I’d like to eventually be able to publish subtrees instead of starting new posts or publishing the entire page. This is a pretty good start, though.

;;; org-toodledo.el - Toodledo integration for Emacs Org mode
;; (c) 2010 Sacha Chua (sacha@sachachua.com)
;;
;; This file is not part of GNU Emacs.

;; This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
;; the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
;; Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
;; version.
;;
;; This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
;; ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
;; FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
;; for more details.
;;
;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
;; along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
;; Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston,
;; MA 02111-1307, USA.

;; How to use:
;; 1. Customize org-toodledo-userid and org-toodledo-password
;; 2. Open a blank org file.
;; 3. Call org-toodledo-initialize-org
;; Call org-toodledo-update to bring in new/updated tasks (skips locally modified tasks newer than updated)
;; Call org-toodledo-sync-task to create or update the current task
;; Call org-toodledo-delete-current-task to delete the current task
;;
;; Doesn't do lots of error trapping. Might be a good idea to version-control your Org file.
;;
;; TOODLEDO ATTRIBUTES and how they are bi-directionally handled
;; Context: Handled by tags (ex:   :@work:  :@errands:)
;;   - will create new contexts if necessary
;; Task status: Mapped to TODO state.
;;   See org-toodledo-status-to-string and org-toodledo-parse-current-task for the mapping
;;   You will probably want something like this in your ~/.emacs:
;; (setq org-todo-keywords
;;      '((sequence
;;         "TODO(t)"  ; next action
;;         "PLAN(-)"
;;         "STARTED(s)"
;;         "WAITING(w@/!)"
;;         "POSTPONED(p)" "SOMEDAY(s@/!)" "|" "DONE(x!)" "CANCELLED(c@)")
;;      (type "DELEGATED(d@!)" "DONE(x)")))
;; Length: Mapped to effort
;; Priority: Mapped to [#A], [#B], or [#C]. (TODO: Change this to five levels of priority to match Toodledo)
;; Start date: Mapped to "SCHEDULED"
;; Due date: Mapped to "DEADLINE"
;; Tags: Mapped to tags
;; Note: Mapped to todo text. May get confused by asterisks, so don't use any starting asterisks in your body text.
;;   (or anything that looks like an Org headline).
;; Completed: Mapped to DONE todo state.
;;
;; TODO:
;; - [ ] Double-check new/changed/deleted task updating, still seems buggy
;; - [ ] Test, test, test - maybe make test harness?
;; - [ ] Move status<->string mapping to a variable - lookups are better than logic
;; - [ ] Make sure sync timestamps aren't getting updated more often than needed
;; - [ ] Suggest some kind of hook to make it easier to mark a task as locally modified

(require 'org)
(require 'w3m)
(require 'xml)
(defcustom org-toodledo-userid ""
  "UserID from Toodledo: http://www.toodledo.com/info/api_doc.php"
  :group 'org-toodledo
  :type 'string)

(defcustom org-toodledo-password ""
  "Password for Toodledo."
  :group 'org-toodledo
  :type 'string)

(defvar org-toodledo-token-expiry nil "Expiry time for authentication token.")
(defvar org-toodledo-token nil "Authentication token.")
(defvar org-toodledo-key nil "Authentication key.")

(require 'url)
(require 'url-http)

(defun org-toodledo-initialize-org ()
  "Replace buffer contents with Toodledo tasks."
  (interactive)
  (delete-region (point-min) (point-max))
  (let ((account-info (org-toodledo-get-account-info))
        (server-info (org-toodledo-get-server-info))
        (tasks (org-toodledo-get-tasks '(("notcomp" . "1")))))
    (insert "* Toodledo\n"
            ":PROPERTIES:\n"
            ":Last-modified: " (cdr (assoc "lastaddedit" account-info)) "\n"
            ":Last-deleted: " (cdr (assoc "lastdelete" account-info)) "\n"
            ":Last-sync: " (cdr (assoc "unixtime" server-info)) "\n"
            ":END:\n")
    (insert (mapconcat 'org-toodledo-task-to-string tasks "\n"))))

(defun org-toodledo-get-token ()
  "Retrieve authentication token valid for four hours."
  (if (and org-toodledo-token
           org-toodledo-token-expiry
           (time-less-p (current-time) org-toodledo-token-expiry))
      org-toodledo-token
    ;; Else retrieve a new token
    (let ((response
            (with-current-buffer
                (url-retrieve-synchronously
                 (concat "http://api.toodledo.com/api.php?method=getToken;userid="
                         org-toodledo-userid))
              (xml-parse-region (point-min) (point-max)))))
      (if (equal (car (car response)) 'error)
          (progn
            (setq org-toodledo-token nil
                  org-toodledo-key nil
                  org-toodledo-token-expiry nil)
            (error "Could not log in to Toodledo: %s" (elt (car response) 2)))
        (setq org-toodledo-token
              (elt (car response) 2))
        (setq org-toodledo-key (org-toodledo-key)
              ;; Set the expiry time
              org-toodledo-token-expiry
              (seconds-to-time
               (+ (time-to-seconds (current-time))
                  (* 60 60 4)))))   ;; four hours
      org-toodledo-token)))

(defun org-toodledo-key ()
  "Return authentication key used for each request."
  (if (and org-toodledo-token
           org-toodledo-token-expiry
           (time-less-p (current-time) org-toodledo-token-expiry)
           org-toodledo-key)
      org-toodledo-key
    (setq org-toodledo-key
          (md5 (concat (md5 org-toodledo-password)
                       org-toodledo-token
                       org-toodledo-userid)))))

(defun org-toodledo-get-url (method-name &optional params)
  "Return URL for METHOD-NAME and PARAMS."
  (org-toodledo-get-token)
  (concat "http://api.toodledo.com/api.php?method="
          (w3m-url-encode-string method-name)
          ";key=" (org-toodledo-key)
          (if params
              (concat
               ";"
               (mapconcat (lambda (x)
                            (concat
                             (w3m-url-encode-string (car x)) "="
                             (w3m-url-encode-string (cdr x))))
                          params
                          ";"))
            "")))

(defun org-toodledo-call-method (method-name &optional params)
  "Call METHOD-NAME with PARAMS and return the parsed XML."
  (setq params (cons (cons "unix" "1") params))
  (with-current-buffer
      (url-retrieve-synchronously
       (org-toodledo-get-url method-name params))
    (xml-parse-region (point-min) (point-max))))

(defmacro org-toodledo-defun (function-name api-name description)
  `(defun ,function-name (params)
     ,description
     (org-toodledo-call-method ,api-name params)))

(defun org-toodledo-get-server-info ()
  "Return server information."
  (org-toodledo-convert-xml-result-to-alist
    (car (org-toodledo-call-method "getServerInfo"))))

(defun org-toodledo-get-account-info ()
  "Return server information."
  (org-toodledo-convert-xml-result-to-alist
   (car (org-toodledo-call-method "getAccountInfo"))))

(org-toodledo-defun org-toodledo-add-task "addTask" "Add task with PARAMS.")
(org-toodledo-defun org-toodledo-edit-task "editTask" "Edit task with PARAMS.")
(org-toodledo-defun org-toodledo-delete-task "deleteTask" "Delete task with PARAMS.")

