.0.1), but since this is a new behavior for NoteStudio version 3.1.1, we have added a way to revert to the utilisation of the TAB ("/t)" for user who have older version of NoteStudio. Simply set use_tab_table=1 in the c:\create_action_list.ini 1.1.0 Add special support for the [@Date] tag and possibility to have the [@Date] report in a different page. Add the possibility to have multiple pages mentionned to be skipped (support the "pagename" and "bookname|pagename" format). Add the possibility to generate sorted tagname report. Add a debug configuration entry. 1.1.1 Add default behavior to not run if the user is in edit mode while calling the pluging Add config entry check_edit_mode="1" to enable/disabled the feature. Disabling require setting the entry to something else than "1" Add config entry show_popup_before_starting support. 1.2.0 Store the configuration necessary for the plugin in the NoteStudio page named "GTD Plugin Config" Do not create temporary report file on disk anymore. The debug configuration entry can now accept a debug file path/name. Add support for MAC user. 1.3.0 Add the possibility to genere 1 report per book, inside of each book Add the possibility to specify what character/strings to used between the task info and the page info. Default is still the pipe character that generate a table layout. 1.3.1 Disabled the check_edit_mode configuration entry. Always behave as if check_edit_mode=1 but check before attempting to read the config file as this was causing problem using NS 3.2. 1.4.0 Add the possibility to skip the first 'n' lines or last 'n' lines of each NS pages when searching for TAG. This is usefull for people having some kind of navigator bar in each of their NS page and don't want those lines to be interpreted by the report. ================================================================================================== FAQ === Must I use the "[@something]" format? No. The "[@something]" format came basically from a suggestion of tag names from David Allen in his Getting Things Done book, and the "[]" utilisation, which create a page link inside of NoteStudio, come from the GTD Template available from the NoteStudio site. You can use any kind of tag you think could make sense to you such as "MOM", "HOUSE", "CALL". Please note that tag are case-unsensitive ("MOM" and "Mom" entries will both match the tag "mom") Do I need to restart NoteStudio when altering the content of the create_actions_list.ini? No. After altering any configuration entry in the create_actions_list.ini file you simply need to re-execute the plugin. Installing a new version of the plugin requires a restart of NoteStudio. I Usually have lines such as "- [@something]" but in the report generated, the "-" symbol doesn't appear? This is normal. What we do is remove anything that appears in front of the TAG before printing the line. We recommand that you put your tag name at the start of your line. ================================================================================================== Known Issues =========== * Supporting lines with multiple TAG or with TAG inside of tables is supported to a certain level only. * Sorting of lines is case sensitive.