.. title: Emacs and Org-mode .. date: 2020-08-22 .. slug: emacs-and-org-mode .. updated: 2020-08-22 .. status: published .. tags: emacs, org-mode, configuration, .. category: text-editors .. authors: Elia el Lazkani .. description: I ditched VSCode and moved back to Emacs... You heard me ! .. type: text I have recently found out, late I know, that the *VSCode* distribution of the so called *Code - OSS* is exactly that; a distribution. Let me make it clear, the *VSCode* binaries you download from **Microsoft** has an upstream the **GitHub repository*** named `VSCode `_ but in fact is not exactly the same code. **Microsoft** has already added a few gifts for you, including *telemetry*, not cool huh ?! Well, they tell you this in the documentation, urrrmmm `somewhere `_. At the same time, I was giving *Jupyter Notebook* a try. I worked on my previous post in it before writing down the final result as a blog post. But at the back of my mind, there was always `Org-mode `_. Putting one and one together, you've guessed it. I have moved to *Emacs*... again... for the umm I can't remember time. But this time, it is different ! I hope... .. TEASER_END Back story ========== I was using *Jupyter Notebooks* as a way to write down notes. Organize things. I had a work around the *output* and was able to clean it. But let's face it, it might work but it is designed more towards other goals. I want to write notes and the best way to work with notes is to keep in the text, literally. I found a *VSCode* extension that can handle *Org-mode* in some capacity (I haven't tested it) so I decided to switch to *Emacs* and keep the extention as a backup. Emacs Distribution of Doom ========================== Haha ! Very funny, I know. I went with `Doom `_. Why? You may ask. I don't really have a good answer for you except the following. * I didn't want to start from scratch, I wanted something with batteries included. * At the same time, I've tried *Doom* before and I like how it does things. It is logical to me while at the same time very configurable. * I was able to get up and running very quickly. Granted, my needs are few. * I got *Python* and *Golang* auto-completion and *evil* mode. I'm good to go ! Now let's dig down to my main focus here. Sure I switched editors but it was for a reason; **Org-mode**. Org-mode Configuration ====================== I will be talking about two different configuartion options here. I am new to emacs so I will try to explain everything. The two options are related to the difference between a *vanilla* configuration and *Doom*'s version of the configuration. The differences are minor but they are worth talking about. New Org File ------------ If you've used *Org-mode* before and created *org files*, you already know that you need to set a few values at the top of the file. These include the *title*, *author*, *description* and a different other values to change setting and/or behavior. It is a bit of a manual labor to write these few lines at the beginning of every file. I wanted to automate that. So I got inspiration from `shakthimaan `_. I used his method to create a small ``define-skeleton`` for a header. It looks something like this. .. code:: lisp (define-skeleton generate-new-header-org "Prompt for title, description and tags" nil '(setq title (skeleton-read "Title: ")) '(setq author (skeleton-read "Author: ")) '(setq description (skeleton-read "Description: ")) '(setq tags (skeleton-read "tags: ")) "#+TITLE: " title \n "#+AUTHOR: " author \n "#+DESCRIPTION: " description \n "#+TAGS: " tags \n ) You can use this later with ``M-x`` + ``genrate-new-header-org``. .. note:: ``M-x`` is the **Meta** key and **x** combination. Your **Meta** key can differ between the **Alt** on *Linux* and **Command** on *Mac OS X*. ``M-x`` will open a prompt for you to write in. Write the name you gave the skeleton, in this case it is ``generate-new-header-org`` and then hit the *Return*. New Task -------- `shakthimaan `_ already created something for this. It looks like the following. .. code:: lisp ;; Create a new skeleton to generate a new =Task= (define-skeleton insert-org-entry "Prompt for task, estimate and category" nil '(setq task (skeleton-read "Task: ")) '(setq estimate (skeleton-read "Estimate: ")) '(setq owner (skeleton-read "Owner: ")) '(setq category (skeleton-read "Category: ")) '(setq timestamp (format-time-string "%s")) "** " task \n ":PROPERTIES:" \n ":ESTIMATED: " estimate \n ":ACTUAL:" \n ":OWNER: " owner \n ":ID: " category "." timestamp \n ":TASKID: " category "." timestamp \n ":END:") This can also be used like the one above with ``M-x`` + ``insert-org-entry``. Doom specific configuration --------------------------- Whatever defined so far should work if you just add it to your configuration but if you use *Doom* it would a nice touch to integrate it with the workflow. In ``~/.doom.d/config.el``, wrap the previous definitions with ``(after! org)``. It's a nice touch to add these skeletons after *Org-mode* has loaded. .. code:: lisp (after! org ;; Create a skeleton to generate header org (define-skeleton generate-new-header-org "Prompt for title, description and tags" nil '(setq title (skeleton-read "Title: ")) '(setq author (skeleton-read "Author: ")) '(setq description (skeleton-read "Description: ")) '(setq tags (skeleton-read "tags: ")) "#+TITLE: " title \n "#+AUTHOR: " author \n "#+DESCRIPTION: " description \n "#+TAGS: " tags \n) ;; Create a new skeleton to generate a new =Task= (define-skeleton insert-org-entry "Prompt for task, estimate and category" nil '(setq task (skeleton-read "Task: ")) '(setq estimate (skeleton-read "Estimate: ")) '(setq owner (skeleton-read "Owner: ")) '(setq category (skeleton-read "Category: ")) '(setq timestamp (format-time-string "%s")) "** " task \n ":PROPERTIES:" \n ":ESTIMATED: " estimate \n ":ACTUAL:" \n ":OWNER: " owner \n ":ID: " category "." timestamp \n ":TASKID: " category "." timestamp \n ":END:") ) .. warning:: If you modify any file in ``~/.doom.d/``, do not forget to run ``doom sync`` and ``doom doctor`` to update and check your configuration respectively. Final touches ------------- I wanted to add it to the menu system that comes with *Doom* so I included the following in my ``(after! ...)`` block. .. code:: lisp ;; Add keybindings with the leader menu for everything above (map! :map org-mode-map (:leader (:prefix ("m", "+") :n :desc "Generate New Header Org" "G" 'generate-new-header-org :n :desc "New Task Entry" "N" 'insert-org-entry )) ) Making the final configuration look like the following. .. code:: lisp (after! org ;; Create a skeleton to generate header org (define-skeleton generate-new-header-org "Prompt for title, description and tags" nil '(setq title (skeleton-read "Title: ")) '(setq author (skeleton-read "Author: ")) '(setq description (skeleton-read "Description: ")) '(setq tags (skeleton-read "tags: ")) "#+TITLE: " title \n "#+AUTHOR: " author \n "#+DESCRIPTION: " description \n "#+TAGS: " tags \n) ;; Create a new skeleton to generate a new =Task= (define-skeleton insert-org-entry "Prompt for task, estimate and category" nil '(setq task (skeleton-read "Task: ")) '(setq estimate (skeleton-read "Estimate: ")) '(setq owner (skeleton-read "Owner: ")) '(setq category (skeleton-read "Category: ")) '(setq timestamp (format-time-string "%s")) "** " task \n ":PROPERTIES:" \n ":ESTIMATED: " estimate \n ":ACTUAL:" \n ":OWNER: " owner \n ":ID: " category "." timestamp \n ":TASKID: " category "." timestamp \n ":END:") (map! :map org-mode-map (:leader (:prefix ("m", "+") :n :desc "Generate New Header Org" "G" 'generate-new-header-org :n :desc "New Task Entry" "N" 'insert-org-entry ))) ) What do I do now ? ================== You might be asking yourself at this point, what does this all mean ? What do I do with this ? Where do I go ? Well here's the thing. You find yourself wanting to create a new *org file*. You do so in emacs and follow it with ``M-x`` + ``generate-new-header-org`` (or ``SPC m G`` in **Doom**). *Emacs* will ask you a few questions in the bottom left corner and once you answer then, your header should be all set. You can follow that with ``M-x`` + ``insert-org-entry`` (or ``SPC m N``) to generate a task. This will also ask you for input in the bottom left corner. Conclusion ========== This should help me pick up the usage of *Org-mode* faster. It is also a good idea if you've already configured your *Emacs* to read all your *org file* for a wider **agenda** view.