;; (setq temp (org-toodledo-get-tasks '(("notcomp" . "1"))))
;; (setq server-info (org-toodledo-get-server-info))
;; (setq account-info (org-toodledo-get-account-info))
(defun org-toodledo-convert-xml-result-to-alist (info)
  "Convert INFO to an alist."
  (delq nil
        (mapcar
         (lambda (item)
           (if (listp item)
               (cons (symbol-name (car item)) (elt item 2))))
         (xml-node-children (delete "\n\t" info)))))

(defun org-toodledo-get-tasks (&optional params)
  "Retrieve tasks using PARAMS.
Return a list of task alists."
  (mapcar
   'org-toodledo-convert-xml-result-to-alist
   (xml-get-children
    (car (org-toodledo-call-method "getTasks" params))
    'task)))

(defun org-toodledo-get-deleted (&optional params)
  "Retrieve deleted tasks using PARAMS.
Return a list of task alists."
  (mapcar
   'org-toodledo-convert-xml-result-to-alist
   (xml-get-children
    (car (org-toodledo-call-method "getDeleted" params))
    'task)))

(defun org-toodledo-entry-note ()
  "Extract the note for this entry."
  (save-excursion
    (org-back-to-heading)
    (when (looking-at org-complex-heading-regexp)
      (goto-char (match-end 0))
      (let ((text (buffer-substring-no-properties
                   (point)
                   (if (re-search-forward org-complex-heading-regexp nil t)
                       (match-beginning 0)
                     (org-end-of-subtree)))))
        (with-temp-buffer
          (insert text)
          (goto-char (point-min))
          (when (re-search-forward
                 (concat "\\<"
                         (regexp-quote org-deadline-string) " +<[^>\n]+>[ \t]*") nil t)
            (replace-match ""))
          (goto-char (point-min))
          (when (re-search-forward
                 (concat "\\<"
                         (regexp-quote org-scheduled-string) " +<[^>\n]+>[ \t]*") nil t)
            (replace-match ""))
          (goto-char (point-min))
          (while (re-search-forward "\n\n+" nil t)
            (replace-match "\n"))
          (org-export-remove-or-extract-drawers org-drawers nil nil)
          (buffer-substring-no-properties (point-min)
                                          (point-max)))))))

(defun org-toodledo-parse-current-task ()
  "Extract the status and Toodledo ID of the current task."
  (save-excursion
    (org-back-to-heading t)
    (when (and (looking-at org-complex-heading-regexp)
               (match-string 2)) ;; TODO
      (let* (info
             (status (match-string-no-properties 2))
             (priority (match-string-no-properties 3))
             (title (match-string-no-properties 4))
             (tags (match-string-no-properties 5))
             (id (org-entry-get (point) "Toodledo-ID"))
             (contexts (org-toodledo-get-contexts))
             context)
        ;; (add-to-list 'info (cons "title" (match-string-no-properties 1)))
        (if id (add-to-list 'info (cons "id" id)))
        (when tags
          (setq tags
              (delq nil
                    (mapcar
                     (lambda (tag)
                       (if (> (length tag) 0)
                           (if (string-match (org-re "@\\([[:alnum:]_]+\\)") tag)
                               (progn
                                 ;; Not recognized context
                                 (if (null (assoc (match-string 1 tag) contexts))
                                     ;; Create it if it does not yet exist
                                     (let ((result
                                            (org-toodledo-call-method
                                             "addContext"
                                             (list (cons "title" (match-string 1 tag))))))
                                       (if (eq (caar result) 'added)
                                           (setq org-toodledo-contexts
                                                 (cons (cons (match-string 1 tag)
                                                             (elt (car result) 2))
                                                       org-toodledo-contexts)
                                                 contexts org-toodledo-contexts))))
                                   ;; Get the ID of the context
                                 (setq context
                                       (cdr (assoc (match-string 1 tag) contexts)))
                                 nil)
                             tag)))
                     (split-string tags ":")))))
        (setq info
              (list
               (cons "id" id)
               (cons "title" title)
               (cons "length" (org-entry-get (point) "Effort"))
               (cons "context" context)
               (cons "tag" (mapconcat 'identity tags " "))
               (cons "completed" (if (equal status "DONE") "1" "0"))
               (cons "status"
                     (cond
                      ((equal status "STARTED") "2")
                      ((equal status "DELEGATED") "4")
                      ((equal status "SOMEDAY") "8")
                      ((equal status "CANCELLED") "9")
                      ((equal status "PLAN") "3")
                      ((equal status "WAITING") "5")
                      ((equal status "TODO") "1")))
               (cons "priority"
                     (cond
                      ((equal priority "[#A]") "2")
                      ((equal priority "[#B]") "1")
                      ((equal priority "[#C]") "0")))
               (cons "note"
                     (org-toodledo-entry-note))))
        (when (org-entry-get nil "DEADLINE")
          (setq info (cons (cons "duedate"
                                 (substring (org-entry-get nil "DEADLINE")
                                            0 10)) info)))
        (when (org-entry-get nil "SCHEDULED")
          (setq info (cons (cons "startdate"
                                 (substring (org-entry-get nil "SCHEDULED")
                                            0 10)) info)))
        info))))

(defun org-toodledo-sync ()
  "Synchronize all tasks."
  ;; Retrieve all tasks
  ;; For each task in the current buffer
  ;;   Synchronize an existing task that has changed
   (let ((regexp (concat "^\\*+[ \t]+\\(" org-todo-regexp "\\)")))
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (while (re-search-forward regexp nil t)
      (org-toodledo-sync-task))))

(defun org-toodledo-update ()
  "Insert new tasks and update previous tasks."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((server-info (org-toodledo-get-server-info))
         (account-info (org-toodledo-get-account-info))
         (changed (org-toodledo-account-changed account-info))
         (last-deleted (string-to-number (or (org-entry-get-with-inheritance "Last-deleted") "0")))
         (last-modified (string-to-number (or (org-entry-get-with-inheritance "Last-modified") "0")))
         (last-update (string-to-number (or (org-entry-get-with-inheritance "Last-sync") "0")))
         processed)
    ;; If tasks have been deleted or modified, then the Toodledo API
    ;; will give us the timestamps. We need to find out which tasks
    ;; have been deleted or modified since the last time we retrieved
    ;; the list of tasks that have been deleted or modified. We store
    ;; the last times in the properties of the root element.

    (if (and (assoc "deleted" changed) ;; Tasks have been deleted
             (>= (string-to-number (cdr (assoc "deleted" changed))) last-deleted))
        (setq processed
              (append (org-toodledo-process-deleted-tasks
                       last-deleted)
                       processed)))
    (if (and (assoc "modified" changed) ;; Tasks have been added or edited
             (>= (string-to-number (cdr (assoc "modified" changed)))
                last-modified))
        ;; Retrieve added/modified tasks
        (setq processed (append
                         (org-toodledo-process-modified-tasks last-modified) processed)))
    ;; TODO Look for tasks that were modified locally since the last synchronization
    (org-toodledo-process-locally-modified-tasks last-update processed)
    ;; TODO Update timestamps here
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (when (re-search-forward (concat "^\\(" outline-regexp "\\)") nil t)
      (org-entry-put (point)
                     "Last-sync"
                     (cdr (assoc "unixtime" server-info)))
      (when (assoc "lastaddedit" account-info)
        (org-entry-put (point)
                       "Last-modified"
                       (cdr
                        (assoc "lastaddedit" account-info))))
      (when (assoc "lastdelete" account-info)
        (org-entry-put (point)
                         "Last-deleted"
                         (cdr
                          (assoc "lastdelete" account-info)))))))

(defun org-toodledo-process-locally-modified-tasks (last-update processed)
  "Synchronize tasks that were locally modified after LAST-UPDATE.
Skip tasks with IDs in PROCESSED."
  (goto-char (point-min))
  (let ((start (float-time (current-time))))
    (while (re-search-forward org-complex-heading-regexp nil t)
      ;; Look for all tasks in this buffer
      (if (match-string 2)
          ;; Is it a new task, or has it been modified since the last update?
          (let ((id (org-entry-get (point) "Toodledo-ID"))
                (modified (string-to-number (or (org-entry-get (point) "Modified") "")))
                (last-sync (if (org-entry-get (point) "Sync")
                               (string-to-number (org-entry-get (point) "Sync"))
                             0)))
            (if (or (null id)
                    (and (> modified last-sync)
                         (< modified start)
                         (not (member id processed))))
                (save-excursion (org-toodledo-sync-task))))))))

