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I just set up a context based perspective to try the new iphone custom perspectives feature. I saw that there was much discussion in the sticky at the top of this forum, but that didn't seem like the place to ask my question. If I should have posted there, please feel free to move or let me know to repost.

I had just set up this arrangement to print a list to work with today at home and decided it would be a good candidate to try syncing a custom perspective to my iphone.

There are four contexts chosen for this perspective. They are my four home contexts. On my desktop (1.7.5) I get the following number of actions:
4, 12, 1, 0 (in the four different contexts).

On my iphone, in addition to those actions, there are also Projects showing in each of the contexts. For example, in the first context, in addition to the four actions that were supposed to be shown, there are four projects showing with right arrows, rather than flags. When I follow the right arrows, I see that two of the four projects are pulling the title of the project which it's already pulled the action for (Example: action shown - "find receipts" for toilet rebate, also shown project "apply for and get toilet rebate" and when I follow the right arrow I again get "find receipts") and the other two projects, when I follow the right arrow I find a flagged action that is NOT in the proper context (one is in an errand context, one is in an agenda context). In both cases of the later cases, the default context for the project is the one that it ended up in (on that custom perspective on the iphone.)

I haven't quite followed if these are to be filed as bugs or are known issues with this new features.

Back to working on my home context items from a printed list. :)
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In tweaking my perspective, I changed it to sort by duration. The projects that are showing in line with actions on my iphone are still there, but now they are at the bottom of each context.
 
This is a new feature, apparently not intended to be unveiled yet, but Ken overlooked removing it from the perspectives views (he did from the standard views like Due Soon, Overdue, etc.) before shipping 1.6. Not realizing he had shipped it, naturally he didn't write up any release notes for it, so some confusion is understandable.

The idea here is that when you have an action group or a project where you've completed all the actions, you can now tick off the action group or project as complete without having to go to a project view. You can also view the entire project or action group in project mode quickly without having to drill down through the projects listing. When you follow the right arrow, you are getting the project view. My understanding is that a corresponding feature for the desktop is slated for 1.8.

If you've got a default context set for a project, it wouldn't surprise me to see that project show up at the bottom of the list for that context, even if there aren't any remaining actions for the project in that context.

With that background, does what you see make any more sense to you?
 
Rob Forsyth just linked to a thread that does a reasonable job of capturing what this feature is aimed at, I think.

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=10624
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
If you've got a default context set for a project, it wouldn't surprise me to see that project show up at the bottom of the list for that context, even if there aren't any remaining actions for the project in that context.

With that background, does what you see make any more sense to you?
It makes more sense why it could be there. Meaning I understand how now there could be projects in my actions list. But I don't think it's producing the intended result in this case. Again, since I knew that this wasn't a 'done deal' of a feature, i thought I'd post to say 'hey, this is what it's doing...is Omni going to want to know about this or do they already know or am I misunderstanding this new feature?'

Here's one of the projects that's not behaving as I'd expect. I have a sequential project with six actions. I flagged the first three, thinking that I could crank through them today. I have been bouncing back and forth between remaining and available to see how I want this to work. All six actions are in the same context, which is also the default context for the project. Everything works as I expect on the desktop. Everything works as I expect on the iphone when I look at the project (whether with available or remaining showing).

When I look at the custom perspective on the iphone, with the iphone set to available for projects, I get the one available flagged action in the proper context, as well as the project title. When I right arrow, i see that same one available flagged action that I saw in the list prior to right arrowing.

When I change the setting on the iphone to remaining, I still get the one available action in the 'action list' of the custom perspective and I still get the project title in the list. The only difference is now when I right arrow, I see all the grayed out (because the project is sequential) actions as well.

If there are any actions that would be remaining after I complete the one available action, I can't see why it would belong in the action list. The way I understand the new, not yet ready, feature is that if it was THE last action. (Or maybe I'm not understanding the new feature...which is entirely possible.)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
The idea here is that when you have an action group or a project where you've completed all the actions, you can now tick off the action group or project as complete without having to go to a project view.
I tried for a few days to get used to it, but I think the feature is quite silly. Instead of just seeing what actions I can do, if I use a perspective I find myself looking at a long, overpopulated list of projects...
Hey, perspectives are basically meant to be useful to DO things, not to see how many projects with a certain default context you have.
Moreover, in a perspective I see projects whose next action is in a completely different context from their default one: but they are put there, it seems, just because the default context is comprised in the perspective.
I just hope the "feature" will be optional when perspectives on the iPhone version come out of beta. :confused:
 
As always, if you want your feedback to reach the developers, Send Feedback is your friend...
 
 


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