Backup script for ToodleDo

Published on August 10, 2010 in Android, GTD and Linux. 4 Comments

 

Just started using ToodleDo with the GotToDo Android app on my HTC Desire.

There is a rare bug in the app which has deleted all the ToodleDo tasks for a very small number of people. the author of the app is working on a solution at the moment, but in retrospect I should have had a backup plan for this data anyway.

Benny Morrison on the app mailing list sent me a DOS script he used to back up his Toodledo account, and I have hacked it to work under linux (the core functionality comes from Benny – all I did was wrap it up in some linux specific stuff to create the appropriate directories and do some rudimentary checking).

The (short) script is below. I run this from a cron job a few times a day.

Pete

NOTE: script updated 26th July 2011 after ToodleDo redesign

#!/bin/sh
# Script to backup toodledo account
# makes a backup on your local machine and
# sends a copy to a google account of your choice
## CONFIGURATION SECTION
## CHANGE THESE VARIABLES ONLY
#
# Where you want the data stored.
DATADIR=/home/YOUR-NAME-HERE/toodledo-backup/$(date +%Y)/$(date +%m)/$(date +%d)/$(date +%H:%M:%S)
LOGIN="TOODLEDO-LOGIN"
PASS="TOODLEDO-PASSWORD"
# This variable is where you want copies of the backups sent. I use a dedicated gmail account.
ARCHIVEMAIL=ARCHIVE-EMAIL-ADDRESS
#
## END OF CONFIGURATION SECTION
mkdir -p $DATADIR
cd $DATADIR
wget -q --no-check-certificate --keep-session-cookies --save-cookies cookies.txt --post-data "email=$LOGIN&pass=$PASS" https://www.toodledo.com/signin.php
wget --quiet -O Tasks.xml --load-cookies cookies.txt http://www.toodledo.com/tools/xml.php
rm cookies.txt
rm index.php
#
## Check for login errors
if [ -f signin.php ]
then
echo "$0 - ERROR - login not complete.
There is a HIGH RISK that your ToodleDo backup did not complete."
fi
#
## Does the Tasks.xml file look OK ?
if ! egrep -q '' Tasks.xml
then
echo "$0 - ERROR - Problem with Tasks.xml file.
There is a HIGH RISK that your ToodleDo backup did not complete."
fi
## Now mail the file to a google account
/usr/bin/mutt -s "ToodleDo backup - `/bin/date`" -a Tasks.xml -- $ARCHIVEMAIL < /dev/null

RSA Animate – Drive

Published on June 6, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Brilliant and fascinating 10 minute youtube video. Not heard of Daniel Pink before but very interesting discourse on motivation.

Problems with switching from googlemail to gmail on HTC Desire

Published on May 17, 2010 in Android. 0 Comments Tags: .

I tried switching my googlemail account to gmail over the weekend. At the moment I would NOT recommend this to anyone on an Android phone.

After switching the account on the google website, the functionality of the phone was heavily compromised. To start with, updates from applications in the Market Place just hung and never actually started. I also had problems syncing google contacts.

I reverted to the googlemail address again and things appear OK. Had a look around this morning and clearly this has been known for a few days:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Talk/thread?tid=6083ec77fd817408&hl=en

At the moment doesn’t look like there is a fix apart from reverting the address domain.

UPDATE

Hmm – my primary calandar was not coming up/syncing. It disappeared from the Handset calendar but was clearly available on the google calendar.

Followed the instructions here

http://www.google.co.uk/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=1fbb1eb21f4ebc02&hl=en

i.e.: “From the home screen hit menu, then settings, then applications, then manage applications, menu, filter to all

Now you should be able to locate ‘Calendar Storage’ tap it, then tap the clear data button.

Now reboot and all will be well.”

That worked for me. Calendars now back without having to perform a factory reset (which some other threads have recommended).

Fixing zotero with OpenOffice

Published on May 12, 2010 in Linux. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Zotero had been working fine in combination with OpenOffice until a recent update.

After the update, attempts to insert a citation gave an error message:

‘Firefox could not load the component required to communicate with your word processor. Please ensure that the appropriate Firefox extension is installed, then try again.’

A useful reply on

http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/8795/openoffice-plugin-error-firefox-could-not-load-the-component/

said to try removing the icedtea6-plugin package, i.e.:

sudo apt-get remove icedtea6-plugin

I did this and Bingo! The Zotero problem was fixed.

(This was on ubuntu 9.10.)
Continue reading ‘Fixing zotero with OpenOffice’

org-mode, GTD, and the advantages of merged lists (i.e., context)

Published on July 1, 2009 in Emacs org-mode, GTD and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

David Allen (DA) in Getting Things Done (GTD) talks about the necessity of the separation of projects and next actions.

It’s a good point well made. In the past I have struggled with project pages in a Dayrunner which had merged project plans, meeting notes and next actions. To understand what next action I had to do for that project meant looking in the pages for that project and picking out the NA. Even if coded with an NA in the margin, picking out the appropriate next action from dozens of projects was difficult.

The downside of doing this is that when you have performed your next action, you may want/need to look at the project to determine the next action. Separate project lists and action lists mean that you have to switch contexts – for example between a list of projects in a computer database and a PDA, or a project folder and a Hipster card.

One of the advantages of emacs org-mode is therefore that you *can* merge your projects and actions in one place, but you can also pull out the next actions easily.

In org-mode, all of my projects are a three-star heading:


----------------------------------------------------------
* Projects
** A
** B
........
** S
*** Standards Committee XXX
**** notes of meeting held on March 1st 2009
Present: Mike, Pete, Jim
Agreed xxx xxxx
Blah blah blah.
***** WAITING Mike to review
***** NEXT organise next meeting of committee :Laptop:
Send email from committee site to members asking for availability for meeting.
----------------------------------------------------------

The advantage of this is that when I go to deal with a next action, there is *context* available to me relating to that action – I can see what I’ve done, with whom, etc, and take that into consideration.

It also means that when I complete the action, I am in the right location to decide the next ‘next action’ – again – I have context available to me to help me make an informed decision.

In my view, this still meets DA’s requirements of separation – org-mode can easily produce lists of Next Actions I need to do at my laptop, or all of my ‘WAITING for’ items, but because managing separate lists means switching contexts, it is a smoother, more fluid, process.

Now I do understand that what I am creating here is a data silo in my laptop, which I am unlikely to have with me when I am out and about. I haven’t clarified my thinking on that yet – I also use a Nokia N810 which may be the solution. However, my requirement for context specific lists for things I need to to when away from my laptop (:DIY:, :Shopping: etc) is small enough that I usually generate the list on the laptop before I leave the house and write it down or print out the buffer.

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