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CAIMAN Expert Guide

Here are some additional VIT keybindings useful for experts:

Keys Action
e edit a task in a text editor
m modify a task; next few rows show examples
m then depends:# then <enter> make current task depend on task number #; delimit with commas for multiple dependent tasks
m then status:pending then <enter> mark a 'done' task as not done
a add a new task
D delete a task see WARNING below!
:! COMMAND run command COMMAND in this context

Editing a Task

Press e to edit a task's attributes in a text editor. Save and exit the text editor when done.

  • You are free to edit any attribute's value, but read the comments (prefixed by #), since not everything can be edited
  • Dates must be in the format YYYY-MM-DD; see the Modifying Start and End Dates section for details
  • User Defined Attributes (UDA) are at the bottom; these are custom attributes that we have defined for CLAS12 calibration usage, such as contact name

Modifying Start and End Dates

  1. If you want to set an end date, the task must be marked 'done', otherwise you won't be allowed to set an end date; to do so:
    • press b to mark the task as 'begun', if it's not yet started
    • press d to mark the task as 'done'
    • you can edit the dates in the next step
  2. Press e to enter edit mode
  3. Modify the dates as you need
    • The format must be YYYY-MM-DD
    • You can exclude the time if you don't know it; it will default to midnight
  4. Save and exit the text editor
    • If you get a warning that says "You have specified that the 'entry' date is after the ..... date", that means you've entered a start or end date that is before the task creation date; most likely this is fine

Adding a New Task

  1. Press a, type the title at the prompt, then <enter>
  2. Press e to enter edit mode, and fill out attributes, in particular
    • Project
    • Tags
    • UDAs
  3. Save and exit edit mode
  4. Add dependencies

Modifying Dependencies

To modify the list of predecessor tasks for a certain task:

  1. Note the ID numbers of the predecessor tasks
  2. Use one of the following to edit the task's dependencies; in either case, use a comma-delimited list of predecessor IDs, e.g., 1,2,3:
    • Edit mode (press e), then edit the 'Dependencies' attribute
    • Modify prompt (press m), then depends:1,2,3, for example

Deleting a Task

WARNING: be careful deleting a task

Deleting a task safely requires the following steps, in order to not mess up dependencies. Suppose you want to delete Task A.

  1. Get the list of tasks that depend on Task A: press <enter> and look at the "blocking" list.
  2. Go to each of them and remove Task A from its list of dependencies.
  3. Check that Task A is now blocking no other tasks: the "blocking" list will not be present when you press <enter>.
  4. Move to Task A, make sure it's the one you want to delete, and delete it with D. CAUTION: this is difficult to undo!
  5. Press <ctrl+l> to redraw the screen, which should update dependencies after the shift in task ID numbers.
  6. Even after this, it's recommended to double-check all of your tasks' dependencies.