(defun org-toodledo-touch ()
  "Update the current task."
  (interactive)
  (org-entry-put (point) "Modified" (format "%d" (float-time (current-time)))))

(defvar org-toodledo-actually-delete t)
(defun org-toodledo-process-deleted-tasks (timestamp)
  "Remove tasks deleted after TIMESTAMP."
  (delq nil
        (mapcar
         (lambda (task)
           (when (org-toodledo-find-task task)
             (if org-toodledo-actually-delete
                 (delete-region (org-back-to-heading)
                                (if (re-search-forward org-complex-heading-regexp nil t)
                                    (match-beginning 0)
                                  (org-end-of-subtree)))
               (org-entry-delete (point) "Toodledo-ID")
               (org-entry-put (point) "Toodledo-Deleted" (timestamp)))
             (org-toodledo-task-id task)))
         (org-toodledo-get-deleted
          (list (cons "after" (number-to-string timestamp)))))))

(defun org-toodledo-process-modified-tasks (modified)
  "Handle all the tasks that have been modified since MODIFIED."
  (delq nil
        (mapcar
         (lambda (task)
           (if (org-toodledo-find-task task)
               (if (null (org-toodledo-update-task task modified))
                   (org-toodledo-task-id task))
             (org-toodledo-create-task task)))
         (org-toodledo-get-tasks (list (cons "modafter" (number-to-string modified)))))))

(defun org-toodledo-create-task (task)
  "Create a task for TASK."
  (goto-char (point-max))
  (if (point-at-eol) (insert "\n"))
  (insert (org-toodledo-task-to-string task))
  (org-toodledo-task-id task))

(defun org-toodledo-find-task (task)
  "Find the task specified by TASK."
  (goto-char (point-min))
  (re-search-forward
   (concat "^[ \t]*:Toodledo-ID:[ \t]+" (org-toodledo-task-id task) "$")
   nil t))

(defun org-toodledo-account-changed (account-info)
  "Return non-nil if the account has changed since the last check.
The result will be an alist of (\"modified\" . \"timestamp\") if tasks have
been added/edited and (\"deleted\" . \"timestamp\") if tasks have been deleted."
  (let ((last-modified (org-entry-get-with-inheritance "Last-modified"))
        (last-deleted (org-entry-get-with-inheritance "Last-deleted"))
        result)
    (if (> (string-to-number (or (cdr (assoc "lastaddedit" account-info)) "0"))
           (string-to-number (or last-modified "0")))
        (add-to-list 'result (cons "modified" last-modified)))
    (if (> (string-to-number (or (cdr (assoc "lastdelete" account-info)) ""))
           (string-to-number (or last-deleted "0")))
        (add-to-list 'result (cons "deleted" last-deleted)))
    result))

(defun org-toodledo-sync-task (&optional force)
  "Update my Toodledo for the current task."
  (interactive "P")
  (save-excursion
    (let ((task (org-toodledo-parse-current-task)))
      (if (null (org-toodledo-task-id task))
          ;; New task, create it
          (let ((result (org-toodledo-add-task task)))
            (when (eq (elt (car result) 0) 'added)
              (org-entry-put (point) "Toodledo-ID" (elt (car result) 2))
              (org-entry-put (point) "Sync"
                             (format "%d" (float-time (current-time)) 1000))))
        ;; Old task, update
        (when (org-toodledo-success-p (org-toodledo-edit-task task))
          (if (equal (org-toodledo-task-completed task) "1")
              (org-entry-put (point) "Completed" "1")
            (org-entry-put (point) "Status" (org-toodledo-task-status task)))
          (org-entry-put (point) "Sync"
                         (format "%d" (float-time (current-time)) 1000)))))))

;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-format-date "2003-08-12") "<2003-08-12 Tue>"))
(defun org-toodledo-format-date (date &optional repeat)
  "Return yyyy-mm-dd day for DATE."
  (concat
   "<"
   (format-time-string
    "%Y-%m-%d %a"
    (cond
     ((listp date) date)
     ((numberp date) (seconds-to-time date))
     ((and (stringp date)
           (string-match "^[0-9]+$" date))
      (seconds-to-time (string-to-number date)))
     (t (apply 'encode-time (org-parse-time-string date)))))
   (if repeat (concat " " repeat) "")
   ">"))

;; (mapconcat 'org-toodledo-task-to-string temp "\n")
;; (setq task (elt temp 2))
;; (org-toodledo-task-to-string task)
(defun org-toodledo-task-to-string (task &optional level)
  "Return an Org-formatted version of TASK."
  (let* ((repeat (string-to-number (org-toodledo-task-repeat task)))
         (rep-advanced (org-toodledo-task-repeat-advanced task))
         (repeat-string (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string repeat rep-advanced))
         (priority (org-toodledo-task-priority task)))
    (concat
     (make-string (or level 2) ?*) " "
     (org-toodledo-status-to-string task) " "
     (cond
      ((equal priority "-1") "")
      ((equal priority "0") "[#C] ")
      ((equal priority "1") "[#B] ")
      ((equal priority "2") "[#A] ")
      ((equal priority "3") "[#A] "))
     (org-toodledo-task-title task)
     (if (org-toodledo-task-context task)
         (concat " :@" (org-toodledo-task-context task) ":")
       "")
     "\n"
     (if (and (org-toodledo-task-duedate task)
              (not (equal (org-toodledo-task-duedate task) ""))
              (not (< (string-to-number (org-toodledo-task-duedate task)) 0)))
         (concat org-deadline-string " "
                 (org-toodledo-format-date
                  (org-toodledo-task-duedate task)
                  repeat-string)
                 "\n")
       "")
     (or (org-toodledo-task-note task) "") "\n"
     ":PROPERTIES:\n"
     ":Toodledo-ID: " (org-toodledo-task-id task) "\n"
     ":Modified: " (org-toodledo-task-modified task) "\n"
     ":Sync: " (format "%d" (float-time (current-time))) "\n"
     ":Effort: " (org-toodledo-task-length task) "\n"
     ":END:\n"
     )))

;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 0) ""))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 1) "+1w"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 2) "+1m"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 3) "+1y"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 4) "+1d"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 5) "+2w"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 6) "+2m"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 7) "+6m"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 8) "+3m"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 108) ".+3m"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 101) ".+1w"))
;; (assert (equal (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string 0) ""))

(defconst org-toodledo-repeat-intervals '("" "+1w" "+1m" "+1y" "+1d" "+2w" "+2m" "+6m" "+3m"))
(defun org-toodledo-status-to-string (task)
  (let ((comp (org-toodledo-task-completed task))
        (status (string-to-number (org-toodledo-task-status task))))
    (cond
     ((not (or (null comp) (equal comp "") (equal comp "0"))) "DONE")
     ((= status 0) "TODO")
     ((= status 1) "TODO")
     ((= status 2) "STARTED")
     ((= status 3) "PLAN")
     ((= status 4) "DELEGATED")
     ((= status 5) "WAITING")
     ((= status 6) "PLAN")  ; hold
     ((= status 7) "SOMEDAY")  ; postponed
     ((= status 8) "SOMEDAY")
     ((= status 9) "CANCELLED")
     )))

