Tasks

Bill Starrett

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Dec 30, 2009, 8:33:47 AM12/30/09

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Are there instructions somewhere that describe how to use the "Task"
function? I find it baffling, illogical, and nearly incomprehensible.

Simon Paquet

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Dec 31, 2009, 12:14:40 PM12/31/09

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Bill Starrett wrote on 30. Dec 2009:

> Are there instructions somewhere that describe how to use the "Task"
> function? I find it baffling, illogical, and nearly incomprehensible.

I think it would be easiest, if you could just say what your problems
are with the task functionality, what you would like to see and what
you are trying to achieve. That could open up a discussion which
everyone
could benefit from.

Simon

--
Thunderbird/Calendar Localisation (L10n) Coordinator
Thunderbird l10n blog: http://thunderbird-l10n.blogspot.com
Calendar website maintainer: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar
Calendar developer blog: http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/calendar

Bill Starrett

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Jan 5, 2010, 8:59:56 AM1/5/10

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Simon Paquet wrote:
> Bill Starrett wrote on 30. Dec 2009:
>
>> Are there instructions somewhere that describe how to use the "Task"
>> function? I find it baffling, illogical, and nearly incomprehensible.
>
> I think it would be easiest, if you could just say what your problems
> are with the task functionality, what you would like to see and what
> you are trying to achieve. That could open up a discussion which everyone
> could benefit from.
>
> Simon
>

Issues with recurring tasks:

1. The payment of the rent is one example of a recurring task that is
never really ï¿½completedï¿½. Iï¿½ve set up all recurring tasks the same way
and mark them complete the same way yet some, when marked completed,
simply disappear.
2. The ones that donï¿½t disappear eventually appear in due ï¿½Todayï¿½ or
ï¿½Next Seven Daysï¿½ with lines through them. This is very confusing but
apparently means that the previous interim due date has been met.
However, the date in the ï¿½Completedï¿½ column is (sometimes) not the last
completion date but one before that.
3. When a recurring due date is missed, it does not appear anywhere.
The next due date eventually shows up in ï¿½Todayï¿½ or ï¿½Next Seven Daysï¿½.

Is this the Task hierarchy:

1. All tasks are either ï¿½completeï¿½ or ï¿½incompleteï¿½
2. All ï¿½incompleteï¿½ tasks are either ï¿½overdueï¿½ or ï¿½not startedï¿½ (could
be both?)
3. All ï¿½not startedï¿½ tasks are either eventually due ï¿½todayï¿½ or ï¿½next
seven daysï¿½
4. Question: Why isnï¿½t an overdue task due ï¿½todayï¿½? Why have ï¿½overdueï¿½
when simply marking (color, font, etc.) the overdue tasks in ï¿½todayï¿½
would present one less place to look?
5. Question: Where does a missed (or incomplete?) interim due date of a
recurring task fit in?

Bill Starrett

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Jan 5, 2010, 9:11:25 AM1/5/10

to

Simon Paquet wrote:
> Bill Starrett wrote on 30. Dec 2009:
>
>> Are there instructions somewhere that describe how to use the "Task"
>> function? I find it baffling, illogical, and nearly incomprehensible.
>
> I think it would be easiest, if you could just say what your problems
> are with the task functionality, what you would like to see and what
> you are trying to achieve. That could open up a discussion which everyone
> could benefit from.
>
> Simon
>

Issues with recurring tasks:

1. The payment of the rent is one example of a recurring task that is
never really ï¿½completedï¿½. Iï¿½ve set up all recurring tasks the same way
and mark them complete the same way yet some, when marked completed,
simply disappear.
2. The ones that donï¿½t disappear eventually appear in due ï¿½Todayï¿½ or
ï¿½Next Seven Daysï¿½ with lines through them. This is very confusing but
apparently means that the previous interim due date has been met.
However, the date in the ï¿½Completedï¿½ column is (sometimes) not the last
completion date but one before that.

3. Two that were set up yesterday and the first due date completed
yesterday still show as ï¿½incompleteï¿½ and ï¿½overdueï¿½ and ï¿½not startedï¿½
4. When a recurring due date is missed, it does not appear anywhere.
The next due date shows up in ï¿½Todayï¿½ or ï¿½Next Seven Daysï¿½.

Is this the Task hierarchy:

1. All tasks are either ï¿½completeï¿½ or ï¿½incompleteï¿½
2. All ï¿½incompleteï¿½ tasks are either ï¿½overdueï¿½ or ï¿½not startedï¿½ (could
be both?)

