Overview
Tasks is a plugin which gives you possibility to maintain list of daily tasks. It's for those developers who prefer to prepare a todo list in the morning for the whole day and follow it.
Installation
To install a plugin, open your Intellij IDEA 5.1 or 6.0 and go to Plugins page. Goto Available tab and locate Tasks from the plugin list. Right click on it and choose Download and Install.
Restart your IDE after that.
You will notice a new Tool Window item on the bottom of IDEA:
Usage
To create a task, open Tasks window and click on the button on the left side - "Add Task":
As you noticed, there is a field: "Select parent task". You may choose any task available, there is however a special one: Root in case you don't want your new task to be a sub task.
Write description, select priority and estimates if you wish. You may change them later if you wish, just double click on a task or select a task and click Properties from a tool bar on the left.
There is another way to create a task. If you have TODO items in your project, you can put cursor on them and use intention, as it show on the following picture:
Basic actions are available from the tool bar on the left, but there are some more in the context menu.
There are many ways to organize your tasks, here is just one I used to develop Tasks plugin itself:
To track actual time, you have to turn that option in the plugin settings. They are available from IntelliJ IDEA settings.
Tasks tree appearance will be changed a bit, to show estimated and actual time. Also when you complete a task you will be asked
to enter actual time. If you turn this feature off, you won't lose actual time data, it will be just hidden.
Feedback
If you have some questions, suggestions, bug reports or found a mistake in my English drop me a line ideatasks@gmail.com, or just post a comment here. Thanks 
Developed with pleasure,
Sergiy
Comments (37)
Oct 10, 2006
t800t8 says:
Hi Sergiy, I think it will be better if your plugin can assign a TODO entry to a...Hi Sergiy,
I think it will be better if your plug-in can assign a TODO entry to a task (example, right click on a TODO then "Assign as task"). And it should show a notification when a task is expired.
Regards,
t800t8
Oct 11, 2006
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Hi t800t8, Unfortunatelly I don't have access to TODO data, also TODOs are...Hi t800t8,
Unfortunatelly I don't have access to TODO data, also TODOs are project specific and tasks are not. But I will think about it, may be I will be able to integrate them somehow.
/Serg
Oct 11, 2006
Anonymous says:
Actually, it's fairly easy to tell if a comment is a TODO comment according to t...Actually, it's fairly easy to tell if a comment is a TODO comment according to the project rules. Here's a snippet, cribbed from MetricsReloaded.
public static boolean isTodoComment(PsiComment comment) {
final PsiFile file = comment.getContainingFile();
final PsiManager psiManager = comment.getManager();
final PsiSearchHelper searchHelper = psiManager.getSearchHelper();
final TodoItem[] todoItems = searchHelper.findTodoItems(file);
for (final TodoItem todoItem : todoItems)
}
return false;
}
Interesting looking plugin, and very lightweight. I'll give it a spin
--Dave Griffith
Oct 12, 2006
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Thanks a lot for the tip Dave\! I found a package with TODO searching API but wa...Thanks a lot for the tip Dave!
I found a package with TODO searching API but wasn't sure that I will be able to get users settings for that. Now it looks much more clear.
/Serg
Oct 12, 2006
Jay Gindin says:
My (first) enhancement request would be to add a spot to enter the actual amount...My (first) enhancement request would be to add a spot to enter the actual amount of time spent on the task.
thanks,
jay
Oct 12, 2006
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Thanks for the suggestion Jay. I was planning to add that in next builds. /SergThanks for the suggestion Jay. I was planning to add that in next builds.
/Serg
Jan 08, 2007
Siddique Hameed says:
Hi Sergiy, Won't it be a good idea to store task information in ProjectName.iws ...Hi Sergiy,
Won't it be a good idea to store task information in ProjectName.iws file
instead of storing it in others.xml (user's profile config folder) ?
In that case, I can create a project specific tasks and whoever checks
out the project from version control will know the task information. It
will be very helpful in multi-user environment and also eliminate lot of duplication and redundancy. Or, you can also let the user to create project/user specific tasks, whichever is applicable. And, other thing, please change the typo of the email id specified in description part of this page http://plugins.intellij.net/plugin/?id=1124
Thanks,
Siddique
Feb 12, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Thanks Siddique, will fix typos in the next build. You are not the only one who ...Thanks Siddique, will fix typos in the next build.