(defun org-toodledo-repeat-to-string (repeat &optional rep-advanced)
  "Turn TASK into a repeat sequence."
  (cond
   ((= repeat 0) nil)
   ((> repeat 100) (concat "+" (org-toodledo-repeat-to-string (mod repeat 100) rep-advanced)))
   ((and (= repeat 50) rep-advanced)
    (cond
     ((string-match "Every \\([0-9]+\\) week" rep-advanced)
      (concat "+" (match-string 1 rep-advanced) "w"))
     ((string-match "Every \\([0-9]+\\) month" rep-advanced)
      (concat "+" (match-string 1 rep-advanced) "m"))
     ((string-match "Every \\([0-9]+\\) year" rep-advanced)
      (concat "+" (match-string 1 rep-advanced) "y"))
     ((string-match "Every \\([0-9]+\\) day" rep-advanced)
      (concat "+" (match-string 1 rep-advanced) "d"))
     (t rep-advanced)))
   (t (elt org-toodledo-repeat-intervals repeat))))

(defun org-toodledo-delete-current-task ()
  "Delete the current task."
  (interactive)
  (org-back-to-heading t)
  (let ((task (org-toodledo-parse-current-task)))
    (and (> (length (org-toodledo-task-id task)) 0)
         (org-toodledo-success-p (org-toodledo-delete-task task)))
    (delete-region
     (point)
     (if (and (end-of-line)
              (re-search-forward org-complex-heading-regexp nil t))
         (match-beginning 0)
       (org-end-of-subtree t t)
       (point)))))

(defun org-toodledo-task-get-prop (task prop) (cdr (assoc prop task)))
(defmacro org-toodledo-task-prop-defun (field)
  `(defun ,(intern (concat "org-toodledo-task-" field)) (task)
     (cdr (assoc ,field task))))

(defun org-toodledo-success-p (result)
  "Return non-nil if RESULT indicates success."
  (eq (car (car result)) 'success))

(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "id")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "title")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "status")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "completed")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "repeat")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "context")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "duedate")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "modified")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "priority")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "note")
(org-toodledo-task-prop-defun "length")
;; defun'd separately because of the change in name
(defun org-toodledo-task-repeat-advanced (task)
  (cdr (assoc "rep_advanced" task)))

(defvar org-toodledo-contexts nil "An alist of (context . id).")
(defun org-toodledo-get-contexts (&optional force)
  "Store an alist of (context . id) in `org-toodledo-contexts'.
Reload if FORCE is non-nil."
  (if (or force (null org-toodledo-contexts))
      (setq org-toodledo-contexts
            (mapcar
             (lambda (node)
               (cons
              (car (xml-node-children node))
              (xml-get-attribute node 'id)))
             (xml-get-children (car
                                (org-toodledo-call-method "getContexts")) 'context)))
    org-toodledo-contexts))

(defun org-toodledo-agenda-touch ()
  "Update the Modified timestamp for the current entry in the agenda."
  (org-agenda-check-type t 'agenda 'timeline)
  (org-agenda-check-no-diary)
  (let* ((marker (or (org-get-at-bol 'org-marker)
                     (org-agenda-error)))
         (buffer (marker-buffer marker))
         (pos (marker-position marker)))
    (org-with-remote-undo buffer
     (with-current-buffer buffer
       (widen)
       (goto-char pos)
       (if (org-entry-get (point) "Modified")
           (org-entry-put (point) "Modified" (format "%d" (float-time (current-time)))))))))

(defun org-toodledo-update-task (task &optional last-update)
  (let* ((modified (string-to-number (or (org-entry-get (point) "Modified") "")))
         (last-sync (if (org-entry-get (point) "Sync")
                        (string-to-number (org-entry-get (point) "Sync"))
                      0))
         (level (car (org-heading-components)))
         (locally-modified (> modified last-sync)))
    ;; Locally modified? keep
    (if locally-modified
        nil
      ;; Not locally modified? replace
      ;; Figure out what our level is
      (delete-region (org-back-to-heading)
                     (progn (goto-char (match-end 0))
                            (if (re-search-forward org-complex-heading-regexp nil t)
                                (goto-char (match-beginning 0))
                              (org-end-of-subtree))))
      (insert (org-toodledo-task-to-string task level))
      t)))

(provide 'org-toodledo)

Even though I haven’t played around with Emacs for a while, the text editor—and the community around it—hasn’t let go of me yet. My Emacs-related posts remain among the most popular on my blog, and people often write to me to ask questions or thank me for inspiration. I still keep Planet Emacsen in my feed reader, and I occasionally drop by the Emacs Wiki.

I miss working on Wicked Cool Emacs. I’ve turned it over to Ian Eure, whom I assume is persistently plugging away at it (although he might also have gotten distracted by real life as well–totally understandable). Now that I’m no longer distracted by the fun of tweaking Drupal (almost as flexible as Emacs, thanks to its hook system), Emacs calls.

I miss geeking out in #emacs on irc.freenode.net, helping people with questions on mailing lists, and playing with ideas that can be translated into code.

So I’m dusting off my configuration files and my notes, writing an org-toodledo module that pulls in my tasks from the web-based Toodledo task management system I’ve been using, and developing a rudimentary synchronization system that will help me make the transition.

(message “Hello, world!”)

My threshold for automation is lower than most people’s. When faced with a repetitive task that will take me an afternoon to do, I’ll spend maybe half an hour understanding the task, an hour figuring out how to do it using the tools, and another half hour to an hour completing it with automation’s help. I spend the extra time learning more about the automation tools or sharing what I’ve done.

Even if the time savings are probably not going to be significant, if the task is sufficiently repetitive, I’ll go for the intellectual thrill of automating it. Bonus: if I have to do the task again (which occasionally happens), I have my process all ready to go.

What would it take for people to learn how to automate more things? How do I do it? How did I pick up this habit?

Part of it is knowing the capabilities of a tool. I know that I can simulate mouse clicks and keypresses, so when I catch myself repeating certain motions, I think about how I can automate that.

Part of it is being able to abstract the steps in a procedure. I can figure out what can be easily automated and what needs manual intervention. If I can automate 80% of something, that’s usually enough.

Part of it is being able to program and not being afraid of geeky interfaces.

Part of it is asking if the time-intensive parts of the procedure are really necessary. (Sometimes they’re not.)

I like automation. I wish more people were comfortable doing it.

Want to get started? The best way is probably to pick a tool depending on what you spend most of your time doing, learning lots about your tool, and doing little experiments. For Emacs, it might be learning how to use keyboard macros, then using Lisp. For Excel, learn different functions (I use CONCATENATE and IF a lot). For AutoHotkey, try using it for abbreviations, then expand.

Have fun and save time!

People said:

Last, and certainly not least was Sacha Chua. If we could harness it I’m pretty sure we could power a few small cities of the energy that’s contained in this one, tiny person – especially when you get her talking about Emacs. Sacha’s demo, entitled, “Livin’ la vida Emacs” was hands down the most entertaining of the evening. Sacha has basically taken this simple, extendable text editor and pushed it about as far as it can go – at DemoCamp10 she pulled back the curtain and showed us all her little systems and apps she’s created in it. I like my GUI/Windows so the whole text-based thing isn’t for me but it certainly was interesting to see just how strung out she’s got that machine.

Ryan Coleman

Sacha Chua showed off what can be done in the scriptable environment, in this case emacs, as she went from Text editor, to a.i. doctor, to game engine to task / email organizer and beyond. Sacha was six feet tall on that stage, even though she did not actual levitate at anytime (although she came close, as always). A Tour de force of the Emacs, a text editing tool built in a interpreted lisp language environment, bascially a personalized productivity platform which allows for massive customization. Sacha had the crowd entertained and enthralled. (Sacha blogged her own impressions and mentions that Emacs was speaking to her!)

