notif.el

notif is a quick, configurable note creation system to help you create notes in GNU Emacs.

notif.el depends on the Emacs extension yasnippet, found in the ELPA repository. You can read more about YASnippet here.

It uses Emacs' org-mode for note files.

Installation

To install notif, please follow these instructions.

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/beelleau/notif.git

Either symlink or copy notif.el into a path that gets loaded in your init.el. I typically use a symlink:

ln -s notif/notif.el .emacs.d/lisp/notif.el

Ensure your path is enabled in load-path and load notif:

(add-to-list 'load-path
             (concat user-emacs-directory "lisp/"))
			 
(require 'notif)

Usage

notif-find-note: this function is a modified version of Emacs' find-file. It will open the minibuffer prompt inside of your NOTIF-DIRECTORY. With this function, you can open existing notes, or create new ones. When a new note is created, it will automatically expand your notif-note-snippet in the buffer.

notif-find-note-read-only: this function is a modified version of Emacs' find-file-read-only. It will open the minibuffer prompt inside of your notif-directory. With this function, you can open existing notes in read-only mode.

notif-find-ticket: this function utilizes notif-find-note. It will open the minibuffer prompt inside the path NOTIF-DIRECTORY/Tickets/. With this function, you can open existing tickets, or create new ones. When a new ticket is created, it will automatically expand your notif-ticket-snippet in the buffer.

notif-find-todo: this function utilizes notif-find-file to open your notif TODO file. It is located at: NOTIF-DIRECTORY/TODO. If this file does not already exist, it will be created, and your notif-todo-snippet will be automatically expanded in the buffer.

notif-find-notepad: this function utilizes Emacs' find-file to open your notif Notepad file. It is located at: NOTIF-DIRECTORY/Notepad. If this file does not already exist, it will be created, and your notif-note-snippet will be automatically expanded in the buffer.

Call the notif functions as appropriate. Use keybindings, or call the functions with M-x <function>

Configuration

Before using notif.el, you'll want to make some configurations. You'll typically want to configure three things: snippets, defaults, and keybindings.

Setting Up Snippets

notif.el relies on code snippets created with YASnippet. You'll want to have a basic understanding of how YASnippet works before continuing with notif.

Create a snippet for a default note template. Here, you can create whatever you want. The snippet will need to be an org-mode snippet.

View my snippet template for some ideas:

# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: notif-note
# key: -notif-note
# --

# -*- mode: org -*-
#+title:        ${1:title}
#+tags:         `(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name (file-name-directory buffer-file-name)))` ${2:}
#+date:         `(format-time-string "%B %d %Y T%H:%M")`
#+notif-id:     `(concat "N-" (secure-hash 'sha1 (buffer-name)))`
#+startup:      overview

$0

Setting Defaults

There are several settings to configure to use notif.

The first is the notif-directory. By default, it's configured to: ~/notes/. However, you can change this value by adding the following to your init.el:

(setq notif-directory "/path/to/your/notes/dir")

keep the trailing slash

Additionally, you'll want to setup a notif-note-snippet. This value is the name of your snippet that you want to automatically expand each time you create a new note. By default, it is set to notif-note, but you can change this value by adding the following to your init.el:

(setq notif-note-snippet "snippet-name")

You can state the YASnippet name to be used with notif-find-ticket, named notif-ticket-snippet. This value is the name of the snippet that you want to automatically expand each time you create a new ticket. By default, it is set to notif-ticket, but you can change this value by adding the following to your init.el:

(setq notif-ticket-snippet "snippet-name")

You can state the YASnippet name to be used with notif-find-todo, named notif-todo-snippet. This value is the name of the snippet that you want to automatically expand each time you create a new TODO file. By default, it is set to notif-ticket, but you can change this value by adding the following to your init.el:

(setq notif-todo-snippet "snippet-name")

Keybindings

There are a few functions you'll likely want to configure keybindings for. It is not required, of course.

Functions:
notif-find-note
notif-find-note-read-only
notif-find-ticket
notif-find-todo
notif-find-notepad

There are multiple ways to configure keybindings in Emacs. This is how I do it:

;;; -*- lexical-binding: t -*-

(define-prefix-command 'notif-prefix-map)

(let ((map global-map))

  ;; notif functions
  (define-key map (kbd "C-c n") notif-prefix-map)
  (define-key map (kbd "C-c n f") #'notif-find-note)
  (define-key map (kbd "C-c n r") #'notif-read-note)
  (define-key map (kbd "C-c n i") #'notif-find-ticket)
  (define-key map (kbd "C-c n t") #'notif-find-todo)
  (define-key map (kbd "C-c n n") #'notif-find-notepad))