You are not the only one who pointed to project specific task feature, it's in my to do.
-serg
Feb 05, 2007
Nick says:
Thanks for this. Great idea. I suggest adding a "Root" button directly below th...Thanks for this. Great idea.
I suggest adding a "Root" button directly below the dropdown for "Select parent task".
Currently the dropdown assumes you will be entering a new sub task for the currently hilighted task, however this is not always the case. I can scroll to the top and choose Root, however middle-mouse support is not 100% with Intellij's Java UI (middle mouse scrolling can be non-operative, is better with JDK6), and popping up/grabbing the scrollbar/scrolling to the top adds a bit of extra effort that could be short-cutted with a "Root" button.
Sound ok?
Nick
Feb 12, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
I agree, sometimes it's annoying. Thanks for the button idea. \sergI agree, sometimes it's annoying.
Thanks for the button idea.
-serg
Feb 15, 2007
Anonymous says:
hi, It would be great if links could be added in the task. that way i coul...hi,
It would be great if links could be added in the task. that way i could add links to bugs in bugzilla or other related documents
Florian Hehlen
Feb 19, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
(y)Oct 18, 2007
Anonymous says:
how about linking to change list or items in todo?how about linking to change list or items in todo?
Oct 24, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
You can create changelist based on task, but it's not a link. I need to think ab...You can create changelist based on task, but it's not a link. I need to think about this. Thanks.
Feb 19, 2007
Anonymous says:
It seems that keyboard settings are changed when this plugin is installed. After...It seems that keyboard settings are changed when this plugin is installed.
After I installed the plugin, I performed a Ctrl+Z action and a select all (Ctrl+A) was executed.
I'm using an azerty keyboard but apparently it was switched to qwerty, only in IntellJ. In other applications my keyboard was still recognized as an azerty keyboard.
I uninstalled the plugin again and the issue was resolved.
Can you please fix this bug because I really like the plugin!
Glenn
Feb 19, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
I really doubt that a Tasks plugin does that. It has no associated shortcuts. It...I really doubt that a Tasks plugin does that. It has no associated shortcuts. It registers only actions for popup and toolbar buttons. That's really not much. If I understand what "azerty" keyboard is (frankly, never heard about it before), it's quite similar to what we have for russian language, based on that experience may be you forgot to switch from "qwerty" mode to "azerty"? Windows does that change per application not per change.
In short, can you reproduce the problem you have?
-sergiy
Feb 20, 2007
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Feb 26, 2007
Anonymous says:
Hi Sergiy\! I think that it will be very usabe to add support for task dragndrop...Hi Sergiy!
I think that it will be very usabe to add support for task drag-n-drop moving before different subtasks.
Also it will be very nice to add menu items Start and Stop with automatic calculation of used actual time.
Best regards,
R. Khmelyuk
Oct 10, 2007
Anonymous says:
Yes StartStop feature would be nice.Yes Start-Stop feature would be nice.
Oct 10, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
I thought 1.7 version is the last one, but it looks like I can't just stop devel...I thought 1.7 version is the last one, but it looks like I can't just stop developing it
Will try to add this.
-sergiy
Oct 18, 2007
Anonymous says:
I second drag and drop feature, also need a cleaner way to select parent/root wh...I second drag and drop feature, also need a cleaner way to select parent/root when creating new task.
Oct 24, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Drag and drop is not that easy :( I spent a lot of time trying to get it working...Drag and drop is not that easy
I spent a lot of time trying to get it working. I'm not that good in Swing, so I didn't manage to fully implement it (basically I was missing dnd icons).
Oct 24, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
I might try it one more time with 1.6 jdk, which made dnd much simplier.I might try it one more time with 1.6 jdk, which made dnd much simplier.
Mar 08, 2007
Anonymous says:
3 things: 1) Have you thought about talking to who ever has made the Gant p...3 things:
1) Have you thought about talking to who ever has made the Gant plugin, I can se some benefits in integrating the two plugins.
2) It could be nice to be able to update % completed on a task.
3) How about some way to import from other project/task managers i.e. MS-Projects. It could be a API for writing/updating task file.
Best regrads
J. Lindhardt
Jun 08, 2007
Yiding He says:
I want to add a code pointer (see IDETalk) to the task, so when I click it, it w...I want to add a code pointer (see IDETalk) to the task, so when I click it, it will bring me to the code related to the task. I think this feature is very useful.
