"Each Copy has a due date"
Can someone explain what the significance of this checkbox is? (on the task recurring edit screen). If you don't check this, does Nirvana just think the due date is the same day as the task is scheduled for - or not have any due date at all? Presumably this would allow you to specify a due date that is days in the future of each scheduled recurrance and even vary those due dates with each one, yes?
2 Posted by Lasse on 26 Jul, 2011 11:59 PM
@Levi, if the box is not checked, the first line reads "Copies are created ...". In other words, the date you specify in the repeating rule is a start date only. If you check the box, however, the first line will say "Copies are due...". In that case the specified date is the date the task is due. If you want to start the task a few days early (or want it to appear in Focus for some other reason), you can pick the date from the option that appears after you check the box ("Copies should be created x days before"). That way you can make a task appear in Focus, say, two days before it's due.
3 Posted by Proximo on 27 Jul, 2011 05:45 PM
Great explanation Lasse.
I was also not fully sure on this functionality.
Thanks
4 Posted by levi on 27 Jul, 2011 06:53 PM
Ok, after rereading this and trying it out with a couple of test tasks, I understand what you are suggesting above.
However, I believe I've found my first bug! (if so should I post this same thing in the problems section)?
Here's the scenario. I create a repeating task with a recurring weekly on Sunday never ending. The next occurance is set for this coming Sunday (7/31). I check the box Each Copy has a due date and select copies should be created 4 days before (which would essentially mean that their start day is today, right?)
Doing this all on one shot gives the expected results. HOWEVER, instead try creating the same task from scratch, but this time WITHOUT checking the box each copy has a due date. Save it. It will show as correctly due (first instance) on July 31 (Next Week). Now go back and edit it, and check the box each copy has a due date and set it to 4 days before. Save this, then save the task. What I see is that Nirvana actually changes the date to August 7! However, when the task is listed in focus and the date all the way on the left says July 31. Go back to the scheduled tab and it groups it in the Future Dates section and lists August 7 as the date. If I click on the details of the task it says "Due 7/31, 8/7/11.." However, if I go in and edit the repeating without changing anything, save it, it then changes to due August 7. Then if I go back into view the details it's at August 7 and no matter how many times I go back in and change it to 7/31, it stays set ant 8/7. But it also stays in my focus list, and it also says "July 31" in the Focus list.
So obviously there's something screwy going on!
5 Posted by Lasse on 28 Jul, 2011 09:29 AM
@Levi, actually that's not a bug. I made the same "bug report" when recurring tasks were first introduced and was told that this behavior is intended. See David's reply in this thread: http://help.nirvanahq.com/discussions/suggestions/920-repeating-tas...
6 Posted by levi on 28 Jul, 2011 10:40 AM
Thanks, Lasse, I read that thread and think I understand the spawning process better, but I still contend there is something funky going on. Maybe it is the way things are handled, but if so, it's not intuitive at all, which is a shame because Nirvana otherwise is pretty simple and straightforward and that's one of its big strengths. It would be much more understandable if it worked more like the repeating events in Google Calendar, where you can go into any instance of a task and change something and GCal just asks you "hey, are you trying to change just this instance or the whole series?" If something like this were done, we wouldn't have to be thinking about whether we are editing a "pattern" task or a "spawned" task and what our changes will effect. It would be binary - your changes effect all tasks (of the recurring series) or just the one you are editing, and that's that...
7 Posted by Lasse on 28 Jul, 2011 12:57 PM
I agree that how it works is confusing and that it seems screwy. In GCal I can move an event to a different day without affecting the general "pattern" but Nirvana doesn't allow for exceptions. If I want a task to appear in Focus a day earlier than specified in the pattern task, I have to change the rule and then change it back later. I don't think that's how it should work. But, as David said, he put this on the list of changes.
And in your case, the reason the "pattern task" said 8/7 is because that's the next instance when a spawn will be created (because the one for 7/31 has already been created). However, I think most people will think that 8/7 is the date the task is due (instead of when the spawn is due). So contrary to the rest of Nirvana, I didn't find this feature to be very intuitive.
8 Posted by levi on 28 Jul, 2011 01:05 PM
Exactly. To the user, "when a copy of x task will be created" does not really have a lot of meaning. In the context of the actual coding of the app, of course it does, but the user shouldn't have to think about that. They should only need to think about the task due date and/or start date. Even the differentiation between "pattern task" and instance or "spawn" tasks shouldn't be there. That's too abstract for general use. A task should be a task should be a task, in the eyes of the user...