Question about repeating / recurring todos...

[Simon Austin]

Hi all,

I love using Tracks and have just updated to 2.1 after excitedly noticing
the BitNami installer has been updated.

I was hoping that an issue / my misunderstanding with repeating / recurring
todos had been cleared up in the new version, but I still cannot fathom it.
I wonder if anyone out there can explain to me how it works?

For example, I'm trying to setup a recurring reminder for the start of
every quarter to begin a new budget spreadsheet. Quarters begin on the
01-Aug, 01-Nov, 01-Feb and 01-May. I put in the following:

Description
Begin a new budget spreadsheet

Recurrence period
Monthly

Starts on
1/8/2012

Ends on
No end date

Settings for monthly recurring actions
Day 1 on every 3 months

Set recurrence on
the date that the todo is due
Show the todo 0 days before the todo is due

This, I am expecting, will create a task in the tickler for 01-Aug, but it
doesn't - the first task is dated 01-Nov, three months later.

Ah ha!, I say - for some reason I don't understand, it's skipping the first
occurrence - I'll setup a new recurring reminder using exactly the same
details, but this time set to start on 01-May. However, this time the first
task in the tickler is scheduled for 01-Oct (not part of the three month
cycle at all) !

I would certainly appreciate your input into this to help me set these
things up reliably...

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance,

Simon

[Christian Frank]

Simon,

I remember being confused about it as well (at some point I understood it,
but I'm not sure I do any longer). Check out the discussions in
1270<http://www.assembla.com/spaces/tracks-tickets/tickets/1270>
and 1273 <http://www.assembla.com/spaces/tracks-tickets/tickets/1273> .
Hope this helps.

Best
Christian

Post by Simon Austin
Hi all,
I love using Tracks and have just updated to 2.1 after excitedly noticing
the BitNami installer has been updated.
I was hoping that an issue / my misunderstanding with repeating /
recurring todos had been cleared up in the new version, but I still cannot
fathom it. I wonder if anyone out there can explain to me how it works?
For example, I'm trying to setup a recurring reminder for the start of
every quarter to begin a new budget spreadsheet. Quarters begin on the
Description
Begin a new budget spreadsheet
Recurrence period
Monthly
Starts on
1/8/2012
Ends on
No end date
Settings for monthly recurring actions
Day 1 on every 3 months
Set recurrence on
the date that the todo is due
Show the todo 0 days before the todo is due
This, I am expecting, will create a task in the tickler for 01-Aug, but it
doesn't - the first task is dated 01-Nov, three months later.
Ah ha!, I say - for some reason I don't understand, it's skipping the
first occurrence - I'll setup a new recurring reminder using exactly the
same details, but this time set to start on 01-May. However, this time the
first task in the tickler is scheduled for 01-Oct (not part of the three
month cycle at all) !
I would certainly appreciate your input into this to help me set these
things up reliably...
Thank you in advance for your time and assistance,
Simon
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[Simon Austin]

Thanks for the quick response, Christian - have had a look, but I'm not
sure I understand it any better!

Does anyone have any other guidance / advice that might be useful for a
struggling-but-curious Tracks user?

Simon

[Christian Frank]

Simon,
the thing that messed you up in your first trial is that you had Tracks set
the 'due date' of the action, so if an action is due 3 months from August
1st it's due 11/1. In your second trial (from 5/1) I suspect you went back
to a start date in the past (i.e., 5/1/2012 rather than 5/1/2013). In that
case I think you've found a bug. If you try with a start date of 5/1/2013
I think it'll do what you thought.

However, I believe you really want to set the show-from date, not the start
date. Try this: start 8/1/2012, monthly, day 1 every 3 months, recurrence
on the DATE TODO COMES FROM TICKLER. I suspect that'll do what you meant.

Best
Christian

Post by Simon Austin
Thanks for the quick response, Christian - have had a look, but I'm not
sure I understand it any better!
Does anyone have any other guidance / advice that might be useful for a
struggling-but-curious Tracks user?
Simon

[Simon Austin]

Hmm... Thanks again, but still seems to behave the same for me - due in 99
days (which, I'm guessing, is 01-Nov - it's certainly not 01-Aug, which is
when I'd expect it to be).

Like you, I remember working out a work around in the past, but now I've
upgraded to 2.1 I need to re-enter my recurring todos and I can't for the
life of me fathom it!

Anyone?

Simon

[Reinier Balt]

Hi all,



The next day for a recurring todo is calculated relative from the date the
previous todo is completed. This means that if you want to do something on
the first day of every quarter, the first day of every 3 months should work
if

. the first todo is set correctly

. every todo is marked complete on the first of that month
(otherwise it will skip to the next month)



For the first todo I think Tracks calculates from the current date, not from
the start-from date (start-from is used only if it is in the future). I
think you have a valid use case that the first todo should be calculated
from the start-from date, not from the current date (only use current date
if there is no start-date)



Remember that it calculates the next occurrence from either the current-date
or the completed-at date. Tracks will first add 3 months. From that date it
will search for the first day of the month. So that could explain the 9
extra days.



If you want specific dates on which a todo should reoccur, set the
recurrence pattern to those specific days. So I'd advise to create four
yearly recurring todos for 1-8, 1-11, 1-2 and 1-5 in your example.



Reinier





Van: tracks-discuss-bounces-g9ZBwUv/***@public.gmane.org
[mailto:tracks-discuss-bounces-g9ZBwUv/***@public.gmane.org] Namens Simon Austin
Verzonden: woensdag 25 juli 2012 18:19
Aan: Christian Frank; tracks-discuss
Onderwerp: [Tracks-discuss] Re: Question about repeating / recurring
todos...



Hmm... Thanks again, but still seems to behave the same for me - due in 99
days (which, I'm guessing, is 01-Nov - it's certainly not 01-Aug, which is
when I'd expect it to be).



Like you, I remember working out a work around in the past, but now I've
upgraded to 2.1 I need to re-enter my recurring todos and I can't for the
life of me fathom it!



Anyone?



Simon