Ian Irving

Within Toronto’s Web community, Sacha Chua has become one of the leading “personalities”. Armed with infectious enthusiasm, charm and smarts, she would be an excellent person to hire once she graduates from UoT. The key question is how best to use her talents. It would probably be as a customer service rep, who can come into a bad situation and get everyone happy by the time she leaves. If I was an HR person from Microsoft, IBM, etc. I’d be knocking on Sacha’s door ASAP.

Mark Evans, consultant

Why? Probably because in addition to my natural sugar high, I was also presenting something that was awesomely, arcanely geeky. =)

I hadn’t figured out how to make a screencast on Linux, so the actual display on my screen is lost to time. I do, however, have the source code that I used to step through my speech–including speaking cues, as I didn’t want to mess up the presentation in front of Toronto’s technorati! So here’s the source code, for your amusement. I set up two of my function keys to go forward and backward, executing the parenthesized expressions. I also set up a hidden window that could handle my speaking cues so that Emacs could remind me what the next “slide” was before I transitioned to it, for smoother flow. emacspeak-speak-buffer is a function that reads the current window’s text using the Emacspeak speech interface with the Festival synthesizer I’d configured. At some point, I switched to a more interactive demo, but I still had the speaking cues remind me of the sequence. So yes, Emacs really was telling me what to say. ;)

;; Emacs as a text editor

(progn ;; Setup
  (defvar democamp/presentation-file "~/democamp.el")
  (defvar democamp/cue-buffer "*DemoCamp*")
  (defun democamp/next ()
    (interactive)
    (let (start sexp)
      (with-current-buffer (find-file-noselect democamp/presentation-file)
        (setq start (point))
        (forward-sexp)
        (setq sexp (buffer-substring-no-properties start (point))))
      (eval (read sexp))))

  (defun democamp/previous ()
    (interactive)
    (let (start sexp)
      (with-current-buffer (find-file-noselect democamp/presentation-file)
        (setq start (point))
        (backward-sexp)
        (setq sexp (buffer-substring-no-properties (point) start)))
      (eval (read sexp))))

  (defun democamp/repeat ()
    (interactive)
    (let (start sexp)
      (with-current-buffer (find-file-noselect democamp/presentation-file)
        (setq start (point))
        (backward-sexp)
        (setq sexp (buffer-substring (point) start))
        (forward-sexp))
      (eval (read sexp))))

  (defun democamp/say (text)
    (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create democamp/cue-buffer)
      (erase-buffer)
      (insert text)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (call-interactively 'emacspeak-speak-buffer)))
  (global-set-key (kbd "<f12>") 'democamp/next)
  (global-set-key (kbd "S-<f12>") 'democamp/previous)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-<f12>") 'democamp/repeat)
)

;; Window register a
(progn
  (menu-bar-mode 1)
  (tool-bar-mode 1)
  (set-face-attribute 'default nil :height 200)
  (find-file "~/hello.txt")
  (democamp/say "I don't know why people are so intimidated by Emacs. It's a text editor. It has menus and toolbars and everything.")
  (frame-configuration-to-register ?a)) 

(progn
  (democamp/say "Spell-check, too.")
  (load-library "flyspell")
  (load-library "emacspeak-flyspell")
  (setq emacspeak-flyspell-highlight-personality nil)
  (flyspell-mode 1))

;; Emacs learning curve
;; Frame configuration b
(progn
  (find-file "~/tmp/learningcurves.jpg")
  (democamp/say "So why are people terrified of Emacs?"))

(progn
  (set-face-attribute 'default nil :height 700)
  (delete-other-windows)
  (sit-for 1)
  (animate-sequence (list "Livin' la Vida Emacs" "DemoCamp10" "Sacha Chua" "Oct 23, 2006") 1))

(progn
  (set-face-attribute 'default nil :height 200)
  (democamp/say "Emacs comes with a psychotherapist.")
  (doctor))
(progn
  (democamp/say "an adventure game")
  (dunnet))
(progn
  (democamp/say "random geek stuff")
  (hanoi 3))
(progn
  (democamp/say "even Snake")
  (delete-other-windows)
  (snake))
(progn
  (democamp/say "And of course, my favorite game, Nethack.")
  (load-library "nethack-config")
  (nethack))
(democamp/say "Some of it is useful")
;; Flashcard
(progn
  (democamp/say "Flashcards")
  (load-library "flashcard-config")
  (find-file "~/notebook/japan/japanese.deck")
  (goto-char (point-max)))
;; With fortunes
(progn
  (democamp/say "And you can mash things together")
  (load-library "fortune")
  (setq fortune-file "/usr/share/games/fortunes/computers")
  (fortune)
  (delete-other-windows))
(progn
  (find-file-other-window "~/notebook/japan/japanese.deck")
  (goto-char (point-max)))

;; Planner
(democamp/say "Now the wild stuff starts.")
(progn
  (planner-goto-today)
  (delete-other-windows)
  (democamp/say "Emacs: more than just an editor. It's a way of life."))

;; - Show tasks
(democamp/say "I use Emacs to manage my tasks with Planner.")
(democamp/say "I can even keep detailed time logs!")
(progn
  (load-library "/usr/src/planner-el/planner-timeclock-summary.el")
  (planner-timeclock-summary-show (planner-today)))

;; - Show notes
(democamp/say "... blog...")
;; - Jump to URL in w3m
(democamp/say "... surf the Web (with tabbed browsing and a custom keymap!)")
33;; - Jump to URL in Firefox
(democamp/say "Although sometimes you really want Firefox.")
;; - Jump to task from mail message
(democamp/say "I can hyperlink to pretty much anything.")
(democamp/say "People's contact information")
(democamp/say "E-mail, etc.")
(democamp/say "Which comes in handy when I need to create tasks from mail messages.")
;; Add note to BBDB from mail message
(progn
  (democamp/say "Keeping track of the number of recipients")
  (planner-visit-link "pos://~/.gnus#19820"))
(democamp/say "BBDB indicators")

;; Reply to message with nickname,
(progn
  (democamp/say "CRM in e-mail: Nicknames...")
  (planner-visit-link "pos://~/.gnus#16025"))

;; and show how it shows up in BBDB record and ping code
(progn
  (democamp/say "... notes...")
  (planner-visit-link "pos://~/.gnus#18804"))

(progn
  (democamp/say "... pings...")
  (planner-visit-link "pos://~/.gnus#16932"))

(democamp/say "... filters...")
(democamp/say "So those are just a few examples of the crazy stuff you can do if you have an infinitely tweakable environment.")
(democamp/say "Sacha, remember to plug in the speakers.")
(democamp/say "Demo Campers, welcome to Emacs. What else do you want it to do?")

I love pushing the envelope. I love getting to know my tools inside and out (I enjoy reading source code!) and then making them do things other people can’t imagine. I love tweaking processes in real life, too, making them better and better every time. That’s just part of the way I work have fun. =)

How can you rock your next technical demo?

After a few pages of editing (and correcting the occasional typo that crept in as I changed URLs), I decided to partially automate the process. Using a smidgen of Emacs Lisp, I created a function that pasted text into a temporary buffer, performed whatever automatic fixes it could make, prompted me for any URLs it didn’t recognize, remembered the old URL – new URL mapping I defined, and copied the text back.