3. All ï¿½not startedï¿½ tasks are either due eventually ï¿½todayï¿½ or ï¿½next

WLS

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Jan 7, 2010, 1:44:22 PM1/7/10

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On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:11:25 -0500, Bill Starrett wrote:

> Simon Paquet wrote:
>> Bill Starrett wrote on 30. Dec 2009:
>>
>>> Are there instructions somewhere that describe how to use the "Task"
>>> function? I find it baffling, illogical, and nearly incomprehensible.
>>
>> I think it would be easiest, if you could just say what your problems
>> are with the task functionality, what you would like to see and what
>> you are trying to achieve. That could open up a discussion which
>> everyone could benefit from.
>>
>> Simon
>>
> Issues with recurring tasks:
>
> 1. The payment of the rent is one example of a recurring task that is

> never really “completed”. I’ve set up all recurring tasks the same way

> and mark them complete the same way yet some, when marked completed,
> simply disappear.

> 2. The ones that don’t disappear eventually appear in due “Today” or
> “Next Seven Days” with lines through them. This is very confusing but

> apparently means that the previous interim due date has been met.

> However, the date in the “Completed” column is (sometimes) not the last

> completion date but one before that.
> 3. Two that were set up yesterday and the first due date completed

> yesterday still show as “incomplete” and “overdue” and “not started” 4.

> When a recurring due date is missed, it does not appear anywhere. The

> next due date shows up in “Today” or “Next Seven Days”.

>
> Is this the Task hierarchy:
>

> 1. All tasks are either “complete” or “incomplete” 2. All
“incomplete”
> tasks are either “overdue” or “not started” (could be both?)
> 3. All “not started” tasks are either due eventually “today” or “next
> seven days”
> 4. Question: Why isn’t an overdue task due “today”? Why have
“overdue”
> when simply marking (color, font, etc.) the overdue tasks in “today”

> would present one less place to look? 5. Question: Where does a
missed
> (or incomplete?) interim due date of a recurring task fit in?

I used events instead of tasks, because it worked for me, but since I've
updated TB to TB 3.0, Lightning is broken until a new 64-bit extension
evolves. I plan on switching to another email client that includes a
calendar.

Good Luck!

--
openSUSE 11.2x86_64 (Gnome 2.28.0) | AMD Athlon(tm) 64 3000+ | 2GB RAM

Keith Nuttle

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Jan 7, 2010, 2:05:28 PM1/7/10

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I to was disappointed that Lightning 0.9 did not work in TB 3.0. You may
try to use the 1.0b1. I saw it recommended by other people in the same
boat, and have been using it since TB 3.0 was released. I have had no
problems.

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/download.html#nightly

It is too bad that Lightning could not be ready when TB 3.0 was
released. A lot of people will be put off by having to use the beta.

Stefan Sitter

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Jan 7, 2010, 2:18:43 PM1/7/10

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Keith Nuttle wrote:
> I to was disappointed that Lightning 0.9 did not work in TB 3.0. You
> may try to use the 1.0b1. I saw it recommended by other people in the
> same boat, and have been using it since TB 3.0 was released. I have
> had no problems.
>
> http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/download.html#nightly
>
> It is too bad that Lightning could not be ready when TB 3.0 was
> released. A lot of people will be put off by having to use the beta.

I recommend to use the release candidate of Lightning 1.0b1 instead of
the nightly test builds. You can download it from
<http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/calendar/2009/12/lightning_10beta1_release_cand.html>

Stefan Sitter

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Jan 7, 2010, 2:24:31 PM1/7/10

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Bill Starrett wrote:
> Issues with recurring tasks:
>
> 1. The payment of the rent is one example of a recurring task that
> is never really ï¿½completedï¿½. Iï¿½ve set up all recurring tasks the
> same way and mark them complete the same way yet some, when marked
> completed, simply disappear.
>
> 2. The ones that donï¿½t disappear eventually appear in due ï¿½Todayï¿½ or
> ï¿½Next Seven Daysï¿½ with lines through them. This is very confusing but
> apparently means that the previous interim due date has been met.
> However, the date in the ï¿½Completedï¿½ column is (sometimes) not the
> last completion date but one before that.
>
> 3. Two that were set up yesterday and the first due date completed
> yesterday still show as ï¿½incompleteï¿½ and ï¿½overdueï¿½ and ï¿½not startedï¿½
>
> 4. When a recurring due date is missed, it does not appear anywhere.
> The next due date shows up in ï¿½Todayï¿½ or ï¿½Next Seven Daysï¿½.

This all comes down to the same issue: Currently the task list doesn't
really support displaying and editing of recurring tasks. They behave
like non-recurring tasks, causing different problems like the mentioned
above.

