Custom.el Snippets

My Emacs configuration contains a custom.el file, which should contain custom code that is only relevant on a specific machine. That's why this file is not tracked using git. More and more bits of useful snippets show up in my custom.el file and I'd like to jot down some examples which I might expand on in the future.

Calling Command Line Tools

This snippet is inspired by a blog post which I've found on /r/emacs. The elisp function calls the PowerShell function Invoke-Formatter, which is part of the PSScriptAnalyzer PowerShell module:

(defun fw/pspretty-buffer ()
  (interactive)
  (shell-command-on-region (point-min) (point-max) "powershell.exe -Command \"$script = $input | Out-String; Invoke-Formatter $script\" " t t))

Org-Mode Agenda

After seeing this post, I've decided to dive into creating my own agenda. I'm using a custom agenda view to keep track of things I have to do while I am at work. The custom view show my scheduled tasks for the next three days, as well as all unscheduled tasks, sorted by their TODO statement (e.g. "TODO", "WAIT" or "DONE"):

(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
      '(("." "Overview (Custom)"
         ((agenda ""
                  ((org-agenda-span 3)
                   (org-agenda-start-on-weekday nil)
                   (org-agenda-show-future-repeats 'next)
                   (org-agenda-scheduled-leaders '("" ""))
                   (org-agenda-overriding-header "* Calendar\n")))
          (todo ""
                ((org-agenda-overriding-header "\n* Open\n")
                 (org-agenda-block-separator nil)
                 (org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(todo-state-up))
                 (org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled 'all)))
          ))))

(set-face-attribute 'org-agenda-structure nil :inherit 'default :height 1.25)

The custom headers make the agenda look like a regular org-mode file. Enabling (orgstruct-mode) on the agenda buffer allows me to hide and show sections.

I haven't come around to like org-capture, so for now I've created this:

(defun fw/home ()
  (interactive)
  (delete-other-windows)
  (find-file "~/org/projects.org")
  (split-window-horizontally)
  (other-window 1)
  (org-agenda nil ".")
  (split-window-vertically)
  (other-window 1)
  (find-file (concat "~/org/" (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d") ".org"))
  (other-window 1))

(global-set-key (kbd "<f12>") 'fw/home)

Pressing F12 opens up my "home" view, which consists of my projects-overview file, my custom agenda, as well as a date stamped file which I use to keep track of unexpected issues, thoughts and ideas.