The function looked somewhat like this:

(defvar sacha/wiki-links nil "Associative list of (old-url . new-url).")
(defun sacha/wiki-fix ()
  (interactive)
  (with-temp-buffer
    ;; Insert text from clipboard
    (yank)
    (goto-char (point-min))
    ;; Look for all the links
    (while (re-search-forward
            "\\[\\([^|]+\\)|\\([^\]]+\\)\\]" nil t)
      ;; Check if it's one of the links I want to replace
      (if (or (string-match-p "viewpage" (match-string 2))
              (string-match-p "lsoohoo" (match-string 2)))
          (replace-match
           (save-match-data
             ;; Prompt and the entry to the map if it does not yet exist
             (unless (assoc (match-string 2) sacha/wiki-links)
               (add-to-list 'sacha/wiki-links
                            (cons (match-string 2)
                                  (read-string (concat (match-string 1)
                                                       "? ")))))
             ;; pick up the corresponding URL
             (cdr (assoc (match-string 2) sacha/wiki-links)))
           t t nil 2)))
    ;; Copy the text into the clipboard
    (kill-new (buffer-string))))

I used M-x global-set-key to bind a convenient function key to it (F12, I think), and then it was just a matter of clicking on each page, clicking on Edit, typing Ctrl-C to copy the text, switching to Emacs, pressing F12, switching back to my browser, typing Ctrl-V, and saving the wiki page. I also added some lines (not shown here) to convert the previous wiki gardener’s full links to intrawiki links, change server URLs, and do other fun things.

I thought about fully automating it (somehow hooking into w3, perhaps?), but that seemed to be more trouble than needed. Besides, it was good to review all the pages.

As a result of this Emacs wizardry, processing all 149 wiki pages took me a few hours instead of a few days. Yay!

Of course, I finished the last wiki page, I found out that I needed to change the servers in the URL. I decided to go ahead and fully automate the darn thing.

I extracted a list of URLs for the wiki by viewing the tree version of the wiki index. It used Javascript, so I couldn’t just pull the URLs out of the source code. Fortunately, the Firebug plugin for Firefox lets me copy the rendered HTML, so I used that instead. Some judicious text-editing later (replace-regexp rocks), I had a list of URLs to the different pages. I knew I needed to put in some kind of delay when loading web pages. sleep-for let me spread out my requests so I didn’t hammer the server too badly. Reading the w3m.el source code turned up w3m-async-exec. Once I set that to nil, requesting web pages and running code on the results turned out to be straightforward. Selecting the right widgets was a bit of a hack (re-search-forward here, w3m-previous-anchor there), but hey, it worked. After confirming it by manually running it on a few pages, I left it merrily running in the background.

Here it is (some tweaking required):

(defun sacha/edit-wiki-page ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((buffer (current-buffer))
        (w3m-async-exec nil)
        (delay 5)) ;; number of seconds
    ;; While not at the end of the buffer
    (while (not (eobp))
      ;; Load the URL on the current line
      (w3m-browse-url
       (buffer-substring
        (line-beginning-position)
        (line-end-position)))
      ;; Look for the edit button
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (when (search-forward "Edit" nil t)
        ;; Click it
        (w3m-view-this-url)
        ;; Look for the Minor change checkbox
        (goto-char (point-min))
        (when (search-forward "Minor change" nil t)
          ;; The text area is the second widget back
          (w3m-previous-anchor 2)
          ;; Open the text area in a temporary buffer for editing
          (w3m-view-this-url)
          ;; Do the changes
          (while (re-search-forward "https?://example.com/path" nil t)
            (replace-match "http://path.example.com" t t nil 0))
          ;; Save the value
          (w3m-form-input-textarea-set)
          (when (search-backward "Save" nil t)
            (w3m-view-this-url))))
      (switch-to-buffer buffer)
      (forward-line)
      (sleep-for delay))))

I’m sure this kind of automation might be possible with lots of hacking in Mozilla Firefox, and I’ve seen great scripts for the Mac, too. But I know Emacs, I’m comfortable digging into source code, and I can make things work.

Awesome. =D

I miss writing in wiki markup on Emacs and knowing that publishing would Just Work. I miss being able to dynamically expand entries from my address book in a way that automatically links to people’s blogs. (Or Twitter accounts, if I were going to do this now.) ScribeFire is a pain on my Eee (needs more horizontal screen space), and I have a hard time marking up the occasional bit of HTML in weblogger.el. Windows Live Writer is pretty slick (particularly with the SnagIt Screen Capture plugin and the Amazon Book Linker), but I can live without it. Or maybe I can resurrect that WordPress Emacs client Ashish mentioned.

Let me think about the differences in experiences.

• I wanted to support comments, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of time hacking on some custom commenting system. This was a big issue for me. I found some commenting scripts, but dealing with spam was a pain, so I switched to WordPress. If I switched back to Emacs for my blog, I’d probably use something like Disqus to handle the conversation, and just find some way of backing up the comments regularly.
• I wanted to make it easy to navigate posts. I modified Planner to generate a more browsable blog index, but it’s still not as slick as what you’d see with WordPress. On this WordPress blog, I like offering people random blog posts (good for me too – great way to rediscover old posts and make serendipitous connections!), related posts, and posts on the same day. I can do posts on the same day in Planner with a custom hook, but the others would require some hacking. Also, Planner is very much day-based, while WordPress lists N posts per page and has good category lists.
• I wanted to make it easy to edit posts. In my Emacs-based system, I published to RSS when I saved a note in the Remember window. I had a hack that made it possible to propagate changes from an already-published post to my WordPress blog, but it wasn’t completely reliable.
• Scheduling posts is handy, too. I hadn’t gotten around to figuring out how to build a post scheduler for Emacs. I suppose if I wasn’t picky about the time it went out, I could simply write posts on different days and then publish notes conditionally, plus have some kind of hook to notice if any of the current page’s posts should be published in the RSS feed, plus some way to handle previous days, plus maybe a server-friendly way to do this for the times when I’m not going to be online every day. Right.

That said, I miss automatically sharing some details of what I’m working on (with details deleted before publishing so that they’re available offline), publicly crossing off tasks, and other cool things.

Planner’s model for task planning isn’t quite compatible with Org’s model, and I’ve been using Org + Toodledo more these days.

What am I really looking for here?

• A quick, reliable way to post from a text editor, so that I can do it from the Eee. Hmm, the WP Postie plugin will probably do the trick.
• Easy way to share/review tasks: Toodledo export of week’s tasks?
• And maybe a custom plugin for weekly displays, org agendas, that sort of thing.

Hmm….

I still like Toodledo, but I feel an unsatisfied itch. Toodle-do is a great Getting Things Done system for capturing and tracking tasks, but even though it has some support for defining short-, medium-, and long-term goals, I wasn’t using them because they were split up on multiple screens. I missed the outlines of Org where I could define my higher-level goals, easily add new ones, and create tasks and subtasks. I missed the close integration with my schedule and the ability to easily see my historical task information. I missed the distinction between scheduled dates and deadlines, and the calculation of days until something is due.

So I think it’s time to switch back, at least temporarily. Maybe I can find a way to seamlessly synchronize my Org files so that changes are reflected on the different computers I’m on, and maybe I can find a way to easily capture or review tasks while I’m on the go. Perhaps I’ll continue working on org-toodledo so that I can export tasks from Org to the web-based interface. That way, I can quickly review today’s tasks while I’m out and about.

Hmm…

Here’s what I like about the other services:

• Both Remember the Milk and Toodledo have iPhone/iPod Touch interfaces, so I can review, check off, and create tasks anywhere.
• All those services allow me to e-mail tasks to an address.
• It’s easy to filter tasks by context.
• I can share my tasks with my assistant so that he or she can remind me of the tasks I’ve scheduled for the day.

Here’s what I like about Org:

• I can use templates and outlines to organize my tasks however I want.
• I can set deadlines, scheduled tasks, and prior notice easily.
• I can track time more finely than Toodledo can.
• I can use Org as an activity log.
• I can schedule tasks onto specific timeslots.

