blog.lazkani.io/content/posts/calendar-organization-with-org.md

+++
title = "Calendar Organization with Org"
author = ["Elia el Lazkani"]
date = 2021-05-30
lastmod = 2021-05-31
tags = ["emacs", "org-mode", "calendar", "organization"]
categories = ["text-editors"]
draft = false
+++

I have been having _some_ issues with my calendar. Recurring stuff have been going out of wack for some reason. In general, the setup I've had for the past few years have now become a problem I need to fix.

I decided to turn to my trusted _emacs_, like I usually do. _Doom_ comes bundled with something. Let's figure out what it is and how to configure it together.

<!--more-->


## Calendar in Emacs {#calendar-in-emacs}

I dug deeper into _Doom_'s _Calendar_ module and I found out that it is using [calfw](https://github.com/kiwanami/emacs-calfw).

I went to _GitHub_ and checked the project out. It's another emacs package, I'm going to assume you know how to install it.

Let's look at the configuration example.

```emacs-lisp
(require 'calfw-cal)
(require 'calfw-ical)
(require 'calfw-howm)
(require 'calfw-org)

(defun my-open-calendar ()
  (interactive)
  (cfw:open-calendar-buffer
   :contents-sources
   (list
    (cfw:org-create-source "Green")  ; orgmode source
    (cfw:howm-create-source "Blue")  ; howm source
    (cfw:cal-create-source "Orange") ; diary source
    (cfw:ical-create-source "Moon" "~/moon.ics" "Gray")  ; ICS source1
    (cfw:ical-create-source "gcal" "https://..../basic.ics" "IndianRed") ; google calendar ICS
   )))
```

That looks like an extensive example. We don't need all of it, I only need the part pertaining to _org_.


## Configuration {#configuration}

The example looks straight forward. I'm going to keep _only_ the pieces I'm interested in. The configuration looks like the following.

```emacs-lisp
(require 'calfw-cal)
(require 'calfw-org)

(defun my-blog-calendar ()
  (interactive)
  (cfw:open-calendar-buffer
   :contents-sources
   (list
    (cfw:org-create-file-source "Blog" "~/blog.org" "Orange")  ; our blog organizational calendar
   )))
```

That was easy. but before we jump to the next step, let's talk a bit about what we just did.
We, _basically_, created a new function which we can call later with `M-x` to open our calendar.
We configured the function to include the _org_ files we want it to keep track of.
In this case, we only have one. We named it **Blog** and we gave it the color **Orange**.


## Creating our org file {#creating-our-org-file}

After we have configured `calfw`, we can create the `blog.org` file.

```org
#+TITLE: Blog
#+AUTHOR: Who
#+DESCRIPTION: Travels of Doctor Who
#+TAGS: organizer organization calendar todo tasks

* Introduction

  This is the /calendar/ of *Dr Who* for the next week.

* Travels

** DONE Travel to Earth 1504
   CLOSED: <2021-07-03 za 09:18> SCHEDULED: <2021-07-02 vr>

   - CLOSING NOTE <2021-07-03 za 09:18> \\
     The doctor already traveled to earth /1504/ for his visit to the /Mayans/.

   A quick visit to the /Mayan/ culture to save them from a deep lake monster stealing all their gold.

** TODO Travel back to Earth 2021
   SCHEDULED: <2021-07-04 zo>

   Traveling back to earth 2021 to drop the companion before running again.

** TODO Travel to the Library
   SCHEDULED: <2021-07-04 zo>

    The doctor visits the /Library/ to save it again from paper eating bacteria.

** TODO Travel to Midnight
   SCHEDULED: <2021-07-08 do>

    The doctor visits *Midnight* in the /Xion System/.

** TODO Travel to Earth 2021
   SCHEDULED: <2021-07-09 vr>

    Snatching back the companion for another travel advanture.
```


## Let's get the party started {#let-s-get-the-party-started}

Now that we have everything set into place. We can either _reload_ _emacs_ or simply run the code snippet that declares _our_ function.

Next step is checking out if it works. Let's run `M-x` then call our function `my-blog-calendar`.

{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/01-calendar-overview.png" caption="Figure 1: Calendar organization with Org" target="_blank" link="/ox-hugo/01-calendar-overview.png" >}}

If we go to a date with `hjkl` and hit `return` or `enter`, we get to see what we have to work with.

{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/02-calendar-day-overview.png" caption="Figure 2: Calendar day overview" target="_blank" link="/ox-hugo/02-calendar-day-overview.png" >}}

We can take a look at closed items with _time_ too.

{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/03-calendar-day-closed-item-overview.png" caption="Figure 3: Calendar day with closed item" target="_blank" link="/ox-hugo/03-calendar-day-closed-item-overview.png" >}}

That looks pretty nice.


## Conclusion {#conclusion}

I thought it was going to be more extensive to configure the calendaring feature in _emacs_.
I couldn't be further away from the truth.
Not only was it a breeze to configure, it was even easier to create the calendar and maintain it.
If you are already familiar with _org_, then you're already there.
Point the calendar to your _org_ file, _iCal_ file or even _Google Calendar_ link and you're all set.
The bottom line of working with _org_ is the ease of use, to me.
If you already use it to organize some aspects of your life, you can just as easily create calendars for all these events.