Task Poach Help

"Getting things done this fast may look suspicious"

Version 0.0.12

Have a back up of your task file in case of corruption!!!

Note: this help file may get out of date, check for bugs and discussion on talk.maemo.org

Task Poach aims to be compatible with Task Coach files (as of tsk file v32), although it only has a limited number of features. It is not developed or supported by the same fine developers as Task Coach.

It is written with PyQt, initially in a very short time frame for the Maemo.org Coding Competition 2012.

Topics

• Main Window
• Task Properties
• Categories
• Features
• Settings
• Colors
• Icons
• Shortcut Keys
• Known Limitations
• Revision List

The main window shows the overview of all of the tasks. If a filter is active it only shows the tasks in the selected categories. See the Categories window section for more details.

Putting a check mark next to a Task in the main window marks the task complete (or that occurance of it if recurrence is set)

To filter tasks by category click the category button and put check marks next to any categories you want to see and click the "Apply Filter" button. For more info on categories see the Categories window section

Also see the Colors and Icons sections for more info on the look and usage of the main window.

With the Task Properties window you can edit all of the information about the task that Task Poach supports. Your changes are only applied if you hit the "OK" button. Hitting the "back" button will cancel changes and return to the main window. If auto save is turned on the preferences (on by default) after you edit a task or category the file will be saved.

To navigate the Task Properties window, hit the ">" (next) button to to go to the next page of available settings, or the "<" (previous) button to go to the previous page, or click the middle selector and choose the page you would like to jump to.

The check boxes on the Categories window serve a different purpose than the task check boxes on the main window. Put check marks next to categories and tap the "Apply Filter" button to return to the main window and only see the tasks in the check(ed) categories. To clear the filter return to the Categories window and hit the "Uncheck All" button or just unset the check mark next to the categories you no longer want to see.

From the main window select the Category icon to access the Categories window. For more on the icons see the Icons section

• "Auto" category tagging - If you have categories selected as a filter they will automatically be added to any new tasks you create
• Hierarchical - Have as many subtasks or subcategories under each main task/category as you desire
• Shortcuts - Do things even faster with shortcuts (see Shortcuts section)
• Non-lossy saving - Attempts to keep Task Coach information even though it does not allow editing all of it (but keep backups just in case).
• Auto Orientation - Automatically switches between portrait and landscape modes.
• Powerful - Bringing (some of) the power of another desktop app to Maemo.
• Created for the Maemo.org Coding Competition 2012

The settings do not have a GUI yet However, the file is stored in ~/taskpoach/taskpoach.ini

Note: You can modify settings as you wish, but please do not modify while Task Poach is running. On a good note, if you mess up the settings file, just delete it and Task Poach will re-generate on launch

It currently has the following sections and settings, defaults are in bold:

• [file]
• autosave = True/False
• lastfile = /path/to/last/file.tsk
• loadlastfile = True/False
• promptondeletion = True/False
• [color]
• overduetasks = 255, 0, 0 (RGB color code)
• duesoontasks = 255, 153, 0 (RGB color code)
• completedtasks = 0, 255, 0 (RGB color code)
• activetasks = 0, 0, 0 (RGB color code) - setting for desktop version I was working with
• activetasksmaemo = 255, 255, 255 (RGB color code) - setting for Maemo Active Tasks
• [icons]
• iconcompleted = /opt/usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/actions/ledgreen.png
• iconoverdue = /opt/usr/share/icons/nuvola/32x32/actions/ledred.png
• iconduesoon = /opt/usr/share/icons/nuvola/32x32/actions/ledorange.png
• iconactive = /opt/usr/share/icons/nuvola/32x32/actions/ledblue.png
• [taskview]
• hidecompleted = True/False

• Red - Indicates an overdue item
• Green - Indicates a completed item
• Orange - Indicates an item due today
• Blue - Indicates an item that is not due yet

Task Poach icons

Mostly icons from the Nuvola icon set so thanks to David Vignoni!