Of all the options I’ve tried, Toodledo is closest to where I am with Org, although it still doesn’t do everything.

Some options are:

• Use worg or develop a web-based interface for displaying tasks based on my Org file
• Write code for synchronizing Org with Toodledo or RememberTheMilk, making lots of geeks happy in the process =)

For example, last week, I needed to coordinate schedules with Katie Bartlett, Jeff Widman’s assistant, for a chat with Jeff about networking. I thought about how much e-mail was sent back-and-forth figuring out times and timezones, and I multiplied that by the number of appointments Katie probably needed to arrange. That sounded like a lot of work. If I could find a tool to make that easier for our appointment, and she used that tool to organize lots of other appointments, then that would be great!

I checked out a couple of tools such as TimeToMeet, ScheduleOnce, and AgreeADate. Of the tools I tried, I liked AgreeADate the most because it made it easy to create different kinds of schedules and it supported timezones. I sent Katie a few potential timeslots for my chat with Jeff. After she replied, I confirmed the time that was mutually convenient. That wasn’t hard at all.

Then I explored the other features. I found out that I could create a schedule where people could pick a slot. AgreeADate allowed me to specify how many people each timeslot was limited to, and how many slots people could choose. This opened up all sorts of possibilities, and has become my favorite feature!

Things that I’d formerly had been worried about scheduling became so much easier to schedule because I could create all the slots in parallel and then let people choose the slots that hadn’t been taken yet. For example, I’d been meaning to try outsourcing some technical and personal tasks, but scheduling interview times sounded like a hassle. With this system, I just had to set all the slots up and invite people to choose the timeslot most convenient for them. Yay!

AgreeADate isn’t perfect, but it makes scheduling things so much easier for me, and it lowers the barrier enough for me to go and make things happen. In the past week that I’ve been trying it out, I’ve:

• scheduled a capoeira trial
• scheduled a conference call
• set up interviews for a system administrator and a virtual assistant, and
• set up lunch with a poll on where to eat.

You know, stuff that would’ve taken way too much e-mail if I had to do it by hand. =)

I’d like to see it integrated with my Google Calendar, and one of the AgreeADate folks told me that that’s the next thing on their roadmap. I found myself wondering which slots I’d tentatively offered for other events, and being able to see all the tentative slots overlaid on my calendar would be fantastic.

In the meantime, I read the confirmation e-mails in Emacs Gnus, use Remember and Org to create an appointment hyperlinked to that mail, and then use my own code, the twit.el library, and the Twittercal service to create an appointment on my Google Calendar (on google.com), which is then shared with my Google Calendar on sachachua.com thanks to the joys of Google Apps. It’s quite Rube Goldberg-esque (as many of my bubblegum-and-string tricks are), but so far, it works. Maybe this’ll be something I’ll outsource (except perhaps without the Gnus + Remember + Org part) once I’ve gotten that virtual assistance thing sorted out. =)

For the geeks, some Emacs Lisp to mash together with Org, TwitterCal, Google Calendar, and twit.el (some wizardry required):

(defun sacha/org-as-gcal-quick-add ()
  "Convert the current SCHEDULED: timestamp and header into a GCal quick add item."
  (save-excursion
    (org-back-to-heading t)
    (setq end (save-excursion (outline-next-heading) (point)))
    (when (re-search-forward org-scheduled-time-regexp
			     end t)
      (let (ts default-time stamp plain s0 srp s1 s2)
	(setq ts (match-string 1)
	      default-time (apply 'encode-time (org-parse-time-string ts)))
	(when (or (setq stamp (string-match org-stamp-time-of-day-regexp ts))
		  (setq plain (string-match org-plain-time-of-day-regexp ts)))
	  (setq s0 (match-string 0 ts)
		srp (and stamp (match-end 3))
		s1 (match-string (if plain 1 2) ts)
		s2 (match-string (if plain 8 (if srp 4 6)) ts)))
	(cond
	 (s2
	  (concat (org-no-properties (org-get-heading t)) " on "
		  (format-time-string "%x" default-time) " from "
		  (org-get-time-of-day s1 'string t) " to "
		  (org-get-time-of-day s2 'string t)
		  ))
	 (s1

	  (concat (org-no-properties (org-get-heading t)) " on "
		  (format-time-string "%x" default-time) " from "
		  (org-get-time-of-day s1 'string t)
		  ))
	 (t
	  (concat (org-no-properties (org-get-heading t)) " on "
		  (format-time-string "%x" default-time)
		  )
	  ))))))

(defun sacha/org-to-twittercal (string)
  "Post STRING to TwitterCal. See http://www.twittercal.com for details."
  (interactive (list (read-string "Event: " (sacha/org-as-gcal-quick-add))))
  (twit-post-function twit-update-url (concat "d gcal " string)))

I’ll keep you posted on my experiments! =)

Abstract:

Are you a lazy developer? If you aren’t, you should be! Find out about editor tricks that can save you hours and hours of effort and frustration. Learn about browser tips that make it easy to test your sites with different users, track down elusive bugs, and test. Develop the virtue of laziness by automating as much as you can with makefiles, the Drupal Shell, regression tests, and other goodies. Share your best tips during this interactive session. Use your new free time to rock even more!

Bio

Sacha Chua has an unshakable belief that life is too short to waste doing repetitive tasks that can be automated, an irrational love for tweaking her development environment, and an irresistible urge to share whatever she’s learned along the way. To learn more about her and Web 2.0, Drupal, Emacs, and other things she’s interested, visit [INTERNAL IBM URL] or http://LivingAnAwesomeLife.com (personal blog).

Inside IBM and want to get a copy of the calendar invite? Contact William Shaouy.

To change the background color and other attributes, use the command M-x customize-face, and specify default as the face to customize. Change the attributes and the sample text will reflect your settings. When you are satisfied, select Save for future sessions. Your changes will be saved to ~/.emacs and reloaded the next time you start the editor.

This is a draft for Wicked Cool Emacs, a book that will be published by No Starch Press. (if we manage to get it all together! =)

With an awesome development environment like my customized Emacs, however, I can easily juggle multiple source trees. Here’s the macro I wrote to make setting this up much easier:

(defmacro sacha/file-cache-setup-tree (prefix shortcut directories)
  "Set up the file-cache tree for PREFIX using the keyboard SHORTCUT.
DIRECTORIES should be a list of directory names."
  `(let ((file-cache-alist nil)
	 (directories ,directories))
     (file-cache-clear-cache)
     (while directories
       (file-cache-add-directory-using-find (car directories))
       (setq directories (cdr directories)))
     (setq ,(intern (concat "sacha/file-cache-" prefix "-alist")) file-cache-alist)
     (defun ,(intern (concat "sacha/file-cache-ido-find-" prefix)) ()
       (interactive)
       (let ((file-cache-alist ,(intern (concat "sacha/file-cache-" prefix "-alist"))))
	 (call-interactively 'file-cache-ido-find-file)))
     (global-set-key (kbd ,shortcut)
		     (quote ,(intern (concat "sacha/file-cache-ido-find-" prefix))))))

With that, I can use the following to map C-c p to finding files in my personal directories:

(sacha/file-cache-setup-tree
 "personal"
 "C-c p"
 '("/var/www/html/drupal"
   "~/elisp"
   "~/personal"))

I’ve also set up keyboard shortcuts for the other trees I’m working on.