Jun 27, 2007
Anonymous says:
What file are the tasks stored in on my hard drive? I need to copy a task ...What file are the tasks stored in on my hard drive? I need to copy a task list over from a previous installation.
thanks
Si'mon
Jul 01, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Tasks store in other.xml in <userhome>\.IntelliJIDEA70\config\options\other.xml ...Tasks store in other.xml in <userhome>\.IntelliJIDEA70\config\options\other.xml
You need to find:
<component name="TasksComponent"> ... </component>and copy paste it to new location.
Sergiy
Sep 26, 2007
Anonymous says:
If a task is associated with a TODO it would be nice if the TODO would be remove...If a task is associated with a TODO it would be
nice if the TODO would be removed when the
task is completed
nice plugin
Claus
Oct 10, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Thanks Claus, Unfortunately it's not possible. I need to track TODOs someh...Thanks Claus,
Unfortunately it's not possible. I need to track TODOs somehow. What if you copy&paste it somewhere? Or rename?
-sergiy
Oct 24, 2007
WarnerJan Veldhuis says:
Hey Sergiy, I love your work. I am using it with plesaure :) Just one question: ...Hey Sergiy,
I love your work. I am using it with plesaure
Just one question: I am not really sure what the "new changelist" feature does. (IntelliJ 5.12, Taskplugin 1.7) Can you clarify a bit?
Keep up the good work..
WJ
Oct 24, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Hello, Thanks for the feedback\! "New Changlist" should open a dialog to create ...Hello,
Thanks for the feedback!
"New Changlist" should open a dialog to create new changelist based on task. It just prefills task title to changelist name. I'm not quite sure if change lists have been implemented already in version 5. If not, that feature might not work
Do you get stacktrace or something like that?
Nov 08, 2007
Anonymous says:
Hi Sergiy. Great job with the tasks. I really love it. Just few things: 1) I te...Hi Sergiy. Great job with the tasks. I really love it. Just few things:
1) I tend to add some description to task to remmeber what exactly to do, or what ideas I have about how the task should be solved - this makes the tasks a bit longer and the dialog for adding tasks get also longer because of the combobox containing tasks, so I recommend you cut the task names to some predefined length in the dialog if they are too long
2) adding some description field would be nice
3) as other already said: code pointer would be nice too
Thanks again, great plugin
Nov 15, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Hi, thanks\! 1), 2) in a todo for next version. 3) will think how to do. but mo...Hi, thanks!
1), 2) in a todo for next version.
3) will think how to do. but most probably will do some sort of code pointers.
-sergiy
Nov 15, 2007
Nathan Brown says:
Hi Sergiy, Great plugin, I use it every day and it is most useful. One bug annoy...Hi Sergiy,
Great plugin, I use it every day and it is most useful.
One bug annoys me though - when I right-click on a node to create a child task via the popup menu, the right-clicked node is not highlighted, meaning the task will accidentally be created under the root. This happens quite often, and along with lack of DnD support, is quite hard to rectify.
So if you could fix this little bug that would be great. And DnD support would also be great too
Cheers for the work so far,
N.
Nov 15, 2007
Sergiy Dubovik says:
Hello Nathan, Thanks a lot for the feedback. I made a roadmap for the next versi...Hello Nathan,
Thanks a lot for the feedback. I made a roadmap for the next version few days ago and item selection is in my task list already. DND is pretty hard for me. I'm stuck with it. I planned it for previous release but didn't manage to make it. Now it's possible to assign different parents to an item just by dragging it, but I can't make it move item to a specific position. But anyway will try again.
thanks.
Sergiy
Nov 24, 2007
Anonymous says:
i like to be able to move a task into other parents, example: I have several unf...i like to be able to move a task into other parents, example: I have several unfinished tasks for the day, then I create a new task under root labelled as 'Tomorrow', then I like to move all those tasks over so that the task for today can be marked as completed.
Another thing, what's the use of change list? can't find any doc about this.
Nov 24, 2007
Anonymous says:
I found a way to move task to be under another one, just reassign the parent tas...I found a way to move task to be under another one, just reassign the parent task, problem now is, difficult to locate the parent task as it seems sorted according to chronological order, any easy way to re-arrange it? say alphabetically sorted?
Thanks,