• Task indicators

• Red - Indicates an overdue item
• Green - Indicates a complete task
• Orange - Indicates an item due today
• Blue - Indicates an item that is not due yet

• Tool bar buttons (Category and main window)

• New Task/Category - Create a new task or category
• New Subtask/Subcategory - Create a new subtask or subcategory
• Edit Task/Category - Edit the selected Task or Category
• Delete Task/Category - Delete the selected Task or Category
• Show/Hide Completed Tasks - Toggles whether completed tasks are shown in the main window
• Category/Filter - Opens the Category window to modify categories OR check categories to filter tasks with
• Expand All - Expands all tasks or categories that have subtasks for easy viewing
• Collaps All - Collapses all tasks or categories that have subtasks
• Save File - Save the current file (only shows if auto save is turned off in preferences
• Exit Task Poach - Quits Task Poach (prompting to save changes if auto save is off and there are unsaved changes)

CTRL + Q Exits Application

CTRL + S Save File

CTRL + N New File

CTRL + T New Task

CTRL + Shift + T New Subtask

CTRL + E Edit Task

CTRL + F Categories (and Filter Tasks)

CTRL + Shift + H Help

CTRL + D Delete Task

CTRL + H Show/Hide Completed Tasks

CTRL + I Collapse All

CTRL + U Expand All

• Unfortunately (huge drawback!) - It is NOT Task Coach - therefore not nearly so polished or powerful
• It is my first app, so I learned a lot but made a lot of mistakes
• No built in sync - I use Unison to sync my tsk files between my desktop and n900
• The settings do not have a GUI yet (file is stored in ~/taskpoach/taskpoach.ini) - see Settings section
• Not available for N9/50 yet (if I win one I may try to port ;-) )
• Recurrance calculations vary slightly from Task Coach on "keep same weekday" tasks, but have not had time to investigate yet
• The XML output (done by ElementTree) is not identical Task Coach's, it does not insert whitespace or the header sections. However, Task Coach happily opens the files it creates and re-adds those things.

• 0.0.12 (2012-8-27)
  • Created this help file :-)
  • Checking a task complete in main window correctly calculates recurrence and unchecks if it occurs again
  • Added shortcut keys
  • Fixed rotation so usable on all windows
  • Fixed when no categories exist adding a new one changes heading to "1"
  • Toolbar gracefully changes between portrait and landscape now
  • Fixed filter not working for subcategories (not showing subtasks either)
  • Error checking when creating new file (Qt file dialog misses an instance where you could unknowingly overwrite an existing file)
  • Added prompt on deletion of tasks and categories (can be turned off in settings)
  • Fixed only 1 subtask showing unless "hidecompleted" was not selected
  • Fixed show/hide completed not working occasionally if just added tasks (& not saved)
  • Going to release for coding competition!
• 0.0.11 (2012-8-2)
  • Fixed recurrance period not being saved
  • Ability to create a new task coach file
  • Prompt when requested action not available (task must be selected)
  • Edit task menu item now works
• 0.0.10 (2012-7-29)
  • Minor changes to remove unneeded code
  • Reccurring tasks now working (reccurance algorithm varies slightly from Task Coach
  • Some code cleanup and warning dialogs added
• 0.0.9 (2012-7-26)
  • Added buttons to switch to next/previous task properties tabs
  • Turned on rotation for Maemo (n900) devices - but window layouts need lots of work before usable
• 0.0.8 (2012-7-21)
  • Fixed so new tasks showed in filtered mode
  • Ability to create a new task coach file
  • If filter categories are selected new tasks have those categories by default
  • Hide and show completed tasks now part of filtering
  • More of the model is seperate from the view now
• 0.0.7 (2012-7-14)
  • Fixed task icons for Maemo5
• 0.0.6 (2012-7-10)
  • Added auto loading last used file
  • Fixed toggling tasks as complete/incomplete when checked in main window
• 0.0.5 (2012-7-09)
  • Modified dependencies
  • Been through several revisions & starting to look like a possible project so started keeping track of changes here...