You’ll need file-cache, ido, and probably something like this:

(require 'filecache)
(require 'ido)
(defun file-cache-ido-find-file (file)
  "Using ido, interactively open file from file cache'.
First select a file, matched using ido-switch-buffer against the contents
in `file-cache-alist'. If the file exist in more than one
directory, select directory. Lastly the file is opened."
  (interactive (list (file-cache-ido-read "File: "
                                          (mapcar
                                           (lambda (x)
                                             (car x))
                                           file-cache-alist))))
  (let* ((record (assoc file file-cache-alist)))
    (find-file
     (expand-file-name
      file
      (if (= (length record) 2)
          (car (cdr record))
        (file-cache-ido-read
         (format "Find %s in dir: " file) (cdr record)))))))

(defun file-cache-ido-read (prompt choices)
  (let ((ido-make-buffer-list-hook
	 (lambda ()
	   (setq ido-temp-list choices))))
    (ido-read-buffer prompt)))
(add-to-list 'file-cache-filter-regexps "docs/html")
(add-to-list 'file-cache-filter-regexps "\\.svn-base$")
(add-to-list 'file-cache-filter-regexps "\\.dump$")

I switched to WordPress for my blog because I got tired of trying to figure out a way to enable comments without getting mired in spam-fighting. That meant I could explore other Emacs personal information managers like Org, which I turned into my main task manager. I often used the WordPress interface to write blog posts. I sometimes used Windows Live Writer to write posts about books (there’s a good book review plugin that makes this easy). I also sometimes used Emacs and Org to draft blog posts using Org’s friendlier markup, exporting snippets to HTML that I then pasted into my blog posts.

Reading the posts on Planet Emacsen reminded me that my customized configuration was pretty darn sweet. That and the conversation notes I’ve been blogging lately encouraged me to dust off my configuration files and get them to work under Org. So here’s the code:

 (defun sacha/org-bbdb-get (path)
   "Return BBDB record for PATH."
   (car (bbdb-search (bbdb-records) path path path)))

 (defun sacha/org-bbdb-export (path desc format)
   "Create the export version of a BBDB link specified by PATH or DESC.
 If exporting to HTML, it will be linked to the person's blog,
 www, or web address. If exporting to LaTeX FORMAT the link will be
 italicised. In all other cases, it is left unchanged."
     (cond
      ((eq format 'html)
       (let* ((record
             (sacha/org-bbdb-get path))
            url)
       (setq url (and record
                      (or (bbdb-record-getprop record 'blog)
                          (bbdb-record-getprop record 'www)
                          (bbdb-record-getprop record 'web))))
       (if url
           (format "<a href=\"%s\">%s</a>"
                   url (or desc path))
         (format "<em>%s</em>"
                 (or desc path)))))
      ((eq format 'latex) (format "\\textit{%s}" (or desc path)))
      (t (or desc path))))

 (defadvice org-bbdb-export (around sacha activate)
   "Override org-bbdb-export."
   (setq ad-return-value (sacha/org-bbdb-export path desc format)))

 ;;;_+ Hippie expansion for BBDB; map M-/ to hippie-expand for most fun
 (add-to-list 'hippie-expand-try-functions-list 'sacha/try-expand-bbdb-annotation)
 (defun sacha/try-expand-bbdb-annotation (old)
   "Expand from BBDB. If OLD is non-nil, cycle through other possibilities."
   (unless old
     ;; First time, so search through BBDB records for the name
     (he-init-string (he-dabbrev-beg) (point))
     (when (> (length he-search-string) 0)
       (setq he-expand-list nil)
       (mapcar
        (lambda (item)
        (let ((name (bbdb-record-name item)))
          (when name
            (setq he-expand-list
                  (cons (org-make-link-string
                       (org-make-link "bbdb:" name)
                       name)
                        he-expand-list)))))
        (bbdb-search (bbdb-records)
                     he-search-string
                     he-search-string
                     he-search-string
                     nil nil))))
   (while (and he-expand-list
               (or (not (car he-expand-list))
                   (he-string-member (car he-expand-list) he-tried-table t)))
     (setq he-expand-list (cdr he-expand-list)))
   (if (null he-expand-list)
       (progn
         (if old (he-reset-string))
         nil)
     (progn
       (he-substitute-string (car he-expand-list) t)
       (setq he-expand-list (cdr he-expand-list))
       t)))

If you’ve got Org and BBDB, drop this into your ~/.emacs and fiddle with it. =)

(defun wicked/w3m-open-current-page-in-firefox ()
  "Open the current URL in Mozilla Firefox."
  (interactive)
  (browse-url-firefox w3m-current-url)) ;; (1)

(defun wicked/w3m-open-link-or-image-in-firefox ()
  "Open the current link or image in Firefox."
  (interactive)
  (browse-url-firefox (or (w3m-anchor) ;; (2)
                          (w3m-image)))) ;; (3)

This defines a function that uses the current URL being browsed(1) and another function that takes the URL of the link at point(2). If no link is found, it takes the URL of the image at point(3).

You can use other browse-url functions instead of browse-url-firefox. For example, replacing browse-url-firefox with browse-url-kde will open the page, link, or image in Konqueror, KDE’s web browser.

I like binding f to the function that opens the current URL in Mozilla Firefox and F to the function that opens the current link or image in Mozilla Firefox. To do the same, add the following to your ~/.emacs:

(eval-after-load 'w3m
  (progn
    (define-key w3m-mode-map "f" 'wicked/w3m-open-current-page-in-firefox)
    (define-key w3m-mode-map "F" 'wicked/w3m-open-link-or-image-in-firefox)))

—
This is part of the book that I’m writing about Emacs, which will be published by No Starch Press if I manage to get it together in time.

By default, w3m-previous-buffer is mapped to C-c C-p and w3m-next-buffer is mapped to C-c C-n. On a QWERTY keyboard, you may want to remap w3m-previous-buffer to q and w3m-next-buffer to w. You’ll probably also want to remap w3m-close-window (which had been bound to q), and x is a good keybinding for that. To make all these changes, add the following to your ~/.emacs:

(eval-after-load 'w3m
  '(progn
     (define-key w3m-mode-map "q" 'w3m-previous-buffer)
     (define-key w3m-mode-map "w" 'w3m-next-buffer)
     (define-key w3m-mode-map "x" 'w3m-close-window)))

If you use a Dvorak keyboard layout, you can bind . to w3m-previous-buffer and , to w3m-next-buffer instead. Just add the following code to your ~/.emacs:

(eval-after-load 'w3m
  '(progn
     (define-key w3m-mode-map "." 'w3m-previous-buffer)
     (define-key w3m-mode-map "," 'w3m-next-buffer)))

(This is part of the draft for my book on Emacs, to be published by No Starch Press if I’m not too late.)

Here’s my current configuration:

(require 'anything)
(require 'anything-config)
(setq anything-sources
      (list anything-c-source-buffers
            anything-c-source-file-name-history
            anything-c-source-info-pages
            anything-c-source-man-pages
	    anything-c-source-file-cache
            anything-c-source-emacs-commands))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-X") 'anything)

Define the function by adding the following code to your ~/.emacs:

(defun wicked/toggle-w3m ()
  "Switch to a w3m buffer or return to the previous buffer."
  (interactive)
  (if (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode)
      ;; Currently in a w3m buffer
      ;; Bury buffers until you reach a non-w3m one
      (while (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode)
	(bury-buffer))
    ;; Not in w3m
    ;; Find the first w3m buffer
    (let ((list (buffer-list)))
      (while list
	(if (with-current-buffer (car list)
	      (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode))
	    (progn
	      (switch-to-buffer (car list))
	      (setq list nil))
	  (setq list (cdr list))))
      (unless (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode)
	(call-interactively 'w3m)))))

Then bind it to a shortcut key sequence (F7 F7 in this example) by adding the following code to your ~/.emacs:

(global-set-key (kbd " ") 'wicked/toggle-w3m)

You can then use F7 F7 to switch back and forth between your web browser and whatever else you’re working on.