1 README
2 ======
3
4 **Journal-tools** is a simple set of applications to quickly keep notes for the
5 activities of each day or week. The journal entries are automatically named so
6 they are consistent and predictable.
7
8 If `dailyjournal` or `weeklyjournal` are executed and no entry for the relevant
9 time period exists, one is created from the journal template file; if an entry
10 does already exist, it is reopened for editing.
11
12 Setup
13 -----
14
15 To get set up, you will need to create a journal directory for the tool you
16 wish to use. The default paths are (see `Environment Variables` for overrides):
17
18 * `dailyjournal`: `~/Documents/Journal`
19 * `weeklyjournal`: `~/Documents/Journal/Weekly`
20
21 These commands will however error out if the environment is not set up
22 correctly, offering helpful errors to get you started.
23
24 Templates
25 ---------
26
27 The `dailyjournal` and `weeklyjournal` commands support template files for each new note.
28 **By default**, the template file is `.template.md` within the relevant
29 command's journal directory. At runtime, the template file will be copied into
30 place if a matching note for the time window does not already exist. The
31 template copy process will not overwrite existing data.
32
33 Environment Variables
34 ---------------------
35
36 There are several environment variables that can be used to override default
37 functionality if desired. Not everyone loves capital letters in their paths.
38
39 * **DAILYJOURNAL_DIR**: Path to the directory for daily journal entries. _Default: ~/Documents/Journal_
40 * **DAILYJOURNAL_EXT**: Extension of daily journal entries. _Default: md_
41 * **WEEKLYJOURNAL_DIR**: Path to the directory for weekly journal entries. _Default: ~/Documents/Journal/Weekly_
42 * **WEEKLYJOURNAL_EXT**: Extension of weekly journal entries. _Default: md_
43
44 **NOTE**: The above variables impact where template files are read from. If the
45 extension is changed, for example to `adoc`, the template filename will become
46 `.template.adoc`.
47
48
49 Usage
50 -----
51
52 ```
53 dailyjournal [+/-<days>]
54 weeklyjournal [+/-<weeks>]
55 ```
56
57 For the most simple usage, type `dailyjournal` to open today's journal (or
58 `weeklyjournal` to open this weeek's journal).
59
60 To open yesterday's entry, type `dailyjournal -1`, and to open two days ago
61 type `dailyjournal -2`, etc. The same applies for `weeklyjournal`, but the
62 argument is by week rather than by day.
63
64 **NOTE**: When using negative numbers, daily does not calculate days, rather
65 entries. In other words, `-1` is not one day ago, but one entry ago. This is
66 to make it easier to open previous entries without needing to know how many
67 days back they are.
68
69 For example, if it is Monday and you want to open Friday's entry, and no
70 entries were made over the weekend, type `dailyjournal -1` and Friday's entry
71 will be opened (1 entry back). Continuing in this scenario, if an entry exists
72 on Thursday, typing `dailyjournal -2` on Monday will open Thursday's entry
73 (again, assuming no weekend entries are present). Friday is one back, Thursday
74 is two back, Wednesday is three back, etc.
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