WLS

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Jan 7, 2010, 3:45:17 PM1/7/10

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That won't work for me. Quote from the site you referenced:

"What is missing right now are two things:

* Linux builds for the x86-64 platform. We need someone from the
community to provide those to us. Please contact our lead developer
Philipp Kewisch (contact details are available here) if you can help out.

* Sunbird builds. We still have problems with those but hope tho have
those fixed before Christmas. Watch this space for more information."

Keith Nuttle

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Jan 7, 2010, 3:49:18 PM1/7/10

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That is probably where I got my copy. Once I download the beta, I seem
never able to get back there.

Stefan Sitter

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Jan 7, 2010, 3:57:17 PM1/7/10

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WLS wrote:
> That won't work for me. Quote from the site you referenced:
> "What is missing right now are two things:
> * Linux builds for the x86-64 platform.

A user contributed Linux build for the x86-64 platform is available from
the link posted in the comments right below the blog post:
<http://www.wg9s.com/mozilla/lightning/releases/1.0b1rc1/linux-x86_64/>.
Don't know if it matches your system.

Andrew DeFaria

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Jan 7, 2010, 4:31:57 PM1/7/10

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On 01/07/2010 12:18 PM, Stefan Sitter wrote:

I recommend to use the release candidate of Lightning 1.0b1 instead of the nightly test builds. You can download it from <http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/calendar/2009/12/lightning_10beta1_release_cand.html>

It was my understanding that this doesn't work with Linux 64 bit. I'm currently stuck on Lightning 1.0 pre, which does work. Is 1.0b1 > 1.0 pre? Does it work with 64 bit?

Does it have better task handling support?

--
Andrew DeFaria
Think honk if you're telepathic.

Andrew DeFaria

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Jan 7, 2010, 4:42:03 PM1/7/10

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Well this didn't work for me. I have and AMD 64 bit machine if that matters. Still Help: About Thunderbird says X86_64.

BTW I contacted Philipp Kewisch offering to help build an X64 bit version of Lightning. I don't have his response here but it was something to the effect of "Thanks I got somebody else to do that for me".

--
Andrew DeFaria
Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.

WLS

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Jan 8, 2010, 10:17:37 AM1/8/10

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That one did not, but if you drill down into the en_US folder:

http://www.wg9s.com/mozilla/lightning/releases/1.0b1rc1/linux-x86_64/en-
US/

This one works! Thanks! I still think it should be part of the
application and not an add on.

Chad Neeper

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Jan 8, 2010, 8:13:14 PM1/8/10

to

Stefan Sitter wrote:
> Bill Starrett wrote:
>> Issues with recurring tasks:
>>
>> 1. The payment of the rent is one example of a recurring task that

>> is never really “completed”. I’ve set up all recurring tasks the

>> same way and mark them complete the same way yet some, when marked
>> completed, simply disappear.
>>

>> 2. The ones that don’t disappear eventually appear in due “Today” or

>> “Next Seven Days” with lines through them. This is very confusing but

>> apparently means that the previous interim due date has been met.

>> However, the date in the “Completed” column is (sometimes) not the

>> last completion date but one before that.
>>
>> 3. Two that were set up yesterday and the first due date completed

>> yesterday still show as “incomplete” and “overdue” and “not started”
>>

>> 4. When a recurring due date is missed, it does not appear anywhere.

>> The next due date shows up in “Today” or “Next Seven Days”.

>
> This all comes down to the same issue: Currently the task list doesn't
> really support displaying and editing of recurring tasks. They behave
> like non-recurring tasks, causing different problems like the mentioned
> above.

I've tried to use TB's Tasks a few times in the past, myself, but kept
finding that I have too many things to keep track of and Tasks just
couldn't handle my needs. I also use Lightning extensively and so I
wanted my tasks to play nicely with the calendars I use.

So after looking around for a good FOSS GTD (Getting Things Done)
task/project manager, I just recently started playing with ThinkingRock.
I think it's going to work well for managing my tasks and projects, but
what's better yet is that whenever I have a firmly-scheduled task in TR,
it gets automatically written out to an .ics iCalendar file. In
TB+Lightning, I've added the .ics file as one of my (read-only)
calendars and configured Lightning to refresh the calendars every 10
minutes.

So now, all of my scheduled appointments show up in one spot, which is
important to me, and I've also now got the ability to manage my
workload, including recurring tasks.

So far it's working well for me and I thought I'd share.

Now if I can just figure out how to get ThinkingRock to work from within
the same window as TB... (Hey, maybe as a tab in the new TB3!) :-)

--

-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer

Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

-- Full LAN/WAN consulting services --
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