For anyone interested out there, I have completed some more work on my
iPod dump program. If anyone read my earlier posts, I wanted the
ability to dump tasks from my todo.txt file to my iPod Notes
directory. I could then have my tasks categorized and organized on my
iPod. I also started this so that I could work on learning how to
program in ruby (I am going to convert this script into python as well
to give myself some practice programming in this language as well).
Since my programming skills are nuby level, this script may be rough.
First, the script will save the tasks in the following directory scheme:
ipod ->
/Notes/
due
projects/
files based upon the project id for the task
contexts/
files based upon the context id for the task

The script uses a simple yaml file to store your directory location.

cfg.yml:
# This is a simple configuration file to show where your ipod files
will go.
# On my computer, my todo files would be saved to the following
directory on my iPod:
# E:\Notes\Todo\
directory: "Your ipod save directory here/"

todo_ipod.rb v0.1:
#!/usr/bin/env ruby

# todo_ipod.rb - iPod Dumper
# Author: Sean Armstrong (phinsxiii@...)
# Contributing Author: Jeffrey Schwab
# Release date: 7/4/2006
# Last updated: 7/4/2006
# License: GPL, http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
# Version: 0.1
# More info: Soon to come
# Special Thanks to Jeffrey Schwab for coming up with the TaskFormatError
# and Task classes.

require 'yaml'
require 'fileutils'

class TaskFormatError < StandardError
end

class Task

attr :priority, true
attr :project, true
attr :context, true
attr :description, true
attr :due_date, true

# Initialize a task based on one line of a task file. Each line
# should have the following format, such that each item can be
# matched by the given regex. Items should be separated by
# white-space.
#
# 1. Optional priority as first item on line: /\(([ABC]))/
# 2. Optional project name: /p:(\S*)/
# 3. Optional context: /@(\S*)/
# 4. Optional due date: /d:(\S*)/
# 5. Task description: /.*/

def initialize(line)
raise TaskFormatError unless line =~
/(?:\(([ABC])\))?\s* # priority
(?:p:(\S*))?\s* # project
(?:@(\S*))?\s* # context
(?:d:(\S*))? # due date
(.*)/x # description + trailing
whitespace


@priority = $1
@project = $2
@context = $3
@due_date = $4
@description = $5

#Remove trailing whitespace from description.
@description.gsub(/\s+$/, '')

end

# Return a one-line string summarizing this task. The string line
# can be read later by Task#initialize(line).

def to_s
s = ''
s << "(#{@priority}) " if @priority
s << "p:#{@project} " if @project
s << "@#{@context} " if @context
s << "#{@description} " if @description
s << " d:#{@due_date}" if @due_date
s
end

end

tasks = []

ARGF.each do |line|
next if line =~ /^\s*$|^#/ # Skip blank lines and comments.
tasks << Task.new(line) # Read in each line and add to the tasks
array
end

contexts = [] # Set up an array to hold all task contexts
projects = [] # Set up an array to hold all task projects

directory = open('cfg.yml') {|f| YAML.load(f)} # Save the ipod save
directory from the configuration file for later use
save_dir = directory["directory"]
proj_dir = save_dir + 'projects/'
con_dir = save_dir + 'contexts/'
Dir.foreach(proj_dir) do |x|
if x != '.' && x != '..'
File.delete(proj_dir + x)
end
end
Dir.foreach(con_dir) do |x|
if x != '.' && x != '..'
File.delete(con_dir + x)
end
end

# We will start with the easiest first. This loop will extract all
tasks with
# a due date starting with a "d:". The coolthing is that you can use
any date fromat
# as long as there is no spaces in the date. The project with the due
dates are saved
# to the "due" text file on your ipod.
open(save_dir + 'due', 'w') do |due|
tasks.each do |task|
due << 'd:' + task.due_date.to_s + " " + task.description.to_s if
task.due_date
end
end

# Saving the next files gets a little more complex. The next couple
of loops will
# break down and save each task in it's own project/context file on
the ipod. Each task assigned
# to a specific project/context will be saved to the project/context
file with it's due date if applicable.
# The format for each line will be "(pri) d:(due_date) (task)"
tasks.each do |task|
proj_dir = save_dir + 'projects/'
save_file = proj_dir + task.project.to_s.capitalize + "_Tasks"
if task.project
open(save_file, 'a') do |f|
f << '(' + task.priority.to_s + ') ' if task.priority
f << '@' + task.context.to_s + ' ' if task.context
f << 'd:' + task.due_date.to_s + ' ' if task.due_date
f << task.description.to_s
end
end
con_dir = save_dir + 'contexts/'
save_file = con_dir + task.context.to_s.capitalize + "_Tasks"
if task.context
open(save_file, 'a') do |f|
f << '(' + task.priority.to_s + ') ' if task.priority
f << 'd:' + task.due_date.to_s + ' ' if task.due_date
f << task.description.to_s
end
end
end

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I am still not 100%
sure what direction this script should go, but I think it has some
other applications, i.e. command line update of GTDTiddlyWiki file.
ANyways, I am going to keep working on this. Please let me know what
else needs to be added, or possibly removed.

Thanks:)
SA